I'm actually not confident in our ability to pipe right now with that unknown stat still flipping around. Kosuzu hasn't exactly walked any of those calories off, either.

I don't think going to look for a key is a wise idea, though. In fact, I think it's a damn stupid one.

[X] Kosuzu could crawl through the keyhole again. This key cavity was compressed to a calibre comparable to a card, but she was still confident she could creep through.

(X) Make Mayumi assist in moving towards the maiden minor. Whether that manifested in moving with Kosuzu or manning the door, it was a major necessity.

I am not at all sure what to have Reimu do yet.

>>210323
{X} Rely on Reimu for reassurance while Kosuzu was reaching their target, or for her skills in key-related reconnaissance.

Nevermind, I take it back. Sure, Kosuzu could probably get in without a key, but how would she get Yumemi out? We probably will be needing the key.

It's a difficult choice, to get stuck in the door and give Reimu and Mayumi trouble or to look for the key and possibly have it in the possession of a relevant person.

and if someone enters that room with kosuzu it would be better than Reimu entering because of the illusion the ring is giving her.

[X] Kosuzu could crawl through the keyhole again. This key cavity was compressed to a calibre comparable to a card, but she was still confident she could creep through.

This is a hardware store that’s being used as a prison. Crisis is bound to a chair so the door may be unlockable from the inside, though this is improbable. Either way, having someone on the inside is useful and Crisis may have a way to leave the room once we unbind her.

Not really sure what to do for the other two though, splitting up to find a key seems very risky, but standing around won’t help at all.

I wonder how much of Keiki's creation ability Mayumi has... After all, the group is in a hardware store.
Not sure about what to vote for the other two yet, but...

(X) Maybe Mayumi could moil in myriad other methods? (Write-in.)
-(x) start Macgyvering!

(Darn, "make with the Macgyvering" would kon-tinue with the alliteration, but doesn't sound quite right...)

A hardware store! Fit with anything you could dream of, from allen wrenches to gerbil feeders to toilet seats to... etc. not quoting the whole song.

To raise an alternative idea: what if we just took the door off of its hinges? We've got all the tools we could possibly need somewhere in this store, and random tools are probably easier to steal than important keys.

Of course it all fails if we can't access the hinges, but does it have any merit?

[X] Kosuzu could crawl through the keyhole again. This key cavity was compressed to a calibre comparable to a card, but she was still confident she could creep through.

Yeah, this is a bad idea, considering how we barely fit through Reimu's keyhole, but also, the other idea is Worse.

{X} Rely on Reimu for reassurance while Kosuzu was reaching their target, or for her skills in key-related reconnaissance.

And there's nothing better than the calming words of an old friend during a difficult task, especially if getting stuck induces a trauma based panic attack.

(X) Maybe Mayumi could moil in myriad other methods? (Write-in.)
-(x) start Macgyvering!

Huge fan of >>210330's idea here. Having a makeshift Something oughta help us considerably, whether it's to help unstick a stuck Kon-suzu, free Crisis, create a distraction to keep us from being noticed, or any other Macgyvery ideas.

[X] Kosuzu could crawl through the keyhole again. This key cavity was compressed to a calibre comparable to a card, but she was still confident she could creep through.

Alright, if you guys want someone to 'Macgyver'. you're gonna have to give them a vague direction of what you have in mind. A tool to escape? Something to break down the door? A weapon? If so, what sort of qualities are you looking for? Something that anyone can throw and use, something for Crisis to use to defend herself, just whatever Mayumi can come up with?

(X) Maybe Mayumi could moil in myriad other methods? (Write-in.)
- (X) Mayhaps Mayumi might Macgyver a mechanism to mutedly make a way past the door. (Figure out a way to take down the door without alerting everyone in the radius and startling Crisis, like taking it off its hinges, quietly breaking it open, or picking the lock.)

[X] Kosuzu’s key-finding cleverness was considerable. Collecting a key was clearly a crucial quest.
- [X] Konsidering the context, though, keeping count for a collectable kit of tools the ceramic crafter could use to copy her creator was certainly a copacetic contemplation.

{X} Rely on Reimu for reassurance while Kosuzu was reaching their target, or for her skills in key-related reconnaissance.

(X) Maybe Mayumi could moil in myriad other methods? (Write-in.)
- (X) Mayhaps Mayumi might Macgyver a mechanism to mutedly make a way past the door. (Figure out a way to take down the door without alerting everyone in the radius and startling Crisis, like taking it off its hinges, quietly breaking it open, or picking the lock.)

[X] Kosuzu’s key-finding cleverness was considerable. Collecting a key was clearly a crucial quest.
- [X] Konsidering the context, though, keeping count for a collectable kit of tools the ceramic crafter could use to copy her creator was certainly a copacetic contemplation.

{X} Rely on Reimu for reassurance while Kosuzu was reaching their target, or for her skills in key-related reconnaissance.

(X) Maybe Mayumi could moil in myriad other methods? (Write-in.)
- (X) Mayhaps Mayumi might Macgyver a mechanism to mutedly make a way past the door. (Figure out a way to take down the door without alerting everyone in the radius and startling Crisis, like taking it off its hinges, quietly breaking it open, or picking the lock.)

[X] Kosuzu’s key-finding cleverness was considerable. Collecting a key was clearly a crucial quest.
- [X] Konsidering the context, though, keeping count for a collectable kit of tools the ceramic crafter could use to copy her creator was certainly a copacetic contemplation.

{X} Rely on Reimu for reassurance while Kosuzu was reaching their target, or for her skills in key-related reconnaissance.

(X) Maybe Mayumi could moil in myriad other methods? (Write-in.)
- (X) Mayhaps Mayumi might Macgyver a mechanism to mutedly make a way past the door. (Figure out a way to take down the door without alerting everyone in the radius and startling Crisis, like taking it off its hinges, quietly breaking it open, or picking the lock.)

[X] Kosuzu’s key-finding cleverness was considerable. Collecting a key was clearly a crucial quest.
- [X] Konsidering the context, though, keeping count for a collectable kit of tools the ceramic crafter could use to copy her creator was certainly a copacetic contemplation.

{X} Rely on Reimu for reassurance while Kosuzu was reaching their target, or for her skills in key-related reconnaissance.

[X] Kosuzu could crawl through the keyhole again. This key cavity was compressed to a calibre comparable to a card, but she was still confident she could creep through.

{X} Rely on Reimu for reassurance while Kosuzu was reaching their target, or for her skills in key-related reconnaissance.

(X) Maybe Mayumi could moil in myriad other methods? (Write-in.)
- (X) Mayhaps Mayumi might Macgyver a mechanism to mutedly make a way past the door. (Figure out a way to take down the door without alerting everyone in the radius and startling Crisis, like taking it off its hinges, quietly breaking it open, or picking the lock.)

[X] Kosuzu’s key-finding cleverness was considerable. Collecting a key was clearly a crucial quest.
-[X] While we're at it, maybe there's a map of the facilty around, might be useful for an escape.
{X} Request Reimu’s resilience in requisition or readying for rebuke. (Write-in.)
-{X} Maybe her intuition can lead us to a better entrance? Like a ventilation kon-duct that leads inside from an adjacent, open room?
(X) Maybe Mayumi could moil in myriad other methods? (Write-in.)
-(X) While we search for an alternative entrance, Mayumi inspects the door so she can find the proper tool to either pick the lock, disassemble the door or force it open without making much noise.

If it's an outside-world looking facilty, then it might have proper ventilation, or air kon-ditioning for Kosuzu to use. Also, these warehouses often have the building plans with emergency doors marked. My vote for Kosuzu is "find a key" but I prefer them finding the ventilation shaft and entering that way, while Mayumi forces the door open for the escape. For that she could find the right set of screwdrivers to remove the hinges if those are on this side so we open the door without noise, or something with a little less finesse: acquire crowbar, use crowbar on door, profit. I would love if she could find lock picking tools and actually pick the lock, but that is harder to do and maybe a set of skills no-one in the group has, or arguably, all of them have?
- Kosuzu might know how since she's the "rogue", but on the other why bother learning lockpicking if you can bypass the lock anyways?
- Depending on her training, Reimu might have been taught how to pick a lock. But she might not like to do it.
- Mayumi might have knowledge about locks and how they work so she could figure it out but this is a stretch.

Anyways: find air duct, enter that way, Kosuzu calms the girl and explains the plan while Mayumi removes the door hinges and then the door proper.

> Mayumi hummed. “These foundations are well-supported. It would take some serious force to knock any of them over, like an artillery stri-”
I hope Mayumi wanting to solve problems with artillery remains a running gag. I want her to argue that they should install cannons on the grounds of Hakurei Shrine.

I don’t think we need all three girls on door opening/getting past duty. If Kosuzu finds a key or an alternative entrance, Mayumi trying to lock pick/disassemble the door goes to waste. Come on, we’re in a hardware store, lets Dead Rising this shit.

And I feel like Reimu’s gonna have an easier time picking the lock than Mayumi is. She’s part of the Kiketsu, she’s gotta know, while Mayumi’s idea of subtlety is artillery strike.

[X] Kosuzu’s key-finding cleverness was considerable. Collecting a key was clearly a crucial quest.
-[X] While we're at it, maybe there's a map of the facilty around, might be useful for an escape.
{X} Request Reimu’s resilience in requisition or readying for rebuke. (Write-in.)
-{X} Maybe her intuition can lead us to a better entrance? Like a ventilation kon-duct that leads inside from an adjacent, open room?
(X) Make Mayumi assist in moving towards the maiden minor. Whether that manifested in moving with Kosuzu or manning the door, it was a major necessity.

[X] Kosuzu could crawl through the keyhole again. This key cavity was compressed to a calibre comparable to a card, but she was still confident she could creep through.

{X} Rely on Reimu for reassurance while Kosuzu was reaching their target, or for her skills in key-related reconnaissance.

(X) Make Mayumi assist in moving towards the maiden minor. Whether that manifested in moving with Kosuzu or manning the door, it was a major necessity.

[X] Kosuzu’s key-finding cleverness was considerable. Collecting a key was clearly a crucial quest.
-[X] While we're at it, maybe there's a map of the facilty around, might be useful for an escape.
{X} Request Reimu’s resilience in requisition or readying for rebuke. (Write-in.)
-{X} Maybe her intuition can lead us to a better entrance? Like a ventilation kon-duct that leads inside from an adjacent, open room?
(X) Maybe Mayumi could moil in myriad other methods? (Write-in.)
-(X) While we search for an alternative entrance, Mayumi inspects the door so she can find the proper tool to either pick the lock, disassemble the door or force it open without making much noise.

>>210346

I actually disagree with you. If we succeed in finding another entrance, then as other people have pointed out, Mayumi removing the door allows for a much quicker escape. If we don’t find anything by the time she does, then we can just walk through the removed door.

Though come to think of it…

-[X] Have Kosuzu remain relatively close to the door while searching for the key.

Sure it restricts our range, but I do not trust the girl who thinks artillery strikes are a form of subtlety to be a good comforter. She probably shouldn’t be the only one by the door.

(X) Maybe Mayumi could moil in myriad other methods? (Write-in.)
- (X) Mayhaps Mayumi might Macgyver a mechanism to mutedly make a way past the door. (Figure out a way to take down the door without alerting everyone in the radius and startling Crisis, like taking it off its hinges, quietly breaking it open, or picking the lock.)

[X] Kosuzu’s key-finding cleverness was considerable. Collecting a key was clearly a crucial quest.
- [X] Konsidering the context, though, keeping count for a collectable kit of tools the ceramic crafter could use to copy her creator was certainly a copacetic contemplation.

{X} Rely on Reimu for reassurance while Kosuzu was reaching their target, or for her skills in key-related reconnaissance.

[X] Kosuzu’s key-finding cleverness was considerable. Collecting a key was clearly a crucial quest.
-[X] While we're at it, maybe there's a map of the facilty around, might be useful for an escape.
{X} Request Reimu’s resilience in requisition or readying for rebuke. (Write-in.)
-{X} Maybe her intuition can lead us to a better entrance? Like a ventilation kon-duct that leads inside from an adjacent, open room?
(X) Maybe Mayumi could moil in myriad other methods? (Write-in.)
-(X) While we search for an alternative entrance, Mayumi inspects the door so she can find the proper tool to either pick the lock, disassemble the door or force it open without making much noise.

I agree with this set.

[X] Kosuzu could crawl through the keyhole again. This key cavity was compressed to a calibre comparable to a card, but she was still confident she could creep through.

{X} Rely on Reimu for reassurance while Kosuzu was reaching their target, or for her skills in key-related reconnaissance.

(X) Maybe Mayumi could moil in myriad other methods? (Write-in.)
- (X) Mayhaps Mayumi might Macgyver a mechanism to mutedly make a way past the door. (Figure out a way to take down the door without alerting everyone in the radius and startling Crisis, like taking it off its hinges, quietly breaking it open, or picking the lock.)

>>210330 here

>>210336
good point, giving Mayumi a open licence to macgyvering would probably end up with a macguyver'd artillery cannon just sitting in the middle of the hardware store.

though what I was thinking was something that would make Kevin McCallister jealous, but on the other hand the shelving should do the job.

for Kosuzu's vote, I am a little torn, she seems confident in being able to get into the key(?)hole. and I do want to trust her... but the alternate route but going around works too, just in case the door is alarmed or something, soo

-(UNDO) start Macgyvering!

[X] Kosuzu’s key-finding cleverness was considerable. Collecting a key was clearly a crucial quest.
-[X] While we're at it, maybe there's a map of the facilty around, might be useful for an escape.
{X} Request Reimu’s resilience in requisition or readying for rebuke. (Write-in.)
-{X} Maybe her intuition can lead us to a better entrance? Like a ventilation kon-duit that leads inside from an adjacent, open room?
- (X) Mayhaps Mayumi might Macgyver a mechanism to mutedly make a way past the door. (Figure out a way to take down the door without alerting everyone in the radius and startling Crisis, like taking it off its hinges, quietly breaking it open, or picking the lock.)

>>210333
This me. When I posted that, I had just woken up and huh... didn't realize that the other choices were other choices to make / write-in. Since I don't like writing in because I don't have any ideas... I'll just piuck the non-write ins for both.

{X} Rely on Reimu for reassurance while Kosuzu was reaching their target, or for her skills in key-related reconnaissance.

(X) Make Mayumi assist in moving towards the maiden minor. Whether that manifested in moving with Kosuzu or manning the door, it was a major necessity.

Counting to >>210355:
Main Choice #1:
[7] Kosuzu could crawl through the keyhole again. This key cavity was compressed to a calibre comparable to a card, but she was still confident she could creep through.
[10] Kosuzu’s key-finding cleverness was considerable. Collecting a key was clearly a crucial quest.
-[5] Konsidering the context, though, keeping count for a collectable kit of tools the ceramic crafter could use to copy her creator was certainly a copacetic contemplation. (>>210337, >>210338, >>210339, >>210340, >>210350)
-[5] While we're at it, maybe there's a map of the facility around, might be useful for an escape. (>>210342, >>210347, >>210349, >>210351, >>210354)
-[1] Have Kosuzu remain relatively close to the door while searching for the key. (>>210349)

Main Choice #2:
{11} Rely on Reimu for reassurance while Kosuzu was reaching their target, or for her skills in key-related reconnaissance.
{5} Request Reimu’s resilience in requisition or readying for rebuke.
-{5} Maybe her intuition can lead us to a better entrance? Like a ventilation kon-duct that leads inside from an adjacent, open room? (>>210342, >>210347, >>210349, >>210351, >>210354)

Main Choice #3:
(4) Make Mayumi assist in moving towards the maiden minor. Whether that manifested in moving with Kosuzu or manning the door, it was a major necessity.
(12) Maybe Mayumi could moil in myriad other methods?
-(1) Start Macgyvering! (>>210332)
-(8) Mayhaps Mayumi might Macgyver a mechanism to mutedly make a way past the door. (Figure out a way to take down the door without alerting everyone in the radius and startling Crisis, like taking it off its hinges, quietly breaking it open, or picking the lock.) (>>210337, >>210338, >>210339, >>210340, >>210341, >>210350, >>210353, >>210354)
-(3) While we search for an alternative entrance, Mayumi inspects the door so she can find the proper tool to either pick the lock, disassemble the door or force it open without making much noise. (>>210342, >>210349, >>210351)

Should be right...? :3

I'm so fucking late! Shit!

[X] Kosuzu’s key-finding cleverness was considerable. Collecting a key was clearly a crucial quest.
{X} Rely on Reimu for reassurance while Kosuzu was reaching their target, or for her skills in key-related reconnaissance.
(X) Maybe Mayumi could moil in myriad other methods?

-(x) Try to check the door for any enchantments. Don't want any nasty surprises!
-(x) If we happen to find any thermite in the store, we could use that to melt the door off its hinges. Apply the thermite paste to the bolt or the door hinges, whatever's most exposed, and set it alight using Reimu's fire breath.
-(x) Could Reimu discretely melt the door's hinges or its bolt by standing very close and breathing a very concentrated flame?

Someone more clever than me could have made this stuff alliterate, but alas.

Thermite produces extreme temperatures, enough to melt steel. But we'd have to apply it directly to some crucial part of the door for it to work, which might not even be exposed... And that's considering if we find it!

But, Reimu's fire might just be hot enough to melt through the steel. if its not magically enhanced, that is, and considering this is Gensokyo, it more than likely is. But its worth a try, right?

From the current vote counts i note we don't have anyone on watch to deal with any wolf spirits that could come across the group.

[X] Kosuzu’s key-finding cleverness was considerable. Collecting a key was clearly a crucial quest.
{X} Rely on Reimu for reassurance while Kosuzu was reaching their target, or for her skills in key-related reconnaissance.
(X) Maybe Mayumi could moil in myriad other methods?
-(X) Mayhaps Mayumi might Macgyver a mechanism to mutedly make a way past the door. (Figure out a way to take down the door without alerting everyone in the radius and startling Crisis, like taking it off its hinges, quietly breaking it open, or picking the lock

>>210361
Yeah, if we had a fourth then they could definitely be on Wolf Watch. But for now, it's all hands on deck for the jailbreak.

[x] Be soft, cuddly emotional support. A fuzzy friend was just what the poor girl needed right now.

Kosuzu has never been cool, calm, and collected in her life. Fuzzy and pettable, on the other hand, seems more her speed.

{x} Keep an eye out, make sure nobody spots the group.

(x) Prepare an artillery strike the moment they're all out of range!

I feel like Mayumi's going to be disappointed if she doesn't get to unleash that artillery strike eventually.

[x] Be soft, cuddly emotional support. A fuzzy friend was just what the poor girl needed right now.
{x} Keep an eye out, make sure nobody spots the group.
-{x} Decide on the signals for 'going loud'(i.e. getting caught and unable to neutralise the target) and for signaling the artillery

(x) Prepare an artillery strike the moment they're all out of range!

Artillery strikes already prepped, and it’ll be some time before you’re all clear enough to use it. And they’re all keeping an eye out - after all, they’re not the team that glows wherever they go.

[X] Act a calm, cool, collected benefactor. A real infiltrating spy type might reassure her that things were under control (jammed lock notwithstanding). .
[ ] Be soft, cuddly emotional support. A fuzzy friend was just what the poor girl needed right now.
[ ] Something else?

Still not writing in. So that's it for me.

I'm guessing the wire is really jammed in there? Or could a magnet get it out?

[X] Be soft, cuddly emotional support, but stay calm and quiet about it.

{X} Get a blowtorch to cut the lock.

(X) Get a big tarp to conceal the light.

[X] Something else?
-[X] Maybe this outside world woman, needed an outside world personality to help her through this... Act like (how you think) an outsider acts.

This is a little zany, but Yumemi Crisis is a little zany herself. Or, her alternate/future/past self Ichi is. I hope. I also think it'll be very funny.

(X) Have Reimu melt the hinges or the bolt off the door, whatever seems most efficient.

A red glow isn't going to really be conspicuous in a warehouse full of wolves that glow red. I hope.

(X) Have Mayumi scout the rest of the rooms for escape routes.

I hope that this method of opening the door should take a relatively short time. In the meantime, I'd like our ceramic robot friend scouting for exits. She seems a better candidate for scouting than Reimu; I'd imagine she might know at least some information about our location that could help us find a good escape route. I hope...

[x] Be soft, cuddly emotional support. A fuzzy friend was just what the poor girl needed right now.

{X} Have Reimu melt the hinges or the bolt off the door, whatever seems most efficient.

(X) Have Mayumi scout the rest of the rooms for escape routes.
- (X) If she spots any enemies, she has to take them out without them noticing her or the others.

[X] Be soft, cuddly emotional support, but stay calm and quiet about it.
{X} Have Reimu melt the hinges or the bolt off the door, whatever seems most efficient.
(X) Get a big tarp to conceal the light.

I like these other two write-ins. Poor Mayumi just wants to help. And blow things up (I would always be pushing for an artillery barrage to solve my problems if I had access to a battery to be honest. When all you have is a hammer...)

I'm curious about Kosuzu's inner voice, she's repressing it... come on Kosuzu, you can tell Reimu everything!
Also, I'm worried more and more about her relation with Tsukasa. I feel that the job for Megumu wasn't a failure and she was given a bogus excuse to keep her off from her side for any reason.

Maybe Tsukasa is actually jealous of Kosuzu being at the side of Megumu? Maybe Kosuzu proved herself better at the job than Tsukasa actually tells her she is, and is worried she might lose her spot as her right hand?
Thus far, Kosuzu has been "mommy's little tool" and nothing else, I feel bad for her.

Tsukasa thus far has been everything I feared Yachie was going to be before we knew better, and more.
I hope there's an actual reason, a redemption arc, or at the very least it doesn't get worse.

>> One bird perched on her hat, from behind. Suwako didn’t respond, at first. After a few moments, she felt the bird begin to peck at the center of her hat.

>> “...Oi, stop that.” The bird diligently did so. “...you suicidal, birdy? Didn’t you see what happened yesterday? You make a curse god angry, and she’ll burn you right up.”

>> The bird let out a bit of a squawk. A crow, maybe? Felt heavy for one. “...You with the tengu?” Another squawk. “...Can you keep a secret, birdy?”

>> The goddess looked up, holding her hat. “...I dunno how old you are, but… no sane person wants to outlive their children. ‘Tis the curse of gods who bear children, though, to do so. To see your loved ones die, and their loved ones die, over and over and over again…”

>> “I… I still don’t want to give up. I want to believe they’re out there. But… what is there even left to look for? Why can’t I let it go?” She tilted her head up, fast enough that her conversation partner had to flap to steady themself. “...What am I holding out hope for? Am I just going to hurt more innocent girls who don’t deserve it because I can’t give up? I… what am I supposed to do?”

>> There was no immediate response, and the goddess sniffled, sagging. Well, here it was. She’d absolutely gone crazy now. She felt the bird cautiously walk forward, to the brim of her hat, and peek its head over the edge... It was a raven, she assumed. Looking at her, with a strangely sorrowful expression. Maybe it was the angle or the misty lighting, but the color of its feathers looked weird. Lighter than pure black, lighter than most grays.

>> …Almost a ghostly white- Her eyes shrank, and she stared up at the bird. “Y-Youmu?!”

>> The haniwa grinned. “Of course! There’s a perfect weapon for this, back in Keiki’s territory. We take that, and we can take all the wolves out at once.”

>> Kosuzu perked up. “That sounds perfect! Do we need to circle back to get it?”

>> “No need, it can deliver the payload from home turf easily.” Mayumi’s smirk only grew wider. “Nothing’s quicker for dealing with a crowd than an artillery strike!”

>> …

>> Kosuzu whipped her head around to the haniwa, who was just about to start typing. “What?! No! That’ll kill her!”

>> Mayumi waved her off. “But then we just pull her spirit out. And then she’s safe!”

Just a quick doodle, since I wanted to draw Mayumi for a while now. I'll probably tweak a thing or two in her design when I draw her again in the future, just wanted to illustrate the gag in a callback to Reimu's "horn hiding" question from way back.

I like this "crude", more chibi look for jokes, is it OK for you guys if I do this from time to time?

[X] Be soft, cuddly emotional support, but stay calm and quiet about it.
{X} Have Reimu melt the hinges or the bolt off the door, whatever seems most efficient.
(X) Get a big tarp to conceal the light.

That "serious mistake" thing just came to my mind that Megumu found out something important about Kosuzu and Tsukasa is hiding it from her.

And the voice she hears might be human!Kusuzu trying to warn them about something related to Tsukasa?

>>210379
suwako's sad scene looks nice!

[X] Be soft, cuddly emotional support, but stay calm and quiet about it.

Cute, cute, cute, cute, cute! Kosuzu is very much not the cool and collected type, so this really is the much better avenue for keeping Crisis from having a crisis.

{X} Have Reimu melt the hinges or the bolt off the door, whatever seems most efficient.
(X) Get a big tarp to conceal the light.

So Mayumi doesn't have the same finesse her mom does. Probably should've expected that from Miss Artillery Strike, honestly. 😆 She can just run support on a task that doesn't need her to do that.

[X] Be soft, cuddly emotional support. A fuzzy friend was just what the poor girl needed right now.
{X} Have Reimu melt the hinges or the bolt off the door, whatever seems most efficient.
(X) Get a big tarp to conceal the light.

[X] Be soft, cuddly emotional support. A fuzzy friend was just what the poor girl needed right now.

(X) check to see if a magnet can get the wire out, if so, then Reimu can pick the lock.
-(X) If not, Have Reimu melt the hinges or the bolt off the door, whatever seems most efficient.

>>210375

>A red glow isn't going to really be conspicuous in a warehouse full of wolves that glow red. I hope.

Especially since there are supposed to be wolves sitting there guarding the door in the first place!

(X) Have Mayumi scout the rest of the rooms for escape routes.
- (X) If she spots any enemies, she has to take them out without them noticing her or the others.

Hello M.Kosuzu! Nice to see ya coming to the fore a little! And yeah, she’s right that you should share with Reimu there K.Kosuzu! You already shared about the vial incident!

>>210378

This happened a week ago… right in the middle of the Tengu Mountain gearing up to try to find any of the immaterial children… who by her reaction Tsukasa hasn’t been paying too much attention to, either because she hasn’t heard too much about it, or has not bothered to think it was important… BUT. with what we are starting to suspect… There is a weird point where our suspicions intersect with the IC incident, namely where a child ends up with a different parent.

I think that Megumu had a suspicion that Kosuzu was an immaterial child and started asking Tsukasa about it. But asked it in such a way that Tsukasa thought that Megumi was saying that she had literally taken the child, and so suddenly cut off contact. (yeah, I bet that Kosuzu’s letter never made it to Tengu mountain, probably was burned the moment Kosuzu was out of sight.)

>>210381

the joke style looks great! I'm all for it!

... So the bit about screwing up with Megumu could not more obviously be a lie, right? And that letter definitely never got sent, right? ... I'm pretty confident now in

>>210390

Oops, fat-fingered the buttons and posted that early. Damn you, mobile phones.

So as I was saying, my guess now is that the plot element adapted from maneki-neko Kosuzu is that she was actually not a maneki-neko, but a bakedanuki being raised as one for... some reason. This has been adapted into Foxsuzu as her being stolen as a child from someone. I guess Ran? I wasn't willing to put that theory in a form stronger than "the Yakumos are looking for someone, and want to know if Kosuzu is that person" before, but now I'm really starting to think Kosuzu is Ran's kid, and her memories of the mountain village got manipulated somehow - she was being kidnapped with that tube, not saved from it. Although that leaves the questions of how Tsukasa pulled that off and why on Earth she thought it was a good idea.

Anyway, votes.

[X] Be soft, cuddly emotional support. A fuzzy friend was just what the poor girl needed right now.

{X} Have Reimu use a pen, small screwdriver, drill, or something to try and shove the broken wire out the other side of the keyhole.

Pushing something stuck in a small aperture through is frequently easier than getting it back out. In this case in particular, we already know the wire breaks pretty easily, so correctly applied force should be able to snap it into more manageable pieces, too. It seems to be one of those old style locks with the big keyholes (since Kosuzu could see through it), too, so there should be room to fiddle around like this.

{X} Have Mayumi take up position somewhere hidden out of the way but still able to see Reimu and at least a few of the most likely points she could be spotted from. If anyone spots her while she's working the door, take them out before they can raise the alarm.

I'm assuming that directly in front of the door is the most visible point in the immediate vicinity, mind you. That just seems like good security. But if the door is actually out of the way enough that a lookout point is more visible, this could backfire.

> Kosuzu could feel a little bit of irritation stir in her throat, but… well, there wasn’t any way either of them had known how they’d ended up.

Oh, that’s just a bit of jealousy

> Calling on her, to tell Reimu about that. But Kosuzu kept that voice down.

That… can’t be too bad, right?

> my mother told me that I’d made a mistake […] if I ever went back to the Daitengu’s office, I’d […] get a tripod to the skull […] I wanted to apologize. I even wrote a letter and asked my mom to deliver it to her. But I never got a reply back.”

……… damn. I think I’ve reached my limit now. I’m jumping on the Tsukasa hate train, all aboard!

Aaaanyway, Kosuzu likes pets and I’m sure a constantly stressed, both during kidnappings and academia, Crisis would love some emotional support while the other two bust open the lock.

[X] Be soft, cuddly emotional support. A fuzzy friend was just what the poor girl needed right now.

I am unfortunately not too much of a write in person. However,

(X) Prepare an artillery strike the moment they're all out of range!

Is very necessary.

>>210379, >>210381 You can honestly feel Suwako’s depression emanating from the art and Mayumi’s excited expression is just perfect.

Love your art Kosu! And I really like the chibi look, so if it helps you practice, use it for the silly ones.

And lastly, for no reason in particular, how weighted would the [X] Kill Tsukasa option be? And would using an artillery strike lower the artificial votes?

I dunno. I feel like the anti-Tsukasa theories just aren't quite plausible enough yet.

If anything, it already feels too simple. Tsukasa's an unrepentant backstabber; we've been side-eyeing her from day one. Tsukasa being a bad guy and nothing more feels like the obvious, and we've been fed information just vague enough that we can reinforce this preconception. If Tsukasa were actively trying to deceive us, I don't think she'd be this easy to spot.

>>210391
I don't think Kosuzu would be a bake-danuki in the Nekosuzu option. Because tanuki are canines, not felines, and they don't have many traits that you could pass off as maneki-neko ones.

Also, OP's specific comment about it (>>209455) was this:
>My slight preference was for the maneki-neko option, but to be fair, that was for reasons I told essentially no-one.

Which seems to suggest that whatever he liked about that arc wasn't hinted at in the options, at the very least.

>>210394

the thing is that most of our information is coming from Kosuzu, Tsukasa is not getting a lot of chances to present her side in order to deceive us...

I'm open to her being like Yachie and thus proves us wrong here, but I am open to the kitnapper Tsukasa potential plot, either way I am intrigued to see where it goes!

[X] Be soft, cuddly emotional support, but stay calm and quiet about it.
{X} Have Reimu melt the hinges or the bolt off the door, whatever seems most efficient.
(X) Get a big tarp to conceal the light.

if ichi and crisis are the same person (very highly likely), then there's already precedent that she likes pets. very soft ones.

> Ichi smiled. “After all, Reimu and Mayumi can look pretty human, but you’re outright soft and fluffy. I bet she’ll be drawn to you - she’s gonna need someone like you to be there for her.”

reserving judgement on tsukasa til later. there's not a lot in her favor right now and every mention of kosuzu's time/relationship with her is digging the grave deeper and deeper. andher being a manipulative backstabber probably would invalidate any defense she could give herself by way of explanation. if she really does care about kosuzu, she's gonna have to prove it through her actions, not words.

Counting to >>210402:
Main Choice #1:
[1] Act a calm, cool, collected benefactor. A real infiltrating spy type might reassure her that things were under control (jammed lock notwithstanding). .
[13] Be soft, cuddly emotional support. A fuzzy friend was just what the poor girl needed right now.
-[5] But stay calm and quiet about it. (>>210374, >>210378, >>210382, >>210383, >>210402)
Did something... Hopefully this works?
[2] Something else?
-[1] Maybe this outside world woman, needed an outside world personality to help her through this... Act like (how you think) an outsider acts. (>>210375)

Main Choice #2:
{2} Keep an eye out, make sure nobody spots the group. (>>210368, >>210369)
{1} Get a blowtorch to cut the lock. (>>210374)
{1} Check to see if a magnet can get the wire out, if so, then Reimu can pick the lock. (>>210388)
-{8} Have Reimu melt the hinges or the bolt off the door, whatever seems most efficient. (>>210375, >>210377, >>210378, >>210382, >>210383, >>210384, >>210388, >>210402)
{1} Have Reimu use a pen, small screwdriver, drill, or something to try and shove the broken wire out the other side of the keyhole. (>>210391)

Main Choice #3:
(3) Prepare an artillery strike the moment they're all out of range! (>>210368, >>210372, >>210392)
(6) Get a big tarp to conceal the light. (>>210374, >>210378, >>210382, >>210383, >>210384, >>210402)
(3) Have Mayumi scout the rest of the rooms for escape routes. (>>210375, >>210377, >>210388)
-(2) If she spots any enemies, she has to take them out without them noticing her or the others. (>>210377, >>210388)
(1) Have Mayumi take up position somewhere hidden out of the way but still able to see Reimu and at least a few of the most likely points she could be spotted from. If anyone spots her while she's working the door, take them out before they can raise the alarm. (>>210391)

:3

>>210395
Rather more importantly, bakedanuki are shapeshifters.

And I don't know that your interpretation particularly follows from that statement at all. That reads to me as merely "I didn't tell anyone the thing that made me prefer that choice," which by no means excludes "there was evidence that, combined with other evidence delivered later, could allow people to guess at what that thing was." ... of course, Gooboi is around to clarify their intent, but then again any response might be a spoiler of some degree or another.

[X] Be soft, cuddly emotional support. A fuzzy friend was just what the poor girl needed right now.
{x} Keep an eye out, make sure nobody spots the group.
-{x} Decide on the signals for 'going loud'(i.e. getting caught and unable to neutralise the target) and for signaling the artillery
(x) Prepare an artillery strike the moment they're all out of range!

Note to self: Mayumi is confirmed not handy... Guess that should have been obvious from the insistence on artillery strikes.

She can be handy! You just picked the technically-youngest, and least-experienced-in-subterfuge person to do the fiddliest infiltration task.

>>210391

I think i just figured out a Why Tsukasa would do it...

because she was hired to do so.

adding to that, it would give an alternate explanation as to why Kosuzu was working for Megumu for a week, and then was subsequently yanked from that job. After all if you are at Tengu Village, you are practically at the footsteps of Moriya Shrine. I think we may have just found out how the burnt cherry found its way to Suwako... Tsukasa was hired to do so, and had Kosuzu nearby working with Megumu.

>>210414

Another addition to this, this explanation does leave room for a more nuanced explanation for Tsukasa.

she might've been hired to "remove Ran's Kit" and instead creatively interpreted it as "remove Ran's Kit and take her to be Tsukasa's own daughter."

Then again, thinking about this a little more, Tsukasa keeping Kosuzu a secret and cutting off contact with the tengu is, I think, broadly consistent with having secretly known that Kosuzu was an Immaterial Child. That still doesn't explain why Chen was so suspicious/curious about her or what was up with probably-Mayohiga, and raises its own questions, but it is enough that I'm inclined to back down from my brief confidence about what the twist might be.

>>210414
It's plausible, but the question here is why was Tsukasa hired to give the thing to Suwako? and by whom?

>>210388
The explanation for Tsukasa making Kosuzu avoid Megumu because the thing with the immaterial children makes sense too, but only if Kosuzu is actually at risk of being caught. If the only person who knows about Kosuzu being a strange pregnancy is Tsukasa (or if she stole her from some other place) there's no need to cover her own tracks.

>>210391
bakedanuki doesn't make sense, iirc Mamizou was the option for "mother figure" that wasn't actually a mom. Maybe she ended adopting Kosuzu. As for what Kosuzu would be in that situation, maybe she shared a family with a cat that is related to Ran, too? It's either that or Mike, if it is a switcheroo maybe that's the thing.
Maybe Mamizou wanted to raise a cat herself to show a kitsune how it's done (jk)

I was not expecting the artillery girl to try to pick the door open, I expected her to find a fire axe and tear it down while shouting "Heeere's Mayumi!"

>>210418

I think even Ichi/Yumemi doesn’t understand the context behind that, it would do the opposite of comfort her.

>>210418

That's the question, isn't it? Who would hire someone to take out an immaterial child, and also sneak a burnt cherry onto someone missing their (greatxALOT) grandchild.

We might be closing in on our first clue to our true culprit...

Also since she was on the vote to macgyver something, she could have also gone full Jamie Hyneman and made something that blew the door off the hinges...

>>210419
It was a joke.
>>210421
Now I want her to make a pipebomb or blow up a propane tank next to the door, thanks.

>>210418
I don't believe Mamizou's role was ever described, I think that was just an assumption people came to based on her smoke and danmaku being presented as part of the manekineko choice. But we've been accumulating possible evidence that Fox Kosuzu is being deceived about something in her background (Tsukasa's keeping secrets, Chen's suspicious about something, I'm starting to think that Kosuzu's memories have been deliberately suppressed, and probably some other little things I picked up on subconsciously/picked up on and then forgot about), and we know that there is a mysterious plot element in the fox route that was adapted from the tanuki route, so I think it might be worth re-examining the evidence with that in mind.

maybe it's something like this but who knows

As mentioned in the nightmare, kosuzu and someone (Ran) ran away from a "giant youkai" because of all that chasing she lost her memory or was too young to remember well the people she was with, but she was found by tsukasa and she raised her and educated her as if she was Kuda-gistune and prohibited her other fox abilities because she suspected her of being a Kitsune.

She tried to hide it from others without revealing the name because sooner or later people would get suspicious about the missing girl and she didn't want to return her original family and Tsukasa was possibly involved in something serious in that "village" and warned her not to go to that place but she was caught and then rescued.

To make it worse she found out that her daughter was a IC now she had 2 families looking for her and also her boss Megumu became suspicious about Kosuzu because of Suwako and Kanako's fight they probably talked about that topic or it's related about that "village" where Kosuzu was captured.

She escaped and went to the animal realm to start again introducing Kosuzu this time as she thought no one would know about it but once she realised that Yachie's whole group is involved about the Immaterial Children, Tsukasa is now looking for another place with his adopted daughter with the excuse that she is scouting.

In short Tsukasa wants nothing to do with the incident or the families and just wants her daughter for herself.

>>210425

For at least the Megamu bit, the timing is a little off, Yester/Youmu took place over a single day, which was, well Yesterday for Kosuzu. The Fight between Suwako and Kanako was the day before that, so that was 3-4+ days after Kosuzu had already been removed from her work with Megumu at least. Or from the wording further back than that, it wasn’t just yesterday that contact with Iizunamaru was broken off…

My own theory is thus:

The one that is carrying Kosuzu in the nightmare is Tsukasa, having hit Kosuzu with some sort of mental whammy so she can’t tell who is who and potentially as you said lost her memory. The one pursuing them is an Utterly Enraged Ran, going full Mama bear shapeshifter trying desperately to catch up and rescue Kosuzu. And from context, failed.

After that Tsukasa has spent the entire time forcing the impression that Kosuzu is only a Tube fox. Note how Yukari mentioned that the line between different Fox spirits isn’t as solid as Kosuzu was thinking… but Kosuzu from her jealous reactions has been thinking she drew the short end of the stick for powers (and affection.)… so we can pick up despite being raised as a Tube fox, by a Tube Fox. She has been told over and over again that she is not powerful or useful. If you are a proud tube fox, who can also straight up access, and also be considered potentially a full Kitsune ability list why would your daughter not think that well of her abilities… it's not because she has been slow to develop her abilities (though that too should be noted, almost like she was being forced to learn a special sub category of her magic before the basics…) but the abilities themselves have for some reason been painted in a negative light to Kosuzu, with a very short list of suspects of who would do so.

In short I think that for the last…7? Or so years, Tsukasa has been doing the inverse of what Yukari suggested, instead of surmounting the boundaries between one type of Fox and the others, she has been enforcing, if not straight up creating the boundary between Kosuzu’s full abilities, and an identity as a Kuda-Gitsune.

Sometime later Kosuzu attempted to approach Mayohiga, but Tsukasa had caught onto her intent, and intercepted her via vials, Rattled her hard, and then left her for awhile before “rescuing her” hours later.

Then Kosuzu starts working for Megumu, probably within the last month if this theory is to be correct, as Tsukasa would hear about the Immaterial children emerging as Youkai… and working closely to Kosuzu probably quickly notice weird quirks that makes Megumu suspicious that Kosuzu is potentially a Immaterial Child and attempts to bring it up to Tsukasa, who hasn’t been following it much, seeing it as “some big scheme to [her]”. And because she hasn’t been paying too much attention to it, misinterprets the question as being about Kosuzu being Ran’s Child instead of the Motoori’s, panics, and cuts off Kosuzu’s contact with Megumu.

That last part of your theory could work, worryingly… mine isn’t much better, being that Tsukasa has just gone shopping for a better deal with the other factions… and will come in to “assist” later. Assist the group right into a trap or something

As to why she would. Well, if Kosuzu is Ran’s Child, then she was the only so far Immaterial child that was in an accessible place from Gensokyo, at least to a larger degree than the underground, Animal Realm, and the moon, so she was noticed first. Especially so if Chiyuri is right and it is someone that can distort fate. I’m assuming that if you have the ability to distort fate, you can also tell what fate was supposed to be and the administrator of Gensokyo having an extra Kitsune would probably be a clear alteration of fate. So they hire Tsukasa to get rid of it (it being Kosuzu.) Tsukasa creatively interprets this, and captures Kosuzu instead, escaping from Ran. Then, years later. When she is hired by Chiyuri to stir up Tengu mountain to go after Youmu, and has a side deal to slip some weird stone to Suwako…

This is just a theory though, a STORY theory! and I look forward to Tsukasa’s next appearance, even if it is her actually giving some parental vibes and proving this completely wrong.

Also, another point for the Kosuzu is actually Ran’s Kit… her notably soft and pettable fur… there is another fox that has an article (by Akyuu specifically) mentioning how pettable and fluffy their fur is… and it is not Tsukasa.

Also

>”should I say nice to meet you, or long time no see?”

Dangnabbit Yukari with your potentially double (triple?) meaning! You’re doing it on purpose!

[x] Be soft, cuddly emotional support. A fuzzy friend was just what the poor girl needed right now.
(X) Have Reimu melt the hinges or the bolt off the door, whatever seems most efficient.
(X) Prepare an artillery strike the moment they're all out of range!

Explosions are very cuddly.

I did vote for reimu to melt the door off, but Reimu did point out that they could pass Kosuzu a screwdriver and with it her and crisis could escape back through the vent (reimu seems to be the only one that can't fit in the vent on account of her shell.)

On the other hand having the door opened might be useful for afterwards, as long as Reimu can make it appear afterwards that the door had been melted from the inside rather than the outside of the room. Maybe have crisis and mayumi rig something up from things in the room to make it look like it melted thd lock and/or the hinges... But also one of the supports to the shelves behind it, then as long as we can make sure attention isn't drawn to the actual escape route used, have the wolves think that Crisis broke free, tried to flee through the store, but that the shelves collapsed on top of her. That should draw all the guards on the inside to try to find her, and perhaps even a good chunk of the outside ones to help, then as the group is getting away (with a last-second detalisman'd yoshika in tow.) Call an artillary strike on the warehouse. Which will be more effective with them all bunched together!

...sorry Kosuzu, we were the ones that need restraint more than Reimu and Mayumi XP

Though some of this plan will be over more than just this vote (gooboi did say that we're not quite at the point where we are ready to prep the artillery strike call yet.)

For those getting a tarp, might i suggest changing it to a more general vote to help prevent the glow from being noticed? Especially with >>210375 in mind a big tarp covering where the prisoner is being guarded is a lot more noticable than a glow that resembles the glow the guards give off...

Not a lot of time before cutoff/update but might change my vote in my next break considering that Kosuzu and Crisis already have a way out and thus we don't even need to both with the door...

Yeah actually

>>210388 here

(UNDO) check to see if a magnet can get the wire out, if so, then Reimu can pick the lock.
-(UNDO) If not, Have Reimu melt the hinges or the bolt off the door, whatever seems most efficient.

(UNDO) Have Mayumi scout the rest of the rooms for escape routes.
- (UNDO) If she spots any enemies, she has to take them out without them noticing her or the others.

{X} Have Reimu scout the rest of the rooms for escape routes.

(X) have Mayumi help Reimu, particularly by keeping an eye out for anyone that are about to spot them and take them out without being noticed as best as possible.

And for the artillery strike votes, note the post here: >>210371

I don't think Kosuzu can do illusions. Leaving Yumemi is a bad idea since Ms. Corpse Lover will probably just extract her and move her to a more secure locstion. This plan is dogwater and will not work, but it may be best to engage in a fight, even if we can't win.

[X] Trust in the book. Prepare a sneak attack.

[X] Yumemi goes through the duct, ‘Yumemi’ stays. Have Yumemi stay in the duct until there's an opportunity to continue with the plan so she doesn't get lost.

I like this idea:

[X] Yumemi vents, ‘Yumemi’ stays.

I do think we have the capacity to make illusions, but if we use that here Kosuzu is still going to be stuck, and we have to break her out loudly anyways. Besides, I don’t think we’re skilled enough to fool Seiga. So if we’re going to have to be loud to get out of this, we’re gonna get LOUD.

[X] Trust in the book. Prepare a sneak attack.
-{X} After the attack is executed, tell the others their cover is blown and to just bust down the door.

Transforming into Yumemi is not a good idea since kosuzu has transformed into a wolf and was not that good (with yoshika it might work but with Seiga it's a very bad idea), leaving Yumemi is out of the question.
Using the danmaku she learned from the book in an ingenious way is the best choice even Reimu said she is quite skilled when she was training.

[X] Trust in the book. Prepare a sneak attack.

[X] Yumemi vents, ‘Yumemi’ stays.

I actually want to take any excuse to use the spellbook, just to see if that leads to anything, but...

Saki is allied with the Mausoleum. Seiga is at best loosely part of that cohort, and can't be relied on to act in line with their interests at all times. If she's coming in like this instead of just using the door, I'm inclined to think she's doing something she's not supposed to. I want the opportunity to find out what.

[X] Trust in the book. Prepare a sneak attack.
-{X} After the attack is executed, tell the others their cover is blown and to just bust down the door.

Trust in the book. This is something we can do, so let's do it. Plan A sets us back too far, and Plan B is a nightmare, especially against someone as cunning as Seiga. This is our best option by far.

[X] Trust in the book. Prepare a sneak attack.
-{X} After the attack is executed, tell the others their cover is blown and to just bust down the door.
Surely violence can solve this issue

[X] Yumemi vents, ‘Yumemi’ stays.

[X] Trust in the book. Prepare a sneak attack.
-{X} After the attack is executed, tell the others their cover is blown and to just bust down the door.

The question for me; is Yumemi in the right headspace to try and sneak out, reunite with Reimu? And, despite cuddle therapy, I don't think she has the mental bandwidth to do that right now. So, better to try for a sneak attack, go loud, try to get backup.

[X] Trust in the book. Prepare a sneak attack.
As Kosuzu herself pointed out, this looks suspiciously as if Seiga got tipped off. This means she most likely has our description and knows what we're capable of (or at least what Tsukasa thinks we're capable of). She's expecting illusions and trickery, but a brute-force ambush like this has a decent chance of catching her off-guard.

>>210449
>>210452
Reimu and Mayumi are both absent at the moment:
>A glance back at the door handle revealed no signs of a jidiao on the other side, trying to break the lock. And Mayumi was likely further afield again.

[X] Trust in the book. Prepare a sneak attack.
-{X} After the attack is executed, tell the others their cover is blown and to just bust down the door.

Seiga most probably already knows there's foul play at hand. If she was tipped off, or if she has a way to check on Yoshika before coming here, she knows there's something up.

Leaving Yumemi, as people said, might set us back a lot if Seiga takes her away, so that's a no-no.

Leaving "Yumemi" is a coin-toss, but I don't think it's that bad of an option. Sure, her previous attempt was not the best, but we have to keep in mind that Kosuzu was trying to disguise from a small animal form, to another animal that's way larger than she was, I don't think the transformation was that bad, just really small. Now, Yumemi is currently covered in soot and Kosuzu should be of a similar size, so she shouldn't have to worry about disguising too much in that case, the most she has to really worry about is the ears and tail. If they had time to switch clothes, we could play a game of "guess who's the real escapee" with Seiga while the others arrive, but I doubt there's time to do that.

The danmaku is not a bad option, but not a guarantee either. If Seiga can't complete the hole, she might just try again if the hairpin is in reach. And I don't think that's her only trick up her sleeve if she gets separated with it.

[X] Yumemi vents, ‘Yumemi’ stays.
- [X] If there's time to do so, swap clothes so Kosuzu doesn't have to worry to transform those.
- [X] Warn Yumemi to cover her nose and mouth inside the vent, we don't want her to sneeze or cough in there while Seiga is here.

I choose this because it's the most amusing option. But if danmaku wins, I'm OK with that too.

Adding to >>210454:
- [X] Warn Yumemi to cover her nose and mouth inside the vent, we don't want her to sneeze or cough in there while Seiga is here.

This kinda reminds me of the vote from the Yuuma boss fight where we had a choice that was a follow up to the choice between talismans and needles.

its not quite the same admittedly.

but yeah, if we had studied seals we probably could have voted to stop her from cutting through. I don't know how the sound would factor in here.

but there is a difference between that vote and this one, because technically Kosuzu has read up on 2 of Ran's techniques. the danmaku... and the code for the ring's illusion spell

So! while I am voting for the Danmaku... I have a suggestion for a write in for you guys voting 'Yumemi'

[USE THIS]Incorporate parts of the code from the ring's illusion code that Kosuzu read over to improve the 'Yumemi' Illusion (ask for some hair if needed.)

[X] Trust in the book. Prepare a sneak attack.

[X] Trust in the book. Prepare a sneak attack.
-{X} After the attack is executed, tell the others their cover is blown and to just bust down the door.

Smite the foul hermit!

[X] Trust in the book. Prepare a sneak attack.
-{X} After the attack is executed, tell the others their cover is blown and to just bust down the door.

Could cause a Re/Awakening?

[X] Yumemi vents, ‘Yumemi’ stays.
- [X] Warn Yumemi to cover her nose and mouth inside the vent, we don't want her to sneeze or cough in there while Seiga is here.

Let's 'Parent Trap' Seiga!

[X] Trust in the book. Prepare a sneak attack.
-{X} After the attack is executed, tell the others their cover is blown and to just bust down the door.

Punch her in the face!

>>210466

we aren't in a boss fight yet, so i doubt it?

>>210428

I was thinking this over a bit more, and have a couple questions that might add some more to my little theory here:

- I had been operating a bunch of the theory off of the assumption that If Tsukasa had kitnapped Kosuzu, it had been because she was creatively reinterpreting what she was hired to do… and taking Kosuzu as her own to have a kid…

-But what if it wasn't?

What if, kitnapping her and raising Kosuzu as Tsukasa has, was the entire point?

Kosuzu is raised isolated (even Reimu who was more of a secret than Kosuzu still had the Otter spirits! And an affectionate mother too!) no friends, and the one time someone gets close to her (as in AS Kosuzu), Kosuzu is told that she "messed it up" so badly that said new friend will attempt to assault her if she ever shows up again.

Despite being raised by an unrepentant Kuda-Gitsune, Kosuzu has grown an impression that her powerset is weak, incapable and useless, and that she has been slow to learn them. ("Late-Bloomer, bordering on Truant" which means not actually truant in a backhanded sort of way, said within Kosuzu's earshot)

Despite a Kuda-gitsune being known for their appetite, she is being told she eats too much. (despite from what I recall from WaHH eating being a notable part of what fuels their powers!)

The only notable independent attempt at her powers is so thoroughly punished using test tubes. that it leaves her deeply traumatized by the mere sound of clinking glass.

Her "mother" has not yet given her one word of congratulation or worry that we have seen so far, even though she managed to sneak right into the largest secret of the Kicchou.

Being raised like that sounds like it has at least the potential of generating

Despair

Doesn't it?

so, here I think is the horrifyingly important question that comes up if you ask why could Tsukasa possibly be hired to the insanely risky job of stealing A Kitsune child from right under the might of Miyohiga... and raise her as we have seen.

What
Happens
If
An
Immaterial
Child
Becomes
A
PYRE

[X] Trust in the book. Prepare a sneak attack.
-{X} Have Yumemi work on the lock while we prepare the attack. Surely a talented inventor like herself could think of something to bypass it?
-{X} If Reimu comes back in the middle of it, try to communicate with her through the door.
-{X} All else fails, Yumemi builds a makeshift weapon to defend herself with.

can't just have yumemi stand around doing nothing while we attack, can we?

i do not trust us to be able to fool seiga. someone else from the keiga, maybe. saki herself? no. seiga fucking kaku? no. absolutely not.

>>210470
I dunno, Saki I'd say we have a pretty good chance to do so, she is pretty know for being Brawn over brains...

ol' Nyan Nyan?... no I'm largely in agreement with you on that. even if I did supply a possible write-in for the option.

...that feels a bit grim, and honestly not particularly convincing.

Why would this be sufficient to feed the absolute despair that seems to be necessary to trigger the Pyre? What possible benefit would come of taking such a long and convoluted plan? Why would Tsukasa agree to a plan that involves massive risk and effort on her part for no meaningfully apparent reward? Who would be both invested in this circumlocutious scheme while having to rely purely on external factors to carry it out?

It doesn't really make any sense. Too many holes.

>>210471
saki's been in close contact with yumemi before- she was the one to bring yumemi in. and actually carried her herself. i'd still say a very hesitant maybe, but i'd rather not risk it.

[X] Trust in the book. Prepare a sneak attack.
-{X} After the attack is executed, tell the others their cover is blown and to just bust down the door.

>>210472

Well the information pointed out is only the stuff we've seen so far, the tip of the iceberg , and there has been... well considering she's just turned 10 iirc, and she could barely remember the 'event' that might be her kitnapping as a dream. So estimating the event as probably around when Kosuzu was 3-4 years old I'd say... about 6-7 continual years of stuff like this? and many more to come? Years more of any friend she makes she "messes up" and they want to hurt her, again and again and again and again.(and that's before you factor in any subconscious memories of Kosuzu having all the friends she had in timeline A&B) along with everything else we’ve seen so far, (especially once you hit the teenage years… if Youkai aging even works like that…) yeah, I could see that building despair… and if I’m also right about the source of the Burnt Cherry that found it way to Suwako… then there’d also be the spark needed to light it on hand.

Kosuzu wasn't even supposed to be leaving the animal realm for this job until Reimu discovered it was her. She was supposed to be sitting in some hidden office alone with a bunch of Otter spirits that didn't trust her cooking the books for however long the job took... Really good that she stumbled into Reimu when she did...

As for why, well, yeah that is the weaker explanation right now, if this is the true culprit of the week of fire that has some way of distorting fate, and well, If that power comes with the prerequisite to be able to tell what fate was supposed to be. then turning what is likely a measure meant to oppose you as your own tool would be the goal, but if this is the true culprit, well this would be the first chance we get to see any sort of clue about them aside from despair fuelled black fire, a power ramp that has them weak now, but in... 15? 20? years capable of punching a hole through Yukari's chest. so yeah, we don't know what they could offer to know if it would be possibly rewarding to a Kuda-Gitsune.

and yeah, this is all a Big IF and Tsukasa doesn't just turn out like Yachie...

Though I swear if I read one refrain of "Mother Knows Best" from that fox...

>>210473

fair enough XD

New question I just realized... Why is Seiga cutting the hole to be so big?

It is apparently large enough to slow her down...

Regarding >>210428

I don't see Ran being a shapeshifter, even though she should be able to do so, that would be her main method of attack imo. An illusion? Maybe that's more her alley.

Speaking about her abilities, I think the prime reason for Kosuzu not being good for kudagitsune tricks is because she must be attuned to a different kind of fox magic/abilities. Yukari gifting her Ran's grimoire to practice might be less "any kind of fox youkai can do this" and more "you specifically can use this book to its full extent", and for a reason.

I'm more in the camp of people that think that Tsukasa was the target to keep imprisoned in the tube, for whatever reason. Kosuzu just was at the wrong place, in the wrong time.

About Megumu, what >>210388 said might be true too, maybe Megumu suspected something and Tsukasa had to keep her away, but that's still in the air.

>> "I’m assuming that if you have the ability to distort fate, you can also tell what fate was supposed to be"
Not necessarily, Remilia is supposed to be able to manipulate fate but she had no clue of anything amiss.

>> Also, another point for the Kosuzu is actually Ran’s Kit… her notably soft and pettable fur… there is another fox that has an article (by Akyuu specifically) mentioning how pettable and fluffy their fur is…
Where does it say this? I'm not the best searching for this stuff but I couldn't find the direct quote. In PMiSS, the most I could find is Reimu saying something like "her tails look really warm"

"Favorite food? Fried tofu, this time." from Yachie's "interrogation" of Kosuzu
"She has no particular weaknesses, but she is extremely fond of fried tofu" in Ran's page of PMiSS.
The only similarity in that regard between Kosuzu and Ran would be that both like fried tofu (which itself might be unrelated since not just Ran but most foxes in japanese media love it).

Regarding >>210469
Someone making a kon-tract with Tsukasa (sorry had to slip a kon somewhere at least once) for the sole reason of making an Immaterial Child miserable in order to create a pyre? That's... convoluted. Very much so. If getting rid of the ICs was the plan, why not just order to end her there?

As always, I say we use occam's razor:
If Tsukasa stole a child, she just wants a kid for herself to mold as she sees fit.
If it's her real mother, then she's just too strict with her for her own good?
Maybe there's a third option, in which Tsukasa actually adopted Kosuzu after she saved her from something else, doesn't know what to do with the kid and kind of didn't want the responsability of raising her but didn't want to just get rid of her, so she prepares her so she can fend herself in the cruel world. I'm really trying to give Tsukasa the benefit of the doubt here, though. Maybe it's a sum of all parts.

Another option that kinda "fits" very loosely, is that Kosuzu was accidentally (or purposely) abandoned by a not-yet-shikigami'd Ran for whatever reason, depending on when she was converted but still, really shaky grounds here and I don't really think this is the case.

>>210478
If you need the thingie that was left with Suwako to convert Kosuzu, why leave it with Suwako in the first place and get your possible plan discovered before you can do anything about it?

Kosuzu wasn't supposed to be leaving alone, which is what Reimu ultimately wants by not wanting anything to do with Tsukasa, but they would both leave with Reimu if possible. It's not like Tsukasa was just going to give Kosuzu away to Yachie.

As >>210472 said, why? Why would Tsukasa agree? What would she gain from all this?

I want Tsukasa to prove me wrong, but to me she's just like the stereotype of strict asian parent: overly strict "for the child's sake": No praise when you do something good because that's what you're supposed to do. Punishments when you do something bad. You're supposed to do anything I tell you because I know better. That kind of stuff.

Sorry for the long text.

Counting to >>210474:
Main Choice #1:
[0] Kosuzu vents, Yumemi stays.
[6] Yumemi vents, ‘Yumemi’ stays.
[14] Trust in the book. Prepare a sneak attack.

Potential Additions:
For [x] Yumemi vents...:
-{1} Have Yumemi stay in the duct until there's an opportunity to continue with the plan so she doesn't get lost. (>>210447)
Hopefully this works?
-{1} If there's time to do so, swap clothes so Kosuzu doesn't have to worry to transform those. (>>210460)
-{3} Warn Yumemi to cover her nose and mouth inside the vent, we don't want her to sneeze or cough in there while Seiga is here. (>>210460, >>210461, >>210467)
-{1} Incorporate parts of the code from the ring's illusion code, that Kosuzu read over, to improve the 'Yumemi' Illusion, ask for some hair if needed. (>>210462)

For [x] Trust in the book...:
-{9} After the attack is executed, tell the others their cover is blown and to just bust down the door. (>>210449, >>210452, >>210453, >>210455, >>210450, >>210465, >>210466, >>210468, >>210474)
-{1} Have Yumemi work on the lock while we prepare the attack. Surely a talented inventor like herself could think of something to bypass it? (>>210470)
-{1} If Reimu comes back in the middle of it, try to communicate with her through the door. (>>210470)
-{1} All else fails, Yumemi builds a makeshift weapon to defend herself with. (>>210470)

:3

Whatever the case, I think it's clear that Tsukasa is abusive and extremely keen on keeping Kosuzu under her thumb - having never shown her any genuine affection seemingly ever, forcibly isolating her when she develops a positive relationship with anyone else, and regularly undermining her confidence (presumably to make her more pliant to manipulation) - and Kosuzu is better off without her. Just as >>210469 says, although I don't think that their explanation for why she's abusive holds water. Just seems a bit... evil-for-evil's sake, cartoon supervillain-y for Tsukasa, who is ultimately completely out for her own gain. Helping end the world gains her nothing.

This may just be optimistic of me, but I can't help but feel that if Kosuzu were genuinely her daughter, she wouldn't be this bad. Probably still the sort of parent who shouldn't be, but the way she is now, it sort of feels like Kosuzu's some kind of tool to her. In a way that makes me feel like she acquired her for a specific purpose. Although I hardly know what, since she hardly seems interested in building up Kosuzu's capabilities at all. Perhaps just having her in her custody has some kind of value.

Or perhaps she's just a dime-a-dozen neglectful, manipulative, abusive mom. That doesn't feel right for her character, but that's just to me, not necessarily to Gooboi.

>>210479
My suspicion is she's betraying the Keiga, and by extension the Mausoleum, and planning to make off with Yumemi on her own, and therefore she's making the hole extra big to fit two people through.

That, or some other voters have the right of it and we've been sold out - and the apparent inaction from our allies on the other side of the door seems to point to this, too - and Seiga's coming in with reinforcements.

To be honest, I'm of two minds about the danmaku approach precisely because of that. From a battle tactics perspective, Kosuzu controls a very narrow, temporary chokepoint, and that'll allow her to punch way above her weight. On the other, immediately opening fire on an enemy force of unknown size, composition, disposition, and possibly even affiliation is... not sound tactics, in my mind.

Adding to >>210457:
-{X} Have Yumemi work on the lock while we prepare the attack. Surely a talented inventor like herself could think of something to bypass it?

>>210428
>>210469
There are some interesting points but I think a lot of people have already said the same thing as tsukasa, I don't think she's too evil to do that.

Although I have a bit of hope, she hasn't talked to her daughter or explained her situation to at least defend herself (Especially the chat that wants to shove a MasterSpark in her face lol) , still I'm looking forward to how the story will continue. :D

>210481

>I don't see Ran being a shapeshifter, even though she should be able to do so, that would be her main method of attack imo. An illusion? Maybe that's more her alley.

Well from Kosuzu’s perspective would it being an illusion rather than shapeshifting make a difference?

>Speaking about her abilities, I think the prime reason for Kosuzu not being good for kudagitsune tricks is because she must be attuned to a different kind of fox magic/abilities. Yukari gifting her Ran's grimoire to practice might be less "any kind of fox youkai can do this" and more "you specifically can use this book to its full extent", and for a reason.

Yeah, agreed with you there.

>I'm more in the camp of people that think that Tsukasa was the target to keep imprisoned in the tube, for whatever reason. Kosuzu just was at the wrong place, in the wrong time.

Yeah, I thought so too earlier, with Mayohiga doing it to be ironic or something like that. Not sure about it now…

>About Megumu, what >>210388 said might be true too, maybe Megumu suspected something and Tsukasa had to keep her away, but that's still in the air.

Well I do agree… but that’s mostly because that’s me who posted it. XP that bit i think still works with this theory. Tsukasa could've just used the oppertunity the need to remove Kosuzu from Megumu's prescence brought to break down Kosuzu more. Tsukasa could've blamed Megumu for the need to remove Kosuzu from her presence. (As Reimu just did when told about it.) But no, it was somehow Kosuzu's big mistake that did

>Not necessarily, Remilia is supposed to be able to manipulate fate but she had no clue of anything amiss.

Au contraire, Remilia IS a strong source of proof for this. When Akyuu altered fate by her arrival and ended up derailing Remilia’s “perfect entrance” Remilia did feel something was amiss. More than that, she used her ability of fate to lead her exactly where to find Akyuu, and from a single glance at a distance knew exactly who her target was despite never meeting her before.

>> Also, another point for the Kosuzu is actually Ran’s Kit… her notably soft and pettable fur… there is another fox that has an article (by Akyuu specifically) mentioning how pettable and fluffy their fur is…

>Where does it say this? I'm not the best searching for this stuff but I couldn't find the direct quote. In PMiSS, the most I could find is Reimu saying something like "her tails look really warm"

Someone brought it up in USiL when Mamikyu was spinning a yarn about how bad Ran was, I don’t recall if I brought it up or someone else did and I just built from that… ah, no, looking at it now, the post had said her tails were warm, my mistake. Must've gotten it muddled up with some other fanfics that involve Ran’s tails getting attention where their fluffiness is praised.

Though I do note that Akyuu strongly agreed with Reimu regarding their warmth

>Of course they're warm.

>She's the strongest beast, after all.

>"Favorite food? Fried tofu, this time." from Yachie's "interrogation" of Kosuzu
>"She has no particular weaknesses, but she is extremely fond of fried tofu" in Ran's page of PMiSS.
>The only similarity in that regard between Kosuzu and Ran would be that both like fried tofu (which itself might be unrelated since not just Ran but most foxes in japanese media love it).

Regarding >>210469
>[spoiler]Someone making a kon-tract with Tsukasa (sorry had to slip a kon somewhere at least once) for the sole reason of making an Immaterial Child miserable in order to create a pyre? That's... convoluted. Very much so. If getting rid of the ICs was the plan, why not just order to end her there?

Maybe because it's not that the culprit or Tsukasa wants to make it that complicated, but that they have to do so. The culprit is currently weaker than they will be during the week of fire. What if that means they are under similar restrictions and Chiyuri and Yumemi and can't directly alter things?
Heck they don't even need to be able to detect alterations in fate. They had a big giant neon sign that told everyone that it had,

Or rather 4 of them (later 5.)

the immaterial child incident would have tipped them off

And if your plan results in the destruction of Gensokyo you'd want to keep an eye on Yukari, right?

So then either right when the IC incident is happening, or a couple of years later, our culprit discovers that Ran suddenly had a kit right around when the immaterial children incident happened.

So a child that can alter fate by their mere presence that could stop our culprit's plans… and the kid is directly in Yukari's hands?!! that couldn't be allowed to stand. If Yukari notices something is up with Kitsuzu and uses gap shenanigans to awaken her when she was 5? And already start planning at that point? That would be a big problem for our culprit.

>[the immaterial children’s] mere existence disturbs fate wherever they go. One who has the ability to Re/Awaken reshapes the world around them in their image, whether they like it or not.”

But, that's just one of the ICs and at the very least thanks to the IC incident our culprit knows there's at least 3 more somewhere (at the time, a couple more as time passed.)… but probably can't figure out where. So eliminating Kosuzu won't solve the problem. And they still can't directly alter fate on top of that which might make eliminating Kosuzu themselves, if at all, dicey.
So how to deal with both problems? Got a hold of the one you know of. And then break them so that they can be used against the remainder. (As Deltarune chapter 2 genocide route shows, just because you can't alter fate, doesn't mean you can't manipulate someone who can)[/spoiler]

Of course our culprit is not strong enough to face off against one Ran or Yukari yet, much less break into their home to steal a kit…
But there is this very mercenary Fox whose ability can exploit a weak point (in the soul, but still usable for this theory.), might’ve been Chen, might’ve been Ran (really doubt it was Yukari.) that our infiltration specialist used to get in, nab the Kit and then escape and keep her out of view.

Now Tsukasa doesn’t necessarily need to know about the part to turn her into a Pyre, just the bit of ‘take her, keep her, and cut her down whenever you like.’ bit

>As always, I say we use occam's razor:
>If Tsukasa stole a child, she just wants a kid for herself to mold as she sees fit.
>If it's her real mother, then she's just too strict with her for her own good?
>Maybe there's a third option, in which Tsukasa actually adopted Kosuzu after she saved her from something else, doesn't know what to do with the kid and kind of didn't want the responsability of raising her but didn't want to just get rid of her, so she prepares her so she can fend herself in the cruel world. I'm really trying to give Tsukasa the benefit of the doubt here, though. Maybe it's a sum of all parts.

Well from what we are seeing, she’s NOT preparing her for the cruel world: no allies, no trust in even her own abilities, I made a reference to “mother” Gothel from Tangled, but really, other than the fact that Kosuzu can leave the ‘tower’ there are a LOT of comparisons here with Gothel and Tsukasa. It seems rather than molding Kosuzu, Tsukasa is trying to break her.

Furthermore, if Tsukasa rescued Kosuzu from something else… and considering that if it is Mayohiga that she forbid Kosuzu from approaching, then she has at least a VERY strong clue where Kosuzu was from.. Then why not treat her like she tells Kosuzu to do with read material she comes across, to get some sort of reward out of it. Or in this case Kosuzu, since she seems to have an idea, just approach Mayohiga and say, hey I have some information on that person you are looking for, can i get a reward?

But she doesn’t and instead keeps Kosuzu and from what we’ve seen kneecap her mentally and emotionally constantly.

>>210478
>If you need the thingie that was left with Suwako to convert Kosuzu, why leave it with Suwako in the first place and get your possible plan discovered before you can do anything about it?

Who says that’s the only Burnt Cherry that Tsukasa, (or her supplier) has on hand? (hmm, that name for it loses the 'stone’ part of the name, coal cherry maybe? Ember Cherry?)

>Kosuzu wasn't supposed to be leaving alone, which is what Reimu ultimately wants by not wanting anything to do with Tsukasa, but they would both leave with Reimu if possible. It's not like Tsukasa was just going to give Kosuzu away to Yachie.

>>209753
>[spoiler]it was originally discussed with the expectation that I’d be your advisor and Kosuzu would stay back and help with something like cooking the books

Kosuzu wasn’t supposed to be going with Tsukasa and the Dragon Miko at all.

>As >>210472 said, why? Why would Tsukasa agree? What would she gain from all this?

Yeah, again, I have a hard time even beginning to guess since we know so little about our true culprit. (thus all the Ifs in my theory above.) Whether they are a canon character, fan character, or an entirely new character. From the only information we have, namely black flames fuelled by despair… the current best guess I have right now is Shion and it doesn’t sound like her, especially from timeline A since she at that point would have a good friend finally (Tenshi) and her sister iirc had lightened up on her after training under Byakuren for awhile. So I doubt it is her (thought maybe she’s being used rather than being the culprit?)

I do have a couple of theories on what they could possibly offer though.

Firstly, being the Sole survivor of Gensokyo (or the last if you catch my drift.)

also it could be some treasure or wealth and Tsukasa isn’t being told the whole picture and what this will lead to.

Or… we could be coming at this from the wrong direction, what if it's not something that the culprit is offering Tsukasa, but instead threatening her with?

>>210494

well Tsukasa doesn’t have to be evil enough to be purposely making Kosuzu into a Pyre is she isn’t being told why she is to treat Kosuzu as we are under the impression she has been, just evil enough to be doing the acts that would lead to it, even if she doesn’t know of it.

Though yeah, I am also interested to see what her side of this is. Its going to be interesting and fun to read one way or another!

-----

>>210486

>That, or some other voters have the right of it and we've been sold out - and the apparent inaction from our allies on the other side of the door seems to point to this, too - and Seiga's coming in with reinforcements.

If this follows the pattern from Megamu… then after they escape from this, there might be “evidence” found that points to this being Kosuzu’s fault…

>>210498
this particular post made me realize that its kinda weird how we've been talking about this whole thing in spoiler tags. why are we redacting this theory..?

>>210499
That thought did occur to me while making that post XD

>>210499

I just started doing it because everyone else was doing it, but it doesn't really make sense, does it?

>>210498

Let's assume this mysterious contractor does, in fact, exist - there are two possible reasons why she'd want to carry out this plan.

A) To eliminate one of the Immaterial Children

or

B) To bring the Pyres into play as early as possible.

The biggest problem with either is that, well, the contrivance serves neither of these purposes. For A, there are dozens of ways Kosuzu could have been disposed of beforehand, lethally or otherwise. For B, that means that focusing on an Immaterial Child is kind of unnecessary and might even backfire.

To accomplish either of these goals, there are so many different options between "just kill or torture them" and "incredibly convoluted scheme a decade in the making." Like, Tsukasa isn't really acting like a seven-headed monster parent who wants to make her children suffer; all her actions are explainable as her being a run-of-the-mill shit mom / generational trauma.

It's also worth repeating that it's very hard to see why Tsukasa would be a part of this - for someone as sneaky, underhanded, and untrusting as Tsukasa to be baited along on some vague promise of reward in exchange for massive risk over literal years... it doesn't compute.

>>210501

But if she isn't the mom, then why is she taking this massive risk over literal years?

With some sort of payment (or threat) there is some explanation of why she would kidnap someone from right underneath Yukari's nose and hold onto them for years, at risk of discovery... While at the same time undermining kosuzu's emotional state in multiple instances (though there is also the other theory that i had that she was doing the inverse of Yukari's explanation about Kitsune and was instead enforcing the distinction of a Kuda-gitsune.

on the topic of the theorys running around.
what if the topic is more simple, i never wrote the idea that pop in my head during the start of Suzus arc, and the idea was that Suzu is the last surviving kit of her litter.
what if that is what is/has happend, Tsukasa lost her children and in then stumbled upon baby Suzu and kidnapped her because of this.

And Yumemi and Chiyuri have been doing things in an round about manner, As i said (in my admittedly rather large post), what if our contractor was under similar restrictions to them and thus its not that they want to have things convoluted, but they have to. (Not to mention they probably are doing their best not to show themselves in the open ever and risk being discovered.)

Regarding why discuss it in spoilers, I thought maybe some people that only come here to read the voting and such without spoiling themselves or theorycraft would appreciate it.

I'll just go into "wait and see" mode until we have more information for now.

[X] Trust in the book. Prepare a sneak attack.
-{X} After the attack is executed, tell the others their cover is blown and to just bust down the door.

As Bain from Payday 2 said: "New plan people, cause the old one's dead!"

>>210505

Yeah, i think that was a part of why i was putting the stuff in spoilers.

And yeah a non work mode scene with Tsukasa or something like that will probably give us a bunch more info one way or another.

I'm not gonna say anything definitive regarding the discussion of Kosuzu's backstory, but I am gonna say that in terms of what to call the stone cherries of Pyrefairies, I've been calling them Endless Embers.

Though, perhaps Charred Cherries would be a more descriptive term for them.

...What? If you didn't realise the author liked alliteration by this point, you CLEARLY haven't been paying attention.

>>210509

Missed opportunity to say that the author adores alliteration. Shame on you.