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THE STORY SO FAR:
The world has ended, but five (well, it’s complicated) 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'...
Kosuzu is making her mark in the Animal Realm. Having been gifted a grimoire by Yakumo Yukari, she, along with Mayumi and Kicchou Reimu, were sent to rescue a young girl in the clutches of the Keiga. Despite their rescue attempt being compromised, she and the others were still able to liberate the young girl, and deliver her safely to the Haniwa Corps’ territory.
The young girl’s true identity was revealed to be Okazaki Yumemi. Like the Immaterial Children, she has traveled through time - though, unlike them, she travels using scientific means, as part of a stable time loop. A future version of Yumemi has been subtly intervening in the fates of all the Immaterial Children, for reasons yet unknown. But for Kosuzu - perhaps out of gratitude for the fox saving her life - she has been directly acting to help her grow in power and confidence. Her most recent, reckless, and costly attempt to do so was to rescue the grimoire Kosuzu had been using - a tome penned by Yakumo Ran, for her wayward daughter.
Though she doesn’t yet know it, that wayward daughter is Kosuzu herself. She was stolen in her infancy by Kudamaki Tsukasa, for reasons not yet fully understood. But having been harshly reprimanded by her false mother, Kosuzu has fallen into a world of dreams, where truth lurks in several forms. And Kosuzu’s dreams are not the only reason this night will prove to be tumultuous…
Previous Threads:
Redo/Reimu >>205449 >>205720
Again/Akyuu >>206017 >>206302 >>206595 >>206906 >>207202
Yester/Youmu >>207370 >>207705 >>208027 >>208337 >>208664 >>208978
Kaizou/Kosuzu >>209221 >>209492 >>209799 >>210140 >>210522 >>210832 >>211127
Epilogues and Shorts >>/shorts/2804
Or read the story archive on Ao3:
https://archiveofourown.org/series/4062991
Outside/Omakes (Shorts from Other Writers): >>/shorts/2947
“Is… is there really proof, there?” She said, hesitantly. “Th-that there’s… that there’s something else, other than this? Proof… my mother loves me?”
Yukari nodded. “Oh, I promise you that. There’s definitely a lot of love your mother’s dying to give you.”
The little fox closed her eyes. If there was something like that… she knew the other end was probably important too. But… she wanted to know it. To know what had started everything.
Yukari nodded, her gaze getting that strange quality to it again. “...Yes, maybe this is for the best. Even if the worst comes to pass… the truth itself is a powerful weapon, here.”
Motoori Kosuzu looked up at her. “She didn’t say anything yet…”
“Ah- I was responding to-” The sage paused. “W-well, we’re all of the same mind, are we not?”
“Riiiiiiight.” Motoori’s voice was open in it’s skepticism
Suzu looked up. “I-I wanna see the start.” Her other self nodded. Yukari smiled, beginning to wave her hand.
Purple tendrils extended from the beginning of the scroll, reaching for the bookshelves. They started to rattle and resonate, causing the whole dream to shudder and shiver. She pulled her tail in, with a steadying hand coming from her other self.
The tendrils quickly found their target - another well-worn scroll, a rich, dark blue in colour. It lifted itself from its shelf, snaking over to its partner, and attaching itself, undoing the rip along its seam.
Suzu looked around nervously as the dream’s shaking settled. “...Guess that’s gonna attract the baku?” She took a deep breath, and moved to the start of the scroll.
As she unfurled the beginning, the instrument on the desk began to play. The song sounded… familiar. Her older self looked up. “I recognise this son-” She tilted her head. “O-or rather, I don’t. Huh? I feel like I know it, but… something’s off.”
Yukari chuckled. “Maybe you’re not the half of you that recognises it, Motoori?”
Kosuzu looked at her, confused. “B-but… isn’t this that lullaby? From my life? Unless…”
Suzu looked down, closer, at the scroll - or, not a scroll, a picture book. There was a bunny, with lots of cabbages across the pages. One, two, three, four, five - her mother pointed out each one in turn.
She yawned, her head starting to droop, as her mother finished the rhyme on the page. The older fox chuckled, ruffling her daughter’s fur as she closed up the book.
“Is Suzu getting tired?”
The little fox’s attention turned in the direction of the voice. “Y’kari…?” Lady Yukari was leaning over, scratching her behind the ears. She cooed, but her tail was too tired to even wag.
“Ah, perhaps. Maybe it’s time for bed, then, hmmm?” Her mother chuckled, starting to put away what she had on the desk.
She heard another voice, younger, more sour in its tone. She was pretty sure her name was either Big Sister, or Chen. Maybe both. “Sleeping’s all she can do right now, isn’t it?”
Yukari changed from scratching behind Suzu’s ears to under her chin. It felt so good… but she was so tired, her head fell into the purple-clad woman’s palm. “She’s too young to do much yet, but in time, she’ll be a powerful kitsune. Maybe even stronger than her mama, hmm?”
“I-I’ll be strong too!” Big Sister protested. “Y-you’ll see!”
Her mother chuckled. “I know you will, Chen. Now… I have to get the little one to bed, so I’ll be out shortly.” She gave the protesting catgirl a gentle pat on the head, as she scooped up the tiny Suzu.
The young fox snuggled into her mother’s shoulder, as she was carried down the hallway towards her bedroom. Yukari followed, making faces and trying to make the young fox smile.
Her mother muttered, under her breath. “...I’m worried about Chen. Her power as a shikigami’s been slipping, recently.”
Yukari didn’t visibly react, though she responded in the same hushed tones. “It’s natural, honestly. Classic first child behavior, to a degree - she’s not used to having to share your free time yet. It’s just that, as your shikigami, that has an effect on her efficiency, as well.”
The woman carrying her sighed. “...A-and I worry she sees herself as less my daughter than Kosuzu. I’ve done my best to distribute my time as evenly as possible-”
“But by nature, the youngest takes priority. And as a shikigami, she can calculate the exact amount of the difference between her share and Suzu’s.” Yukari stepped forward, to pat her on the shoulder. “Honestly, we get one ‘big sis Chen’ out of lil’ Suzu, and the problem’s solved, I think.”
“If you say so, Yukari…” Her mother responded, worry in her voice. They turned, opening a door to Kosuzu’s nursery.
The young fox yawned, her eyes drooping, as she was lowered into her bed. Her mother looked down at her, humming a gentle lullaby.
Yukari crept to the edge of the nursery. Switching some device on. Little cut-outs of blue light filled up the room, with patterns of plants and flowers. Even just looking at them made Kosuzu feel sleepy.
A single finger extended down, and she reached out to grab it. She clasped her mother’s hand as tightly as she could, holding it close.
Yakumo Ran smiled. “I know, my little bluebell. I’ll miss you too. I’ll see you in the morning, alright?” She leant down, giving the little fox a kiss on the forehead, and stepped away, leaving her daughter to her dreams.
Suzu watched her go, blinking and rubbing her eyes. She was back at Suzunaan’s desk. “H-huh?!” She looked around. Her other self was staring at the scroll, then back at herself, slackjawed. .
Her mind was already racing. This- This was clearly the story of the Bluebell Grimoire’s owner, wasn’t it? Of Ran’s second daughter. A-and her dreams had cast her in that role.
It was wish fulfilment. Blatantly, and utterly. And yet… it felt real. So real she could still feel her moth-Ran’s warmth.
She leant back, closing her eyes and trying to think. The sound of footsteps stirred her awake. It was much darker now - no ambient light from outside her room, just the soft patterns of plants and flowers adorning it. She looked around the room, confused, wondering what had awoken her.
It was the faintest flicker. Something she could only just barely sense, in the quiet darkness. A mote of light, so small and dim it was almost invisible. It seemed to focus on her, then its attention was called away, to another spot, empty, in her room. She crawled, on her hands and knees, trying to see what it was… looking at?
As it did, a small… glowy hole? A portal of some sort appeared. It was perfectly circular; big enough to allow a coin through on its face, but little else. She pulled herself up, trying to look to see what was there. Something long and yellow snaked out of the hole, changing shape as it entered her room.
Then slowly, it stood. A shadow fell upon Kosuzu’s bed, with eyes glowing gold and a wicked, hollow grin. It’s tail flicked through the mote of light, scattering its remaining presence to nothingness. The little fox pulled back, instinctively, her tail curling in on itself.
Kudamaki Tsukasa reached down, and took the trembling kit from her crib.
At once, the room was alight. Sounds and lights, a storm of alarms and sirens. Tsukasa ran for the window, prying it open with the hilt of her dagger.
Suzu heard her mother’s voice, panicked and yelling, but she didn’t catch sight of her. By the time she’d reached the room, Tsukasa had gotten outside, and was running to the woods. She reached out, desperately, but… her home vanished into the cold darkness.
But… From that darkness, a white-gloved hand reached out. Suzu’s claws seized on it, and she was freed from Tsukasa’s grasp.
And pulled back into Yukari’s lap. The elder youkai’s expression was complicated, but every emotion the young fox could read was bittersweet at best. Suzu looked up at her, stunned.
“I-I… am I…? I-is this all… real?”
Yukari almost managed a mischievous mask through a small smile. “What do you think, Suzu? Does it feel real, to you?”
“I-if it is true…” Motoori Kosuzu was staring at the scroll, stunned. “Th-this wasn’t a rescue, or even just an escape… it was a kidnapping!”
Suzu looked down. “A-and… I’m… Lady Ran’s daughter?” …Slowly, she shook her head. “N-no, that, that can’t be right.”
The sage turned to her. “Why not, Suzu?”
“Because, because…” Her tail pulled in on herself. “I-I’m just a tube fox. A-a weak, useless little gutter-fox, who, who-”
Her older self leaned in. “...Who struggles with the tricks of kuda-gitsune. But you find the magic Ran’s been writing a lot easier, right?”
Suzu trembled. “I-I guess, but, but that doesn’t mean anything, does it?” She shook her head. “I-it could just be a coincidence, I-I could just be trying the really easy spells -”
“Isn’t it odd,” Yukari leaned in. “That the grimoire for Ran’s daughter is named after Bluebells? That the first thing the real world Yukari did was rush over to give you the book?”
Suzu leaned down. “S-surely it’s… just a coincidence…” She shook her head. “I-I mean, I guess if I still had the book, I-I could check, but…”
Yukari scratched the fox behind her ears. “...Why don’t you want to believe it, Suzu?”
“I-I want to believe it! More than anything! But… but…” She shuddered. This was all a dream, after all, and they weren’t known for making perfect sense the way this one seemed to. Surely when she woke up it’d be same - some laughable, nonsensical fantasy. “I-if I go up to Lady Ran thinking I’m her daughter, and having lost the book she made for her real daughter - sh-she’d kill me on the spot! And I’d deserve it.”
Her other self shook her head. “But if it is true-”
The little fox sagged. “E-even if it is true… i-if Yakumo Ran is my mother, then, then that means…”
Then her mothe- Tsukasa... she had never been related to Suzu, never loved her. Maybe she'd hated her from the start.
Kosuzu had worked, and bled, and starved, to feel… something. Anything. Any pride in being the young, promising new Kudamaki. Any satisfaction from serving as the perfect assistant to her schemes. Any feeling of love, any reward for her efforts.
If this was true, then all of that was for nothing. Nothing at all. It had just been fighting to fill a space in Tsukasa’s heart that had never actually existed. And if she started thinking that she’d been born a kitsune, and Tsukasa found out… even trying to imagine what the kuda-gitsune would do filled her stomach with a pit of dread.
The little fox started to sob. “I-if this is all true… Why? Why would she… what did I do to…?”
Yukari shook her head. “You didn’t do anything to deserve this, Suzu - because you don’t deserve this. The woman who’s taken you has just sought to hurt you. But there’s a better life, a real family, one that will love and cherish you, out there." She paused, taking a moment to consider. "In fact, not just one, but two of them - because the Motoori are out there too, after all. And every one of us will make sure that this will never happen again. That you won’t spend another day under the thrall of a vindictive tube-fox.”
She gave the fox a gentle pat on the head. “If you think this is just a dream… perhaps you’ll find something, when the morning comes. You’ll see something even the most broken of hearts won’t be able to ignore.You’ve worked so very, very hard, Suzu. Your mother will be… so, so proud.“
There was a rumble in the distance. The curtain in the back of the store began to billow away, sucked in by an unknown wind. The sage looked up. “Ah… we’re out of time, it seems. I’m afraid this will have to be enough, Suzu.”
Yukari stood up, setting Kosuzu on the floor, and turned. “W-wait…! Lady Yukari!” The fox grabbed the sage by the lip of her dress. “D-don’t leave just yet!”
“I’m not going any further than I have to. But nonetheless, I do have to go.” She opened a gap, pulling out her parasol. “I don’t think you’ll have to look very far to find us when you wake up, after all.”
The fox sagged, her ears flopping back. “B-but… y-you’re not real, are you…?”
The sage sighed, kneeling down and clasping the little girl’s hand with both of her own. “Kosuzu. Though you may doubt it in the waking world, know that everything you’ve seen of this night is the truth. I’m taking a risk here, but if you know what you truly are, who you truly are…” She held Suzu’s hand close, rubbing the back of it with a thumb. “I’m sure that even if the worst comes to pass you’ll be able to find your way home. To your mother’s arms.”
The kit tried to hold on a bit longer, feeling herself tearing up. The sage’s eyes were misting as well. “Sweet dreams, Kosuzu. Make sure you enjoy your sleepover, alright? Because it won’t last forever.”
And, at the last, the sage gave one small, bittersweet smile. “Your mother will be right along, to pick you up in the morning.”
Yukari unfurled her umbrella, and the wind stole her away. The fox tumbled forward, but in only moments, the Youkai of the Gap was gone.
Suzu blinked. At once, the wind was gone, and the dreamy Suzunaan was back to normal. The half-repaired scroll sat in front of her, simple and unassuming once more.
She took another brief look at the scroll, before rolling it up. Her mind was still a storm of confused thoughts. Trying to process all she’d heard, and trying to hold back on the tide of hopeful thoughts.
She paused, looking around. “Ummm… Miss Motoori? Are you still here?”
“Over here!” The fox tilted her head, padding over in her direction. Her other self was fiddling with one of the shelves.
“What are you doing?”
The elder Kosuzu smiled, pulling out another scroll. “This is about where the first half of that scroll came from. I think this shelf-maybe this whole section - is your past, Suzu.”
Now that she was looking, the store did seem bifurcated. One side was full, but made mostly of locked cabinets; this side was much more sparse, and much more open as well. Suzu nodded, stepping over slowly. “So… what are you looking for? More proof?”
The elder Kosuzu shook her head, pulling out another indigo scroll. “Nope, no need. Come on, Suzu -” She waved the scroll with a grin. “Let’s see what a real happy memory is like, hmm?”
…She knew shouldn’t get pulled in. She knew shouldn’t let herself get lost in a dream. In a fantasy.
And yet… Suzu nodded, slowly. “O-okay… I’d like that.” She sidled off the chair and crept over to join her other self. She started to investigate the bookshelf, with her other half. First standing by, and watching as Motoori speculated on the contents for various parchments. Then starting to point out interesting ones she spotted on her own. Soon she was pulling out any scroll or book that caught her eye, and eagerly sharing guesses about their contents.
She shouldn't, she really shouldn't. But, in the end, human, kuda-gitsune or... or even kitsune, some things never changed.
Like the tantalizing allure of a good book.
You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
Sweet dreams, Kosuzu.
No italisized message about grip, but...
>But… From that darkness, a white-gloved hand reached out. Suzu’s claws seized on it, and she was freed from Tsukasa’s grasp.
The grip stat is probably not entirely gone, but the lock has been soundly wacked!
Also would be funny for Kotoori to prank Yukari... Alllll it would take is to prompt Suzu to innocently as if all this means that Yukari is her Grandma XD
The planning to this for Gooboi to pull this off must be insane...
Masterful...
Masterfully done!
Not even the image of Yukari pretending to be Mary Poppins made me feel anything but the warmth of hope for Kosuzu.
>211469
that's something i've been wondering about as well- just how much gooboi can predict about our choices. of course, there's a few instances where we went the complete opposite direction, but in the case of this arc, we've all sort of been fairly predictable about what we vote for, haven't we? always wanting to free kosuzu from tsukasa's grip...
anyways, question for gooboi: you mentioned in the qna a few threads back that marisa was one of the few protagonists left with origin options that aren't beastly youkai. did your decision to strike marisa and sanae's possible double-up affect that in any way?
wasn't able to contribute to the possible marisa origin speculation last thread, but wanted to chime in regardless: aya! we're still missing that youkai mountain arc, and both of them are pretty well known for their speed. granted, there's not much other evidence supporting that, and given that rikako's been working with the tengu to find the immaterial children it's highly improbable that they would just overlook her... but they did overlook kosuzu while she was with them. and that could be a reason why marisa's hard to pin down, no? being kept on youkai mountain by the tengu?
...eh, probably wrong. it's fun to speculate, though.
Seeing the human side of the protagonists in all these arcs, especially in the Kosuzu arc, a question comes to mind. Does Utsuho also have a past self that is human (Myon?)/Youkai or something like that that is talking to her?
Notes aside, this chapter was very satisfying but it seems that there will be more happy scenes.
>>211471
It’s less predicting choices and more being able to both adapt around them and let characters take over. For example, if Yukari hadn’t had that talk with Reimu, it’d likely be one of the kosuzus who’d call attention to the damaged start of the scroll.
Most recent mis-guess, actually, got Yumemi stabbed. And I originally planned to have the approach them directly option to give you all the chance to turn Reimu around, but in practice once she got that far she isn’t likely to turn back.
Re: Marisa, I’d say that her options were one that is undeniably beastly, one that is beastly in its mythology if not in it’s Touhou appearance, and one that is not beastly in the slightest. And that hasn’t changed from before and after this shift. (Sanae’s lost her backup double-up option if Marisa took the shared one, but her primary options remain the same.)
What has changed… is the number of Youkai Mountain options Marisa has. And I’m sorry to say, Youkai Mountain takes another L, and the number of options marisa has that are set there has gone from 1 to 0. (Snae actually has two options which count, in my eyes)
>>211473
Okuu has a past self awake since about her Re/Awakening. It’s just near identical to Okuu in her current state, so… it doesn’t have much unique to say.
She does have a little of Youmu’s soul, but it’s only the absolute, barest minimum.
>>211474
that's... actually kinda sad. to have suwako loose her last descendant not knowing that she's just moved to the exact same mountain said descendant's (supposed to be) daughter lives. of course, nothing they could do about it last timeline, but maybe this go around...
anyways, youkai mountain enjoyers gonna be coping for another arc.
Bit by bit, Kosuzu gets to start pulling herself out of the hole that Tsukasa tried to bury her in. Hopefully more happy memories will be enough to break the hard grip (at least enough to be combat ready against Tsukasa and Seiga).
>>211473
To be honest, reading the human perspectives makes me really worried for Reimu. While combat-wise I don't think there are many doubts on her strength (maybe with the exception of Youmu/Okuu fighting together), she still is our one IC that fell into being a Pyre in her last life, and all she seems to have kept is the crappy Job Title, with MAYBE Yukari picking up that Reimu had a strong connection with her in timeline B (but without the time to resolve that given Kosuzu is going to be a mess to catch up even with Ran's and Chen's full attention.
Holding out that [Aunn] managed to make the transition and explains why Aunn is out and about, but probably won't get any confirmation on that until post-Kosuzu Omakes.
I don't think there are many backstories on Youkai Mountain that I can imagine a free spirit like Marisa would enjoy. Her options essentially would force her into either a rigid caste system as a tengu or a hyper-competitive cutthroat member of one of the other Youkai Mountain clans. In either case you can argue it may be to constraining for her free-spirited lifestyle.
Of course, this is moot given that Youkai Mountain shared option was lost, so we get to ponder on "Beast, Canonicaly Beast, and Non-Beast", whatever they turn out to be (There isn't much to speculate about other than the second option tbh, first and last just have too many options.)
Gooboi, don't forget to post the link in the AO3 update.
Something from this last update reminded me of something from >>210445:
>A perfect circle was being slowly carved into the wall.
Compare that to the update above:
>As it did, a small… glowy hole? A portal of some sort appeared. It was perfectly circular; big enough to allow a coin through on its face, but little else.
Seiga was an accomplice
>>211477
adding on, the previous thread too, unless it's maxed out or something.
Great update, can't wait to see what's next :3
We can't let whatever "the worst" is come to pass. Fucked up too much already. We have to play the boss exactly right.
Since the topic of Okuu’s come up, would feeding her the Yata fuck up her ability to re/awaken? She’d basically be the same person she was in previous timelines, just with a sister.
>>211474
>one that is undeniably beastly, one that is beastly in its mythology if not in it’s Touhou appearance, and one that is not beastly in the slightest
>>211476
There would be many different possibilities for the "undeniably beastly" option, but the other ones are a bit more restrictive. Since none of the reincarnation options are ever actually human, my guess for the "non-beast" option would actually be the fairy Marisa that people talked about last thread. As for the "beastly in mythology" option, my first thought was a mind-reading monkey satori, but we've already had a Chireiden arc. My second thought is, maybe it's a nue?
>>211484
Kappa/Yamawaro I don't think would stop Marisa? OP said that the one he removed was one that Marisa really couldn't take, with the implication it could be even worse for her than Tsukasa is for Kosuzu. But Kappa and Yamawaro aren't that - they have a lot of powerful tech marisa could use in various ways, for starters, and the capital to buy any books if she needed them.
>>211483
>>211484
First option is straightforward, and essentially is just going to be all of the Youkai with Animal Features (or just Horns since I would put money on Oni also qualifying). Too many options here, but Dragon!Marisa (however that manifests) would qualify in this area.
For the second option, there are actually quite a few choices going around. Other than the mentioned Tsuchigumo or Kappa/Yamawaro possibilities (though the latter set is Youkai mountain so were cut), there is also the possibility of being a Baku (and getting to spend time with Doremy).
For the third option, there are loads of viable choices. Fairy!Marisa is probably the most discussed one, Inchling!Marisa or Tsukumogami!Marisa would also qualify (and I would bet on being one of Alice's dolls if the latter). While morbid (and fairly unlikely given the need to reincarnate) you probably could also toss in all the phantoms into this category.
>>211487
I thought I'd said this, maybe I haven't, but... Fairisa isn't going to be one of the options. Marisa's options in particular I'm going for variety, and there's another one of her options that I like more that is a bit too much of an overlap.
And specifically, the definition of mythologically beastly I'm using is 'is based on animals, but the touhou based on them has no horns/wings/tail of that animal'. Clothing doesn't count as animal features for this purpose. So I guess Kappa could count, if you consider them drawing from various aquatic creatures - but we already had a chance for a Kappasuzu.
Oni would fall under the 'not beastly' category.
Maybe you said it on the discord? I don't recall seeing it here when i've mentioned it across the different threads... Darn, oh well!
...though what overlaps a lot with Fairies??
...Kedama Marisa? XD
Not a lot of options for Oni, Kasen is on Youkai mountain, and i believe Suika is too? Or at least has a place there. And Yuugi is in old hell so a bit close to Youmu...
Another option that's been mentioned before that could put Marisa in a similar place to the doll option would be a Makai demon.
Personally, never expected Marisa to have a "Fairy" option. That's because, if I remember correctly, at the very beginning of this CYOA, Marisa has said that "she wanted to be a powerful youkai" (as in raw power). That goes with her canon character which is all about raw (and flashy) power.
So, her becoming a fairy would be the straight opposite of her wishes. Sure, there are Cirno and Clownpiece but they're exceptions to the rule. So, like I said, I never expected Gooboi to even consider it.
I personally thought of oni but there are certain traits that oni have that don't fit Marisa at all (ie. oni don't lie)
My anon 2¢
>>211490
It's not like oni can't lie, they just have a strong cultural stigma against it, and perhaps a tendency to play pseudo-lawyer to "explain" why they weren't really lying when they do. Not a big difference from humans!
Suika lies all the time and I believe one of the IaMP endings notes that she's a bit of an outcast because of her open craftiness. Kasen practically does nothing but lie. If Satori's correct about her, Yuugi is either knowingly lying or lying to herself about Old Hell being a paradise she'd never want to leave, and she wasn't exactly honest with Reimu in that one Lotus Eaters chapter. I don't know whether or not Urumi counts as an oni proper, but she does have that whole stone baby trick.
Nothing's stopping the reborn Marisa from being a dishonest oni except social pressure, and if that was enough, she'd have never left the Village. Or, for that matter, been such a liar to begin with.
been thinking about the "mythological/actual animal beast but the touhou version doesn't have animal traits" option for marisa.
combed through the character list on the wiki and found three potential candidates who meet that criteria:
- hong meiling, if we're going with the fanon assumption that she's a dragon.
- iku nagae
- shou toramaru
meiling might be a choice for tenshi as well, since one of her choices is a double-up (i'm interpreting that as in she shares an origin with one other protagonist, though that could also mean a repeat of previous choice). iku would be... interesting, though i don't know much about her, so i can't really say anything.
shou, i think, is the most likely- marisa and sanae have three unique options, which makes me think that tenshi's double-up would be a choice from the other four (er, five, technically, but two of them share the same origin). we've already been offered a choice with the buddhists, and i don't remember if it's canon or not but i do vaguely remember her and nazrin staying in the outside world while the other buddhists were sealed underground so she could be the outsider option for the ic as a whole as well.
maybe there's others that i missed, but those are the few that i've thought of so far.
>>211489
It is indeed a bit tricky to think of "something that overlaps conceptually with fairies". Maybe it's a poltergeist, a la the Prismriver Sisters? Poltergeists, like fairies, are also a) not strictly "mortal" like humans and most youkai, b) a bit more associated with Western mythology than Japanese and c) mischievous in nature, which would fit Marisa. They would also fit the "not beastly" option. The main point of contention is that they would be considered a particularly "strong" youkai, I suppose.
>>211493
Nue Houjuu might also fit? She has wings, but they're not "beastly" and they don't fit the mythological description of a nue. The ability to disguise oneself would also be fitting for a thief like Marisa.
I don't think Marisa is going to end up as a dragon, after all, in an incredibly rare sentence...
Reimu stole it. XP
But nobody's guesses have been very much on the mark.
>>Akyuu was meant to pick something with "good coverage, like a tengu", but all of her options put her outside of gensokyo, in awkward places as well.
>>Kosuzu wanted to be a mermaid at first, then revised to wish for 'nothing watery or fiery'. She didn't get a mermaid option, but she did get a watery one (kappa).
>>Youmu was technically on point, but she just wanted to be able to still wield her swords. And nothing about her option really helped with that.
...that, and OP has been quite open about changing people's options as they went. I don't think we should put too much stock in that update.
Well... here is a list of possible Youkais that could become the protagonists for those who are interested. Undead (jiang-shi, ghost), creations by another entity (haniwas, dolls) and variations of humans (shikaisen, lunarian, etc.) are excluded.
Regarding Marisa, I would like her to be a non-beast Youkai since we have quite a few beast-type ones, although I might change my mind when the vote comes up. hahah
Thanks for listing it all like this. Some are of course less likely than others(Tenshi probably won't be an oarfish since that's too close to home, and Earth Rabbit/Kuda-gitsune are pretty close to ones we've already done). I think out of this list, Inchling and mouse Youkai stuck out to me as funny for Marisa. She wants a power boost? Instead, she gets stuck as one of the smallest and weakest youkai species.
My idea was kinda similar with faeries, though mainly only on the height front. Powerwise, well firstly i would guess that not only would faerie magic wouldn't interfere with marisa's alchemic magic, but could even potentially enhance it. On top of that, Cirno demonstrates that a faerie can with hard work grow their power. Something Marisa demonstrated herself as a human.
Though that's just me defending my idea that i've been carrying since arc/thread 1. we already know its not happening for Marisa anyways and i look forward to what Gooboi has cooked up...
My thought awhile back about Marisa wanting to be a dragon or oni would mean she only gets to be adjacent or tangentially related species. I’m blanking if there’s anything that qualifies as for oni, but dragon offers several potential parents.
Meiling, if you go with the rarely seen interpretation that she’s a western dragon raised in the east. As such she lacks the divinity eastern dragons possess and is weaker.
Iku, oarfish are somewhat visually similar to dragons, as well as servants of them.
Momoyo, ōmukade are specifically famed as dragon killers. Would actually meet her criteria for a strong reincarnation, but the idea that she becomes the nemesis of a species she wanted is funny to me.
>>211514
Out of those, my vote is for oomukade, because Reimu is already a kind of dragon, and the mental image of oomukade-Marisa inadvertently terrorising jidiao-Reimu meeting is too funny.
The young fox curled up in her bed, snoring quietly. She was beautiful, completely at peace.
So Yukari was forced to not use any of the words she’d like to use to describe the baku who unceremoniously shoved her into the real world. Dusting herself off, she took a moment to steady her thoughts, before examining the sleeping Kosuzu.
…She’d feel the salt from her tears in the morning, but the fox’s sorrowful expression had eased into something more at peace. Yukari resisted the urge to pet the kit, in case she accidentally woke her instead. Instead, she focused on setting a few wards. Particularly any that might prevent someone creating a gate to the young fox’s room.
She hadn’t gotten the information she’d originally intended, and that meant she still had to be cautious. But, on the bright side, when it came to her core goals, the trip hadn’t been for nothing. Little Suzu remembered a core piece of her past, one that’d lead her home if it had to. And in the end, it was still informative.
The sage rubbed her chin, deep in thought. Kosuzu must have been rather sensitive to detect that mote that appeared in her bedroom, even in such ideal conditions. Even Yukari could only detect something of that level when it started pushing on a boundary with another. Perhaps it was because she’d once been reduced to a similar state. If that was the case, the nature of the mote could be that spell Mabuchi had mentioned. A spirit diminished so as to be almost undetectable, made deliberately and used as a spotter… Ingenious, albeit horrific. But if one was enough to act as eyes - to the point that portals could be placed with at least functional precision - then how had Tsukasa not detected her presence? Surely Tsukasa would have known the moment Yukari approached Suzu, and made herself scarce, no? …Perhaps there were limitations. Such a form was hardly durable, for starters.
But if Tsukasa wasn’t using it, then…
She sensed the mental chiming sound of someone trying to contact her. Chen, it seemed. She opened up a small gap, whispering into it.
“Keep your voice down. I’m in Kosuzu’s room. What do you need?”
The cat’s voice duly came out at a whisper. “Miss Ichi got the book back, and Tsukasa’s escaped.”
“...Disappointing on the second front, but not surprising. An acceptable result.” Yukari gave a small smile. She knew for a fact that where the little fox might doubt many other things, that Grimoire would be undeniable proof. “I trust nothing else burned down in my absence?”
…There was a rather worryingly long pause. Yukari sighed. Of course. More fool her.
“Alright, Chen. I’m listening.” She sat back, leaning on the edge of a summoned gap. “What happened?”
Reimu turned to the meeting room with obvious trepidation. “...Any help would be greatly appreciated, Yukari.”
As she lead the Sage into the meeting room, she sighed. Her mother and Keiki were only inches from each other’s face.
“I am not going to take any more Kiketsu skullduggery, Yachie!” The sculptor snarled. “If I hadn’t let your agents even have the free reign they’ve had, we wouldn’t have our soothsayer in the hospital right now!”
Yachie’s flames were only inches from Keiki’s face. “And if you had even a slight eye for ‘skullduggery’, Keiki, you wouldn’t have let an attempted murderer get away, and we wouldn’t be having this conversation! Because, like I said, I have no reason to wish harm on Ichi.”
Yukari stepped up. “How is Ichi doing? Will she make a full recovery?”
Keiki snapped at her. “Of course she’ll make a full recovery. Protecting humans from beasts is the reason I’m here, Yukari, don’t pretend you don’t know that.”
Yachie clapped her hands together. “Oh, protecting humans from beasts? What a splendid job you’ve done with that by yourself, hmm? Tell me, when we had to patch Youki up, was it your medics or mine?!”
Reimu took a moment to share a look with Mayumi, across the room from her. It was not exactly a look of familial pride.
Yukari flicked out her fan. “So, do you have any leads on Tsukasa’s location?”
Yachie nodded, stiffly. “She fled into Keiga territory. Likely hoping to curry favor by selling out valuable information.” The tortoise dragon turned an eye to her daughter. “Of which she already knows far too much.”
Keiki growled. “Which has inspired Yachie to redouble her attempts at ‘altruism’ by bringing her troops in my territory. And it is only now that she claims Ichi told her about an attack!”
The Kiketsu matriarch growled right back. “I assumed you’d already been informed. Or perhaps you were, and just stopped paying attention.”
Keiki straightened up. “Well I’ve had just about enough of this, Yachie! You and your schemes are more than I can tolerate here!”
Yachie seethed. “My schemes? My schemes? Oh, that’s rich. For all your claims about the nobility of humanity, you’ve been a deceiver from the first-” She almost choked, a glance going in Reimu’s direction.
…The sculptor goddess grew a small grin. “Oh, yes. Of course. All cards on the table, yes? Yachie… don’t you think it’s time for one of us to come clean?”
Reimu sighed. Of course her mother had some weirdo scheme she was working on in the background. The mother in question’s eyes went wide. “Keiki, you’re making a mistake. You cannot take this back - I am not your enemy, here.”
The sculptor… hesitated, but her face ultimately turned stern. “You aren’t? You’ll have to forgive me for not seeing it, Yachie. You continue to skulk behind my back, even now that one of your contractors tried to kill a human. In my home - my home, Yachie! If you want to claim you’re not my enemy, I need something, anything, to convince me that these schemes of yours aren’t against me. Because if we’re not in alignment here… I need to know. Now.”
Yachie’s eyes looked around the room, uncertainly, before resting with Yukari. The sage gave a curt nod, and turned her attention to the sculptor goddess. “And what, exactly, are you seeking answers on?”
The sculptor goddess looked at her. “Ohhhh, let’s see. What exactly was Yachie’s stance on Tsukasa, why that damn fox tried to kill Ichi, and perhaps what your little deal was, as well?” She glared at the gap youkai. “Give me the answers on that, and maybe then we can talk about whose side anyone is on.”
Yukari sat back, shrugging. “I see. …In that case, I can help with all of those matters.” She put her finger up. “First, I believe Ichi attacked Tsukasa first.”
That provoked a look from both of the matriarchs. Keiki sputtered. “That isn’t - nothing Ichi’s done would explain such a rash action, Yukari. How can you possibly say that?”
“Her own words.” Yukari said, coolly starting to fan herself. “Ichi - the future Yumemi, rather - feels indebted to Kosuzu for saving her life, and wanted to get the Grimoire Ran penned back for her. But she only has knowledge of events she witnessed herself, or she was told.about in this timeline - which presumably prevented her from knowing the full outcome of going to attack Tsukasa.”
Mayumi raised an eyebrow. “Seems… rather reckless, no?”
Yukari sighed. “I don’t think she was thinking rationally. Nor was I, for that matter, when she told me about her plans.” She gave a small look to Reimu, before continuing. “As for the deal with me, and where Tsukasa stands… let’s say that the Yakumo will be taking over the position Tsukasa would have held in escorting Reimu to the surface.”
“Kosuzu’s still coming, right?” Yukari gave Reimu’s question a curt nod, which brought a smile to the young jidiao’s face. Good! Still, there were some other matters to clarify. “...Not to say that I’m not glad, but wasn’t the whole point to get someone else? I’m pretty sure you were one of the chief concerns - that you’d use your powers to cut me off from being a Kiketsu, or something like that.” Yukari raised an eyebrow at the comment, but didn’t immediately respond. “So… what changed?”
Yukari flicked her fan over her face. “Yachie figured out the truth about Kosuzu. At a glance, apparently. And so, she had the means to at least barter equivalency out of me.”
Keiki tilted her head. “Equivalency?” Reimu shared her confused expression, as did Mayumi. “What equivalency? Do you have some connection to Kudamaki Kosuzu?”
Reimu leaned forward.
Yukari gave a small smile. “I have no connection to Kudamaki Kosuzu. That person doesn’t exist.” She flicked her fan shut. “Yakumo Kosuzu, however, is Ran’s daughter by blood.”
…Oh. Ohhhh.
Ohhhhhhhhh.
Reimu stared, slack-jawed, as Yachie nodded. “Kudamaki Tsukasa kidnapped the young Kosuzu when she was two and a half. But the process in which she did so is still not understood. So, we were to try and pry out any secrets from her.”
Keiki looked between them, rather shocked by this revelation herself. “S-so… the only reason you kept Tsukasa here…”
Yukari bowed. “Was because of my request, Keiki. It was out of suspicion that she had backup to call upon that I masked my presence, which likely lead to her being bold enough to attack.” She stood up, looking Keiki head-on. “This was about the worst of my projections on this topic, but I still assumed it would not go this way.”
Keiki… was starting to cool down. “I… I see.” She regathered herself. “So you both renounce Tsukasa, then?”
Yachie stepped back, letting out a long sigh of relief. “You don’t have to believe it’s out of the goodness of my heart, Keiki. But yes, I do. Now, please, let us discuss what we need to do next, hmm?”
Keiki started to bristle again, but Yukari raised her hand. “Perhaps we can resolve this another way? Rather than debating about what Ichi said or didn’t say, the matter is simply that we don’t know what the Keiga plan is, no? If we scout out the wolves preparing an invasion force, we can react accordingly.”
Yachie rubbed her chin. “...Mmm. I may have just the otter we need for that.”
Keiki glared at her. “While I may agree with the premise, I’m not going to trust some professional sneak-”
“Then trust your own eyes, Keiki.” Yukari opened a gap, grabbing the edge of it with her fingers and dragging it around. “If the otter brings along one of my gaps, we can see what they see.”
The sculptor looked between them. “...It’s a start. But we should make some more precautions to make sure they get there as quickly as possible.”
The three adults began to talk tactics, discussing what exactly the best infiltration force would entail. Reimu breathed a sigh of relief, stepping over and sitting next to Mayumi. As soon as she did, a wave of exhaustion hit her. Honestly, with how late it had gotten, she really could fall asleep right here.
Still… Tsukasa wasn’t Kosuzu’s mother at all? The jidiao scowled. If that was the case, the tube-fox better hope they never met again. As a shrine maiden, she knew exactly how to deal with evil youkai… and as a yakuza princess, she knew exactly how to get someone to spill their secrets.
Still there was one bright spot. Tsukasa’s plans with the Keiga had been upended, and the wolves were skeptical of schemers at the best of times. Reimu gave a small grin. Oh, to be a fly on the wall for that conversation…
Why do I have the feeling that that otters name is Koji?
>So Yukari was forced to not use any of the words she’d like to use to describe the baku who unceremoniously shoved her into the real world.
Hm, I'd figured the "baku interference time limit" was some kind of excuse or metaphor when Yukari first talked about it, but I guess it was literal. It's always interesting when Yukari of all people is overruled by someone else, given her usual (deliberately crafted) aura of all-powerfulness.
Poor Reimu getting stuck in a fight between her three moms.
I guess for Oni-like creatures, there's demons, and arguably ushi-oni? The first would put her in contact with Alice in Makai as well
alright, maybe a bit late, but there was a bit earlier in >>210641 that just put an image into my head and I had to just doodle it real quick
so uh, yeah; keep it up, I guess
>>211524
It was about time that someone with real drawing skills did the story more justice that I could ever do lol
Even though it's a sketch, the perspective, composition, expression and sheer emotion is miles away to anything I could ever make
Please you have to finish this, I really want to see it colored! Fully rendered if possible!
>>211524
I’m consistently blown away by all the art! Thank you for the wonderful piece!
>>211524
that's so cool holy crap
I am a bit behind on work, but some line art and flats at least shouldn't be too demanding; thanks as well, but please don't sell yourself short - your work is plenty cute, and the last thing I'd want to do is discourage you
... also bonus otter (best driver in the business)
>>211529
I'm a very honest person, sometimes to a fault, so I won't lie to you:
Your drawing makes me envious and wish I was as good as you.
That said, I know that envy and self-pity end up going nowhere, so I'll just have to keep practicing until one day I can be on par.
Don't worry about discouraging me to draw. In fact, I'd be very happy to hear any feedback or suggestions you might have on my art (if you have the time of course), I learn better when someone points me stuff to improve. But I'd hate to interrupt the thread more than I'm doing now, so I'll ask you to do so via Discord if you can (you can find me in the thp Discord as Kosuka).
Thanks!
Kurokoma Saki sat on the far side of the penthouse suite. She puffed idly on a cigar, reading out some report or other from one of her subordinates.
Behind her, on the same couch, lay a positively giant wolf spirit. Big enough that it’d stand shoulder-to-shoulder, at least, with Tsukasa. It glared at the fox with its one good eye, as she was shuffled into the room.
Neither said much of anything, for a time. Tsukasa wrung her hands, knowing full well this was a humiliation ritual as much as anything. The Keiga were known lackwits, so their primary goal with any manipulator in their ranks was to get them off-kilter, so they’d overplay their hand. She just held back and waited, counting the seconds. The battle of wits had begun already, and she wouldn’t let herself be taken in just by impatience.
What didn’t help matters was the fourth member of the meeting. Kaku Seiga was sipping at a martini, and giving Tsukasa an endlessly smug grin. While the two on the couch were stalling Tsukasa’s response by not acknowledging her existence, the wicked hermit was openly reveling in the tube-fox’s awkward situation. Tsukasa had no choice but to squirm under her gaze, and bite back the urge to say anything regrettable.
Four minutes and thirty-seven seconds in, the Keiga matriarch looked up from her plans. “So. You came back, surprisingly.”
Tsukasa didn’t quite meet the cold stare. “This night has been full of surprises, I’ve found. Few of them pleasant.”
“On that, we can agree.” The pegasus tossed the document aside. “So. Your intel was partially correct, I believe?”
Tsukasa couldn’t just let that slide. “Correct as of the time I left the Kiketsu territory, but yes.”
“Which was, coincidentally, just late enough that they got away from Seiga.” The doubt was apparent in Kurokoma’s voice.
“Tragically so.” Another nod. Tsukasa found her first point to latch on to. “But! With no intel, they would have been gone, with you none the wiser on who took her.”
The pegasus gave her a flat look, for a few seconds. Without breaking her gaze, she spoke. “Vandrer?”
The massive wolf rumbled. “By all accounts, they snuck in past all our guards without being spotted. Except by that rot-brained zombie.” The glowing red eye locked on to Tsukasa. “That fox must be well-trained.”
Tsukasa grumbled a bit at that. “More so than she should be, frankly…” The young fox wasn’t meant to have much in the way of spells. Hearing that she’d put up some level of fight against a hermit was rather shocking, even to her.
Kurokoma sat up, pouring two glasses from a square bottle. She gestured for Tsukasa to sit. “So. What’s the deal with this fox? How do you know her?”
Tsukasa sat down, taking one of the glasses unsteadily. She picked it up, deciding to hold off on sipping until she saw the pegasus drink. “Ah, she’s a stray, one that I adopted.” She left the reasons open for anyone to interpret, knowing they’d all undoubtedly fill in the blanks with their own thoughts regardless of what she said. “I’ve been training her as my own daughter for the last seven years.”
“Training her as an infiltrator? Seiga asked, open doubt in her voice. “With bells all over her?”
Tsukasa shrugged. “Her name is Kosuzu, and she’s fond of them for her own decoration. I just humor her on that front.”
Vandrer kept his gaze steady, unblinking. There was something deeply unsettling about a ghost that acted almost identical to its living counterparts, except for those small ticks that truly spoke of life. It spoke of control beyond the instinctual. “And it limits her ability to sneak up on you.”
“Incidentally so, yes.” The tube fox sat back, sighing. “But that Danmaku… it wasn’t anything I taught her. Apparently it was because of some magic book or other. I would have liked to have presented it to you, but… I was denied the chance before it left the grounds.”
Kurokoma lifted her glass and downed it in a single gup. “Hahhhhh… not much of a cunning infiltrator, are you?”
The tube fox bristled at that. “As I said before, Kurokoma, they had a self-proclaimed soothsayer. One who seems to be related to that Yumemi girl.” She took a sniff from the glass. A lot of alcohol, and to her best guess, not even a whiff of poison. “That woman at least, won’t be giving them any new intel for a while.” She smirked a bit at that.
As Tsukasa started to drink, Seiga tilted her head. “She recovered the book? How curious.” She turned to the Matriarch. “I wonder if she intends to curry favor with the Yakumo?”
The whiskey caught in her throat. Tsukasa broke down into a coughing fit. “Y-yakumo? Wh-what do you mean?”
When she managed to look up, Seiga was grinning, like a cat with a mouse. “You see, the Kiketsu story seems to be that the fox in question is a kitsune. Not a tube-fox, like you told us. And - what was it you said, Vandy?”
Vandrer’s lip curled, but he still didn’t break his gaze on Tsukasa. “The scene bore a very similar scent to Ran. The sort of similarities one would expect between mother and daughter.”
Tsukasa began to sweat. “N-not that I’m doubting your nose, sir, but… surely you’ve not been in contact with Yakumo Ran for any significant period, have you? After all, she is still a living fox, is she not?”
The wolf spirit shook his head. “She was once a native of the Animal Realm. Actually rose to some prominence before she left, being a key strategist of the gang that would one day become the Gouyoku.”
He looked away, at last, remembering a time long past. “She was never satisfied with the savagery of the Realm. …It was Yachie, actually, who convinced her to flee to the surface. Purely for the tactical advantages of the talent drain.” He let out a rumbling chuckle. “Stupid turtle learned the hard way; she was the one keeping Yuuma in check. But perhaps she can leverage that now, with the Dragon Miko in play.”
Tsukasa’s knuckles began to whiten around her glass. That brat had come from the Animal Realm?! …Kicchou had known, hadn’t she? No way that Yachie was spreading a story where Kosuzu was a kitsune on accident…
Five eyes were locked on to her now. Kurokoma spoke up, slowly. “I wonder, Tsukasa. This ‘stray’ of yours… it wouldn’t happen to be Ran’s daughter, would it?”
The fox leaned down, racking her brain. The battle of wits had turned on a dime to an almost doomed scenario, all pieces surrounding her. A hundred responses flooded through her brain, hitting up against walls. Was there anything she could say here that wouldn’t end her life?
…There was. It was a desperate ploy, but for the Keiga, it might be just about perfect. She took a slow breath, straightening up, and smirking.
“Ahhhh,” she sighed. “You got me.”
Saki grinned. “Ballsy move to steal a kid from under the Yakumo’s nose. How the hell d’you manage that?”
Tsukasa shrugged, casually. “Now now, a woman must keep her secrets.” …The truth of her statement echoed through her. If the Yakumo had even just an inkling of how she’d gotten away before… there would be no second time. “And I assume you’d be wanting to leverage my skills once more, hmm?”
Seiga’s sadistic smirk finally left her face, sneaking over to Tsukasa’s instead. A prize for winning this conspiratorial spar “Ah, you’re no fun. I was hoping we’d get a bit more out of you before you caught on…”
Saki leant back on the greatwolf. “Yeah, you catch on quick. We got what we needed to go full-speed ahead with our plans tomorrow, and we’re just assembling the ingredients now.”
She looked up. “But while we’ll have the shock and awe, there’s no way we’re knocking Keiki out of the fight in a day. No telling what Yachie’ll do, either. But if we get that little inventor back in our control…” She smirked. “Then we’ll have the long game, as well.”
Tsukasa tapped her chin. “Do you need my tactical intel, or my direct intervention? I am able to serve as you need… as long as you can ensure me safe passage once matters are resolved.” It wasn’t the most she could barter for, but now wasn’t the time to push her luck.
Besides, if they made her break into Haniwa territory, she knew a way out from there. She’d just slip out when she got the chance.
Saki nodded. “Yep, sounds like a simple enough deal to me.” She held out her hand. Tsukasa grinned, taking it. Finally, things were starting to-
Kurokoma tightened her grip. The tube fox gasped, feeling her bones on the verge of escaping their positions. The smirk on Seiga’s face returned with a vengeance, as she stepped up, spinning a collar around her finger.
“You don’t mind a little insurance, do you?” Tsukasa tried to pull away, but the pegasus bent the fox’s hand back, forcing her to her knees. “Of course, we’re happy to help you get out of here once you’ve done your part. But, just to be safe, we're gonna make sure you're here for the long haul. Got it?”
Tsukasa hissed, as the collar was locked in place. “Wh-what is the meaning of…! I am trying to help you, you overgrown cattle!”
Saki shrugged. “Eh, well, this won’t do anything to slow you down, I assure you. At least while you’re in the city.” She smirked. “And any one of us three can take it off, when you’re done. We just need to make sure you do your part, first. So bring that red girl back, and we'll call it even.”
The fox tried to figure out where she’d gone wrong. How Saki had sniffed her out. “I-I don’t know what makes you think I’ve done something worthy of this… I-I can give you all the tactical information I know? Surely-”
Saki guffawed at the flabbergasted fox. “Oh, you will. But, see, you think too much like a Kiketsu. All tactical gains and cunning maneuvers.” She gave the fox a sly grin. “Doesn’t matter how cooperative you’ve been. When I hire a shifty contractor for a job? I’ll make sure they do it right.”
She released the fox, still nursing her bruised hand. “I-I see…” Of course. There was nothing she could have said that would have prevented this collar coming on. She could have been the most trustoworthy fox they'd ever met, and this collar would still be around her throat. She was being recruited to this task, and there was no say she had in the matter.
She had won the battle of wits. The only problem was that Kurokoma had decided not to attend.
Glad to see some karma catching up to Tsukasa. I wonder what the collar does...
By this point, everyone knows the truth, we only have to wait until Kosuzu believes it.
Oh no, Tsukasa is forced to stay close enough that Ran can get her hands on her. How tragic.
(In seriousness, looking forward to the mess the Animal Realm is going to end up in after the upcoming battle. Thanks again for the updates Gooboi!)
The collar's probably insurance. Doesn't need to be specified because it probably won't kick in; I think it's safe to say that Tsukasa's downfall won't be at the hands of the Keiga.
I do like how Saki's simplicity just works for her. Cut through the Kudamakian knot of scheming and disloyalty with one simple trick!
Well, Tsukasa's in it now; sucks to be her.
There is another possibility, though one which is maybe less likely: given how eager Seiga was to get her hands on Kosuzu when she showed up earlier, it seems possible that is, in fact, Tsukasa who is/was the accomplice.
Huh... So somehow despite us deciding not go for having ICs be the daughters of all three of the big animal gangs... We've still ended up with 2 out of 3 with 3 more ICs to go? XD
Also, Yachie! That's the second headache you unleashed on the animal realm! (or rather technically first, but you still get what i mean!)
Though huh... That'd be an interesting twist. Maybe not in character for the gang, but it would be interesting if in the middle of the battle, not only are the Otters reinforcing the Haniwha, but as news arrives of the Kitsune everyone has been hearing about fighting with them. And all of a sudden the call goes out
"The Eagles are coming!"
sorry, could help putting the LotR reference there xp
And it looks like i was wrong regarding Seiga being the one to assist Tsukasa...? Then who else can do portals, especially characterized as a perfect circle? That rules out Okina... Who else is there?
Hey, your art is great, just because its not the same style doesn't mean its lesser! Its been one of the big draws for this story and i have been entranced by it multiple times, especiall. At >>205938 (though >>205750 is also hilariously funny!)
Lmao. Tsukasa learning the hard lesson that moral and practical concerns are far more frequently aligned than some would like to think... at the worst possible time. For her.
>She had won the battle of wits. The only problem was that Kurokoma had decided not to attend.
"I'm not owned! I'm not owned!"
Yeah, that is a possibility... Either way if they were working together back then they are playing off Seiga's connection to it very well...
Tsukasa is gonna be able to escape still, sadly. But it's probably for the best. Don't want to fuck up the timeline too much.
I hope we can break her nose or something, though.
The most interesting thing about all this is that Tsukasa seems to have had a connection with Ran before the kidnapping and it seems that he has a lot of resentment towards her.
>>Tsukasa’s knuckles began to whiten around her glass. That brat had come from the Animal Realm?! …Kicchou had known, hadn’t she? No way that Yachie was spreading a story where Kosuzu was a kitsune on accident…
Maybe they had a rivalry over who was the best or Tsukasa was jealous of Ran for being a prodigy? This is reinforced by all the times they compare her to the Kitsunes or show that being a Tubefox is an inferior being.
>>211524
Although it is a sketch looks nice!
>Tsukasa’s plans with the Keiga had been upended, and the wolves were skeptical of schemers at the best of times.
Saki gets a new necktie, her wolves get a new chew toy, and we get a show! Sounds like a win-win-win!
>>211531
>>211540
This is the last thing I'll say about this, thank you for your support, means a lot to me.
I'm aware this is not a competition and I don't intend to take it that way. Also, sorry I've not been posting drawings lately. I've been working on some other stuff that I can't really share here and can't talk about. Let's call it a NDA lol.
I also wanted to apologize, because I re-read my last comment and I sound way more abrasive than I intended. I don't want to discourage anyone to actually draw fanart either, as I said before: as a fan myself, I want to see even more art! (I still want to hear feedback if you have it lol)
Anyways, back to the updates:
First things first, I'm glad that Keiki and Yachie are starting to cooperate a little after the start of the previous update. It's not all roses of course, and I'm not sure how long will it last, but it's a start. I'm VERY glad that Yukari finally spilled the beans about Kudamaki Yakumo Kosuzu!
Will Yumemi see or be informed of Ichi's fate? I feel that Ichi will ask for her to not be informed of the attack's result, as to not alter the future: her fear when faced against Tsukasa's kunai might have been her knowing that she would be stabbed but not knowing if she survives or not, leading to a closed loop where she gets stabbed because of that fear and her getting that fear because of knowing years in advance that she would be stabbed and possibly die in the first place.
And we get to be a fly on the wall for that conversation over at Saki's!
About the latest update: Tsukasa spilled the beans, too, incredibly (even if to save her own hide).
The thing about Kosuzu and Ran's smell being similar is what was foreshadowed by Chen some time ago. I was worried about Tsukasa knowing the real identity of "The Dragon Miko", but now I kind want her to spill the beans saying that she's Yachie's daughter and their reaction when it turns out that Reimu is a "normal human" (with the kakkushi-seki and her scent-change to hide every track of her real species).
As >>211538 said, it's very plausible that Seiga and Tsukasa were involved in the kidnapping, but Tsukasa was working without knowing who her employer was, since there's no reaction from either Tsukasa or Seiga to one another. I said a long time ago with Shirohime that it might be Tsukasa with a book of forbidden spells from Seiga. She might have been an unwitting plan on a grander scheme, for all we know at this point. Yukari, as she said herself, has a not-short list of possible enemies, and Seiga might be there for all we know.
As >>211545 said, I think Tsukasa and Ran's relationship will be expanded later. I think they are related somehow, and I used to think they were mother and child as many did but with what we know now, I very much doubt it. Especially since Tsukasa spoke about Ran as a "brat" implying she's actually older than Ran herself. My new go-to crazy theory is that they were pit against each other, contending for the title of shikigami of the Gap Youkai. Then something happened (maybe Tsukasa cheated?) that made her fall from grace and lose the opportunity and her status as a kitsune, and so she resents Ran since that very day, enough to be willing to risk her life on the kidnapping of her child. And she's petty enough to actually raise the child of her enemy to be a completely useless, tricky, scheming, backstabbing gutter-fox just as a huge middle finger to Ran.
I very glad that Tsukasa's luck is finally running out. She's closer and closer to defeat (escape is victory after all). The collar is either something to shock, bind or paralyze her if she tries to escape/something tricky. Probably a tracker, too. It could even be a "bomb collar", for what we know now. It's Seiga's, after all. There's a final option I'm not willing to say just now.
As always, I'll wait to see what happens.
Maybe even drawing while I wait ^_^
I have got to know where you got the name Vandrer from because it is awesome!
>>211553
I'd guess it's derived from "wander" or "wanderer" – in fact, "vandrer" does mean "to wander" in Norwegian, which would be an appropriate language to name a wolf in, considering the myth of Fenrir.
>>211534
the_price_is_right_losing_horn.mp3 (for Tsukasa ofc)
Karma's coming.
...Tsukasa's kind of pathetic for an antagonist, isn't she? Everyone else has her scurrying, and she only manages to effectively torment a literal child.
I suppose that petty villainy suits her.
>>211560
Mmw she's gonna be a super pyre and become a ten tailed kitsune.
On a more serious note what's Megumumumu gonna do if her fox gets killed?
not all antagonists need to be some kind of direct threat, I guess. it seems to me that the danger Tsukasa's actually represents here is making Kosuzu go up in black flames - as wretched as she is, I kinda get the impression that Tsukasa's sufficiently indefatigable that she's unlikely to give in to despair herself, though by that same token I kinda don't feel like an antagonist pyreing is all that likely this arc
To be fair, the antagonist of this arc has been the massive incoming attack from the Keiga family; Tsukasa is closer to a sub-complication or individual threat to Kosuzu, especially since we are running low on big hitters (realistically we have Reimu, Kosuzu, Mayumi, Yachie, Keiki, and Yukari, though I suspect Mayumi + the mothers will have their hands full with whatever Seiga's cooked up).
This leaves both the IC being the primary defenders of Yumemi against Saki and Tsukasa, which is a fine enough final boss given how much a threat Saki is and Tsukasa currently being Kosuzu's achilles heel. Even given Ran showing up to help midway, its going to be rough.
I... wouldn't write off Tsukasa as a threat juuust yet. our protagonists lucked out when Tsukasa unknowingly walked right between their claws and has been sitting there the entire time. And even with her sitting between the hands of both Yachie AND YUKARI FRICKEN YAKUMO. she still manages to nearly torpedo their plan in one move the one of the only two moments that they took their eyes off of her.
and now they don't see her. and thus don't know which direction she is going to be coming from.
yeah, she doesn't have a big stick like the grand majority of the people in our corner, even Yachie and her Skullduggery. But a shiv can do a lot of harm if put in the right place
Yachie's probably going to be busy dealing with Saki and Seiga. which leaves Kosuzu as Tsukasa's only counter.
on another topic, which I was joking about it in >>211540 what are the odds that the Gouyoku Alliance catching wind of just who the rumored Kitsune is and coming in on her side?
>>211566
Unless Ran actually stops by them to recruit them: I'm suspecting very, very low. If none at all. They're licking their wounds and both Keiga and Kiketsu duking it out works for them.
Although Yuuma catching rumors of a young kitsune in the animal realm working with the Kiketsu's dragon miko might make them want to find out details ASAP.
It would be funny if they end up finding out that Kosuzu actually is Ran's daughter and them thinking Ran sent her to help them by removing the Kiketsu's trump card from play.
>>211566
It's unlikely unless they start helping due to a misunderstanding or she wants revenge for what Saki did to her in the epilogue.
Also, we still don't know if Yuuma has fully recovered from the last fight. The only thing we know is that Chiyari is already with her.
The dream ended.
Kosuzu awoke, reluctantly.
The bed was soft and warm, after all. And she had to treasure those feelings. They were rare, sometimes.
She wasn’t sure what time it was, at first. A cursory examination revealed… that it was apparently a few minutes to seven. Which would mean she’d been sleeping for somewhere just over eight hours.
It was almost surprising it wasn’t more, really. Yesterday had been many things, most the sort that’d be more than enough excitement for one day on their own. A lot of good. A bit of bad. And a fair helping of the usual.
She looked down. She’d gone to sleep without getting changed, and she still had dirt and soot on her. Not to mention sweat. She might not be much of a tube-fox, but appearances were one thing she still had pride in.
She stepped up to the door, opening it cautiously. Nobody was in the dorms right now, at least not outside. Her eye cautiously scanned the room, eventually settling on a pile of clothes beneath the door, and the note atop it.
Kosuzu,
Hope you slept well. Most of these clothes were my recommendation, purchased from human-spirit stores - I think they’d look better on you than Tsukasa’s stuff.
We’ve got a lot to talk about, but it’s shaping up to be a busy morning. If you want to find me, just ask the otters.
Reimu.
Kosuzu read the note slowly, a small smile forming on her face. She took a look at the clothes. They were similar to the stuff Reimu and Yumemi had been wearing, for the most part, but in the sorts of colors she used to wear. And she wasn’t sure where her luggage was, so… this would have to do.
She picked up the whole stack, and put it on the foot of her bed. Looking more closely, there were a couple of layers. There was a shirt, but also a vest, and even a hoodie? Who’d wear three layers in the middle of summer? …Unlike the rest of it, while she could draw lines from her usual Suzunaan clothes to the outfit in front of her, the hoodie was starkly different. It had a blue body, with white sleeves and hood. The cuffs were made of a purple trim, and the blue snaked down her sleeves, in a vine-like pattern.
She lifted it up, to examine it. …Somewhat ironically, it kinda resembled what she vaguely remembered as Ran’s official outfit, almost a parody of it. The major difference was that, rather than the more abstract motif of her usual clothes, this made the white markings out of a plant with drooping flowers. Bluebells, maybe.
Shrugging, she turned to gather up the rest. It was too hot for that piece, and… as nice as it was to imagine the dream being real. She doubted her mother would let her keep it. Maybe Akyuu could use it, or something like that-
Bluebells.
Kosuzu stopped dead in her tracks. All but dropping her other clothes, she picked up the hoodie again. There was a mirror in the room… she scrambled over to it, throwing the hoodie on in a panic. She stubbed her toe on the frame, stumbling about blindly.
At last, she freed her head through the top, pulling up the hoodie. She looked at herself in the mirror. She only had the hood half-up over her head, with one ear in place, but the loose one was the one with Reimu’s talisman.
She stared at the ensemble, shocked. It- she looked a hell of a lot like Ran. B-but surely this was some kind of trick of the light? Maybe some sort of inspirational outfit, or cosplay or someth-
“It looks good on you!” Kosuzu froze. Behind her, in the mirror’s reflection, there was someone sitting on her bed. “A little big, maybe, but it’ll be just right for winter, I’m sure.”
She spun around. “Ch-chen?! I-I’m sorry, I-I didn’t mean to-”
The nekomata chuckled. “I sneak into your room when you left the door unlocked, and you’re apologizing to me?” She lifted up the book she was holding. “I’ve got something for you.”
Kosuzu stared at the book. She recognised it instantly. “Th-the Bluebell- Grim- I, I’m sorry, I-I didn’t take care of it-”
“Kosuzu.” Chen’s voice was gentle. She patted the side of the bed next to her. “Sit down, will you? There’s a part you have to read.” When the fox hesitated, she continued. “Trust me. It’ll be worth your time.”
The young tube-fox felt like she was moving through molasses, as she slowly made her way over to sit next to Chen. The nekomata had the book open to the title page she’d read the night before.
Once the fox was settled, Chen turned the page to the foreword. Kosuzu blinked. Looking at the top of the page, the very first word. It couldn’t be, could it…?
Was that… her name?
Chen gave Kosuzu a gentle rub on her back as the kuda- as the fox’s eyes went wide. The nekomata turned her eye to the page, beginning to read aloud.
“Kosuzu, if you’re reading this… thank goodness. This book has found its way to you at last. I can only hope that means one of us found you as well.”
Kosuzu’s breath hitched in her throat. She couldn’t breathe - every ounce of her concentration was locked on the page.
“You might be too young to remember, but… you are my daughter. The fact that you opened this book is proof - it will only reveal its continents to those who I specifically gave access to. Aside from myself, that list is only Yukari, Chen, and you.”
The fox stared, transfixed. Chen took a moment to check how she was doing, and to compose herself a bit more.
The fox looked at the next line, starting to read it out herself. “This book contains mostly basic material, but refined to a laser focus. Spells that would exhaust a three-tailed fox in minutes, stripped back and optimized without losing function - to the point you’ll be able to use them for just as long and only feel a bit tired. Ways to shape and form spells to the exact design you need for any given moment and situation. Tricks of the trade that take more than eight-hundred years to master - but, if I’ve written it right, only a few years to learn.”
“Y-you’ve always been fond of books, haven’t you? You always did light up whenever I carried you over to the bookshelf.” The nekomata gave Kosuzu a small, teary smirk, as the little fox nodded, quietly. “I wanted to make something for you that - a hundred, a thousand years from now, no matter how strong you get - you’d still be able to treasure.”
The fox had to let Chen start reading it out again. Her own eyes were blurring, filled to the brim with tears, and the sleeves of her hoodie started to get tear-soaked. “Because, more than anything, Kosuzu… this book contains years and years of thinking about you. Of longing for you. Every page has been written in the hopes that it will enable you to be the very best you can be.”
“Even if you don’t remember me, even if we never meet…” Chen was struggling to speak now, as well. “I-I want you to know I love you, Kosuzu. I always have, and I always will.”
The fox broke down into sobbing, clinging on to Chen. The nekomata closed the book, letting the fox cling to her, and gently rubbing her back.
“I-is…” Kosuzu looked up, uncertainty gripping her one last time. “I-is all this real? Or, or…”
Chen nodded, slowly, holding the fox close. “It’s real, Kosuzu. In fact… Lady Ran’s coming to meet you right now.” She gave the kit a scritch behind her ear. “And my mission is to make sure you stay safe until she gets here, so she can give you, oh… about seven and a half years of hugs you’re owed. Plus interest, of course.”
Chen ruffled Kosuzu’s hair, before reluctantly letting the young book-lover go. “So until then, I’m not letting you out of my sight!” …she paused, as Kosuzu looked down at her own disheveled state. “Well… maybe aside from letting you have a shower in private.” In spite of their tears, both of the girls chuckled. “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up, hmm?”
Kosuzu nodded, standing up and following Chen’s lead. She reached out, pinching herself, and stared at her fingers.
And then, the kuda-gits-
No. Not anymore. Not ever, ever again.
The kitsune straightened up, and started to smile.
The dream she’d had last night… it seemed like it was coming true. Like something out of a storybook. It was absurd, even on its face, and yet… with all this happening? She couldn’t deny it.
The fox’s tail began to wag with excitement. All that, and her mom - her real mom - was coming here. Today!
Kosuzu couldn’t wait to meet her.
Grip has been unlocked.
And a lot of the soft fluffiness of the dream, as well. Where, for a moment, there had been some very optimistic thoughts about what could be, the Kosuzu that came out of the shower had gained a pit in her stomach.
The new clothes fit quite well - including a small hole made in the back for her tail - but Kosuzu wasn’t certain how it looked. It wasn’t anything she’d made a habit of wearing in either life - without the ears and tail, she’d look like an outsider, rather than a native Gensokyan. She stepped out of the private part of the dorm bathroom, anxiety starting to build.
“D-do I look okay?” She squirmed a bit.
Chen gave a thumbs up, before standing up to hand Kosuzu the grimoire. “Looking very cute! It’s a nice little schoolgirl look for you.”
Kosuzu turned back to the mirror. “W-will she think this is good?” She fiddled with her hair, anxiously. “Should I - should I put the hoodie back on?”
The shikigami chuckled. “That’d be way too hot for summer, Kosuzu… this is more for your sake than hers, anyway. You could be covered head-to-toe in mud and she’d still be all over you the moment she saw you.”
The young tube-f- the young kitsune tried to fiddle some more with her hair. The nekomata stepped up. “Need a hand with that?”
She looked over. Chen waved a brush. “A new style can do a lot of good. You’d be surprised, sometimes.”
Kosuzu started to shake her head, but the long bang that hung over the middle of her face passed over her eye. She paused, taking a moment to flick it back over her head instead.
…Now that she thought about it, this had always been the style Tsukasa had made her wear…
[ ] …A new style… or maybe her old one? That could be a bit fiddly for Chen to do, and removing that central lock might require a full cut, but… maybe it’d help her feel a bit more… not-Tsukasa’s.
[ ] No, this wasn’t the time. She should go and check in with the other girls. They’d undoubtedly be very worried about her.
Which friend to find first?
{ } Recon for Reimu.
{ } Meet with Mayumi.
{ } Yahoo at Yumemi.
( ) Ask Chen about what was happening today. When was Ran getting here?
( ) Talk to Chen about last night. About her memories.
>Grip has been unlocked
Yes!!!
Now we just need to drop it down as quickly as possible down from 5...
Well that and get Instinct and Spirit -Y up, they've been lagging!
[X] …A new style… or maybe her old one? That could be a bit fiddly for Chen to do, and removing that central lock might require a full cut, but… maybe it’d help her feel a bit more… not-Tsukasa’s.
{X} Yahoo at Yumemi.
Let the poor girl know that Kosuzu is alright... Though Mayumi is also the one that saved Ichimi and the grimoire so some time with her would be good too...
(X) Talk to Chen about last night. About her memories.
Almost want to see what would happen if Kosuzu just slipped a "big sis Chen" in the middle of their talk. =P
[x] …A new style… or maybe her old one? That could be a bit fiddly for Chen to do, and removing that central lock might require a full cut, but… maybe it’d help her feel a bit more… not-Tsukasa’s.
{x} Recon for Reimu.
(x) Talk to Chen about last night. About her memories.
[X] …A new style… or maybe her old one? That could be a bit fiddly for Chen to do, and removing that central lock might require a full cut, but… maybe it’d help her feel a bit more… not-Tsukasa’s.
get that FUCKING grip stat down!
if kosuzu does end up confronting tsukasa later, we need grip as low as possible to avoid another fuck up like last time. preferably all the way down to zero. asap.
i'll decide on the other votes when there's more arguments for and against, but for now i'm tossing my lot in to distance kosuzu from tsukasa as much as possible.
[X] …A new style… or maybe her old one? That could be a bit fiddly for Chen to do, and removing that central lock might require a full cut, but… maybe it’d help her feel a bit more… not-Tsukasa’s.
{X} Recon for Reimu.
(X) Talk to Chen about last night. About her memories.
[X] …A new style… or maybe her old one? That could be a bit fiddly for Chen to do, and removing that central lock might require a full cut, but… maybe it’d help her feel a bit more… not-Tsukasa’s.
I want to point out that central bang that got mentioned? That's Tsukasa's hairstyle. Until it's changed, Kosuzu is seeing an echo of her kidnapper every time she looks in the mirror.
{X} Yahoo at Yumemi.
Hard choice between this and Reimu, as both are clearly worried about her... but I feel like Yumemi's going to be the more uplifting encounter.
(X) Talk to Chen about last night. About her memories.
Come on, how could we not choose this?
At last! Kosuzu discovers the truth!
[X] …A new style… or maybe her old one? That could be a bit fiddly for Chen to do, and removing that central lock might require a full cut, but… maybe it’d help her feel a bit more… not-Tsukasa’s.
You know how getting a haircut is often used to symbolize a major part of a character's growth? I think it’s only fitting here.
{X} Yahoo at Yumemi.
As much as I want to see Reimu right now and let her see that Suzu is much better, I think it’s only fair that let Yumemi know first.
(X) Talk to Chen about last night. About her memories.
Sure, why not. It wouldn’t hurt for Suzu to get it off her chest.
>Grip has been unlocked.
LETS FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
[X] …A new style… or maybe her old one? That could be a bit fiddly for Chen to do, and removing that central lock might require a full cut, but… maybe it’d help her feel a bit more… not-Tsukasa’s.
{X} Yahoo at Yumemi.
(X) Talk to Chen about last night. About her memories.
Tsuk it, Tsukasa!
[X] …A new style… or maybe her old one? That could be a bit fiddly for Chen to do, and removing that central lock might require a full cut, but… maybe it’d help her feel a bit more… not-Tsukasa’s.
{X} Yahoo at Yumemi.
(X) Talk to Chen about last night. About her memories.
[x] …A new style… or maybe her old one? That could be a bit fiddly for Chen to do, and removing that central lock might require a full cut, but… maybe it’d help her feel a bit more… not-Tsukasa’s.
gotta loosen that grip, and taking control of your own look is a good starting point
{x} Yahoo at Yumemi.
while I think that Kosuzu is definitely closer to Reimu at this point, it is Yumemi who's definitely the one who she worried first, and of Yumemi's friends in the Animal Realm Kosuzu is probably the closest. also I kinda feel like Reimu's response might lean more towards finding a dark alley to break Tsukasa's kneecaps in, which would doubtlessly be cathartic, but might not be the best thing for the little kitsune right now. Mayumi's response seems like it would probably include high explosives, if past episodes are anything to go by.
(x) Talk to Chen about last night. About her memories.
[X] …A new style… or maybe her old one? That could be a bit fiddly for Chen to do, and removing that central lock might require a full cut, but… maybe it’d help her feel a bit more… not-Tsukasa’s.
I don't think I need to explain this choice. Let's make it plain obvious that Kosuzu now Tsukasa the middle finger.
{X} Recon for Reimu.
My guts tell me that if we find Reimu, we'll find at least one of the others.
(X) Ask Chen about what was happening today. When was Ran getting here?
Just... stay focus on the present for right now.
Aaah my heart can only take so much...
I've been waiting this for some time, and I'm smiling like an idiot. I know that the big event is brewing in the distance, but for now I want to enjoy seeing them be happy for a moment.
As for the choices:
[X] …A new style… or maybe her old one? That could be a bit fiddly for Chen to do, and removing that central lock might require a full cut, but… maybe it’d help her feel a bit more… not-Tsukasa’s.
Complete makeover so Kosuzu can look at herself in the mirror and find herself a new person. As long as she doesn't end up like bald Kaguya, of course.
{X} Yahoo at Yumemi.
I want to speak with Reimu, but Yumemi was really worried for Kosuzu and she would literally be stabbed for her wellbeing. Not that Reimu of Mayumi wouldn't, and not like Kosuzu knows Ichi was stabbed, but you get the point.
Also, we must make sure that Yumemi has a cuddly fox to remember, as to not break the space-time continuum or something.
(X) Talk to Chen about last night. About her memories.
For now let's reminisce a little.
[X] …A new style… or maybe her old one? That could be a bit fiddly for Chen to do, and removing that central lock might require a full cut, but… maybe it’d help her feel a bit more… not-Tsukasa’s.
{X} Yahoo at Yumemi
I feel bad for not choosing reimu due but it's better that yumemi knows that kosuzu is ok.
(X) Talk to Chen about last night. About her memories.
>Grip has been unlocked.
Your time to shine has come, Kosuzu
[X] …A new style… or maybe her old one? That could be a bit fiddly for Chen to do, and removing that central lock might require a full cut, but… maybe it’d help her feel a bit more… not-Tsukasa’s.
A free fox wears neither collar nor chains.
{X} Recon for Reimu.
I think rendezvous would have been a better word.
(X) Ask Chen about what was happening today. When was Ran getting here?
I miss Kosuzu's old, excitable nature. Let's get back to that, shall we?
[X] …A new style… or maybe her old one? That could be a bit fiddly for Chen to do, and removing that central lock might require a full cut, but… maybe it’d help her feel a bit more… not-Tsukasa’s.
Easy choice here
{X} Yahoo at Yumemi.
(X) Ask Chen about what was happening today. When was Ran getting here?
=s
I have already voted... but I do want to vote for Mayumi... she got the Total Tsukasa treatment while being the trump card that prevented the loss of the grimoire. and on top of that had her recent realization of the concept of mortality hit her and susequently been exploited by Tsukasa... that and she and Kosuzu have had the least interaction it seems... but... arrg, most of that Kosuzu wouldn't know about and thus not consider, and this is to help kosuzu strengthen herself and so from her perspective Yumemi is still the best one to start out with...
>>211592
You can undo your vote and vote for other thing:
- Reply to you own vote so the post number shows
- Use the same voting option replacing X for UNDO to mark it as undone
- Paste the new voting option you want with an X.
I'm bad at explaining stuff, but I hope I helped.
I know... (done it a few times already... heck I am probably the reason those rules were introduced back in thread 1 XD) I just... while I want to change the vote... as I stated it also doesn't make sense to from Kosuzu's perspective to do so? I dunno. maybe once yumemi or Reimu tell of the situation we could get a chance to thank Mayumi and Ichi... just not right now from the information Kosuzu has... xs
[X] …A new style… or maybe her old one? That could be a bit fiddly for Chen to do, and removing that central lock might require a full cut, but… maybe it’d help her feel a bit more… not-Tsukasa’s.
{X} Yahoo at Yumemi
(X) Talk to Chen about last night. About her memories.
[x] …A new style… or maybe her old one? That could be a bit fiddly for Chen to do, and removing that central lock might require a full cut, but… maybe it’d help her feel a bit more… not-Tsukasa’s.
{x} Yahoo at Yumemi.
(x) Talk to Chen about last night. About her memories.
:3
[X] …A new style… or maybe her old one? That could be a bit fiddly for Chen to do, and removing that central lock might require a full cut, but… maybe it’d help her feel a bit more… not-Tsukasa’s.
{X} Yahoo at Yumemi.
(X) Ask Chen about what was happening today. When was Ran getting here?
[X] …A new style… or maybe her old one? That could be a bit fiddly for Chen to do, and removing that central lock might require a full cut, but… maybe it’d help her feel a bit more… not-Tsukasa’s.
{X} Yahoo at Yumemi
(X) Talk to Chen about last night. About her memories.
i voted on the first choice in >>211576, so here's the rest of my votes:
{X} Yahoo at Yumemi
(X) Talk to Chen about last night. About her memories.
yumemi's already been explained enough, but chen... best case scenario, we get another point down in grip. worst case scenario, we still establish more of a relationship with chen- as sisters this time, which would help a lot with kosuzu's reintergration back into the yakumo family.
i'd actually argue that these options are the worst choices for metagaming, since yumemi is decidedly a non-combatant, the person of interest to protect, and will probably have the least information about the upcoming attack. that could have been mitigated by asking chen about it, but we're choosing to try to lower grip as fast as possible. i'm pretty sure we can deal with it, though.
[X] …A new style… or maybe her old one? That could be a bit fiddly for Chen to do, and removing that central lock might require a full cut, but… maybe it’d help her feel a bit more… not-Tsukasa’s.
{X} Recon for Reimu.
(X) Talk to Chen about last night. About her memories.
If we don't change hair we might get more time with the girls, and when we meet Tsukasa we might be able to fool her into thinking she still controls Kosuzu, but I think family time with Big Sis Chen fixing our hair is just too adorable (this is also why I chose the option I did on the memories). The biggest shame is that Ran will not be able to witness (unless someone records this like Chen, Yukari, or one of the Haniwa or Otters spirits) this very important family time.
Reasons Kosuzu would go to Yumemi to apologize and make straight about what went down last night.
Reasons to go to Mayumi to check how her repairs (from the Keiga raid Kosuzu doesn't know about last night's attack), or if she survived Keiki's promised reprimand. She might also seek Mayumi to help protect her from Tsukasa (as I think she indicated she will be seeing Kosuzu in the morning) if she felt like she shouldn't burden Reimu. Or just to get to know her better.
Reasons to go to Reimu, she did promise to help Kosuzu if she needed help and if Tsukasa is going to meet in the morning, Reimu would be one of the best fighters (and knows Kosuzu's weakness to sharp noise). And Reimu did leave a letter so Kosuzu might feel like responding to Reimu. Also Reimu is the friend she has known the longest that she can currently meet.
I choose Reimu but this option is my weakest held one. I am suprise to see so many Yumemi votes since I couldn't think of many reasons Kosuzu would meet with Yumemi first.
>> Grip has been unlocked
Wooo! Now we just have to get it to zero.
[X] …A new style… or maybe her old one? That could be a bit fiddly for Chen to do, and removing that central lock might require a full cut, but… maybe it’d help her feel a bit more… not-Tsukasa’s.
(X) Talk to Chen about last night. About her memories.
These two should help to reduce grip and get some bonding time with Chen.
And lastly,
{X} Yahoo at Yumemi.
Not because Yumemi clearly cares for Kosuzu, but because that’s the wackiest verb of the three.
Counting to >>211607:
Main Choice #1:
[20] …A new style… or maybe her old one? That could be a bit fiddly for Chen to do, and removing that central lock might require a full cut, but… maybe it’d help her feel a bit more… not-Tsukasa’s.
[0] No, this wasn’t the time. She should go and check in with the other girls. They’d undoubtedly be very worried about her.
Main Choice #2:
{5} Recon for Reimu.
{0} Meet with Mayumi.
{15} Yahoo at Yumemi.
Main Choice #3:
(4) Ask Chen about what was happening today. When was Ran getting here?
(16) Talk to Chen about last night. About her memories.
:3
... Funny thing that i noticed... Chen hasn't told Kosuzu that Tsukasa has fled.
I mean there might be an implication with the retrieved tome but for all Kosuzu knows she might be running into Tsukasa in the next couple of minutes or so...
Also... Yeah. I am only doing this because i am sure that Yumemi is going to win... But Mayumi deserves at least one vote! So even if it doesn't make narrative sense oor sense from Kosuzu's perspective... I am going to face the tide and Take. A. Piss.
>>211574 here
{UNDO} Yahoo at Yumemi.
{X} Meet with Mayumi.
>> Kosuzu,
>> Hope you slept well. Most of these clothes were my recommendation, purchased from human-spirit stores - I think they’d look better on you than Tsukasa’s stuff.
>> We’ve got a lot to talk about, but it’s shaping up to be a busy morning. If you want to find me, just ask the otters.
>> Reimu.
>> There was a shirt, but also a vest, and even a hoodie? Who’d wear three layers in the middle of summer? It had a blue body, with white sleeves and hood. The cuffs were made of a purple trim, and the blue snaked down her sleeves, in a vine-like pattern.
>> She lifted it up, to examine it. …Somewhat ironically, it kinda resembled what she vaguely remembered as Ran’s official outfit, almost a parody of it. The major difference was that, rather than the more abstract motif of her usual clothes, this made the white markings out of a plant with drooping flowers. Bluebells, maybe.
>> Shrugging, she turned to gather up the rest. It was too hot for that piece, and… as nice as it was to imagine the dream being real. She doubted her mother would let her keep it. Maybe Akyuu could use it, or something like that-
>> Bluebells.
>> Kosuzu stopped dead in her tracks. All but dropping her other clothes, she picked up the hoodie again. There was a mirror in the room… she scrambled over to it, throwing the hoodie on in a panic. She stubbed her toe on the frame, stumbling about blindly.
>> At last, she freed her head through the top, pulling up the hoodie. She looked at herself in the mirror. She only had the hood half-up over her head, with one ear in place, but the loose one was the one with Reimu’s talisman.
>> She stared at the ensemble, shocked. It- she looked a hell of a lot like Ran.
There's lots of stuff I want to draw from this last set of updates, but I was waiting for a while to draw this, so I did.
Kosuzu's arc has been my favourite so far, by a long shot.
[x] …A new style… or maybe her old one? That could be a bit fiddly for Chen to do, and removing that central lock might require a full cut, but… maybe it’d help her feel a bit more… not-Tsukasa’s.
{x} Yahoo at Yumemi.
(x) Talk to Chen about last night. About her memories.
Yeah, let's landslide it further. XD Exactly what I was gonna vote, anyways.
[x] …A new style… or maybe her old one? That could be a bit fiddly for Chen to do, and removing that central lock might require a full cut, but… maybe it’d help her feel a bit more… not-Tsukasa’s.
{x} Meet with Mayumi
(x) Talk to Chen about last night. About her memories
Throwing in a vote in appreciation of our arsonist haniwa
[22] …A new style… or maybe her old one? That could be a bit fiddly for Chen to do, and removing that central lock might require a full cut, but… maybe it’d help her feel a bit more… not-Tsukasa’s.
[0] No, this wasn’t the time. She should go and check in with the other girls. They’d undoubtedly be very worried about her.
{5} Recon for Reimu.
{2} Meet with Mayumi.
{15} Yahoo at Yumemi.
(4) Ask Chen about what was happening today. When was Ran getting here?
(18) Talk to Chen about last night. About her memories.
“Maybe you’re right…” Kosuzu mused. After all, it had been a while since she’d picked her hairstyle for herself. So she turned and gave a small smirk. “Can I pick? I hear you’re somewhat known for twin tails.”
Chen giggled, flicking her tails. “I am indeed. The hairstyle, not so much - but I’ll give it a shot.”
Kosuzu sat back, as the nekomata set to work brushing her hair. “...Thanks, Chen, I appreciate it.”
The nekomata smiled. “It’s my pleasure, Kosuzu. And honestly, it’s way overdue. A lot of things are, frankly.”
The fox’s smile faltered for a moment. “I think all of us have a lot to talk about.” She paused, taking a moment to think. “...Chen. I… I don’t remember a lot from when I was with you all.”
The nekomata nodded. “Yukari told me a bit about what you’ve seen. Only a bit of the night-of, right? She paused for a moment with a particularly big knot. “...Well, most people don’t remember their first few years all that well. If it doesn’t come back to you… we’ll just have to make new memories.”
Kosuzu did her best to stay still, though the tugging pulled her head back and forth a bit. “...Um. I remember a bit of you, though.”
Chen paused. “Y-you do? Um. Nothing too embarrassing, I hope.”
The little ku-kitsune kept her gaze forward. “...No, but… I wanted to say sorry.” The nekomata hesitated. “I… I know I kinda ended up taking a lot of R- of Mom’s time, and… you felt left out as a result.”
The shikigami looked away. “...It wasn’t like that, Suzu. It was just kiddy stuff, honestly.”
“But… still.” The fox looked up at her. “Just because I was there, doesn’t mean it was fair on you.”
Chen shook her head. “...Look, Kosuzu. You’re not wrong that I was jealous back then. But… that wasn’t me being rational, or fair.”
She started to fish around in the drawers in front of the two girls. “You were a baby. You were Ran’s first-born daughter! Of course you were gonna take priority over her shikigami.” She pulled out a pair of scissors. “It’s only natural, no? Besides…” Chen sighed. “I got more than my fair share of attention while you were gone, you know.”
Kosuzu paused, confused. Ran’s first-born daughter? But up until now… “Surely you’re her daughter, too? I thought that-”
The cat gently tugged at the central bang on Kosuzu’s face, pulling it taut before snipping the whole thing off. “...Lady Ran’s called me that, a few times. But… I think she just needed someone to fill that role.” The cat’s ears flopped back. “I… I already owe Lady Ran my life for saving me, for making me her shikigami. And for that effort, when she needed me most… I wasn’t there. Not even close.”
Kosuzu opened her mouth to speak. It took her some time to find any words. “You mean… that night?”
Chen’s face in the mirror was dark. “I’d left the house to go and sulk about not getting as much attention as someone who couldn’t even care for herself. Ran was fighting for your life, and I was off playing with stray cats again. Not that I would have been much use, as poor as I was performing then. I’d lost sight of my place.” She took a few more snips around the back of Kosuzu’s hair. “And I won’t let that happen a second time.”
The fox looked down. But… it wasn’t Chen’s fault. If mom had managed to get away from Ran - if Tsukasa had managed to get away from her mother - it wasn’t likely Chen would have been able to help regardless. But… Chen was blaming herself for what happened to Kosuzu. She was assuming it was her fault, rather than pointing fingers at who was really responsible.
Kosuzu drew her tail up on herself. She didn’t remember much about the Yakumo from her past life, but surely they weren’t in this much of a wrecked state. She’d probably been the catalyst for leaving Chen and Ran in a mess all these years. And even before that, she’d left Chen feeling like she was secondary to Kosuzu; in light of Kosuzu’s nature as an Immaterial Child, that was just cruel.
“Chen, it-it wasn’t your fault-”
“Still could have helped somehow. Even if I’d just woken up Yukari, or something…” The cat shook her head, swapping back to the brush. “Look… on that front, what’s done is done. You don’t need to play apologist for me.”
The nekomata did a few more strokes with the brush. “So let’s just… look to the future, alright? Let’s focus on getting you back with your mother, and we’ll go from there. And on that note… I think we’re done!” The fox looked up. She saw Chen’s smirk in the mirror. “How does it look?”
The fox focused on her own reflection… and was momentarily confused. Something was just… gone. The strands that normally stuck through her face weren’t there any longer, and even just with those gone… it was shocking what a difference it made.
She looked like… herself. Like her old self. “...You got it almost perfect. How did you…?”
Chen chuckled, twirling the brush in her hand. “Akyuu made sketches of all of your past selves. I figured this style in particular might be comforting.”
The nekomata said it idly, but the truth of it rocked through Kosuzu. With her hair back to it’s usual, now only with fox ears poking out? With the clothes so different from what she’d been wearing?
…Tsukasa wasn’t there anymore. All the marks of the kuda-gitsune were gone. Looking at herself now, she could almost imagine having a life more like Reimu’s. Happy, with the Yakumo. Learning from them, growing alongside them.
“...Kosuzu?”
Kosuzu closed her eyes, thinking. Slowly, she took a deep breath, letting it flow out through her. …Right. Tsukasa was gone. She was free. And… and she wasn’t going to be a tube-fox any longer.
So… she clapped her hands to her cheeks. The Yakumo might be in a mess because of her… but she wasn’t going to make it worse just by being there. And that meant she could fix this - she was going to fix this. The kitsune hopped up, giving Chen - giving her big sister - a hug.
“Thank you, Chen!” She could feel her tail wagging. “You did so well. I didn’t realize how much I needed this.” After a moment, she looked up.
Chen smiled, patting her head. “It’s my pleasure, Suzu. Now… shall we get going for the day? It’ll be a few hours yet before your mother arrives… is there anything you want to do while we wait?”
The fox released the hug. “Yeah. Before mom gets here… there’s someone I have to talk to, now that I know it won’t hurt her.” She stuck her finger out, pointing into the depths of the mansion. “Let’s go find Yumemi!”
Grip reduced to 4.
“Kosuzu!”
It was actually the strawberry-red girl who spotted Kosuzu first, despite her best efforts. Yumemi ran straight over to the fox, all-but tackling her to the ground.
Kosuzu flailed for a moment, Chen’s support from behind being the only reason she didn’t topple over. She hugged Yumemi back. “Yumemi! Did you hear?”
The student nodded fiercely. “Yeah! You’re not a tube-fox, you’re a full-blooded kitsune! And that means I can fluff you all I want!” She chuckled. “Well, at least until repairs are done.”
Kosuzu smiled… but her curiosity was piqued. “Repairs? Oh! Yukari got your ship back, right?”
“Yep! Apparently there’s been haniwa working on it all night. I was worried about those repairs taking forever, too, but they found most of the replacement parts pretty easily!” The red-robed girl sighed. “...I am gonna miss you all, though.”
The nekomata smiled. “You’ve got a time machine, right? I’m sure you can arrange another visit. Heck, I’m pretty sure Lady Yukari wouldn’t want you going back to the past without her permission, so… you’ll just have to come visit us whenever you want to go back.”
“Sounds like a plan!” Yumemi gave a thumbs-up. “Ah… I actually should ask. Do you know what happened last night? Nobody’s told me anything specific.”
Kosuzu thought back. “Um, Chen gave me the gist. Mayumi chased Tsukasa off, right?” Chen nodded, firmly, and offered no further elaboration. “Why do you ask?”
The young time traveler looked out. “There’s been a weird energy around here recently. Feels like I’m getting a lot of strange looks.”
Kosuzu turned to her big sister for elaboration. Chen offered nothing of the sort. “Speaking of Mayumi, do you know where she is?”
Yumemi looked evasive. “Um… I’m sure they’re around here somewhere… Ah, there was a secret they wanted me to pass along!” She leaned in, whispering into Kosuzu’s ear. “Reimu and Mayumi are planning to sneak out near Keiga territory this morning, so they’re ready to defend. Reimu’s idea, of course.”
“Defend…?” Kosuzu looked out the nearest window. In the red light of the courtyard, there was a squadron of haniwa in some form of combat formation. She turned to Chen. “Is something happening today…?”
Chen… took a moment to consider, then sighed. “Lady Yukari and Yachie think that the wolves are gonna retaliate. If they leave it too long, Yumemi’s gonna slip right out of their grip, after all.”
Kosuzu’s ears flicked back. “...I-is there anything we can do to help? I’ve learned a bit of danmaku, I can-”
“Not today, Suzu.” Chen said, firmly. “Your mother’s only a couple of hours away. You are not going anywhere risky now.” She glanced up. “Same with you, Yumemi. Both of you are staying here, well away from the frontlines.”
She ruffled the young fox’s ears. “Don’t worry, you’ll both be fine. And Reimu and Mayumi will be too.” She pulled back. “And… maybe you two should take some time together. There’s no telling when Yumemi will have to go, or when she’ll be able to come back.”
Kosuzu wanted to help, but… Chen was probably right. Perhaps it was better to spend some time relaxing, while they could. It’d also help distract from the growing anxiety about meeting her mother.
[ ] Spend some time with Yumemi in fox form. Maybe even see if the usual tricks still worked? …Though learning she was less capable than yesterday might not be that comforting…
[ ] Kosuzu’s old reliable was always magic books. Perhaps they could look up something in particular? …Granted, it was one of those asocial-together sort of things…
[ ] Have another go at some of the games machines Reimu and Mayumi were showing off last night. It was the best way to have a bit of competitive fun with Yumemi.
So, I think we can get the best of both worlds here. Yumemi deserves a chance at fluff before everything goes down and she has to go home, but trying out the tube fox tricks seems like a major mistake.
But come on, there's no way Ran's magnum opus leaves her daughter defenseless in fox form. We can do something useful and let Yumemi enjoy her cuddles!
[X] Kosuzu’s old reliable was always magic books. Perhaps they could look up something in particular? …Granted, it was one of those asocial-together sort of things…
- [X] Check the Grimoire for any spells that can be cast as a fox... preferably while being pet.
- [X] Make sure a certain hairpin is in your pocket this time! Just in case.
[X] Kosuzu’s old reliable was always magic books. Perhaps they could look up something in particular? …Granted, it was one of those asocial-together sort of things…
- [X] Check the Grimoire for any spells that can be cast as a fox... preferably while being pet.
- [X] Make sure a certain hairpin is in your pocket this time! Just in case.
[X] Kosuzu’s old reliable was always magic books. Perhaps they could look up something in particular? …Granted, it was one of those asocial-together sort of things…
- [X] Check the Grimoire for any spells that can be cast as a fox... preferably while being pet.
- [X] Make sure a certain hairpin is in your pocket this time! Just in case.
[X] Have another go at some of the games machines Reimu and Mayumi were showing off last night. It was the best way to have a bit of competitive fun with Yumemi.
- [X] Is there anything to snack on?
[X] Kosuzu’s old reliable was always magic books. Perhaps they could look up something in particular? …Granted, it was one of those asocial-together sort of things…
- [X] Check the Grimoire for any spells that can be cast as a fox... preferably while being pet.
- [X] Make sure a certain hairpin is in your pocket this time! Just in case.
[X] Kosuzu’s old reliable was always magic books. Perhaps they could look up something in particular? …Granted, it was one of those asocial-together sort of things…
- [X] Check the Grimoire for any spells that can be cast as a fox... preferably while being pet.
- [X] Make sure a certain hairpin is in your pocket this time! Just in case.
- [X] Learning seal and barrier spells from the grimoire will surely be useful after all it's the Yakumo family's specialty
They'll be happy to see that Kosuzu can use one of the Yakumo's most iconic spells
There's something strange about Chen's comment.
>“You were a baby. You were Ran’s first-born daughter! Of course you were gonna take priority over her shikigami.”
>Kosuzu paused, confused. Ran’s first-born daughter? But up until now… “Surely you’re her daughter, too? I thought that-”
>The cat gently tugged at the central bang on Kosuzu’s face, pulling it taut before snipping the whole thing off. “...Lady Ran’s called me that, a few times. But… I think she just needed someone to fill that role.”
It's obvious that she's not a daughter by blood but she's always considered something like a daughter because of how Ran is mentioned as being very motherly.
From >>211114
>The Bluebell Grimoire
>By Yakumo Ran
>For my beloved second daughter
So if the grimoire doesn't refer to Chen as the first daughter that means she had one before she was a shikigami.
The crazy theory is... Tsukasa is Ran's first daughter?
[X] Kosuzu’s old reliable was always magic books. Perhaps they could look up something in particular? …Granted, it was one of those asocial-together sort of things…
- [X] Check the Grimoire for any spells that can be cast as a fox... preferably while being pet.
- [X] Make sure a certain hairpin is in your pocket this time! Just in case.
I'm pretty sure that this is just that Ran does consider Chen as her first daughter (and so does Yukari, see Kosuzu's dream/memory and the comment about all it taking is one "big Sis Chen" to fix up her jealousy.) And Chen feels like her failure means that she doesn't deserve it.
Also note that Tsukasa considers Ran a Whelp iirc or something to that effect, meaning that likely Tsukasa is older than Ran.
>>211618
I works out more than that too! They two of them can be studying magic together, which is less asocial than just reading. It also means that Yumemi can reading and observe how the magic works from both the theory standpoint (via the book) and practical standpoint. (The actual casting.) AND since i'm pretty sure this is either a spirit or instinct check, going into fox form will be the choice that raises whatever it is. (And trying for Ran's magic rather than the tube fox means avoiding a unlikely but still possible rise in grip.)
[X] Kosuzu’s old reliable was always magic books. Perhaps they could look up something in particular? …Granted, it was one of those asocial-together sort of things…
- [X] Check the Grimoire for any spells that can be cast as a fox... preferably while being pet.
- [X] Make sure a certain hairpin is in your pocket this time! Just in case.
[X] Kosuzu’s old reliable was always magic books. Perhaps they could look up something in particular? …Granted, it was one of those asocial-together sort of things…
- [X] Check the Grimoire for any spells that can be cast as a fox... preferably while being pet.
- [X] Make sure a certain hairpin is in your pocket this time! Just in case.
A bit of a hard choice, but involving Yumemi directly in the study swings me in favor of B O O K.
[X] Kosuzu’s old reliable was always magic books. Perhaps they could look up something in particular? …Granted, it was one of those asocial-together sort of things…
- [X] Check the Grimoire for any spells that can be cast as a fox... preferably while being pet.
- [X] Make sure a certain hairpin is in your pocket this time! Just in case.
[X] Kosuzu’s old reliable was always magic books. Perhaps they could look up something in particular? …Granted, it was one of those asocial-together sort of things…
- [X] Check the Grimoire for any spells that can be cast as a fox... preferably while being pet.
- [X] Make sure a certain hairpin is in your pocket this time! Just in case.
Might as well
[X] Kosuzu’s old reliable was always magic books. Perhaps they could look up something in particular? …Granted, it was one of those asocial-together sort of things…
- [X] Check the Grimoire for any spells that can be cast as a fox... preferably while being pet.
- [X] Make sure a certain hairpin is in your pocket this time! Just in case.
[X] Kosuzu’s old reliable was always magic books. Perhaps they could look up something in particular? …Granted, it was one of those asocial-together sort of things…
- [X] Check the Grimoire for any spells that can be cast as a fox... preferably while being pet.
- [X] Make sure a certain hairpin is in your pocket this time! Just in case.
[x] Kosuzu’s old reliable was always magic books. Perhaps they could look up something in particular? …Granted, it was one of those asocial-together sort of things…
-[x] Check the Grimoire for any spells that can be cast as a fox... preferably while being pet.
-[x] Make sure a certain hairpin is in your pocket this time! Just in case.
:3
[X] Have another go at some of the games machines Reimu and Mayumi were showing off last night. It was the best way to have a bit of competitive fun with Yumemi.
I know this has no way of actually winning, but the idea of Gamer Kosuzu amuses me so I want to give it the pity vote.
New epilogue out for Yester/Youmu! The second last for it, as well.
>>/shorts/2972
Counting to >>211633:
Main Choice:
[0] Spend some time with Yumemi in fox form. Maybe even see if the usual tricks still worked? …Though learning she was less capable than yesterday might not be that comforting…
[13] Kosuzu’s old reliable was always magic books. Perhaps they could look up something in particular? …Granted, it was one of those asocial-together sort of things…
[2] Have another go at some of the games machines Reimu and Mayumi were showing off last night. It was the best way to have a bit of competitive fun with Yumemi.
Potential Additions:
-[13] Check the Grimoire for any spells that can be cast as a fox... preferably while being pet. (>>211618, >>211619, >>211620, >>211622, >>211624, >>211625, >>211626, >>211627, >>211628, >>211629, >>211630, >>211631, >>211632)
-[13] Make sure a certain hairpin is in your pocket this time! Just in case. (>>211618, >>211619, >>211620, >>211622, >>211624, >>211625, >>211626, >>211627, >>211628, >>211629, >>211630, >>211631, >>211632)
-[1] Is there anything to snack on? (>>211621)
-[1] Learning seal and barriers spells from the grimoire will surely be useful... After all, it's the Yakumo's family's specialty. (>>211624)
:3
it took me a couple of times to see that lock of hair in the foreground there! Very nice!
if your list of possible art isn't too big, may i suggest the addition of Yachie threatening Tsukasa to the list?
[X] Kosuzu’s old reliable was always magic books. Perhaps they could look up something in particular? …Granted, it was one of those asocial-together sort of things…
- [X] Check the Grimoire for any spells that can be cast as a fox... preferably while being pet.
- [X] Make sure a certain hairpin is in your pocket this time! Just in case.00000][/color]
>>211637
Hey, thanks!
>> may i suggest the addition of Yachie threatening Tsukasa to the list?
added to the list!
Vote
[X] Kosuzu’s old reliable was always magic books. Perhaps they could look up something in particular? …Granted, it was one of those asocial-together sort of things…
-[X] Check the Grimoire for any spells that can be cast as a fox... preferably while being pet.
-[X] Make sure a certain hairpin is in your pocket this time! Just in case.
-[X] Is there anything to snack on?
-[X] Learning seal and barriers spells from the grimoire will surely be useful... After all, it's the Yakumo's family's specialty.
Kosuzu loves her books. and a +1 vote for all Potential Additions
For the boss, I genuinely think our main concern is going to depend on how we attempt to evacuate Yumemi gets evacuated for fighting Seiga or Saki. Tsukasa likely will have to be fought regardless (given her priority to attempt to retrieve her investment into Kosuzu if nothing else). As for our fighters... given that Reimu/Mayumi are out on patrol I still think our only possible defenders are going to be Kosuzu, Yumemi, maybe Chen (assuming Yukari doesn't pull Chen for help if she needs to fight) and maybe Ran (though likely at a later time knowing our luck).
Ofc, given that we mugged Seiga I would say the Seiga/Tsukasa wombo-combo is much more likely then fighting Saki (especially since narratively Animal Hell couldn't take the Keiga Head also being knocked out of commission by a IC).
>>211626
Thanks for clarifying! I had completely forgotten about that Tsukasa dialogue.
>>211646
Now for the boss of this arc it is still not very clear who it could be, like Seiga's secret weapon which could be anything or Tsukasa trying to sabotage or control Kosuzu apart from the fact that there is a probability although it is low that the Gouyoku Alliance also enters the fight to take revenge on one or both sides.
Sorry for slow updates! Think I'm coming down with a bug, and we're coming up with the big upgrade that finishes my contract. And of course, we're only a few updates until shit hits the fan, so that's a factor too. Wanna make this count!
>>211649
hope you get better soon! and good luck with that upgrade!
“...Do you mind if we spend a little more time checking out the books?” Kosuzu said, a little shyly. “I-I actually have something in mind to look up.”
Yumemi tilted her head. “I don’t mind, but… what were you thinking?”
“It’d be good to learn a bit more about casting spells while in animal form, right?” Kosuzu turned to Chen for confirmation. “And… that way I can spend some more time small and fluffy for Yumemi.” That earned an eager grin from the young girl.
Chen nodded, slowly. “I see… alright. I can help with that particular training.” She smiled. “Should be pretty interesting to see a former human try it. We’ll need some special equipment, though… I wouldn’t doubt that the Sculptor Goddess has some around.”
The time traveler’s eyes sparkled. “Ooooh, like magic clay, or maybe some guns, or specialty armor, or maybe she can hold a dagger in her teet-”
“Nothing like that.” The nekomata smirked. “No, if you want to learn Ran’s way… we’re gonna need some teacups.”
Mayumi followed her, quietly. Reimu was fully aware that the haniwa’s eyes were more focused on her than on the impromptu scouting mission. She did her best not to respond, keeping her own gaze focused on the destination.
Unfortunately, it seemed Mayumi wasn’t going to let the quiet continue.
“Hey, are you okay?” The shrine maiden to be slowed a bit, to allow Mayumi to catch up. “This isn’t usual for you.”
Reimu scoffed. “What, going out on a bit of scouting? Nah, I’ve done it like… three times in the past month.”
Mayumi got a bit closer again. “Going out on scout flights, sure. Inviting me out with you is rarer. Normally I have to rush out to catch you.”
Reimu looked away. “You’ve always been a reliable backup, Mayumi. If Mama’s right, we’re not just going to see the usual amount of trouble, but a full invasion force.”
The haniwa got closer. “Would that seriously be enough to make you want backup?” Reimu didn’t respond. “What’s on your mind?”
“Mar-Mayumi, it’s not…” Reimu sighed, as a single eyebrow from her companion acknowledged the verbal slip. “S-sorry… I didn’t mean to confuse you.”
“Hair color aside, I’m surprised you could.” Mayumi reached out, slowing Reimu to a stop. “But it’s a sign you’re not thinking straight. So… Come on, what’s up? You thinking about Marisa?”
Reimu bit her lip. “Not really, but… she’s the only one who…” The jidiao slumped. “Alright, a bit, at least… but mostly other things. Things that I might not get back. I… I miss them. My friends from last time.”
Mayumi paused. “...You mean Akyuu and-”
“No, no… people like Shinmyoumaru and Suika. And people like Y-Kasen.” The jidiao sank lower. “They’re… would they even want to be around me?”
Mayumi guided their flight a little lower, to one of the rooftops. “Why wouldn’t they? Most of them were youkai already, and the ones which weren’t largely came with you. If they were perfectly fine with you as a human, does being a youkai change things?”
“Yes? Maybe. I don’t know.” Reimu’s tail flicked. “I mean, for all I know, they might see me as some spoiled brat.”
She looked out. “...Maybe they wouldn’t even be that wrong. I know I’m… not the same person I was last time. I’m much more dangerous when I’ve lost my shrine maiden weapons, but I also know I’m more of a wimp without them. The dragon girl’s more cowardly than the human girl - that’s just pathetic.”
The jidiao’s tail fell limp. “Maybe they won’t want anything to do with me. Or maybe the others will take priority. I know damn well if it’s anything like the Kosuzu stuff…”
“So is this really about Yukari and Kosuzu?” The haniwa hummed, as Reimu flinched. “...And of course, in light of what’s happened to her-”
“-Me mewling for Yukari’s attention is just a distraction.” The shrine maiden affirmed. “Please don’t breathe a word of this to either of them, okay…?”
The haniwa nodded, slowly. “...I won’t, but… don’t lose hope, okay?” She stepped forward. “There’s certainly a lot of you that’s still the same from last time.”
Reimu scoffed. “How can you possibly say that? You don’t know.”
“If you were a completely different person this time, your mother wouldn’t have been pulling her hair out trying to shape you, would she?” The haniwa countered. “‘Cos all the things you complained about her trying to make you not do, they’re things that line up with your old self.”
Reimu… hesitated. “Well…”
Mayumi took her hand. “It might not be the exact same, but I’m sure you’ll be able to build those bonds again. I’m sure people will appreciate you for who you are, Reimu.”
The jidiao slowly… started to smile. “Well, I suppose it can’t be all that bad. I’m the Kiketsu princess, and my closest friend is one of Keikis’ haniwa. Maybe there’s more than just what I look like, in play.”
“...Yeah, of course!” The soldier’s affirmation was just a bit hesitant, causing Reimu to look at her more closely. Mayumi’s expression seemed a bit conflicted-
A howl broke the jidiao’s focus. The two girls shared a brief nod, and took off in the direction of the sound.
A pack of wolves were running down a street, a series of glowing red streaks. They’d passed over the peak of a hill that marked the limit of Keiki’s territory, now coming down the far side biting at the heels of human spirits. Most likely just a pack that’d been so focused on the hunt, they didn’t realize they’d overextended. The girls didn’t waste a second, readying their weapons and letting fly as they descended.
The first few wolves didn’t even have time to register their presence. The few seconds of conscious recognition didn’t save the next two, whose momentum carried them straight into the danmaku the girls were firing. By the time the two groups had time to size each other up properly, the pack was at less than half strength.
Aside from one straggler which ran back, yelling about brats, the pack’s morale seemed barely phased. The one nearest Reimu leapt at her, being quickly consumed by a gout of fire, which another used as cover to try and leap over the jidiao. That one met Mayumi’s baton, getting knocked back.
Reimu whirled her tail, catching another wolf in its arc. She summoned one of her yin-yang orbs to hand, throwing it as she turned forward again. It struck a fourth wolf, causing it to dissipate.
The remaining two had leapt for Mayumi. The one on her left got a punch for its troubles, but the other managed to get in close, wedging its teeth around the Haniwa’s forearm. Reimu dived, bringing her gohei to bear on the specter's skull, and dissipating its form into the aether.
Reimu let out a sigh of relief, turning to look at the escapees. The only one left was a young man, who’d taken cover. After anxiously checking if her ring was on, she turned to him. “Sir? Are you okay?”
He nodded, wordlessly. The shrine maiden smiled. “Alright, if you’ve been staying in border territory, head to the nearest shelter. Mayumi, that’s…”
The haniwa had her hand over where the wolf had tried to bite her. “Ah- uh- the shelter for Kaolin ward, right, that’s… third street on the right, far side, and then you...” She seemed a bit stunned.
Reimu turned back. “...Well, once you’re that far, there’ll be signs, I’m sure. Don’t worry about us, we’re made of tougher stuff than you think.” She used her gohei to point out the street. “Go on, go on. You never know when they’ll be back.”
The spirit nodded, vanishing off into the streets. Reimu turned to the haniwa, getting close. “Hey, are you alright?”
Mayumi nodded, uncertainly at first. “Yeah, just - ow. That bite hurt. A lot.”
Reimu raised an eyebrow. “Honestly, I’m surprised you can get hurt at all. Feels like one of those things you shouldn’t code into your stalwart protectors.”
“W-well, it’s to teach us to minimize damage in all situations. Because when you don’t you get bitten and m-my hand isn’t working right.” The hand in question gave an experimental flex - some fingers moved, but the middle finger twitched awkwardly where others moved smoothly, and the pointer was limp. “Th-they’ve damaged some of the servos.”
…That was bad. That was like - muscle damage? Nerve damage? Nothing good. The shrine maiden stepped closer. “Let me see.” She took Mayumi’s arm, inspecting the damage. There were a series of punctures on the underside of her arm, with cracks webbing out from them. The damage was far more serious than Reimu had thought - there was almost a complete ring of fractures near Mayumi’s elbow. And many of the deeper holes crackled, small sparks coming up as the haniwa flinched. “...so Mama was right. They’ve got some trick to pierce your defenses.” Her head snapped up. “Does Keiki know?”
Mayumi shook her head, her ceramic skin starting to turn even paler. “She was performing some tests just before I left. She’s been dragging her feet in hopes of avoiding giving Yachie a ‘win’.”
The jidiao grabbed at her cloak, ripping a strip off of it. “Well, we’ve got definitive proof now. Call up and sound the alarm.” She reached out, steadying Mayumi, and starting to wrap the makeshift bandage around the haniwa’s arm. A part of her knew it was likely just symbolic, but this would at least prevent the damage from getting any worse.
The haniwa nodded, shakily pulling her radio off her belt with her good hand. Reimu reached out to steady her - it was the first time she’d seen any of the spirits manage a debilitating hit on Mayumi, and there wasn’t a lot of experience Mayumi had that wasn’t with Reimu.
“Hey, don’t worry, alright?” Reimu stepped back, examining her bandaging work. Using the haniwa’s vambrace as essentially a sort of pseudo-splint, it’d provide a bit more reinforcement. And with a few seals to hold it together, it’d punish any other wolves who thought they could take a bite out of her friend. She did her best to give a reassuring smile, despite her own growing unease. “It’s painful, I’m sure, but it’s perfectly repairable. And even if you can’t use it to attack, you can still use it to block. How bad can one bite-”
There was a clunk that made both of the girls jump. Reimu, hesitantly, turned to look at the ground.
Mayumi’s hand lay there, sparking. A trail of cloth traced its way back up to the stump, the vambrace dangling loosely midway along it. Mayumi had stiffened up, mouthing words silently. Reimu turned her head to face her, trying to think of what to say.
She wouldn’t get the chance. A howl sounded, in the not-quite-enough distance. Then another. Then a third, a fourth, two more at once, another four - a whole chorus was beginning to sound.
The two girl’s eyes were drawn to the hill, over which the straggler had escaped.
A red sun began to dawn.
[ ] Fortify Here.
[ ] Fighting Retreat.
[ ] Full Retreat.
[X] Fighting Retreat.
- [X] Reimu takes point. Mayumi provides covering fire from a safe distance.
Reimu is still fully capable of combat, and we need to buy some time.
[x] Full Retreat
- [x] Grab the hand and run!
Survival is the priority now.
[X] Full retreat
- [X] Grab the hand and run
[X] Fighting Retreat.
- [X] Reimu takes point. Mayumi provides covering fire from a safe distance.
Going to vote when i get back from work, but if i may make a suggestion: if the arm continues crumbling away, amputate it before it can get further. If this isn't just allowing them to breech defenses, it might be something like a full on poison that eats away at the whole body!
[X] Full retreat
- [X] Grab the hand and run
[X] Fighting Retreat.
- [X] Mayumi grabs the hand and run while Reimu covers her retreat.
>>211662
If it is something of a poison, Keiki will need to know that ASAP.
---
>> The jidiao slowly… started to smile. “Well, I suppose it can’t be all that bad. I’m the Kiketsu princess, and my closest friend is one of Keikis’ haniwa. Maybe there’s more than just what I look like, in play.”
>> “...Yeah, of course!” The soldier’s affirmation was just a bit hesitant, causing Reimu to look at her more closely. Mayumi’s expression seemed a bit conflicted-
From here I take that Mayumi knows that Reimu is kind-of Keiki's daughter too but maybe was instructed to keep the secret. I think Reimu doesn't know yet?
I don't know how to put this in words, but I still feel bad about what Reimu's been going through in her mind. At least she might be able to take it out on some wolves today.
Maybe even chat with Yukari later.
---
Also, I wonder what Ran's special training is. I chuckle at the mental image of fox Kosuzu carrying a knife on her mouth.
[X] Fighting Retreat.
- [X] Reimu takes point. Mayumi provides covering fire from a safe distance.
[X] Fighting Retreat.
- [X] Reimu takes point. Mayumi provides covering fire from a safe distance.
My thinking is that if they just cut and run the wolves will be able to run them down. If they can scatter the pack, at least a little bit, they might be able to escape in the confusion.
[X] Fighting Retreat.
- [X] Reimu takes point. Mayumi provides covering fire from a safe distance.
if spirits wolf attacks can seriously injure the haniwa it is better to keep distance
If they are retreating, wouldn't that mean that Reimu would be ahead of Mayumi heading towards safety with the wolves behind them? Wouldn't what we're aiming for have Reimu as the rearguard?
Also this sounds like a time for artillery.
[x] Full Retreat
- [x] Grab the hand and run!
Oof, whatever Seiga has cooked up, its nasty. If Mayumi is falling apart this fast, then regular Haniwa are going to be completely useless.
Realistically I think the only options available are going to be either hunkering down or doing a full retreat, since a fighting retreat exposes Mayumi to more danger when she is already down an Arm and forces Reimu to pick up the slack (exposing both of them to alot more danger then they can handle. Given that Keiki is going to need a sample of the curse to engineer a countermeasure, retreat is probably better to shorten the time needed, especially since if a VIP shows up there is very little chance that Reimu can fight them off and defend Mayumi.
>>211664
>> “Mar-Mayumi, it’s not…” Reimu sighed, as a single eyebrow from her companion acknowledged the verbal slip. “S-sorry… I didn’t mean to confuse you.”
Although I know Reimu said it without realizing it but I hope Mayumi doesn't think she is a replacement for Marisa.
If Mayumi and Marisa became friends it would be great and funny since they both like big "explosions"
[X] Fortify Here
Give war a chance!
[X] Fighting Retreat.
- [X] Mayumi grabs the hand and run while Reimu covers her retreat.
-[X] Reimu applies a seal above the crumbling area of the arm just in case it continues to crumble further.
--[X]if the seal does not stop the crumbling from spreading, amputate to prevent the spread.
having Reimu on point would have her in front of Mayumi and thus placing Mayumi closer to the direction the wolves will be coming from than Reimu... did the "on point" votes mean rearguard or why should Reimu be on point?
I wonder if Keiki ordered Mayumi to be friends with Reimu? and she's feeling conflicted about that? that their friendship isn't natural and so she's a little guilty about it? either that or maybe she's not going to be going with Reimu to the surface for some reason?
[X] Full Retreat.
For the love of gawd, just don't try. Get the adults involved.
I'm fine with whatever the result is as long as it's not Fortify, unless the anons here want to make Mayumi suffer...
[X] Full Retreat.
[X] Full Retreat.
Mayumi is in no condition to fight. She needs medical attention NOW. Keiki's haniwa army needs to be informed about this vulnerability NOW. We need to run, NOW!
The longer we spend fighting here, the more likely Mayumi is to get bitten again, and if she gets bit in the head then there ain't no amputating that. We need to give this intel to the haniwas as soon as possible so they can have as much time as they can get to devise a countermeasure. Even just giving them more time to gather up some bite resistant armor would be helpful.
[X] Fighting Retreat.
- [X] Mayumi grabs the hand and run while Reimu covers her retreat.
-[X] Reimu applies a seal above the crumbling area of the arm just in case it continues to crumble further.
--[X]if the seal does not stop the crumbling from spreading, amputate to prevent the spread.
we don't want either to take any additional hits, and we need to get the hand to Keike, but it strikes me as kinda likely that we'll get outrun by a bunch of wolf spirits in a footrace, and I'm not sure we'd fare better in the air; having Reimu handle a fighting retreat while Mayumi makes good the opportunity to pull back strikes me as the best option in an otherwise pretty bad situation
[x] Fighting Retreat.
-[x] Mayumi grabs the hand and run while Reimu covers her retreat.
-[x] Reimu applies a seal above the crumbling area of the arm just in case it continues to crumble further.
--[x] If the seal does not stop the crumbling from spreading, amputate to prevent the spread.
Solid plan overall. We do need to buy time for Mayumi to get back to base & for the otters to man their existing defenses further within the city (assuming that Reimu & Mayumi went to the outer edges of the city?)
The issue with full retreat is that we're trading potential ground & time for what exactly...?
The issue with fortifying here is that we don't exactly have machine guns to pin down the wolves or a squad of engineers to place adequate defenses in the high-rise buildings on the outer edge of the city fast enough.
But, I do love urban warfare after all.
:3
Counting to >>211680:
Main Choice:
[1] Fortify Here.
[⑨] Fighting Retreat.
[8] Full Retreat.
Potential Additions:
For [x] Fighting Retreat:
-[6] Reimu takes point. Mayumi provides covering fire from a safe distance. (>>211658, >>211661, >>211664, >>211666, >>211668, >>211669)
-[3] Mayumi grabs the hand and run while Reimu covers her retreat. (>>211675, >>211679, >>211680)
-[3] Reimu applies a seal above the crumbling area of the arm just in case it continues to crumble further. (>>211675, >>211679, >>211680)
--[3] If the seal does not stop the crumbling from spreading, amputate to prevent the spread.(>>211675, >>211679, >>211680)
For [x] Full Retreat:
-[4] Grab the hand and run! (>>211659, >>211660, >>211663, >>211671)
Voting isn't closed, I'm just counting as a tallyanon :3
Hey Gooboi, do I count as per usual or should I delay my counts by a day for now? I fear that some people may not be voting due to some votes being extremely unlikely to be swayed in time. :/
Adding to >>211661:
-[X] Mayumi grabs the hand and run while Reimu covers her retreat.
-[X] Reimu applies a seal above the crumbling area of the arm just in case it continues to crumble further.
--[X] If the seal does not stop the crumbling from spreading, amputate to prevent the spread.
>>211675
I can't speak for the others, but I certainly interpreted "on point" as "between Mayumi and the wolves".
>>211682
that might be something you might want to check how Gooboi interprets it, because usually the definition of "Taking point" would look like this: (R=Reimu, M=Mayumi, W=LOTS OF WOLVES)
_____Safety_____
_______^________
_______R________
_______M________
WWWWWWWWWW
WWWWWWWWWW
WWWWWWWWWW
WWWWWWWWWW
the word for being in the back for defense from behind is rearguard.
>>211683
The write in is, "Reimu takes point. Mayumi provides covering fire from a safe distance." The write in specifically points out that anon wants to keep Mayumi a safe distance away and attack at long range. Gooboi would have to be one hell of a malicious bastard to interpret this write in as "put Mayumi as close to the wolves as possible and have Reimu make no effort whatsoever to protect her."
We are just simple anons. We are not all military trained. We can sometimes not know the exact technical military definition of "on point" in regards to a tactical retreat. But it is still possible to figure out what we mean through context.
If Gooboi tried to pull this kind of hyper specific literal genie bullshit, there would be riots throughout the whole board.
>>211681
Happy to trust your judgement on a case-by-case basis. Maybe if it’s easy enough to eyeball, you can hold off.
Though would you mind using a trip, at least for tallies? I suspect I have a pretty reliable way to pick out your posts ;) But It’d just make it easier for me to know who you are.
>>211682
>>211683
>>211684
Maybe before you get into the weeds of whether anons understand tactical lingo, you all should be asking if I understand it…
I’ve been interpreting these sorts of lines as “keep Mayumi away from the wolves, with Reimu in the middle”. Because that’s the most likely immediate tactics the anons would want to take where the two split up in terms of distance to the enemy.
[X] Fighting Retreat.
-[X] Reimu takes point. Mayumi provides covering fire from a safe distance.
-[X] Mayumi grabs the hand and run while Reimu covers her retreat.
-[X] Reimu applies a seal above the crumbling area of the arm just in case it continues to crumble further.
--[X] If the seal does not stop the crumbling from spreading, amputate to prevent the spread.
We need to give the others time to ready defenses. If we Fortify Here we put Mayumi and anyone who tries to rescue us in danger. If we Full Retreat we let the wolfs get first strike against our defenses before they are ready. By doing a Fighting Retreat we give our defenses time by slowing down and weakening the wolfs, thinning their numbers saving more of our haniwa defenders.
From >>211657
>>The haniwa nodded, shakily pulling her radio off her belt with her good hand. Reimu reached out to steady her - it was the first time she’d seen any of the spirits manage a debilitating hit on Mayumi, and there wasn’t a lot of experience Mayumi had that wasn’t with Reimu.
We have a radio, so we should call ahead and get Keiki and the haniwa the information of this attack and the effects it has on the haniwa. Hopefully Yachie hears it too and is able to send the kiketsu to reinforce our lines. Also Yukari so she can help.
- [X] Use the radio and inform everyone about the attack and the fact that the wolfs have damaged Mayumi and that she is slowly falling apart, forcing us to fall back.
- [X] Use the radio and call in a danger close artillery strike.
>>211685
Thank you for informing us how you were reading "- [ ] Reimu takes point. Mayumi provides covering fire from a safe distance." Gooboi. I was going to ask how you interpreted it before I added it to my vote. Since I was of the same read as >>211684 but understood the points of >>211670, >>211675 and >>211683.
Adding to my vote:
-[X] Reimu applies a seal above the crumbling area of the arm just in case it continues to crumble further.
--[X] If the seal does not stop the crumbling from spreading, amputate to prevent the spread.
- [X] Use the radio and inform everyone about the attack and the fact that the wolfs have damaged Mayumi and that she is slowly falling apart, forcing us to fall back.
Good thinking, I don't know how much time we have, but triage ASAP and in case we can't spare the time just cut the limb outright. Not having to worry about a tourniquet or... well, a missing limb is an advantage.
I don't think we have clearance to ask for a danger close artillery barrage, especially nearby an area with shelters.
Might have to evacuate the zone to do so and we don't have the time or resources to do so.
[X] Fighting Retreat.
-[X] Reimu takes point. Mayumi provides covering fire from a safe distance.
-[X] Mayumi grabs the hand and run while Reimu covers her retreat.
-[X] Reimu applies a seal above the crumbling area of the arm just in case it continues to crumble further.
--[X] If the seal does not stop the crumbling from spreading, amputate to prevent the spread
- [X] Use the radio and inform everyone about the attack and the fact that the wolfs have damaged Mayumi and that she is slowly falling apart, forcing us to fall back
Honestly, my first inclination was for a full retreat. A fighting retreat risks taking hits from the wolves that Mayumi cannot tank right now. But just like when a bear is chasing you, I had to think, not if Reimu could outrun the wolves, but if Mayumi could. And the answer there is a resounding maybe, especially with her injury. So if both options risk Mayumi taking a hit, the fighting retreat at least lets us keep an eye on the enemy as we run.
Adding more stuff
-[X] Mayumi grabs the hand and run while Reimu covers her retreat.
-[X] Reimu applies a seal above the crumbling area of the arm just in case it continues to crumble further.
--[X] If the seal does not stop the crumbling from spreading, amputate to prevent the spread.
reading over things... do we want Mayumi to be the one picking the broken hand up? call me paranoid, but if this things is spreading... I'm not sure having mayumi in direct contact with another infected part is a good idea...
-[UNDO] Mayumi grabs the hand and run while Reimu covers her retreat.
-[X] Reimu grabs the hand and puts it on her cloak to show to Keiki later.
>>211690
Excellent point. Better to be safe.
I'm adding a little doodle I just did while bored at work.
>>211691
I make that point but forget that I had voted for it myself XD
>>211675 here
- [UNDO] Mayumi grabs the hand and run while Reimu covers her retreat.
-[X] Reimu grabs the hand and puts it on her cloak to show to Keiki later.
also:
>But… Chen was blaming herself for what happened to Kosuzu. She was assuming it was her fault, rather than pointing fingers at who was really responsible.
>Kosuzu drew her tail up on herself. She didn’t remember much about the Yakumo from her past life, but surely they weren’t in this much of a wrecked state. She’d probably been the catalyst for leaving Chen and Ran in a mess all these years. And even before that, she’d left Chen feeling like she was secondary to Kosuzu; in light of Kosuzu’s nature as an Immaterial Child, that was just cruel.
Pot meet kettle you two silly sisters!
[X] Full Retreat.
-[X] Grab the hand and run!
Author is probably halfway through the update at this point so this is just contrarian tidepiss lol
all of these kids need hugs, I think.
Chen is obviously feeling guilty over how things played out back then, and, as Kosuzu realizes, it's pretty unreasonable; unfortunately she's also still dealing with the baggage Tsukasa's been weighing her down with and a lot of self doubt and recrimination is kind of expected. even once she fully breaks free of her former mother figures grip, it might take her a while to get over it; fortunately, she should have plenty of time given that she's a youkai fox now.
it's interesting thinking about how both Reimu and Kosuzu have such an altered understanding of themselves, which isn't entirely unreasonable given how different the contexts they grew up in are.
speaking of, it strikes me that both of our protagonists for this arc have kinda similar issues with relating to their past lives.
_______ Reimu was an orphan from a young age, and had almost certainly been raised with the expectation that she'd have to be prepared to fight youkai from the moment she was capable of swinging a gohei; there's no particular reason to believe her relationship with Haru was anything but good, but it was definitely cut short, and the circumstances of her life likely meant she needed to grow up extremely quickly in order to deal with her responsibilities. Kicchi Reimu, on the other hand, grew up without that kind of pressure, being obviously treasured and protected throughout her life by a somewhat overprotective Yachie, and while her past life had to grow up fast, her current incarnation was allowed to just be a kid, and clearly still is from the way she treasures the signs of her growth and venerates her old self's resilience and self-sufficiency.
Kosuzu's in almost the opposite situation currently, having gone from having a family life in which she was at least secure enough for her to indulge her curiosity about demon books to spending most of her life (so far) as more or less the minion of an abusive kidnapper who's been drilling her to act as a kuda-gitsune. it's a bit sad to consider how much more secure in herself she might be if Tsukasa hadn't managed to abduct her.
in either case, they've both expressed a feeling of disconnect; of course, none of the IC so far relate to themselves in the same way as they once did, despite being the same people at their core, but it feels like Kosuzu and Reimu have it particularly bad.
>>211693
Hah, true! I hadn't noticed they were that similar in thinking it was their fault somehow.
>>211695
About Kosuzu, something about what happened to her that bums me out is thinking about the possibilities about her being raised and trained by Ran: she would probably be a pretty strong fighter, just as she wanted in the first place. Even if the book was very well done and explains things well and yadda yadda, she has totally shown the capability to learn from it astoundingly fast. I'd love to completely exaggerate and say she's even shown prodigy levels of magic usage, being able to learn that fast.
Now imagine a Kosuzu that actually did get like 5 years of training from a very early age, learning from arguably the best teacher available for her (her mom) AND maybe her mother's master herself.
Still, she's very young and capable so I expect she will end up quite strong regardless, but the confidence issues might take some time to actually heal.
About Reimu, certainly being the Hakurei miko meant that she'd have great expectations on her shoulders since her birth and I really hope she can have a heart to heart with Haru (maybe she'll even get to learn who's is the god of the Hakurei Shrine! lol). So far I've been enjoying to see her relationship with Yachie, I don't remember who said it originally but she kinda lucked out in the "origins roulette", considering two (and a half?) of the other known ICs are orphans and the remaining one got kidnapped at an early age. I can't wait to see how Marisa fares.
I wonder, well two things, one: if Reimu has gotten her needles in the month since the clock tower battle, and two: if she knows about those shadowing otters Yachie mentioned way back in the spittake epilogue. Might help to have the wolves get git by some ambushes while they are trying to chase Reimu and Mayumi
Speaking of Mayumi, if anyone who voted for mayumi to pick up her hand are just looking at the last three msgs or something, considering that something about the wolf bite is causing Haniwha clay to crumble, it might not be safe for Mayumi to pick it up. Reimu is probably the safer one to grab it, lest Mayumi start crumbling from her other a as well
Possibly paranoid... But this is a spell of Seiga's we're talking about.
[X] Fighting Retreat.
-[X] Reimu takes point. Mayumi provides covering fire from a safe distance.
-[X] Reimu grabs the hand and puts it on her cloak to show to Keiki later.
-[X] Reimu applies a seal above the crumbling area of the arm just in case it continues to crumble further.
- [X] Use the radio and inform everyone about the attack and the fact that the wolfs have damaged Mayumi and that she is slowly falling apart, forcing us to fall back
>>211679 here, also changing who's holding the hand
- [UNDO] Mayumi grabs the hand and run while Reimu covers her retreat.
- [X] Reimu grabs the hand and puts it on her cloak to show to Keiki later.
>>211689 changing stuff
-[UNDO] Mayumi grabs the hand and run while Reimu covers her retreat.
-[X] Reimu grabs the hand and puts it on her cloak to show to Keiki later
>>211686 modifying my vote sorry tallyanon and Gooboi
-[UNDO] Mayumi grabs the hand and run while Reimu covers her retreat.
- [X] Reimu grabs the hand and puts it on her cloak to show to Keiki later.
This will also free up Mayumi's remaining hand so she can do range attacks (since she isn't using her hand to carry her other hand) and use the radio to communicate. This allows Reimu to focus more on the fight while Keiki will have more information about wolf locations allowing her to set up her defenses better.
It looks like Akyuu is trying to look serious there... but the flopped ear just makes be giggle every time I look, and she might even be using it purposefully instead of just closing one eye! XD
Counting to >>211703:
Main Choice:
[1] Fortify Here.
[13] Fighting Retreat.
[⑨] Full Retreat.
Potential Additions:
For [x] Fighting Retreat:
-[8] Reimu takes point. Mayumi provides covering fire from a safe distance. (>>211658, >>211661, >>211666, >>211668, >>211669, >>211686, >>211688, >>211699)
-[2] Mayumi grabs the hand and run while Reimu covers her retreat. (>>211680, >>211688)
-[7] Reimu grabs the hand and puts it on her cloak to show to Keiki later. (>>211691, >>211693, >>211699, >>211700, >>211701, >>211702, >>211703)
-[9] Reimu applies a seal above the crumbling area of the arm just in case it continues to crumble further. (>>211675, >>211679, >>211680, >>211682, >>211686, >>211687, >>211688, >>211689, >>211699)
--[8] If the seal does not stop the crumbling from spreading, amputate to prevent the spread.(>>211675, >>211679, >>211680, >>211682, >>211686, >>211687, >>211688, >>211689)
For [x] Full Retreat:
-[5] Grab the hand and run! (>>211659, >>211660, >>211663, >>211671, >>211694)
Miscellaneous Additions:
-[4] Use the radio and inform everyone about the attack and the fact that the wolves have damaged Mayumi and that she is slowly falling apart, forcing us to fall back. (>>211686, >>211687, >>211688, >>211699)
-[1] Use the radio and call in a danger close artillery strike. (>>211686)
Looking at the previous count, I made a slight mistake which has been resolved now... Sorry :/
:3
I'm kinda clocking out on voting right now, but why was Mayumi grabbing the hand something people agreed on? Like... the most obvious, immeidate, and outstanding issue with that should be that she only has one hand available now. Takes her from useful in the retreat to useless.
>>211675 here,
>When she goes through your realm to strike, you notify my forces, and let otters observe.”
there are also Otters nearby as well and Haniwha*, so
[X]If Reimu knows about the observing Otters, maybe its time for Asami and the other otters to show their stuff and set up ambushes for the wolves as they pursue Reimu and Mayumi.
I was hesitant to vote this as I thought it would show Yachie's hand in this situation... but the Keiga have already been told about it, so if they ignored it, its their own fault... and if the Kiketsu aren't actually in position yet because of Keiki's hesitance, well the shadows attacking might make the wolves think otherwise making for an interesting bluff that buys more time.
*something tells me Keiki's "distant escort" ended up being much closer than that, i.e. Mayumi.
>> …That brought back a fond set of memories. Her mother had modified the initial immaterial children’s plushies to Reimu’s request, along with a couple of others like putting the beard on the Genjii plushie, but there were only so many plushies that a yakuza matriarch had the time or skills to make. So most of the plushies that Reimu had, starting with Suika and Kasen, were designed by the spirit of a human toymaker, to her ‘specifications’ provided with images she made herself. She’d never met the man himself, but she’d made sure to write a thank you message after each one she received - something her mother had insisted on, likely so the toymaker would be at least somewhat invested in her happiness.
>> But what might have been a cute footnote to think back on if she’d never awoken to her past life now carried a uniquely mortifying reality. When it had become clear to Yachie that Reimu’s plushies were tied to memories of her past life, her Mama had immediately surfaced the drawings and ordered a team to investigate. That meant that, somewhere in Kiketsu’s intelligence, there was an embarrassingly hefty file on the list of plushies by name, and the behaviors Reimu had attributed to them over the years.
>> …And of course, the ‘specifications’. With images. Made by herself.
>> Some from when she was five.
>> It was a file that Reimu would incinerate if she was ever within five feet of it. Matters were not helped by Reimu knowing for a fact Keiki was trying to build her own equivalent. She’d ultimately decided to clam up and refuse to answer any more questions about future friends without good cause, in the hopes that any misunderstandings would lead to the files being discredited and discarded. Suika was a promising one in that sense, as to her understanding, the current definition had puffer Suika, snakey Kasen, and a never-actually-plushified bear named Yuugi as servants to the Big Pink Whale. And she was pretty sure that there were at least some issues there, even if she didn’t know who Yuugi or the Big Pink Whale were meant to be.
Sorry to advertise myself, but here I am, advertising myself.
I've got a Pixiv running if you're interested. It's not much but it's honest work.
https://www.pixiv.net/en/users/2627803
Yes, the Big Pink Whale is big enough for Reimu to sleep on. Even now.
[/color]>>211714
oh, that's adorable; well done!
Oh, to be a kid with a giant whale plushy. Very comfy drawing, nice work.
It was a tense morning. The human spirits moving across the subway station were frightened, fearful - this was in Keiga territory, after all. But as long as there were no troublemakers, Bishop’s shift was turning out uneventful.
He was acting as the radio operator today. It was a position with a sizable amount of responsibility - Lady Keiki had entrusted it to him for this new development, citing it as a development opportunity for his people skills. He dialed to the internal frequency, connecting to the communications office. “SQD B-type #000174 reporting in. No incidents occurred between 0700 and 0730.”
The station master clicked their tongue. “Yes, Bishop, I know. I have camera vision of the grounds, and I am watching them. You don’t have to report to me every half-hour.”
“Regular reports are a core part of-”
“Yes, yes, we’ve had this conversation.” The station-master huffed. Bishop furrowed his brow. Human spirits were always rather lackadaisical when it came to timeliness, it seemed. A rather core flaw in a station master; it was a miracle the train timetables weren’t a logistical disaster. “Tell me when there is trouble, not when there isn’t- eh?!”
Bishop raised an eyebrow. “Ma’am?” He turned to look out into the station.
And saw Kurokoma Saki. The pegasus strode through the station like she was its master, looking tall and proud. Behind her, the figure of Vandrer was unmistakable, making everyone else in the room smaller by his mere presence. And beyond that, a small pack of wolf spirits was trudging through the station doors.
Bishop clicked in to speak. “Apparently the Keiga are making a show of force.”
The station-master’s voice was panicked. “B-backup, we need-”
“Do not panic.” He reminded her, firmly. “I will contact for backup, but the only one who could be a threat here is Kurokoma. Intimidation is the likely goal of this incursion. Do not let them have it.”
With a brief affirmation from the station master, he flicked over to the main tactical channels.
…It was rather more talkative than he suspected.
First was a female voice. “Varve Ward Strategic Office reporting in. Wolves sighted along the border. A few hundred at each outpost, quite a display. Suspected to be an intimidation tactic.”
Then, a male one. “Loam Office reporting in. Same here. Lotsa red right up on the border line. Surprised there’s this many wolves in their whole territory, honestly.”
A younger, peppier female. “Kaolin Ward. Reporting a few hundred circling around most of our outposts. Outpost Kaolin-3 hasn’t responded since 0700, sent over a team from K-4 to investigate. …Do they even have enough wolves for this…?”
And then, an older male. “Terracotta District. I won’t repeat you all. Most likely, it’s an illusion conjured by that hermit. It’s just meant to intimidate us - actually committing this many wolves would basically leave their whole territory undefended. So why…?”
Bishop clicked in, eager to clear up the confusion. “Reporting in from Cabochon Station. Both the current Keiga Matriarch and the old Patriarch have entered the station, with a small retinue.”
The older of the female voices responded firmly. “That must be it. They’re trying to distract us from the station. We’ll prepare reinforcements.”
“Acknowledged.” Terracotta District’s operator followed up his confirmation with a question. “It won’t spread you too thin if the wolves actually start something, will it?”
He could hear the mocking tone of the Varve operator’s voice. “Come on man, they’re just wolf spirits, and chances are a good half of them are fake. They can’t even scratch us, what are they gonna do? Piss on all the trees?”
“Making a bunch of distractions so they can go for the station… Awwwww, they must think they’re so clever!” Kaolin ward’s operator cooed. “I bet Kurokoma thinks this is the greatest plan ever, doesn’t she?”
Saki’s mood was through the roof as the human spirit that ran the station slowly crept up to her. That didn’t mean she was giving the woman any attention. Her gaze was focused on one of the billboards behind the subway.
It contained a photo that instantly brought back memories. The charred almost-carcass of Toutetsu Yuuma, burned within an inch of her life when she tried and failed to beat the Dragon Miko. And right next to it, Saki’s big grin, and a v-sign with her fingers.
She’d distributed copies of the photo to every gang in the realm. And many people had decided to post it on their billboards. Seeing dozens of the goat’s infini- incuri- incinfuriated face along with her own photogenic smile had honestly been the highlight of the year, if not the whole decade.
Well… highlight so far. She rubbed her chin, smiling. “Great pic, isn’t it? Surprised you’re still keeping it up this long.”
The station master stuttered. “W-well, we thought you might appreciate it. This is surrounded by Keiga territory, after all.”
It was an attempt at appeasement, a way to blunt Saki’s wrath by feeding her pride. But there was no reason she couldn’t have such a billboard up and bring these impudent humans to heel.
“You know, I do love the expression I pulled here.” The matriarch said, rubbing her chin. “It’s just so… utterly smug. I can taste the helplessness Yuuma’s giving off, and when I think about their pathetic terror, it always brings out this wonderful smile.”
She turned, and flashed the station master an identical grin. “Don’t you agree?”
“Loam here.” The voice was slightly annoyed. “Wolves are starting to push their luck. Wanna get out there and slash ‘em up myself.”
“Do not go out and attack them.” Bishop chided. “The only way these packs are going to get the drop on us is if we let them.”
“Terracotta here, agreeing with Cabochon Station. There’s no weapons among the visible wolves, so if they’re planning to get any strikes on us, it’ll be by drawing us into their zones.”
“Yeah yeah, I hear you TC. Am I allowed to get a comically large spray bottle and spritz it-”
“This is Scarab team!” A new voice spoke up. Bishop recognised the call sign - an aerial scouting unit. “Something crazy is happening in the Keiga territory!”
“We hear you Scarab, and we know.” Varve’s speaker was gentle in its tone. “The wolves are trying to prime an attack into Lady Keiki’s-”
“It’s not the wolves, it’s the eagles!” Scarab’s responder cut her off. “They just marched into Keiga territory. Completely unopposed!”
“What?!” Kaolin’s voice was openly incredulous. “Does that mean…?”
“These wolves aren’t illusions?” The operator dubbed TC’s voice was tense. “They’re really committing every one of their units to a bluff? What could they possibly want from Cabochon Station?”
Bishop’s eyes flicked up, to the map of the train lines. He started tracing, from his current position, up and down.
…There was one candidate that might be worth it. One place that could be worth an all-or-nothing bet. He clicked in. “Cabochon Station here. I think I know what they want.”
“...Lotta industrial stations, huh?” Saki smirked, glancing over to the station master. The spirit trembled. “Can see why Keiki was so insistent on getting this line up.”
“Ah- yes! Quite a few, in fact. A-and of course, shopping districts on the other side. W-we were creating it to link up a few of them, in fact, when circumstances meant the districts developed unevenly-”
“Oh yeah? ‘Cos that’s not what I see.” Saki’s finger kept tracing the line, down to its terminus, in the heart of haniwa territory. “Looks to me like the goal is connecting stations in Keiga territory directly to this little station here.”
The station master quivered. “That station… no, you can’t be serious…”
Saki smirked, looking back at the station map. The terminus of the line was right up next to Sanzu river. Which made perfect sense.
After all, it only made sense to put one’s facilities near their resources. And there was one thing riverbeds were abundant with, that Keiki needed in vast amounts.
“This… Haniya station,” Saki indicated, “tucked off in this little, defensible corner here. That’s not the Haniwa Production Facility… is it?”
“No, it’s possible.” The Terracotta operator murmured. “The facility’s designed to be able to walk straight off the production line into the train carriages. If there was a train crash there… it could do serious damage.”
Varve’s operator interjected. “I’ll grant you that, but this plan is still suicidal. That facility is flush with haniwa by its very nature. Even if they hypothetically commandeered a train, the repercussions would likely be the life of Kurokoma - hardly worth this level of investment.”
Bishop growled. “Regardless, the fact they can do a lot of damage remains. We will have to prepare accordingly to suppress them. We will mobilize here and beat them back as soon as possible.”
There was a series of affirmations across the line. Bishop nodded, turning to dial in-
“This is the Dragon Miko!” A voice. A dreadfully familiar voice. Bishop froze. Involuntarily, he felt his eye twitch. “Me and Mayumi are in Kaolin Ward! We need backup now!”
“Dragon Miko?” The Terracotta outpost’s operator was the first to speak. “What are you doing in Kaolin ward? You weren’t cleared for any missions.”
“We were out scouting, and now we’re getting run down by a gigantic pack of wolves!” The lizard’s voice was at an even more irritating screech than usual. “I can’t even see the ground beneath them!”
Varve spoke up, a chiding tone to her voice. “Miko, this isn’t a prank hotline. This channel is reserved for emergency calls only.”
“No fucking shit, lady! Do I sound like I’m ordering a pizza?!”
Bishop jammed his finger as he activated the microphone. “Dragon Miko, why should we trust that you’re not just leading us into-”
“Hold that.” Kaolin ward’s operator spoke up. “Miko, where in Kaolin ward are you, and who’s with you?”
“We’re down the near side of the big hill! Only me and Mayumi are here!” There was some banging noises from the far side of the line. Danmaku... maybe.
“The big hill… that’s where Outpost K-3 is…” The operator’s voice had rising concern. “We’ll mobilize from adjacent outposts, just hold on for a moment.”
“I said, I’m gonna commandeer the next train that stops here. We’re gonna take it on a little joyride, crash it into Keiki’s conveyors, and save the Animal Realm from the Idola Dickhead. And then… this war’s gonna get fun.”
She spread her wings, looking up to the ceiling. “We’re gonna drag you all kicking and screaming back to the wilds! You’re not gonna stand a chance against us!”
The station master trembled, as Saki leaned in, close enough to whisper into the trembling spirit’s ear. “And we’ve got a special little trick… that’s gonna turn all your porcelain protectors into broken puppets.”
Bishop rolled his eyes. “Miko, assuming this is all true, why are you using what I assume is Mayumi’s radio?”
“Mayumi’s badly damaged! Sh-she’s in shock! I’m trying to keep her behind me as we fall back!”
The station’s radio operator raised an eyebrow. “And what damaged Mayumi severely enough to do that?”
“A wolf bit through it!” The lizard’s voice was becoming outright hysterical.
The haniwa looked out to the station’s grounds. His coworkers were rushing out, grappling with the wolves. One had even managed to stop Vandrer from trying to bite the station master, forcing his mouth to stay open with her hands. Saki seemed vaguely amused by the chaos.“I find that hard to believe.”
“No, listen-”
Bishop cut her off. “Especially coming from the scion of the Kiketsu. We haniwa are impregnable to spiritual beings.” He sneered. “Not even a defective toy model should be weak to a bite.”
The dragon miko sputtered at him, as Bishop delivered his conclusion. “You can bring her back to the offices to get examined, but we’re not gonna go off some sneaky lizard’s patently false-”
“Um.”
Another new voice, slightly awkward. Bishop… suddenly felt a rising tide of dread.
“Lab Team, here, from HQ. We, uh… we have some data to report on that.”
Bishop was too stunned to respond, as the presumed scientist continued. “It appears the wolves have found a way to bypass natural Haniwa immunity. We are still investigating the means by which they did this, but until then, do not let the Keiga get close to our facilities.”
The radio operator felt ice clench his heart. His jaw hung loose. Slowly, his gaze turned back to the fight on the station platform.
Just in time to see Vandrer shatter his interceptor’s arms.
Saki threw her head back and laughed. “Not so tough anymore, are you? Now you get to learn how hard wolves can really bite.”
The station master stuttered, looking at the disarmed haniwa in horror. “What… how…?”
“Some trick Seiga did. Damned if I know the details. All I know is that she has a way to give us wolves just enough life that suddenly, y’all have to start caring about our bite force.”
She stepped through the crowd, turning to give them one last wicked smirk. “And with enough resources? She can do it to every wolf.”
The sound of shattering pottery and screams trailed behind her as she strutted over to the station’s office. There, a furious haniwa was pulling out his sword, as the radio screamed burst into a storm of panicked voices.
“The team Varve sent to Cabochon Station was just torn up by the wolves?! They’re attacking the base directly now!”
“Kaolin Outposts two, three, and four have been overwhelmed! Need backup now!”
“They’re tearing us apart! It’s an endless swarm of biting red monsters!”
“Terracotta falling back to the district bunker for a defensible position!”
The haniwa at the radio leapt over his desk, aiming for Saki’s heart. A single twist gave the pegasus all the room in the world to dodge, and the follow-up kick shattered the haniwa in half. She smirked, making sure to bring her outstretched foot down to smash a piece of loose ceramic.
“Cabochon station! Come in, Cabochon Station!” A new voice on the channel was panicked. “Please tell me you’re all okay…”
Saki chuckled, picking up the radio’s microphone. This could be fun.
“Howdy. This is Cabochon station. Is that ‘Lady’ Keiki I’m hearing?” She looked out over the carnage. “Looks like the fight’s pretty much over, for now.”
“Y-you… Saki?!” Keiki’s voice had an undertone of horror. “Wh-what did you do to Bishop?! What have you done to the station staff?!”
Saki shrugged. “What, the guy I just kicked in half? Nothing you can’t fix, I’m sure - though I’m just as sure you’ll be verrrrrrry busy.”
The pegasus sat on the desk. “With that said, the train that’s pulling in, oh, right about now? I think it’s going to be delayed a few minutes. Lots of people wanna get on here… and I imagine a few will wanna get off, too.”
She smirked.
“But don’t worry, we’ll get it running top speed to catch up.” Saki chuckled. “We’ll get it there so early, the passengers at the terminus… will be blown away.”
Bishop is down? Oh no!
...well two options here. Either risk the factory on the chance of stopping the train... Or cripple the ability of reinforcements arriving wherever they are needed (which currently is everywhere!) by blowing the tracks before the train can get close enough... What's the play here Keiki?
Oof, thats not good. Keiki likely has to sacrifice the train line to save the production facility, but that means essentially sacrificing every single Haniwa outside of the main base and the production facility.
Also reinforces why hunkering down was going to be a really bad idea. Reimu would have had to solo every single wolf that showed up to keep Mayumi intact, and at the moment there is zero chance they are going to get serious reinforcements if the entire outer line is collapsing at once.
The question is, where is Seiga and Yoshika going to pop out (assuming that they are at the liberty to instead of maintaining the spell in the back line). We can already guess Tsukasa's role is to prevent the rail line from being sabotaged, so the biggest unknowns are where those two are skulking about.
on the one hand this is extremely bad, but also I somehow get the feeling that Saki is kind of a diversion.
like, this is a big, obvious, impossible to ignore offensive that, whether it succeeds or fails, will take up virtually all of the defenders attention and cause a state of mass confusion; idunno, something about the way Saki was congratulating herself for her brilliance feels fishy, I guess, but she is also kind of an idiot, yeah? I suppose we'll see.
Just finished Binging and have to say this is super ultra top tier! Very very good work! Bit sad about no Vampy life but I cant say Im too broken up about what we've had so far.
(Even if we keep avoiding most Moms somehow)
Also yeaaaah that do be bad. This is an all out offensive. Saki left all her territory undefended for this offensive. Which she could only do because Yuuma is currently crispy and they probably think that if they deal with Kiketsu/Eiki then they can just double back eventually and punch Yuuma since Yuuma cannot hold territory under serious assault right now.
There's something to be said for a straightforward slugging match that you know you can win. Just overwhelming everyone is a pretty good trick when they werent expecting you to be able to punch them in the face.
I can see a couple weeks of sleep deprivation in Keiki's future, regardless of the outcome.
I hope Keiki can finally trust Yachie for a moment here. She will need every bit of assistance she can get. Even if she has to humble herself and ask for help.
I really hope that there is a small detachment of otters nearby ready to assist Reimu and Mayumi. Especially since the haniwas are overwhelmed and Reimu has to actually guard her bodyguard. (Well, being honest I don't think a detachment of otters would do much in this particular situation other than holding the line for a couple of minutes, but if there's a time for them to shine it's now!)
Yachie will not be happy.
>>211722
"Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the mouth" -Mike Tyson
Okay shit really did hit the fan there, I have a question for the author of they don't mind answering, if we chose the youmu pegasus route would she have been involved in this fight too?
>>211723
that brings up probably the biggest question right now, where the Hell is Yachie and the Kiketsu?
it has been 8 hours since that scout was going to be dispatched with the Yakumo gap... did Keiki really not still trust Yachie after that...?
or is this going to be a trap by the Kiketsu to draw in the Keiga and hit them from behind?
yeah... something tells me that a winner here... one way or another... is going to be Seiga. this is a enormous gamble by the Keiga... and if it fails somehow, they've lost all of their territory. which I think will result in Saki being squarely under Seiga's control somehow... and if it wins then the future Taoists faction will have a very solid powerbase in the animal realm.
So we need to deal with this attack and getting Kosuzu's Grip stat lower.
Honestly, I think there will be another stage-a-vs-stage-b choice here. I don't know if we can both defend the attack well and make sure Kosuzu is well.
I'm pretty sure both stage a&b will both be Kosuzu, the difference probably is whether Kosuzu stays put (and attempts to protect the home area?) And faces Tsukasa coming to retrieve her, or goes out to help and faces Seiga.
Both options will probably have Yumemi helping? And Chen.
Granted. One thing to consider that only we seem to know. Correct me if I am wrong-. Is that the Yakumo are here. Yukari and Chen have been very careful to not be sniffed out by Tsukasa and of course she has no way of knowing that Ran is on her way here.
Something the Keiga is not ready to face.
On such an all out offensive what is carrying them is their momentum, once their offensive is blunted and they start to lose momentum they are screwed. Specially with the coming reinforcements.
Which is why they're rushing to hit the production facility.
With that in mind, if you could get Yukari to cooperate with it, I guess would be kinda funny (if totally tension ruining) to have her open a gap right as the train's about to hit and send the thing hurtling in the opposite direction. Or any other direction, I guess.
I think Tsukasa would be more focused on Yumini than Kosuzu. She values her freedom over having a pawn, after all. Though I reckon we might get some grips checks if Tsukasa tries to get Kosuzu to betray her friends/escape with her.
If the offense gets blunted and then the wolves get pincered by the otters/Yakumo and Haniwa, that would probably be a worse defeat than what Yuuma got handed at the start of the story. At least there it was mainly the leader that got got, rather than the whole army.
>>211729
I'm... not too sure how much Yukari can intervene in the Animal realm conflict... as the administrator of Gensokyo having her intervene probably isn't going to go well for the wider situation, especially considering how bad it has been above-ground due to the IC incident... her intervening regarding Kosuzu would be an exception (being personally tied to it... and if Kosuzu gets caught up in the wider fight here maybe?) but otherwise I think she won't be able to intervene in the fight between the Haniwa and Keiga.
on that topic, even when the Kiketsu enter this fight, it probably is going to be hard, under current circumstances, neither part of the this Alliance can take the wolves head on and/or tank the hits that the Wolves are dealing so both are going to probably be stuck with hit and run on their own turf.
all the more since the Keiga aren't caring about defense right now, they are going wreck the Haniwa territory, and if I had to guess what the best case scenario that Saki is envisioning, would be the Animal realms falling under her command now that the Haniwa are crippled or something.
So the correct play is to put Kosuzu at the helm of Danger to give the Yakumo and excuse to intervene?
"This is Yakumo business."
>>211730
that would be very funny lol
plan foiled just like that.
well, less extreme options may be available; we don't exactly have the clearest image of how the rail network is set up, but if they act quickly it might be possible for Keike's faction to blow up the tracks somewhere, or try shunting the train onto a siding; stuff that could buy time at least.
the big problem is that it seems likely they didn't anticipate that this might even be possible, so they probably don't have any plans set up for this kind of worst case scenario.
Kosuzu felt her breath quicken. She shuddered, reaching out slowly, and dug her claws in, with as firm of a grip as she could manage.
She lifted the vessel slowly. Every bit of focus she had was concentrated on this task. She dreaded the consequences of failing. But it was fine, she just had to concentrate-
Her claws slipped. The vessel shuddered, nearly slipping from her grip, and she tried to correct its angle. But in her haste, she only succeeded in tipping its contents the other way.
And spilling the teacup’s water all over her face.
Yumemi burst out laughing. Kosuzu gave her a sullen look, glad that her fur could hide her blush, and started to shake herself dry.
Chen, in her own feline form, lifted her teacup and sipped from it. “Might as well use a towel for that, too.” The fox gave her a glum glare, struggling to lift the proffered hand towel into a usable position, but couldn’t get it right. Yumemi scooched closer to towel the fox more instead.
Kosuzu pouted. “This is so hard! I can’t get any grip! How am I supposed to do anything like this?!”
The nekomata chuckled, setting the teacup back down carefully. “It’s not easy, I’ll give you that. But skills like this are vital for spellcasting while in beast form. Why did you think we all go human-shape, hmm?”
Kosuzu glanced over at the book again. On that particular subject, Ran’s gr - her mother’s grimoire was absolutely clear.
Dexterity is an essential part of efficient spellcasting. Shaping magic to the form you need is often a manual process, and the more finesse with which you can do so, the better.
For most spellcasting, therefore, a young fox such as yourself tends to be significantly stronger in human form. As you get older, and grow more tails, your innate magical fidelity will increase exponentially, but for now, your capacity as a pure fox is limited, and caution is recommended.
(Aside from my personal preferences, this is why I raised you in human form first and foremost. Well, that and you always wanted to read every book you got your paws on - much easier with actual hands, no?)
With all that said, if you do find yourself in a situation where you need to cast in fox form, you will need to be dexterous enough to cast with your paws. You’ll find some basic exercises below.
Kosuzu tilted her head. “...Does mom prefer being human-shaped to being a fox that much?”
Chen nodded. “Yeah, she does. Don’t get me wrong, she’s very proud to be a kitsune. But… she’s always been fascinated by humans and their inventing. Tends to much prefer them over the ‘survival of the fittest’ mentality. And she says that acting human stops her from letting beastly impulses take over - so she isn’t unnecessarily hostile to Tanuki, for example.”
Kosuzu’s ears fell back, as much as they could while still being vigorously toweled. “Oh… I hadn’t considered…” That… right, foxes and tanuki didn’t get along, at least typically. If Kosuzu was too foxy, tanuki wouldn’t trust her. Who knew what Mamizou would think already?
Besides, the book wasn’t wrong about ease of reading. The Bluebell Grimoire was protected, likely by some kind of warding, but she’d really scrabbled even just to turn the page. She’d much prefer no risk of ripping up any pages by accident, no matter what form she was in.
Instinct decreased to 0.
Yumemi sat back, releasing Kosuzu from the clutches of the towel. Her free hand reached out to pet the still-dry black cat. “So she prefers human technology and stuff? What started that?”
Chen smirked. “It’s a bit of a story… though, perhaps you two would particularly appreciate it.”
The cat sat back on her haunches. “Hundreds of years ago, a wicked fox princess ruled a portion of Japan called Tsugaru. While toiling under the princess’ chains, a lowly youko found a human. But not just any human - a young girl from a mysterious land, with devices equally mysterious in their nature. Devices that harnessed lightning and waves invisible to the eye.”
“The girl said the world she came from was a world run by humans. The youko was absolutely enraptured by the girl’s technology, and eager to see more of it. But the young girl said that no matter how fast the Youko traveled, her world was hundreds of years away.”
The cat swept her arms, gesturing grandly. “While the young girl had come to find another from her world, she could not ignore the plight of the world she found herself in. And so, she took it upon herself to help the fox while she explored the land.”
Chen sighed, looking down. “It was a victory, but a costly one. The human dethroned the wicked princess, but in so doing unleashed a terrible power within her. Her power had split the earth itself, tearing the island in twain and devouring the princess’ palace into the flooding fissure. While the land was free of its cruel mistress… she was seen as no less of a monster than the fox that had once blighted them.”
“But the young youko knew her true nature. Where all others turned against her, the youko stayed by her side. In the end, the two agreed to bind each other. The youko would become the girl’s shikigami, her faithful servant through thick and thin. And her most sacred duty would be to manage the Restrictions - cast-off pieces of her master’s power, that she alone could not access.”
Kosuzu’s eyes went wide. “Wait… this young girl… is that Yukari?! And… mysterious technology… hundreds of years…”
Chen nodded. “It is the story Lady Ran tells of how she and Lady Yukari first met.” The cat paused, then nervously turned to Yumemi. “Um. Don’t mention the Restrictions part to anyone, alright? I-I got a bit caught up in the moment.”
Yumemi herself was murmuring, barely registering Chen’s request. “So… Yukari is a time-traveler? Does she talk about what time she came from?”
Chen… looked away. There was a sudden tone of regret in the nekomata’s voice.
“She… doesn’t.”
Before either of them could ask, an alarm sounded.
“RED ALERT. A MAJOR INCURSION HAS OCCURRED. ALL TROOPS TO BATTLE STATIONS. STRATEGIC OFFICERS ARE TO REPORT TO THE COMMAND CENTER. ANY VIPS ARE TO REPORT TO THE SAFE HOUSE.”
The three girls shared a shocked glance. Apparently, something big was happening.
Yumemi gasped. “Wait… oh no. Reimu and Mayumi are still out there!”
Kosuzu shifted back into human form. Tea-time could wait - every bone in her body was telling her this was important.
[ ] To the command center! There had to be a way they could help!
[ ] To the safe house! Best to stay out of everyone’s way for this…
>Instinct decreased to 0.
Dangit, I was hoping for it to go up! x.x
[X] To the command center! There had to be a way they could help!
And oooo! Yukari lore!
[ X ] To the command center! There had to be a way they could help!
I'm a bit curious about what's happening with Reimu and Mayumi right now, but I guess we'll find out later.
[X] To the command center! There had to be a way they could help!
Now's the time to be helpful.
>The cat sat back on her haunches. “Hundreds of years ago, a wicked fox princess ruled a portion of Japan called Tsugaru. While toiling under the princess’ chains, a lowly youko found a human. But not just any human - a young girl from a mysterious land, with devices equally mysterious in their nature. Devices that harnessed lightning and waves invisible to the eye.”
Hello there Tsukasa~
found you.
[X] To the safe house! Best to stay out of everyone’s way for this…
Big sis told us to be a good girl; don't play with guns.
[X] To the command center! There had to be a way they could help!
This is the new and hopeful Kosuzu, who is confident she'll be able to help out! (Actual help may vary.)
[X] To the command center! There had to be a way they could help!
I will comment later
[X] To the command center! There had to be a way they could help!
[X] To the command center! There had to be a way they could help!
What’s a more striking scene. Ran turning up to the front lines or her turning up to a safe house covertly? Yeah, it’s the front lines
>>211743
Heh, it would be funny if it turns out in this story that Tsukasa was Tamamo-no-Mae, instead of Ran.
(X} We need to protect the briefcase!
...
In all seriousness, I am not sure that this is the time to intervene yet. Definitely need to eventually, but I dunno what can be done right now. Might just get in the way.
[X] To the safe house! Best to stay out of everyone’s way for this…
[X] To the command center! There had to be a way they could help!
We're not strategic officers, but VIPs. And Chen was tasked to keep Kosuzu out of trouble... but I have a bad feeling about the safe house. I feel that Kosuzu and company will be safer in the command center and they'll get far more info on the sitrep there, the main problem will be being allowed to enter.
I read the alarm message with original RE2's voice, you know, that "The Self-Destruct Sequence has been activated. Repeat, the Self-Destruct Sequence has been activated. This sequence may not be aborted. All employees proceed to the emergency car at the bottom platform."
Now, huge lore drop about the Yakumos
>>211743
>>211749
And possibly Tsukasa's, makes a lot of sense that this is her.
>> "It was a victory, but a costly one. The human dethroned the wicked princess, but in so doing unleashed a terrible power within her."
Interesting choice of words here. With lots of possibilities. Or maybe I'm focusing on something irrelevant, who knows.
>> And her most sacred duty would be to manage the Restrictions - cast-off pieces of her master’s power, that she alone could not access.
Interesting...
>Her power had split the earth itself, tearing the island in twain and devouring the princess’ palace into the flooding fissure. While the land was free of its cruel mistress… she was seen as no less of a monster than the fox that had once blighted them.
[X] To the command center! There had to be a way they could help!
[X] To the command center! There had to be a way they could help!
RALLY THE TROOPS! CAPTAIN KOSUZU COORDINATES CULLING OF COUSIN CANIDS!
[X] To the command center! There had to be a way they could help!
Tsukasa(?) being tied into Yukari's origin story is a new one. It'll be fun to see where this goes!
Anyway, I think the command room is the place for now. What's that Clausewitz quote about how battles are about extremely simple things, but in war, even the simplest thing is extremely difficult? The situation being what it is, the Keiga being what they are, and Tsukasa and Seiga being what they are, I wonder if the better protection for Kosuzu might be right at the heart of the chaos. For Tsukasa, bypassing the battle and cracking into a safe room might actually be easier than wading through all the friction of an ongoing war, especially given the carelessness and self-absorption of her nominal allies.
Also, it'll result in Kosuzu being more involved in events, and that's what I want. Well, I hope. Command rooms being what they are, it might also just be equally as uninvolved but with the extra stress of hearing how everything's going wrong. We'll see!
Now it makes more sense that Tsukasa, when she was dethroned, lost her powers in some way or another so that she became a tubefox.
Also the name Shirohime which is basically "white princess" that Kosuzu's grandfather mentions is possible that it was one of the titles she had along with "wicked fox princess"
The story of Yukari and Ran is quite interesting I hope more is told about it since at some point Ran separated to go to the Animal Realm.
[X] To the command center! There had to be a way they could help!
Kosuzu isn't going to be sitting on the sidelines anymore if we have anything to say about it! Of course, this likely will end up giving Kosuzu the wonderful task of being Reimu and Mayumi's backup and getting a rematch with Seiga/Yoshika (and maybe Tsukasa? Its hard to tell whether the Keiga's main plan is destroying the depot or "freeing" Reimu of brainwashing so she can be recruited.
As for the story, its fairly enlightening (and provides SOME reason that Tsukasa would go out of her way to provoke Ran/Yukari, assuming she is the eponymous princess, since its so out of character otherwise), and actually explains alot of her attitude towards Kosuzu (if Ran used to be a lower class fox and rose up above her status, Tsukasa may have reveled in sabotaging Ran's child back to her "proper" place.
[X] To the command center! There had to be a way they could help!
if tsukasa knew about the safe house (possibility im not willing to dismiss), they'll probably expect us to go there. and the command center likely has yachie, keiki, and likely yukari there calling the shots. more of a target, but also two, most likely three really strong people there able to step and and defend us.
>Kosuzu’s eyes went wide. “Wait… this young girl… is that Yukari?! And… mysterious technology… hundreds of years…”
>Yumemi herself was murmuring, barely registering Chen’s request. “So… Yukari is a time-traveler? Does she talk about what time she came from?”
>“She… doesn’t.”
i'm taking this as pretty much confirmation for the "yukari is maribel" theory. and the fact that she "had come to find another from her world"....... renko? isn't it usually merry who gets caught up in things and is spirited away first? it's interesting to see renko to be first this time, though. and if we're correct about yumemi and chiyuri knowing merry and renko in the future, then yumemi might actually put the pieces together if she gets a good look at yukari.
have my own theory that due to myths and stories about time travel, it's possible to change the past with it if done via supernatural means, but since the science behind it insists on a closed loop theory when time travelling with scientific means it's sort of doomed to never be able to actually change anything. unless yukaribel is a closed loop occurence, in which case the immaterial children really are the best shot at changing fate.
restrictions, restrictions...interesting, but nothing comes to mind immediately right now.
if tsukasa's really been planning to take revenge on yukari and ran though, she might have specific countermeasures prepared. spite and a few centuries does wonders for motivation and creativity, after all. in that case, we'll have to be careful, but i still do think it's safer to stick to the big shots.
>>211750
that kind of Meek attitude is exactly what Grip takes advantage of lmfao. where your reading comprehension bro. Kosuzu's power is to [Read] and you cant?
[X] To the command center! There had to be a way they could help!
[X] To the command center! There had to be a way they could help!
>>211743
At first I thought this was a bit wack, but after thinking about it a bit more it makes sense. If Tsukasa is Shirohime, then it fits the story, "White Princess" and all that. Plus, we still don't know why Tsukasa seems to hate the Yakumos so much that she'd go and kidnap Ran's kit, but if it's something like being dethroned and brought down to the weakest form of yokai fox, then something like kidnapping the kid of one of the people who brought you down would be a hell of a way to get revenge.
[X] To the command center! There had to be a way they could help!
Random anon here, but...
...I don't know why, but something seems... off to me.
Recently binged the entire series, and these recent chapters are having my intuition flare up for some reason. I feel like something is missing...
...then again, that may just be me.
>>211763
I can understand the story feeling off since it's been a little darker than the other arcs, but something missing?
Author said that next arc wouldn't be as heavy as this one iirc.
Admittedly the vibes of Tsukasa are weird since she's designated to carry the Villain Ball at the cost of both her competency and character and the Shirohime thing would make more sense if it wasnt Tsukasa.
Like I know it is for the sake of the story wanting to be told. But still. Some stuff feels off.
[X] To the command center! There had to be a way they could help
It's hero time
[X] To the command center! There had to be a way they could help.
Ironically, it's safer to go to the command center if you think about it (Given that we know that Tsukusa is likely to be prowling in the vents within the multitude of safe houses in order to look for Kosuzu...?).
hmmm, maybe; it may be more correct to consider her one of many villains given the current situation. she may not even end up the final/main antagonist of the arc.
that being said, something does seem kinda strange here, but I think that may just be due to the general ambiguity of who the final opponent actually is (though personally, I kinda think it's Seiga.)
[X] To the command center! There had to be a way they could help!
I feel that the "safe house" isn't going to be too safe same as Kosu in >>211751. I worry that if Tsukasa does attack us in the command center it will distract Keiki at a key moment and hurt her defenses. Thou I think that it is more likely that after learning about the attack Kosuzu will try and save Reimu and get intercepted by Tsukasa (dragging Chen and Yumemi into danger).
With the haniwa fighting a defensive war and the Kiketsu likely coming for defense help, the only faction we don't have a clear view of is Tewi's rabbit faction I thought we gave them a name somewhere I am just not finding it. On one hand Tewi seems to have befriended Akyuu but that doesn't mean she would help Reimu even knowing Reimu is Akyuu's friend. On the other Tewi could gain favors from 2 of the main powerhouses (haniwa and Kiketsu) in Animal Hell by helping now. Tewi could also not take a side but use the chaos to strengthen herself.
Where in the Animal Hell is Seiga Kaku? We know where Saki is and Tsukasa is going to try and capture Yumemi to free herself from the Keiga. That leaves Seiga and Yoshika unaccounted at least on the enemy side. (Yukari and Yachie are missing on our side at this point)
How did Tsukasa escape Ran/did Tsukasa have allies in that kidnapping? In >>211534 Tsukasa seem to indicate that she can escape from Yukari as long as Yukari doesn't know how she escaped the first time. Whatever this trick is as long as we don't have a counter to it/don't know what it is could make Tsukasa a more dangerous threat than we think.
What event is big enough that Kozusu needs to activate her Re/Awakening? We have 2 ICs here and we need an event where Reimu either can't, isn't there, or isn't enough for Kozusu Re/Awakening to have an impact. (also who are we meant to save. We saved Youki as Reimu, Haru as Akyuu, Suwako as Youmu, are we saving Yumemi or someone else as Kozusu).
Who is Shirohime? I have made an argument for why I don't think it is Tsukasa in >>211110 and >>211407 but the anon in >>211144 did point out a good counter argument against my posts.
Does Saki still think Reimu is human or did Tsukasa inform her about the truth? How is Saki planning on convincing Yumemi to help her? I can't think of any other ones right now, are any of these what seem off or is missing? (This last one is a "joke" what is the Moriya Shrine angle of this incident)
>>211765
Is it that you do not believe Tsukasa has demonstrated enough competence in the present to have been the evil fox princess in Chen's story? You think someone capable of conquering an entire region and ruling with an iron fist should be more competent than Tsukasa has acted so far? If so, remember that Chen's story described the fox princess as the ruler of the land, not the conqueror of it. Tsukasa might have inherited the throne from her parents. Tsukasa may have been able to cruelly reign over her people like an entitled tyrant when handed power to her on a silver platter, but once Yukari dethroned her, Tsukasa would have to obtain power through her own wits and ability. When forced to amass power from the ground up with her own skills, Tsukasa may only have been competent enough to achieve the rank of a lowly tube fox.
>>211766
Chen fixed Kosuzu's hairstyle a few updates ago. That blasphemous Tsukasa-esque atrocity hanging in front of her face is no more.
[X] To the command center! There had to be a way they could help
>>211766
Hey, nice drawing! Glad to see more fanart!
>>211763
I've been reading this story since day 1 so I think I wouldn't notice a subtle change. Like >>211764 said, maybe it's the tone of the story what feels off? Thinking about it a while, maybe it's that a lot seems to be happening at the same time (as far as I can remember, in previous arcs stuff happened one after the other, more or less. Here most things are not resolved yet, so it's a pile-up of stuff happening all at the same time waiting for a big "wham" chapter to resolve it all at the same time, or so I'd guess). Anyways, we seem to be close enough to the finish line that I'd be confident in saying that we'll be seeing most answers resolved in the next couple weeks (or even the start of the new arc, if we're super optimistic!) . Fingers crossed.
>>211770
The rabbit clan is called Kousa (幸 Kou 詐 Sa, "Lucky trickery/deceit/scam").
It's kinda funny, the last couple of threads, if not most of the arc really we've been building up for a Tsukasa fight... and yet, I'm pretty sure this is the route choice and we are leaning towards the one that isn't likely going to have Tsukasa...
the big bad evil princess out for revenge... and doesn't even manage to become the arc boss…
And if we are going against Seiga… that just means we have another chance to yoink Yoshika!
>Yumemi herself was murmuring, barely registering Chen’s request. “So… Yukari is a time-traveler? Does she talk about what time she came from?”
>Chen… looked away. There was a sudden tone of regret in the nekomata’s voice.
>“She… doesn’t.”
That sounds a little like despite her not talking about it, you seem to know something and feel a little guilty there Chen.
considering that Chiyuri in her Youmu epilogue had a moment of familiarity when seeing Yukari, and yet we haven’t seen the same in Yumemi… I think she already knows. Her moment was probably when Maribel showed up for class since Youngmemi has seen her here.. Which might explain why she was so confident to stop Yukari from going after Tsukasa and instead go to Kosuzu… and yet freeze when Tsukasa got hostile… she was just intervening with a student, rather than the very powerful gap youkai
And I would read that story of Maribel and Ran taking down Tsukasa.
And from the sounds of it, that story is Yukari’s origin story too. One way or another in that final battle, whether it was from the stress of using her growing powers finally crossing a line, or something crazy like her time machine suffering a containment breach from the battle, Maribel Hearn walked into that fight… and Yukari Yakumo walked out.
From the sounds of it she never found her friend, and yeah, odds are that it was Renko…
Not currently sure for a lot of the other questions… but for how Saki is thinking of convincing Yumemi to join… there’s either what she was initially doing… Apparently food? and/or well, intimidation of some sort likely?
And for who Kosuzu is saving… thinking on what Ichi has been saying, it's not really Yumemi… sort of, her rescue does happen, that’s the closed loop… what Kosuzu is changing fate to rescue from Ichimi’s hints… is Kosuzu herself.
Last thing, here’s some music for the Haniwha as they get into the hardest fight of their existence: https://youtu.be/r3j1IhPRFs0?si=FB9wIfA_Nc4c5Bxn
>>211763
I think most of the tonal weirdness has been from the middle part leading into the Re/Awakening fight needing to take longer to set up story elements (Finally establishing who Ichi/Go are and why they disagree on what outcome should be sought after resolving the pyre incident, establishing the first signs on Yumemi's relationship with the IC, Kosuzu's darkest day leading into her brightest morning). As such we still don't really have a definitive conflict we are approaching, other than knowing that Tsukasa is going to show up.
>>211770
We actually do have a rough idea on where Seiga is (though it was somewhat easy to overlook with everything that happened in >>211718)
>>Outpost K-3 is the one that’s silent, right? Maybe that’s where the hermit is?
>>“We’re down the near side of the big hill! Only me and Mayumi are here!” There was some banging noises from the far side of the line. Danmaku... maybe.
>>“The big hill… that’s where Outpost K-3 is…” The operator’s voice had rising concern. “We’ll mobilize from adjacent outposts, just hold on for a moment.”
Assuming the Haniwa's assumption is correct, it looks like Seiga and Yoshika got assigned to attack general outposts (though given how close they are, they almost certainly will run into Reimu and Mayumi. As for Tsukasa, most likely no matter where Kosuzu goes to, Tsukasa will show up to try and collect on her investment (either via fiat that she is assigned to support wherever Kosuzu choses to go, or she has a trick to get the collar off and is going to collect Kosuzu before bouncing). Given the narrative weight given to her, I really can't envision Kosuzu's Arc NOT ending with fighting Tsukasa for reals.
I am going to say something that maybe I shouldn't, but we're not at the route choice yet. And for that matter, while there will usually be an important choice leading up to the final battle... there's no guarantee that choice will be which enemy you're fighting.
[19] To the command center! There had to be a way they could help!
[2] To the safe house! Best to stay out of everyone’s way for this…
The fox took off at a run.
“Hey, wait up!” Chen ran alongside her, still in cat form. Yumemi wasn’t far behind. “You heard the announcement, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, of course!” Kosuzu threw open the door, dashing through it.
“Well you’re going the wrong way!” Chen sprinted to keep up, soon shifting back to human form. “The safe rooms are the other way!”
“I’m not going to the safe rooms - there’s gotta be some way to help!” The fox kept running. The tour from Mayumi and Reimu had given her a general idea of where the more important strategic rooms were, and from there, it was only a matter of following the most formally-dressed haniwa.
Chen tried to get in front of her and Yumemi, but couldn’t stop them both. After her third attempt, she sighed in defeat. “Alright, fine… but as soon as someone turns you around, we’re going back, alright?” Both of the girls nodded, as the cat muttered under her breath.
Grip reduced to 3.
If Chen was hoping for the group to be turned back, she would soon be disappointed. The entire complex was in a panic, and the fact the three kids were moving through it were barely a footnote. It wasn’t long before they went from following uniforms, to following voices. Keiki’s specifically.
It brought them to a large, imposing door. Within, despite the door seeming rather thick. Kosuzu could hear a flurry of arguments. She stepped closer, pressing an ear up against the door, and listened in…
“-ease respond! Reimu! Do you hear me?! REIMU!” Yachie slammed the radio receiver down. “Damn it, Saki, couldn’t just try out your fun new toy, could you?! Had to be a fucking overachiever!”
“Do not panic quite yet.” Yukari’s voice was steady, but still strained. “The Kakkushi-seki’s tracking signal is lining up with Mayumi’s inbuilt function. And neither of them has stopped moving.”
“Oh, sure, you’re calm!” The matriarch jabbed her finger into Yukari’s chest. “Your brats are just cozying up in the safe house while my daughter is being chased by those fucking dogs! Damnit, Keiki, they need reinforcements!”
Keiki looked up at her, opening her mouth to resp- “Keiki! The hermit’s been sighted! She’s leading the forces at Kaolin! They’re nearly at the library!” Her head whipped around to address the haniwa who was speaking.
Another behind her yelled out. “Forget about the library! We need to stop the train as soon as possible!” Keiki spun around again, stuttering to speak.
The first haniwa spoke up again. “We can’t let that witch just get into our magic books! She did this after just a month of being here! If she gets some of the tomes we have sealed within there, then…!”
Keiki bit at her thumb. It was times like this that she wished she really was a war god. None of this came naturally to her - that was the whole reason she made warriors and strategists, wasn’t it?
And it was really coming back to bite her now. She’d thought her haniwa were untouchable - that they’d always be resistant to the vast majority of the animal’s attacks, only truly being exposed to the weapons she developed herself. Frankly, she’d considered it more likely that the animals would have to stoop to tricking living warriors into fighting for them than they’d find a way to bypass her defenses. And of all of them, it was the Keiga?! Both the least likely to find a solution, and the absolute worst to do so…
She looked down over the battle-map again, her thoughts a muddy haze. There were two massive indents - one flooding in from Kaolin ward that was now swallowing the library, and a deep cut through Varve ward, with a razor-clear goal of getting to the factory.
And in between the two of them, a small dot. Mayumi and Reimu. As much as all the haniwa were her creations, there was only so close she could get to many of them. As grim as it was to consider, they were to some degree replaceable.
Those two weren’t. Mayumi wasn’t just a creation built for a single purpose… she was modeled as a daughter, built to learn and grow in her own way. And the basis for that had been Keiki’s actual daughter, who was right there alongside her. They were young. Inexperienced. Hurting. They needed help.
Another alarm sounded. Keiki’s head snapped up, slowly drawing herself from her haze. “H-huh? W-what?”
“The wolves just took over the last switch before Haniya station!” Keiki felt her throat tightening. “We’re less than three minutes from impact!”
Three minutes?! That- oh no. She fumbled, trying to grab for something. “Fact-call the factory! Th-they need to evacuate!”
She needed to get them out of there. They’d be torn to pieces! But- but there was still Reimu and Mayumi to worry about!
She heard Yukari’s voice. “Redirect haniwa who didn’t reach the tracks in time to assist Reimu and Mayumi. They don’t have to meet up exactly, they just need to separate them from the body of the rampage.”
Keiki turned to Yukari. “B-but the train! We have to stop it! Do you have any way to stop the train?!”
The sage shook her head. “I don’t have the time to make it over there. If only I’d prepared…” She growled, glaring at the map. “…There’s nothing we can do.”
Keiki pounded her fist into the display in front of her. “There has to be something! There… has to be…”
There was. The answer coiled around Keiki’s throat like a snake. There was a solution, one that could have prevented all of this. Her eyes turned, to the jidiao on the far side of the room, angrily yelling at the haniwa. Trying to mobilize a rescue for her daughter.
She should have trusted Yachie. She’d been right all along. But Keiki had been doubting her, trying to spot her angle. Hesitating to even make any move she recommended. Trying to figure out where the trick was.
The truth was that there was no trick. Whether it was because she didn’t want to let Reimu down, or because she feared the dark truth being revealed, Yachie had been entirely correct to suspect the wolves potential, and hadn’t lied to her even once. And what had Keiki done? Not just doubt her, but actively work against doing anything, for fear that’d fall into a trap that didn’t exist.
And now they were all paying for it. It was too late to make sure the kids didn’t do anything reckless, and the scouting mission had only given them minutes of forewarning after everything had gone down. And now Keiki was going to lose her soldiers - her children - to her own distrust.
“-got a line! Lady Keiki!” She was shaken out of her thoughts again, by a haniwa waving a radio at her. “It’s the sergeant in charge of the factory’s defense!”
She blinked, before taking the receiver in a sweating hand. “Sergeant, do you read?”
“Yes Ma’am. We can see the train coming now.” She didn’t recognise his voice.
“Two minutes!”
A million thoughts rushed through her head. Things she wanted to ask. Things she wanted to say. Which… which sergeant was defending the factory? She’d kept track, once - it was arguably more important than protecting any human spirit, but more removed from them. So while the city was still being established, she’d made a point of morning meetings with the officers. To personally thank them for their duty, in case they didn’t meet any human spirits who would.
When… when had she stopped doing that?
The lull in the conversation was enough for the sergeant to continue. “Production’s been halted. The constructor haniwa are being uprooted and moved, while our half-built brothers and sisters are being taken off the grounds. The ones who’re able to hold a sword are staying with us.”
“Y-you…” Keiki was struggling to breathe. “You all - you have to get away! I-it’s too dangerous!”
“We’re outside of the impact zone.” The sergeant replied, matter-of-factly. “We won’t be caught by the crash.”
“You’ll be torn apart by the wolves!” Keiki gibbered. When had she started thinking of her soldiers as replaceable? “You-you have to run. You have to, sergeant! Order your men to retreat!”
“We’re staying, Lady Keiki.” The sergeant’s response was firm. “This crash will cost us, but the wolves can’t be allowed to destroy the rest of the factory.”
“No, no, nonononono, listen to me! Please! Get out of there. Save yourselves!” The line was quiet for a moment. Keiki waited anxiously, trying to hear for any response.
“One minute!”
The sergeant sucked a breath in. “...Lady Keiki. Do you remember the orders you gave me? When you first set me out into the world?”
He must have been one of the early models. Back when she was still crafting every one of them by hand. The sculptor goddess wracked her brain, trying to pin a voice she couldn’t place to a name she couldn’t remember. “I-I…”
“You told me that I was built with the heart of a warrior.” The sergeant said, firmly. “That I had been built based on refined data from humans and my elder siblings alike. That I was to trust my own instincts to best defend this realm - especially against any meddling craftswoman who thought she knew better.”
The radio device trembled in her hand. It might have been sincere, once. Right now, it just rang as a hollow platitude, nonsense to puff up what she’d seen as just another tin soldier before he marched off to her war. “S-sergeant, please… please…”
“We’ve pulled out everything we can, but every loss here is costly. If we let them level the building, it’ll take months to operate at full strength again. If we don’t, it’ll be a matter of weeks.” In the background, she heard the screech of the train, and the baying of the wolves, and yet… the sergeant chuckled. “Don’t worry. We’re fully prepped. Those sons of bitches won’t be getting another inch without a real fight.”
“Ten seconds to impact!”
Keiki searched for the words. Something, anything, to encourage the sergeant. To reassure him that help was on the way, that they didn’t have to sacrifice themselves. To fight to live to see the morrow, not just to protect the factory.
“Lady Keiki?”
The sergeant found his words first.
“It’s been an honor. Signing off.”
Lady Keiki was standing there, silently. The radio receiver was still clutched within her grip. Her jaw was hanging loose, with only vague twitches from it. Her eyes were glazed over, unfocused, off in a world only she could see.
The other adults didn’t seem able to help. The haniwa were quietly moving around, shuffling papers and the figurines on the map to account for the factory’s loss. Yukari’s eyes were boring a hole into the map, utterly still and unblinking. Yachie had stepped into a sideroom, and was angrily yelling on her phone, gesticulating wildly.
The young fox looked up at the stunned Goddess. Tears were beginning to stream down Keiki’s face. Kosuzu looked back at the other kids.
[ ] Comfort her. Even if she couldn’t find the words… a hug could mean a lot. Especially if it came from a living human.
[ ] Snap her out of it. Her- Tsukasa had a lot of phrases that could motivate people, and she'd seen her rouse people from worse funks than this. Maybe one of them would shake Keiki awake.
[ ] Don’t meddle. Let the adults handle it.
[ ] Something else?
Poor Keiki. I suppose that's the difference between creating warriors and commanding them. I don't think there's really words here that help, but a cute fox might.
Alternatively, deploy the therapy Chen!
[x] Comfort her. Even if she couldn’t find the words… a hug could mean a lot. Especially if it came from a living human.
[X] Comfort her. Even if she couldn’t find the words… a hug could mean a lot. Especially if it came from a living human.
yeah... not touching the Tsukasa option
hmmm, might switch to a write-in for something like "step up: ask her where we can help." though with how overwhelmed she was just before that might not work...
also
>Grip reduced to 3.
oh YEEEEAAAAHHH
[x] Comfort her. Even if she couldn’t find the words… a hug could mean a lot. Especially if it came from a living human.
[X] Snap her out of it. Her- Tsukasa had a lot of phrases that could motivate people, and she'd seen her rouse people from worse funks than this. Maybe one of them would shake Keiki awake.
[X] Comfort her. Even if she couldn’t find the words… a hug could mean a lot. Especially if it came from a living human.
[X] Comfort her. Even if she couldn’t find the words… a hug could mean a lot. Especially if it came from a living human.
that was sad
[X] Comfort her. Even if she couldn’t find the words… a hug could mean a lot. Especially if it came from a living human.
-[X] Hum Mom's lullaby. It always helped her, maybe it could help Keiki too.
[X] Comfort her. Even if she couldn’t find the words… a hug could mean a lot. Especially if it came from a living human.
- [X] Offer to help in any way you can.
- [X] Show them your "scope" spell so they can see you're not defenseless out there.
I read the update's image and thought the worst had happened. Phew.
>> “Damn it, Saki, couldn’t just try out your fun new toy, could you?! Had to be a fucking overachiever!”
She DID only try her fun new toy, only to be completely countered by Kosuzu earlier!
I like that idea >>211787. I'm adding those two knowing in full that Kosuzu's idea will most likely get shot down by all of the adults. They will not like it at all, and two children are already at risk, why send more?
The thing is, Kosuzu has proven herself against the same enhanced wolves before, they can keep her in consideration for any plan. Also, Chen won't let her go alone and they have access to the book. I'm guessing Ran might have taught her, but if Chen doesn't know how to use the scope, Kosuzu can show her.
Before we said that the Yakumos shouldn't interfere, but as far as they know they aren't there. And "Orange" has no ties to Yukari...
clever! I was about to counter my own idea, but adding it on instead of replacing the main vote works! and also smart idea regarding "Orange"! (also not just the book but also the hairpin!)
>>211787 here, adding:
- [X] Offer to help in any way you can.
- [X] Show them your "scope" spell so they can see you're not defenseless out there.
I'm guessing that after this vote will be determining what we are going to be concentrating on, with what had been 3 choices. But with the brave Sergeant, that has been reduced to two, (as long as the evac convoy of the factory material doesn't get intercepted.)
but what if we can reduce it to one?
Reimu already has reinforcements on the way thanks to Yukari, as well as any of her shadowing otters. Reimu was between the factory and the library... if contact can be reestablished and she can rally the reinforcements and start fighting her way towards the library. then have the group that might end up being lead by Kosuzu (despite probably a lot of protests.) head there too from HQ. The two could catch Seiga in a pincer.
any help is good help.
- [X] Offer to help in any way you can.
- [X] Show them your "scope" spell so they can see you're not defenseless out there.
- [X] Hum Mom's lullaby. It always helped her, maybe it could help Keiki too.
ah shoot, forgot to add that add-in too!
>>211787 & >>211797 here, adding:
- [X] Hum Mom's lullaby. It always helped her, maybe it could help Keiki too.
>So while the city was still being established, she’d made a point of morning meetings with the officers. To personally thank them for their duty, in case they didn’t meet any human spirits who would.
>When… when had she stopped doing that?
Considering how she was a month ago during the last incident? Probably overwhelmed... and increasingly convinced that her Haniwha were invincible. Why worry? she'd have all the time to catch up.
[X] Comfort her. Even if she couldn’t find the words… a hug could mean a lot. Especially if it came from a living human.
- [X] Offer to help in any way you can.
- [X] Show them your "scope" spell so they can see you're not defenseless out there
Give her some comfort, but also a path forward.
Adding to >>211792
- [X] Hum Mom's lullaby. It always helped her, maybe it could help Keiki too.
- [X] Offer to help in any way you can.
- [X] Show them your "scope" spell so they can see you're not defenseless out there.
- [X] Hum Mom's lullaby. It always helped her, maybe it could help Keiki too.
What would be the best plan of counterattack?
Kosuzu's scope is like chain-lightning, so it works best when the enemy's all compacted together. trying to find narrow passes to a) force a bunch of wolf spirits to pack together like sardines or b) slow their advance significantly could be valid options.
I also think staying mobile and stealthy should be priorities. for a plan of attack, rescuing Reimu and Mayumi should obviously be priority, but from there I think ambushing large wolf groups would be a good tactic.
could Kosuzu take Reimu's ying-yang orb to mask her scent or could there be some other way to give us the edge in ambushing wolves? They should be quite overconfident and heady with power- at least if they take after their leader, so they should be somewhat easier to attack but obvs stacking the deck in our favour is always a gamer move
[X] Comfort her. Even if she couldn’t find the words… a hug could mean a lot. Especially if it came from a living human.
The sergeant
It will not have a name, but it will have courage
>>211807
There is no yin-yang orb, it kinda got absorbed into her shell.
The "easiest" tactic would be to bottleneck the wolves somewhere and pelt them with danmaku.
"Somewhere" might be hard to find, given we're pressed for time now.
>>211808
Amazing drawing! All those wolves must have taken some time to make
One of those is not like the others lol
[x] Comfort her. Even if she couldn’t find the words… a hug could mean a lot. Especially if it came from a living human.
-[x] Offer to help in any way you can.
-[x] Show them your "scope" spell so they can see you're not defenseless out there.
Good plans.
[X] Comfort her. Even if she couldn’t find the words… a hug could mean a lot. Especially if it came from a living human.
- [X] Offer to help in any way you can.
- [X] Show them your "scope" spell so they can see you're not defenseless out there.
come on Keike! pull yourself together! mandatory fox snuggles until you get your head on straight!
as for the situation, it seems even more likely now that Seiga is just using the Keiga for her own nefarious ends. we still have no idea what her plans are, but it's possible she might just ditch the wolves when she's gotten what she's after.
not sure that's actually a good thing, though; given she's after something in a library filled with countless arcane tomes, it's possible, perhaps even likely, that she presents the more significant long term threat. unfortunately we might not have the luxury of intercepting her given the current mess and Saki running more or less roughshod around the factory area.
and if she senses an opportunity she might just take the plunge and try and capture Keike's HQ as well; we also have no idea what the Reimu situation is looking like either, though at least she and Mayumi still seem to be managing their escape.
things are looking rather touch and go at the moment.
[X] Comfort her. Even if she couldn’t find the words… a hug could mean a lot. Especially if it came from a living human.
Godspeed, nameless sergeant
As the goddess slumped to her knees, Kosuzu stepped into the room, quietly. She slowly reached out for the sculptor Goddess.
“Lady Keiki?” The goddess turned to look at her, still a bit glazed. Yukari also had her eyes on Kosuzu’s sudden appearance, but she said nothing.
Kosuzu pulled her arms around Keiki. She tried to think of something to say, or do. Some way to comfort the devastated sculptor. But… no words came to mind.
She heard Yumemi creep up behind her. “Lady Keiki?” The goddess raised her head. “I-I'm sorry… none of this would have happened if I hadn’t come here…”
The goddess shook her head, slowly. “N-no. Don’t think of it that way, Yumemi.”
She pulled Yumemi in to the hug as well. “You kids… none of this is your fault. This is…” She sagged. “Nothing more than the results of my own mistakes. My own foolishness. I’m not a strategist, nor a tactician… just a potter who’s gotten too big for her britches.”
Kosuzu shook her head. “You’re wrong, Keiki. You’ve protected everyone here - this whole city wouldn’t be here without you.”
Keiki gave a hollow chuckle. “A city whose very foundation is being challenged. I put… everything I had into the Haniwa’s immunity. Without it, they’re… I can’t help them through this.”
“No, you definitely can.” Yukari’s voice cut through the quiet moment. The young fox looked up at her, as did most of the others. “You’re no strategist… but that’s not what they need right now.”
Yukari gave a small smile. “Your haniwa soldiers… they underestimated the wolves. That was always a problem that would have to be rectified one day, but it’s something inevitable with perceived immunity. The bigger problem is morale. There’s more to them than their armor, after all.”
Yukari started to pace. “We need a counter-offensive. The haniwa need to know that the wolves can be driven back. And they need a position to fortify, and to get the repairs they need. They need someone to rally behind.”
She gestured to the map. “Let’s leave the strategists to the broad plans. What we need to do is get out there ourselves. The wolves clearly want to cripple haniwa production - you making an appearance on the front lines would be something they couldn’t ignore.”
Keiki looked down. “Y-you really think-”
Yachie’s voice cut in. “I think the wolves will go for wherever they think the biggest fight is.” The jidiao was clearly still stressed, striding out into the center of the room, but her eyes were locked on Keiki. “This whole maneuver is them trying to prove they need nothing more than brute force to win whatever they want. So the more imposing the defense is, the more eager they’ll be to break it.”
She stepped out, jamming her finger on the display. At a singular dot, not a long way north of the river around Keiki’s home. “Go get them. Reimu and Mayumi. They need you, Keiki. Get there and make it an impregnable fortress. Make it a challenge the wolves can’t resist throwing themselves at.”
Yukari nodded, contemplatively. “It’ll draw enemies from both sides, but we can circle other forces around it. …In fact, if we can establish a defensive line to the moat… then the otters can act as pseudo-cavalry.”
Yachie nodded. “They’re coming from the river now. They can mount a counter-attack that’ll help the haniwa regain momentum.” The dragon sighed. “Never thought I’d say something like that, but I refuse to let something this… Saki-like go down as anything other than the self-destructive idiocy it is.”
The goddess hung still, taking shuddering breaths. Trying to build her resolve. Yachie knelt down, next to her. “...There will be time to grieve when the day is done. For now, your people need you. Not a strategist or a tactician - they need hope. They need the Idola Deus.”
Keiki… took a long breath, releasing the kids from her grip. Slowly, she came to her feet. “...Right. I can do that, at least.” She turned to the haniwa. “Yachie… has only been helpful this entire time. And she understands the Keiga better than we do. I’m giving her command of the defense.”
The haniwa murmured, but Yachie glared at them. “I’m hardly going to betray you all when Reimu’s in the thick of this war. Go, Keiki. Bring our daughters home.”
The sculptor goddess gave one last sniffle, but pulled herself together. Kosuzu turned to her friend. Yumemi was looking down, murmuring.
“...Lady Keiki, wait!” The sculptor paused, as the young girl spun around to her. “We can- we’ll fix it. If Kosuzu and Reimu can change fate… we’ll find a way! To make sure none of this ever happens!”
Yukari chuckled, petting the kid on her head. “It’s a noble goal, Yumemi. But it’s best not to make promises you don’t know you can keep.” The sage sighed. “...Not everything can be undone, or changed. Sometimes… we just have to play the best hand we have.”
She looked up at the kids. “...but enough of that. What are you three doing here?” Yukari’s brow furrowed. “You shouldn’t be here. This place is no place for children.”
Chen stepped forward, bowing. “Apologies, Lady Yukari. I’ll bring them there now.”
Yukari nodded. “I will join Keiki in her assault. We can’t afford to lose the young Hakurei, after all. …How long, Chen?”
“Fifty-seven minutes, until Ran arrives.” The nekomata said. “Don’t worry, she’s not leaving my sight until then.” Her hand rested firmly on Kosuzu’s shoulder, starting to turn her around.
The fox looked up at Yukari, starting to speak.
[ ] “I can fight too! Let me join you!” She couldn't get her worry about Reimu and Mayumi out of her head.
[ ] “Can we do anything to help here?” There had to be something two young scholars and a living computer could do.
[ ] “...Stay safe, Lady Yukari.” She should trust the adults knew what they were doing. As bad as it had gotten, they had a plan coming together now.
[X] “I can fight too! Let me join you!” She couldn't get her worry about Reimu and Mayumi out of her head.
it is now or never that he must understand how layered he is, for worse things will come
[X] “Can we do anything to help here?” There had to be something two young scholars and a living computer could do.
[X] “I can fight too! Let me join you!” She couldn't get her worry about Reimu and Mayumi out of her head.
The second option seems good but what the hell skills would any of Kosuzu, Yumemi and Chen have in coordinating an urban combat scenario.
Seems better to me to coalesce all of our resources together rather than seperating them and letting them be picked off by Tsukasa and Seiga (Tsukasa has been nosing around the mansion and could therefore be sneaking around there RIGHT NOW and Seiga is clearly going for some fucked up forbidden magic shit at the library)
being on the frontline and having all of our key players to hand is the best option, especially considering Kosuzu's scope spell.
[X] “I can fight too! Let me join you!” She couldn't get her worry about Reimu and Mayumi out of her head.
There's no safer place for Kosuzu than Yukari's side, even in the middle of a battlefield.
I still think she might get rejected and sent to the defense, but hey, at least we tried.
[X] “I can fight too! Let me join you!” She couldn't get her worry about Reimu and Mayumi out of her head.
>Yachie’s voice cut in. “I think the wolves will go for wherever they think the biggest fight is. This whole maneuver is them trying to prove they need nothing more than brute force to win whatever they want. So the more imposing the defense is, the more eager they’ll be to break it.”
The wolves will go to the biggest fight, so send Kosuzu and Chen to the frontlines to make the fight bigger.
[X] “I can fight too! Let me join you!” She couldn't get her worry about Reimu and Mayumi out of her head.
>Yachie knelt down, next to her. “...There will be time to grieve when the day is done. For now, your people need you. Not a strategist or a tactician - they need hope. They need the Idola Deus.”
Yachie giving her pseudo rival reasons to move forward and fully trusting her to rescue Reimu and Yumemi shows how much has changed since the original timeline.
[X] “I can fight too! Let me join you!” She couldn't get her worry about Reimu and Mayumi out of her head.
Mmm Yukari will make an excuse for her to stay but Kosuzu will not be calm being at the base when her friends are in danger.
[X] “I can fight too! Let me join you!” She couldn't get her worry about Reimu and Mayumi out of her head.
there are a number or reasons to go out, not least of which is that Kosuzu wanted to become someone who could actually help out; now's her chance.
it's also probably something Tsukasa wouldn't do in this situation, and certainly breaks from the expectations she'd placed on Suzu, which means we might shake more of her grip.
and finally, and perhaps most importantly, we get to have Suzu save Reimu, which I'd argue is reason enough.
[X] “I can fight too! Let me join you!” She couldn't get her worry about Reimu and Mayumi out of her head.
No way Yukari agrees to this, but hell if she won't try. Would be a good opportunity to get some more practical experience with Kitsune magic too. Plus, there are few if any safer places right now than by Yukari's side I feel— Tsukasa is no doubt skilled in infiltration, and she had ample opportunity to study Keiki/Yachie & co's territory for weaknesses.
[X] “I can fight too! Let me join you!” She couldn't get her worry about Reimu and Mayumi out of her head.
[X] “I can fight too! Let me join you!” She couldn't get her worry about Reimu and Mayumi out of her head.
[X] “Can we do anything to help here?” There had to be something two young scholars and a living computer could do.
I get that you all want to reduce grip and have Kosuzu prove to herself that she's strong, but this shir is way to wreckless. I'm sure she'll get a chance to fight, but charging in to an active warzone as a 10 year old is not the way to approach that.
[X] “Can we do anything to help here?” There had to be something two young scholars and a living computer could do.
There is a non-zero chance of all three of them finding a temporary counter-spell to Seiga's counter-spell. Between Kosuzu's ability to read literally anything and apparent aptitude for magic/coding, Yumemi's knowledge, and Chen's processing speed, they should be able to pull support pretty well.
[X] “Can we do anything to help here?”
>>211827
Seconding this, and further pointing out that Kosuzu’s grip might not be helped by being reckless here.
If Yukari decides to scold Kosuzu, however gently - because she wants to keep her safe for the literal hour until Ran gets here - I think that’s going to hamper any attempts to weaken grip. Instead, we should go for finding a way to help that Yukari will encourage.
(And I’m fairly certain no matter what we say, Kosuzu will be drawn into a fight one way or another.)
>>211825
[UNDO] “I can fight too! Let me join you!” She couldn't get her worry about Reimu and Mayumi out of her head.
[X] “Can we do anything to help here?” There had to be something two young scholars and a living computer could do.
[X] “I can fight too! Let me join you!” She couldn't get her worry about Reimu and Mayumi out of her head.
She's already been trusted out in the battlefield already, even with the possibility (that turned out to become fact.) that one of the big guns would go after them.
Also, the discussion has been focussing mainly on Kosuzu being able to help... but uh... Yumemi would be really useful here too, mainly due to how frightening a combo between miss Commander Keen I-can-make-a-time-machine-faster-than-i-can-make-a-reminder and a Creator goddess is.
The Keiga seem to have given up/forgotten about controlling Yumemi in favour of just smashing the Haniwha entirely. Having Yumemi and Keiki work together would definitely show them why that is a mistake.
Also a certain cheeky Hobbit's quote regarding distance to danger vs. distance from harm comes to mind. XP
And sadly it sounds like the library has been written off here... I hope that Kosuzu's Grandfather wasn't there this morning... that might be bad... might be a bonus objective for the Keiga, which results in them sending out a message for Kosuzu threatening him (after all, someone was spying in the library... and from subsequent interactions it doesn't look like it was Tsukasa.) to lure her there to grab Ran’s kid and get her back to Tsukasa.
An addition to the post >>211800 that I forgot to post before the update, but another reason Keiki probably had a hard time remembering is that from the sounds of it she’s been up all night getting ready for the upcoming invasion, and all the while taxing her stamina by trying to figure out Yachie’s nonexistent plan to double cross her. I wonder how many Youkai energy drink cans are spread throughout the command centre?
Gooboi is really good at creating dilemmas where it matters most.
I have a feeling that Tsukasa is going to be a huge issue eventually. Whether or not she'll be our first enemy that we meet is uncertain though.
Regardless, we know that Tsukasa's goals are going to be capturing Yumemi & Kosuzu. With Yumemi likely going to be in the support line...
[X] “Can we do anything to help here?” There had to be something two young scholars and a living computer could do.
[X] “Can we do anything to help here?” There had to be something two young scholars and a living computer could do.
Actual combat is the last place that any of the adults want Kosuzu. As well as she acquitted herself on Yumemi's rescue, there's a difference between landing a sneak attack on Seiga and being thrown in front of Saki. And while I don't doubt stuff will go wrong enough that we'll end up in the fray eventually, suggesting the idea here is likely to get rejected vehemently.
Helping from where it's safe seems far more reasonable. The command center might be less safe than the bunker, but it should still be a pretty fortified location... and having Yachie immediately on hand might be better than the bunker's protections anyway.
Gooboi, why dis this section was missing from the AO3 update? Just asking.
Everything went quiet, on the far side of the door. Kosuzu shared a silent glance with the other girls, and opened it.
Lady Keiki was standing there, silently. The radio receiver was still clutched within her grip. Her jaw was hanging loose, with only vague twitches from it. Her eyes were glazed over, unfocused, off in a world only she could see.
The other adults didn’t seem able to help. The haniwa were quietly moving around, shuffling papers and the figurines on the map to account for the factory’s loss. Yukari’s eyes were boring a hole into the map, utterly still and unblinking. Yachie had stepped into a sideroom, and was angrily yelling on her phone, gesticulating wildly.
The young fox looked up at the stunned Goddess. Tears were beginning to stream down Keiki’s face. Kosuzu looked back at the other kids.
[ ] Comfort her. Even if she couldn’t find the words… a hug could mean a lot. Especially if it came from a living human.
[ ] Snap her out of it. Her- Tsukasa had a lot of phrases that could motivate people, and she'd seen her rouse people from worse funks than this. Maybe one of them would shake Keiki awake.
[ ] Don’t meddle. Let the adults handle it.
[ ] Something else? [/i]
==================================
Going to join the gang on this...
[X] “I can fight too! Let me join you!” She couldn't get her worry about Reimu and Mayumi out of her head.
[X] “Can we do anything to help here?” There had to be something two young scholars and a living computer could do.
Counting to >>211839:
Main Choice:
[11] “I can fight too! Let me join you!” She couldn't get her worry about Reimu and Mayumi out of her head.
[9] “Can we do anything to help here?” There had to be something two young scholars and a living computer could do.
[0] “...Stay safe, Lady Yukari.” She should trust the adults knew what they were doing. As bad as it had gotten, they had a plan coming together now.
I love close votes. :3
Sorry Gooboi :/
[X] “Can we do anything to help here?” There had to be something two young scholars and a living computer could do.
[X] “Can we do anything to help here?” There had to be something two young scholars and a living computer could do.
The never-ending tension between actions that might lead to you becoming the person you want to be and actions that are practical in the moment... especially during a crisis.
That said, even if we want to have Kosuzu on the frontlines, I don't know that saying that out loud to a room full of people who specifically want her anywhere else but the frontlines will help with that.
[X] “Can we do anything to help here?” There had to be something two young scholars and a living computer could do.
For now, Kosuzu at least being considerate and not adding another mess to the plate spinning operation is probably for the best, she has to be the brains in the Reimu/Kosuzu duo.
[X] “Can we do anything to help here?” There had to be something two young scholars and a living computer could do.
I feel like this will get rejected pretty strongly, so going with the midway is best. Plus, this is a full on assault, might not be 100% the situation for the three.
>>211829 here.
Remember this?
>“The big mistake I made was underestimating Reimu herself. Trying to curb her potential. I tried to quash her unique qualities, when they were exactly what she needed to make it through.” Yachie raised a finger. “Likewise, allow me to say, do not underestimate young Kosuzu. I believe there’s quite a bit of potential lurking just beneath the surface there.”
Adding as a write-in to either vote:
-{X} Ms. Yachie said it best, we all have the potential to help you all.
It's basically voicing the thought but gives the adults a reason not to push back on the idea.
[UNDO] “I can fight too! Let me join you!” She couldn't get her worry about Reimu and Mayumi out of her head.
[X] “Can we do anything to help here?” There had to be something two young scholars and a living computer could do.
I'll repeat myself in that I did not actually expect Yukari actually letting them go with her, but I can agree that these three might be more useful in the backline, especially since Yumemi would probably be left alone otherwise. Let them stay with Yachie, maybe even helping organize the defense.
There might be something else in Ran's grimoire to help (apart from the scope), who knows.
