VOTE RESULTS

[x] Go after them. (3 Votes)

---

The longer you peer to your ironsights, the more you think that her appearance is merely a distraction so that her team of thieves can get away. Without saying a word, you take a step back and sprinted out of the room to catch up on Yamame.

“Good boy.” You can hear her faintly say those words as you exit the room.

There’s no time to waste for a proper exit, so you jumped out of the same window the thugs jumped out a while ago. You grunt as you land on the pile of boxes, but then quickly resuming your run, no thanks to your Extreme Conditioning.

While you didn’t see her, Seiga walked up to the windows, watching you as she gives a rather creepy smile…

---

Even at late night the Ancient City is still bustling with people. You have to weave through the civilian traffic with lots of them protesting at your rough push-asides. Grabbing your radio from your vest, you contact Yamame.

“Yamame! What’s your situation over there? Where are you?!” You call the spider over the comms.

“I’m still chasing them down! They are heading towards the bridge and then back to the surface! We’re gonna lose them in the night if they reach the surface, can’t you call your backup or something?”

“I’m not sure if I can even get them!”

“Use the roof and catch up with us! Just be careful and don’t fall down again!”

“Got it. Seo out.” You put the radio back to its holster and stop to look around.

Finding something stacked high enough for you mantle up to the roof is quite hard but you eventually spot a ladder for that instead. Few seconds later, you climb your way up to the roof and make your way closer to the bridge.

---

Definitely avoiding the tiles this time, you eventually reach the city. Running and mantling up rooftops surely haven’t taken a toll to your stamina at all. As you got near to Yamame’s place, you saw a familiar person taking a breath. Just to make sure, you carefully step on the tiles and peers over the edge to see the thug with his hoodie.

You grin smugly. It’s that guy you beat up with Yamame, and the same person who ran screaming when you bumped into him a while back. Though, before you can do anything, the tile you are kneeling on gets loose, and moments later you landed right on top of the person with a really loud thud. Bystanders look at you and your landing cushion in confusion but you make a dash to the bridge instead of hanging around too long.

Good thing that guy cushioned your fall; you didn’t feel hurt at all.

Yamame saw you as she passes by, but you didn’t make eye contact with her. Instead, she quickly flew up.

As you turn right, you can see the group making their way to the bridge, shoving people out of the way. One of them turns around to see you getting into their line of sight, prompting them to shove one of their own guys away to be a distraction.

“Stall him!”

You skid to a stop when you saw one of the thugs stumbles and grabs a girl who is too close to him. She shrieks but freezes when she sees the knife held dangerously close to her neck.

“Hey! Hero! Any closer and this girl gets it!” He threatens you. You didn’t heed his threat though, as you stomp a feet forward with your shotgun in hand. “I said stay back! Drop your gun!” One thing for sure, he did not notice Yamame getting past him high above.

"Drop yours! Down on the floor, now!" You yell back, switching to your sidearm.

“Let me give you a hand.”

"Ageha?"

And that's when you see the air ripple, just as you feel Ageha's hand on your shoulder.

"Now point and shoot calmly.”

On cue you aim down your sights, waiting for an opening for you to exploit. It seems that the ripple somehow made everything seem to move in slow motion, the guy you were focusing on trying to hide his legs and head behind the struggling woman.

And the man exposes his head - you now have an opening. You gently squeeze the trigger and let the bullet fly

PAF

With the man’s shout, time flow returns normal and the thug’s grip on the woman loosen, allowing her to break free. As he stumbles, you ran towards him and kick him to the chest to knock him onto the floor.

"Thank you, sir!" The girl tries to catch her breath of relief.

"Don't mention it."

While the man is rolling around and clutching his head in agony, you decide to shoot a couple of shells to his knees to keep him from running. He screams some more.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH! You bastard!"

"That's what you get. I’ll leave you to the rest of the people." As you say that you start to run across the bridge, while the mob behind you closes in on the thug that tried to stall you earlier…

—((Yamame))—

While Seo is trying to settle the roadblock on his side, you stealthily sneak past the obstacle by going over it. Now that you’re reaching the tunnels en route to the surface, you can faintly hear people running and talking amongst themselves. Then your attention catches a detail in their conversation – it seems that the boys forgot to bring along their source of illumination in their rush to run away from Seo, which makes you grin.

”Perfect. That means I have more advantage right here.” You chuckle to yourself as you unbind your extra spider legs. You then crawl right above them in your arachnid form, watching as they slowly get around the cave with your night vision. Now that you are way ahead of them, you start to spin threads of spider silk and then weaving various webs around the cave walls.

With how the folks are taking their time trying to navigate the cave, it didn’t take long for you to finish a number of them, and now all you have to do is wait until they step into your web.

“Stay close.”

You wait and wait, and your grin widens as one of them touches on your web.

“Huh? Hey, hold up, I think I touched something.”

He tries to tug away, only for him to fall into the sticky stuff.

“What the hell is this thing?! Guys, pull me outta this!”

You suppress your chuckle as they start to grab random parts of his body in an attempt to pull him off.

“Hey! That’s my hair you idiot!”

It doesn’t take long for them to give up completely. “Man, you’re slowing us down! We gotta go on without ya!”

“Don’t leave me here!”
“Sorry!”

And then the boys scamper off, moving even slowly than before. You slowly drop down and then start wrapping the thug with spider silk, cocooning him before he has the chance to scream when he sees your glowing red eyes. Just as you finish sticking him back to the cave wall, you hear more screams.

Now that the guy is completely muted off, you take the chance to contact Seo.

“Seo, Yamame here. Watch out for the sticky webs I laid out. I got some of the thugs cocooned too.”

”Thanks for the heads up, entering the tunnel right now. Just don’t kill them for food, will you?”

“Oh, of course. You brought along your flashlight, didn’t you?”

”Yup.”

“Good. Keep walking.”

”Seo out.”

And with that radio call over, you crawl away towards the source of the scream, ready to wrap them in your sticky silk

— ((Seo)) —

For some odd reason, the atmosphere in the caverns is a lot creepier than it was before you enter. The flashlight you have is the only source of light you have, and you wish you have at least nightvision goggles so that you can make your way out of this with free hands. Either way, the deeper you walk into the caverns, you could spot lots of spider silk hanging from the cave’s ceiling, and then a few wriggling cocooned things, which you assume would be the thugs. You stumble across more of them as you go deeper with their loot scattered on the cave’s floor.

Eventually you spot one of them with an uncovered face. He notices your presence and attempts to coax you free him.

“Hey! Hey, you! Please get me off this web!”
“And why should I do that?”

“That spider freak will eat me! Just let me go! I promise I won’t do this again!”

You scratch the back of your head, feigning about thinking of letting him go. Of course, you are not going to let this guy go at all.

“How about no?”

“What?! Please cut me out of this! I am too young to die!”

“Well, if you hadn’t started doing this job, you won’t get in this mess now, wouldn’t you?”

“Please, just let me go!”

“Sorry, can’t do that. You deserve it anyway.”

You turn deaf ears to the man’s plea and walked on, seeing more cocoons and discarded loots. Follow the trail of ‘destruction’ they say…

Eventually, you no longer see the cocoons, and the rest of the path lacked spider silk. You pick up your radio and contact the spider lady.

“Yams, where are you?”

“Right above you, dear.”

You look up and see Yamame’s face in yours, with the extra eyes. Before you could shriek out in surprise, she quickly stuffs your mouth with her hand, a finger in front of your lips.
“mmmmph!”

“Quiet!” She says as she pulls her hand out of your mouth. You quickly rub your chest as you try to catch a breath. “Scared ya good, didn’t ya?”

“Damn you.” You mutter under your breath. “Did you have them all?”

The spider lady shakes her head. “Nope.”

You frown at her nonchalant response. “What? Why not?”

“That’s because they are close to the exit by now. There are just two of them left.”

You look down to your radio. If you’re close enough to the surface you can contact the Village for some backup – or you could try catching them with just the two of you.

Either way, you and Yamame work your way towards the cavern’s exit. Just outside of the cave you can see two figures hunched over the grass, catching their breath from the darkness’ horror show. On their feet is what’s left of their loot, as much as two small sacks each.

So what should you do now?

Let’s…
[] Try and call for surface backup.
[] Incapacitate and apprehend them.

[x] Try and call for surface backup.

No reason not to.

[x] Try and call for surface backup.

Guess it's worth a shot.

[x] Incapacitate and apprehend them.

Waiting for such back up might give them enough time to recover and get away. If we're to strike, now's the time.

[c] Incapacitate and apprehend them.

Okay, then. Let's do this.

[X] Incapacitate and apprehend them.
If we have a flashbang here is the time to use it

VOTE RESULTS

[x] Incapacitate and apprehend them. (3 votes)

---

“Seo. I think we should just beat it out of them. Though we gotta keep them in place or else they’re just gonna run away by the time backup comes. Ooh. Do you have those flashy trick bombs?”

“Trick bombs?” It takes a little while later for you to get what Yamame was saying. “I got one.” You pick out a flashbang from your vest, holding it in front of you, examining it. “Alright, battleplan. You take the guy on the right; I’ll get the guy on the left. If those guys try anything funny, just bundle them up. Got it?”

She raises a thumb. “Got ya.”

“Good. Cover your eyes. I mean all of them.”

Holding the flashbang in your right hand, you pull the pin with your left, holding down the spoon with your thumb. You throw the flash grenade towards the two but it falls short.

You're about to curse your luck but somehow the pin of the flashbang’s spoon detaches mid-air. The distinctive ding when it hits the ground naturally attracts their attention... So they ignorantly turn towards the flashbang.

“The hell was that?”

Famous last words.

PHOOM

“AAAARRRRGH! MY EYES!”

“They’re here! Run!”

“I can’t see shit!”

Before they can make a stumbling, shambling escape, Yamame lunges on the guy on the right and pins him down before quickly cocooning him in soft but slightly terrifying spider silk. You were left to deal with the other one, but it wouldn't prove so easy. The thug whips out a knife and swung it around wildly.

“Back, you fiend! Stay back!”

Against a blind man, it doesn’t take long for you to find an opening. A kick to the chest pushes the knife-wielding thug to the ground. You stomp on his wrist and kick the knife away and then hold the shotgun in his face. To make sure he’s not going anywhere, you step on his chest.

“That's it. Hold still, or I'll blow your bloody brains out.” The muzzle of your shotgun hovers dangerously close, right between the eyes. That does the trick. “Yamame, come over here and get that mask off him.”

“Right, right.”

She trots over without a seeming care in the world and does exactly as you ask. Though, as soon as she does that, you realize that the one you just threatened to kill is a girl - just like what the intel said.

“What? A girl doing all this dirty work?”

She snaps at you. “Shut up, you bastard! You shouldn’t interfere with our work in the first place! Get your foot off me!”

You only roll your eyes in response. “Well, your victims are the ones who asked me to get involved in the first place.” You step off her anyway. “Not only that, you brought chaos to their place. They didn’t have anything to do with you, nor do they have brought harm to you. They are just elders making profits out of what they can sew with their hands.”

“Youkai sympathizer…”

Yamame cuts in. “Oi. Do you have a grandmother, kid?”

“She passed away a long time ago.”

“Shame.” Yamame stands over her. “Well, suppose it's like this… what if your grandmother weaves baskets and then sells them to the market. But someone broke into her house, and then took the baskets to sell?”

“…I'd try and stop that.”

The spider lady snaps her fingers. “And that’s exactly what's happening here! See?”

The girl growls at Yamame’s statement.

“Right? The only thing you’re doing here is making quick money from the things you stole. You probably can't earn a living fair and square, huh? Poor thing.”

The thug changes topic with an impressive speed, still absolutely frantic. “But could you really hurt a girl like me?!”

Again, you roll your eyes. Yamame responds to her question instead. “Eh, if I'm in his shoes, you’re the kind of girl I hurt. A criminal on the run. Remember, you attacked him anyhow. And other people, too! Besides, you and your friends look all the same in those getups, head to toe. Chivalry has its limits, you know.”

“Alright. That’s enough. Yamame, get her tied up. I need to call for a cleanup crew.”

“Gladly~” She says as she wraps the girl in spider silk over har panicked protests, sticking her and her remaining accomplice up the nearby tree. Once she’s done, Yamame dusts off her hands.

---

“Roger that, Spectre. We’re sending you our units closest to your area. ETA's 5 minutes.”

“Spectre copies all, out.” You disconnect from the call. “Five minutes for them to get here.”

Yamame is back on her two feet, and she checks inside the sacks you've recovered.

“Lots of kimonos and fabrics in them, thank god we got them before they ran away.” While she speaks, the restrained girl continues to shout muffled anger, but neither of you pay her any heed.

“Great. Now by the time Roach and his partner gets here we can recover the rest of the items in the cave.” And suddenly you hear the solid footstep of a heel aganst wood, making you wheel around, weapon ready. Yamame does the same a moment later.

“For a leader she doesn’t seem to put much of a fight, don’t you think?” That voice again… and then she steps out of the darkness.

“Seiga?”

“That’s~ right~”

Your trigger finger twitches, from anger or nervousness. Or both. “What do you want now? Here to help your friends here?”

“Oh, I care less about them. Or you, for that matter~ You would never be able to defeat me in the first place, with your current experience in danmaku.”

You grunt in disapproval. She's got a sharp tongue, but you've got the guns in this situation, and she knows that.

The spider girl elbows your arm, lowering her M60E4 slightly. “So, who’s she?”

“Some woman I met at the thug’s room back at the inn, you had been gone chasing them by then.”

“Ooh. I see. Is she the boss of the team?”

“I think so, even though she keeps denying it.”

Seiga chuckles. “I am not behind this operation you speak of.” She then grins. “Though, I do think you have another trouble coming your way~”

“…What?” And then your radio crackles to life. You respond to it immediately. “Spectre here. Report.”

”Uh… Roach here. Be advised – I see a lot of activity moving from the village towards your location. What’s going on there?”

“…what? I didn’t call the villagers yet, I only called Overwatch for backup. I don’t think we did anything wrong here.”

”Well, whatever's up, they don’t look too happy.”

“Where are you two? Are they armed?”

”They are armed. Torches, machetes… the usual mob weapons. We’re currently ahead of them and trying to get close to the entrance to the Ancient City, break.”

“Who’s with you right now?”

”I’m with the guard fairy Shirayuki.

You turn to Seiga, now floating on air with a devlish smirk. “Get over here sharpish. I don’t think they are going to believe a thing I said, even more with the thieves from the surface I caught up here.”

”Roger that. We will be there in a couple of minutes – Roach out.”

You turn off the radio, your attention now focused on the wicked hermit. “What did you tell the villagers? Lies? About me, perhaps?”

Seiga responds your question with a rich, noblewoman's chuckle. “Oh, nothing much~ aside the fact that a youkai is assaulting a lost girl in the forest, that is.”

You grit your teeth. So, she did use lies to get people help her. This hermit has proven to be such a spanner in the works… She can get away before trouble arrives, but maybe you should keep her busy and turn things around. The safer thing would just be to run or hide...

What should you do now?

[] Screw it, run for Roach and Shirayuki.
[] Stay there and make sure Seiga ‘sticks’ around.

[x] Screw it, run for Roach and Shirayuki.

Discretion is the better part of valor.

>>13625
x] Screw it, drag the criminals in the cave, hide them away from sight while making sure they won't make too much noise and wait for roach outside while Yamame keep an eye on the prisoners. if/when the villagers ask where the girl under attack is tell them we have no idea and that we're waiting for co-workers to handle a "delivery" from the underground city.

[x] Screw it, drag the criminals in the cave, hide them away from sight while making sure they won't make too much noise and wait for roach outside while Yamame keep an eye on the prisoners. if/when the villagers ask where the girl under attack is tell them we have no idea and that we're waiting for co-workers to handle a "delivery" from the underground city.

This might just work.

Screw it, drag the criminals in the cave, hide them away from sight while making sure they won't make too much noise and wait for roach outside while Yamame lewdly disciplines and dominates the prisoners.

if/when the villagers ask where the girl under attack is tell them we have no idea and that we're waiting for co-workers to handle a "delivery" from the underground city.

>>13630
I see what you did there.

VOTE RESULTS

[x] Screw it, drag the criminals in the cave, hide them away from sight while making sure they won't make too much noise and wait for roach outside while Yamame keep an eye on the prisoners. if/when the villagers ask where the girl under attack is tell them we have no idea and that we're waiting for co-workers to handle a "delivery" from the underground city. (3 votes)

I see you folks got a creative vote to make it going.

>Yamame lewdly disciplines and dominates the prisoners.

This can wait, in a different thread, mayhaps!

---

Instead of either escaping or retaliating, you choose to stay where you are and ball your fists to get rid of the urge to whip out your gun.

In the distance, you can hear them coming closer, and Seiga’s sinister smile curls on her lips. Seiga giggles. “Looks like I have some other business to do, I’ll see you later if you can get out of this mess~”

And with that, she floats off, leaving you, Yamame and the prisoners behind. For a short while, you can catch a sigh of relief.

“She’s gone.” Yamame states.

“Then we need to hurry. Let’s stick to a new plan then, since she just blew up our last.”
“What kind?”
“Yamame, bring the ones we have and hide them, with their stuff too.” You tell Yamame what to do, and she quickly hauls the prisoners and the loot with them covered in webs. “Roach, there’s been a change of plans. Stop and drop.”

— [[ Alex ]]—

”Alright, Spectre. What’s your plan? This better be good.”

”I need you two to bring back the prisoners that the Oni caught back in their district for me. Bring Yuugi, Kagura and a few more guys to help you. If you find sacks with kimonos along the way, bring them along to the surface. There’s a chasm to the Ancient City to the east of the main entrance. Rappel down from there.”

“What about the spider lady?”

”Back in the cave. She’ll take care of the prisoners she caught in her web a while back.” Seo replies. ”Ah, here they are. Maintain radio silence. Spectre out.”

“I wonder what kind of ‘taking care’ he mean?”

“I dunno, probably the sexy kind.” You joke.

“Ew.”

You ignore Shirayuki’s reaction and press on until you reach a chasm. “I think this is it.” You secure a rope to a tree and make sure that it’s tight before throwing the rope bundle down the chasm. “Okay, Shirayuki. NODs on.”

She nods her head, and the old nightvision goggles cover her eyes. You on the other hand hook up to the line for rappelling, before you pull down your own NODs.

“Can you see the way now?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good, now cover me as I go down. Light the way.”

Using her fairy powers, she makes herself a living torchlight, lighting your way as you rappel down the chasm’s wall until you reach the ground below. Once you touch the ground, you clip off the line and Shirayuki hovers behind you. You pull out your MP5SD and racked the bolt, while Shirayuki readies her P90, fitted with a suppressor, integrated dot sight and laser pointer.

“Alright, there’s only one path to the main path, we shouldn’t miss it.”

“Got it.”

The trek to the path to the Ancient City was pretty much uneventful, but you keep your eyes on the area, keeping an eye for hostile youkai. Soon enough, you find a way down to the main path. Telling Shirayuki to keep an eye to you, you slide down the incline, kicking up some dust before landing on your feet.

“Why do we need to bring our guns if the track’s short?” Shirayuki asks as she floats next to you.

“Who knows if we need ‘em? Caverns may got some nasty surprises waiting for us. The kind that is not friendly to either the surface folks or the ancient city folks.”

A little observation to your right makes you notice a few people trapped in spider webs. Near them were piles of packages. Closer inspection reveals them to be clothes.

“I think these are the things that Seo talked about.” You say.

Shirayuki on the other hand flits closer towards to a different person. “Are they even alive?” She asks, poking the man in his cheek.

Hearing all that noise and the irritation of being poked, he opens his eyes abruptly in annoyance.

“EEK!”

In panic, Shirayuki whips out her P90 and blindly fires a few rounds as she flails at the trapped man. You quickly went prone to avoid stray shots, but the guy she shot at appears to be knocked unconscious. When Shirayuki stops flail-firing, you get up and reward her with a bap to the head.

“Operator Lesson number one, always stay cool.” She pouts at the bap but nods anyway. “Back onto the main track, Shirayuki. This way.”

As your trek to the Ancient City continues, you eventually notice the area getting brighter, meaning the city is near.

“Okay, NODs off and arms away.” You drop your weapon to your vest, and Shirayuki slings hers to her back. With your hands free, you push your nightvision goggles up and turning the power off. Shirayuki did the same, but resting the goggles on her forehead.

You finally reach the bridge which Parsee always guards, but this time, she is not present on the bridge. As you approach the shops, you see a crowd of people. An elderly man from the group notices your presence and asks you a question.

“You… you’re a part of that human’s force aren’t you?”

“Yes. We’re here to fetch the prisoners.”

“We have them right here. Where’s the Satori’s guard?” Hagane asks.

“Back at the surface. He’s busy buying me time so I can get them back to the surface.” You crane your neck to look for some people Seo asked you to bring along. “Is there anyone named Kagura here? Is Yuugi around?”

“She’s right here.” A man then helps Kagura walk over to you.

“Right over here, Roach. Need help to carry ‘em over?” Yuugi then appears, holding a few prisoners she caught, and her friends help her haul some over.

“Yeah, that’d be appreciated.”

Kagura tugs on your sleeve. “Son, if you want me to testify for your friend, I can follow you to the surface, but I am afraid someone will have to carry me.”

From out of nowhere, Rin shows up and skids right next to Kagura. The man that was helping her holds the slightly-frightened old lady.

“And where did you come from?” You ask.

“I heard someone needed transport, so here I am! Orin Express at your service, ma’am.”

You can see a slight discomfort on Kagura’s face. “…I’m not exactly sure about riding a cart that has been carrying bodies, but you’ll do, dear.”

The kasha smiles anyway. “Don’t worry, that’s a different cart.”

Yuugi grins as one more thing gets sorted out. “Alright, boys. We’re going to send these suckers back to the surface. We’ll be back soon.” Her friends carrying the thugs replied with a single ‘OORAH!’ in unison.

“Great. Now please don’t make it turn into another war.”

“What are you talking about, old man?”

“…”

“Now then! Roach, lead the way.”

– [[ Seo ]] –

You really had a hard time trying to answer the mob’s questions. The guys are really taking their time down there. You can see they are really getting impatient by now.


“Seo, we’re almost at the entrance.”

You mutter a slow ‘thank God’. “Copy that. Better get up here quick, these guys are giving me headache with their questions. Yamame? Still busy having fun?”

“I’m long done. They are quite delicious.”

”D-did she ate them?!” Shirayuki’s voice shrieks in the comms.

”I didn’t, whoever’s talking on the other side.”

”The name’s Shirayuki!”

”Settle down, goddammit.”

“Who are you talking to?” One man from the mob asks.

“Ah, about the package delivery, actually I am sending thieves I caught back from the Ancient City.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

On cue, Roach shows up with Shirayuki first, before the oni folks with Yuugi appears from the Ancient City’s entrance. Seeing Yuugi appear wth a smug smile on her face they suddenly take a step back. The one-horned oni then dumps a few of the thugs onto the ground. Her friends did the same. Yamame shows up with the prisoners she wrapped in her spider silk, tossing the sack with the stolen clothes in between the confronting group. She is in her normal form, thankfully.

“I believe you people had something to explain?” Yuugi asks the guys she threw to the ground.

They stayed silent, however. In the meantime, Keine and Kotohime arrive at the scene.

“Miss Keine! Miss Kotohime!” The fairy called as she spots the two village guardians arrive.

“Looks like we’re not too late to the party.” Kotohime states as she observes the two groups.

“What’s going on here? Why are you people confronting this early?”

One of the thugs got up and quickly gets himself to Keine’s feet. “Miss Keine! Miss Keine, you got to help us! We travelled to Ancient City to have some fun when these scary oni caught us and beat us up! And now they are accusing us of stealing!”

Of course, hearing this made the mob twitch. You can see their hands clench on their weapons. You on the other hand stayed cool and keep your arms crossed, your M1014 firmly attached to your back. Roach had to remove Shirayuki’s P90 just in case she gets jumpy again.

The most appropriate response coming from Yuugi is a simple aside glance.

“Nobody makes a move. I want to hear the story from their side.”

You turn towards the elder lady. “Mrs. Kagura? Do you want to say something first?”

“I do.” She steps forward before she starts. “Dear humans of the surface. I am a part of Ancient City’s weavers who make a living out of selling kimonos in the Textile District. Over a couple of days ago we see random passersby wearing the same clothes this man is wearing right here. They never stopped; they only looked around and keep going until they are out of our sight.”

“We didn’t say much about them, but they show up for the next two days, and when night starts they strike. We were roughly awakened when we heard our shops were broken into and we saw them take off into the night with sacks full of our items for sale. Not only that, they also vandalized our shops as well. That is when we asked this young man here to help us. He did, and by a stuck of luck he managed to catch one stumbling with our items. He must be sneaking around while we are out to look for Seo.”

“Is that all, Miss?” Kagura simply nods. “Thank you. Anyone else?” Yuugi raises her hand up for Keine’s attention. “Go ahead, Yuugi.” Keine says, asking Yuugi to start her story.

“Seo told me about a possible raid on my friend’s brewery at the Oni District. We went ahead with business until closing time, and we close up for the day but we actually prepared a trap for them. And true to his words we did get… ‘visitors’, which we managed to catch and beat up.” Yuugi explains her story, with the ones she beaten up hanging their heads in shame. “Now I know oni sake is valuable, but trying to steal it instead of making deals to sell them properly at the surface is not worth it. Am I right, boys?”

They nod weakly. Rin steps forward and stands beside you, crossing her arms in an irritated manner. That same guy who tried to feign innocence points at Seo.

“He…he shot us! That damn guy shot us!”

You roll your eyes away. “Oh, I give you a good reason why you and your friends got shot by me.”

“Do tell, Seo.” Keine requests.

“You lot has been trespassing the place where I work and held my employer on knife point so that you can threaten me to put my guns down and stop helping the textile district people about this crime. I don’t think so.” You say, waggling a finger. “And that’s not all, while I chased you people out of that inn, that guy over there tried to stall me by holding a civilian on knife point again. That did not work well, isn’t it?” You shoot a mocking glare at the very person of your description. “For every single shell I spent it was worth punishing you people. I’m just doing my job. You guys are in the way of my job. That’s all.”

Keine sighs. “Now, boys. Anything you people want to say against what they said?”

They all shook their head. Looks like the thug’s earlier accusation were shot down.

“You have pretty much the Underground Capital’s head honcho against you, and you at least get away with bruises or broken bones.”

The mob relents. Nobody said a word, but they lowered their weapons. Keine walks towards you with Kotohime by her side.

“Well, glad that was over with.” You start.

“A question, Seo. What’s this about youkai assaulting a girl we heard earlier?” Kotohime asks.

“That’s actually just a lie.”

“How so?”

“Apparently there’s a hermit that’s been trying to screw us about, so she crafted a lie and try to frame me.”

“The taoists? Seiga?”

Before you could confirm Kotohime’s question, a stout man shows up, looking angry with a machete firmly gripped in his hand. “Where is my daughter? WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER?!” He demands.

You look at the only female in the group, still wrapped up in spider silk. She must be his daughter then. Of course, before you could tell him that, he rushes over to her side and tries to cut the silk. His gaze then shifts to Yamame. “You! What have you done to my daughter?!”

“Wrapping her up so that she will not get away. Since you’re pretty much out of the loop, your daughter’s leading a robbery in the Underground City.”

“Lies! You’re just trying to feed on her!”

You feel the need to interject. “Denying won’t get you anywhere. You pretty much have the proof right in front of her.”

“You’re just framing my daughter for something she didn’t do!”

“We have eyewitness! What does she have? She has our proof for incriminating her!”

Of course, the man had grown really mad by then, spouting more and harsher words at you and your youkai friends. Yuugi was clearly irritated, and she holds Kagura’s ears so that she won’t hear more of this nonsense. After a while, he stops spouting angrish and holds the machete high.

“I’m going to kill you!”

Not this shit again.

“Stand down, sir, or you will be shot!”

You slip your M9 into your gloves. This time, though, Roach and Shirayuki also pull out their sidearms at the clearly enraged man.

“I said stand down!”

“Seo!”

Time is running out as the old man starts charging towards you.

What should you do?!
[] Shoot to disable!
[] Parry and disarm!
[] Stand your ground!

[x] Parry and disarm!

Here goes nothing.

[X] Parry and disarm!

There really isn't such a thing as "shoot and disable" unfortunately. That trope about shooting people in the shoulder is actually very dangerous.

[X] Parry and disarm!

I can see just how well shooting to disable would go. Which might be pretty good actually, but I'd rather not tempt fate.

[c] Parry and disarm!

VOTE RESULTS

[x] Parry and disarm! (4 votes)

---

It becomes evident that you cannot reason with this unstable man. Before long, he charges headlong at you with his machete raised with the intention to kill.

“RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!”

Without wasting any time, you quickly drop your sidearm to your holster, and catch his wrist before he could bring down his machete on your head.

“I’ll kill you, you son of a bitch!”

“Be my guest, you deranged fat bastard!”

You twist his arm and bend it over his back, making him scream in agony. And when he tries to struggle, you pull his arm outwards and locking it with your armlock, twisting it to make sure he lets go of the weapon. He did drop it, and then you shove him away to create a distance. Roach quickly picks up the fallen machete and throws it into the darkness of the cave, complete with the echoing sound of metal clattering on the rocky floor.

“You son of a bitch! That’s favorite machete!”

“Do I look like I care? You’re trying to kill me first!”

The stout man attempts to punch you, but you slap his fist away and throwing your own straight to his nose.

The two of you keep exchanging blows; nobody even had the nerve to stop the scuffle. Of course, both of you wanted to stop this sooner. The man then tries to tackle you as a surprise attack but before he could reach you, you deliver a hard kick to his groin – thus effectively stops him on his tracks and sending him curling in a ball of agony. You can see other villagers cringe at such painful sight.

Roach quickly rushed to the man’s side, a small check later, he zipties the man’s hands.

While you are distracted with Roach’s work, you didn’t realize that the girl manage to free her hands a little, and the next thing you know, you feel something sharp embed in your right arm. You grunt in pain as you grit your teeth and glare at the girl with her smug face.

She is definitely out of your reach, but you pull out your M9 with your good arm and pointing it at her. That smug face is gone in an instant as she backs away. Yamame and Yuugi gets ready to sprint and catch when needed as you continue holding her at gunpoint.

“Any step further and you will be hurt. Do not run away.” You calmly speak, despite the stab wound is making you cringe hard.

“Easy, Seo.”

She ran away just as you suspected, turning her back at you and making a run for it.

Big mistake.

Instead of shooting her in the back, you wind up your left arm, and with a mighty heave you throw the handgun right towards her. It lands with a nice crack on the back of her head, sending her sprawling on the ground and screaming in pain. Yamame runs over towards the girl and redid her binding.

With the adrenaline rush gone, the pain from the stab rushes back, and you fall onto your rear while clutching on your wounded arm groaning out from the pain.

“Seo!” Keine calls out as the situation is diffused.

Roach on the other hand quickly kneels to your side to apply first aid to your wound.

“Hold still, Seo. Got to get that bloody arm of yours wrapped up nicely.” He quickly applies disinfectant and wraps the wound with bandage, while you cringe at the pain. “This will work for a while; we need to get you to the doc pronto.”

But of course, you start to feel woozy.

“Seo? Seo! Hang in there, man!”

“I think I need a nap…”

You had enough shit for today.

---

When the struggle is all over, you find yourself lying on a bed and staring at the lights. You shot up but end up groaning as you reach for your right arm.

“Oh, you woke up.”

You turn towards the voice and see a familiar face.

“Yagokoro-san.”

She nods as you address her. “Settle down. You fell unconscious when your friend brought you all the way here this early. I stitched up your wound, that’s one nasty piece of work you got there.”

You look at your stitched arm. “Yeah, I got into quite an action for today.”

“It comes with SDMGD. Perhaps you need to take a rest – a leave for a week or two from your work, and let the pain settle down.”

“I’m not sure what Satori will think.”

“Komeiji will understand your problems.” She turns away and gives you a packet. “If you’re leaving, take this with you.”

You accept the package and stare at it. “What is this?”

“In the bag are painkillers for your pain, and I have some antiseptic and bandages just in worse- case the wound opens again. I suggest that you minimize using your right hand to do things. For the time being, I recommend you to start training to use your left hand for aiming, one-handed weapons only.”

“Thanks.”

“Again, I suggest that you take a break, Seo.”

“I hope I can.”

You slowly slide off the bed and wobble your way out of the room, with Eirin watching you until you exit her operating room. Rin, Roach, Yuugi and the rest of the underground folks quickly turn their attention to you.

“How did it go?” Roach asks a question.

“How did it go? I got my arm stitched up.”

Yuugi and Kagura approach you. “That’s a brilliant job, Seo. I guess that’s one problem accounted for.” Yuugi says. “Teach’ said she’ll punish the people who have their hands in that dirty business and the redhead in kimono said if everything goes well, the textile district folks will be reimbursed from the damages they sustained from the theft.”

Shirayuki butts in. “How do they get reimbursed?”

“Pretty much means that if she takes the whole market from the stolen goods down, any proceeds she confiscated will go back to the folks underground somehow.”

“That’s great to hear.”

Orin crosses her arms as she leans onto a pillar. “So what do we do now?”

“Let’s go home, I suppose.”

“Heh, score one for the underground folks.” Yuugi remarks.

Just as Yuugi’s oni pals about to cheer for their victory, Eirin pops her head out of the operating room’s door. “Oh, and please be quiet. This is not a place for a victory party.” She disappears back into her room, leaving everyone outside staring at the door dumbfounded. Either way, everyone left Eientei and using a different route back towards the underground.

--- ((CHIREIDEN, Ancient City Outskirts)) ---

“We’re home~!” Orin calls out as soon as she pushes her cart inside the building. Since you didn’t really feel like walking, Orin earlier on had pushed you into her cart and gave you a ride all the way from Eientei to the palace.

Hearing Orin’s call makes Okuu and Satori running towards the two of you.

“Welcome back, Seo.”

“Thanks, Miss Satori.”

“I guess you really did run into trouble. I hope the wound’s not serious.” She says, referring to the obvious bandaging on your arm.

“I can live with it.” You say. Okuu is obviously curious about your arm as she tries to poke a finger at it. “No touchies.” You warn the hell raven, and she pulls her hand away with a pout.

“Anyway, your wound will take a while to heal. I can tell the doctor said something about taking a rest, yes?” You nod to affirm her question. “Very well. Seo, take a few weeks off.” She says.

You blink at the mind reader but nods nonetheless. “Yes, Miss Satori.”

Perhaps it’s time to head to bed for some much-needed extended sleep.

---
//Maintenance Period//
Fujisaki “Spectre” Seo
Day 8, 09:10:57
Palace of the Earth Spirits
Scarlet Devil Mansion Guardians Division

When morning arrives, you and Roach were up at the top of the lookout tower. He had brought along some repair supplies for the DM.

“Well, let’s change this wire right here…” Roach replaces the wire that was cut in half with a new one, connecting the sentry gun to the salvaged car battery at the bottom of the stand. And then the DM whirrs back to life, its status light is green. Roach pats the sentry gun. “It’s good to have you back, buddy.”

Just as Roach sits down, you can hear someone running up the stairs. It’s followed with the sound of someone making a rather crude gun racking noises.

“Did you hear that?”

“Of course.”

Both of you hover your hand on the sidearm holster.

“Breaching! Breaching!”

The door to the lookout tower slams open with a kick, and you and Roach quickly whip out your handguns. Orin stands behind the doorframe with her hands up when she sees the two of you armed and ready to shoot, looking a little panicky.

“Stick ‘em up where I could see ‘em!” Roach yells.

“D-don’t shoot! It’s just me!”

“…oh, it’s just a cat.” Roach mutters as he holsters his M9 back into his chest rig.

You sigh and roll your eyes away, holstering away your sidearm to your left holster. “Orin, you should know better not to use that word when there are two armed personnel and a live sentry gun behind the door.”

Satori and Utsuho soon appear at the door with a tray of drinks and food, with Orin flattening herself on the wall to give them some moving space.

“Cut the tactical chatter down, you two.” Satori says as she put down the tray with drinks on the care package crate with Utsuho following suit. “Which do you prefer, Alex? Coffee or tea?”

“Coffee.” Satori hands Roach a mug of coffee, in which the ex-soldier nods silently as he accepts it.

“Seo?”

“Tea, please.” You say, and Satori hands you a cup of tea by the saucer which you accept.
“Thanks.”

“Feeling better with your arm?” Satori asks.

“It still smarts. It might take a good while for it to heal.”

Roach gets the rest of his tools packed into the toolbox and locks it nicely, before returning to his coffee. “Well, that finishes up the repairs. Anything else you wanted me to restock or repair?”

”Funny you asked that.” The radio suddenly croaks to life.

“…sir, it would be nice if you don’t scare the radio users like that.”

”Whatever. Anyways, Roach, I think I have to do some reorganization. Eirin had told me about Spectre’s condition, and I need you to take his place as the guard for the Palace of Earth Spirits.”

“That’s too sudden, but I can live with that, but what about my AO?”

“I’ll have the new recruit to take care of the village area; Keine and Kotohime will show him the ropes.”

“And what about Shirayuki?” Roach asks. “I am afraid of the consequences of a newb teaming up a jumpy newb.”

“He’ll be fine.”

“That’s what you said.” Roach mutters. “What about my things?”

”My usual answer starts with an ‘A’ in the name. All the best, turrah.” And your CO goes offline.

Not too long after the radio silence, the door to the tower suddenly clangs again, attracting everyone’s attention. There’s that small kid who teleported you to the palace on your first day. He puts a rather large backpack for his size down and leans it against a wall facing you and your tea party. With a bow, the petite fox then runs down the stairs.

“Damn, he fast.” Roach remarks, breaking the awkward silence.

“A pity, I would have invited him for some snacks too.”

---

Once the tea session is finished, you help Orin and Okuu do the dishes. Satori on the other hand shows Roach a way to his temporary room, giving him his map of the palace that details the important rooms and the dangerous rooms that he should not enter, plus his room keys as well. Since the satori’s other pets aren’t quite familiar with the ex-soldier yet despite his previous visits, the mindreader also tells him to not get close to her other pets, especially the dangerous-looking ones.

“I’ll keep them in mind.” You overhear their conversation.

Now that your own work is done, you sit down at the dining table, looking a little relieved. That was quite a stressful operation, and you are glad that it’s solved totally. Right now, you don’t have anything much to do, except rest and look about.

You glance at Satori, who is giving Roach a tour around the general location, Okuu is busy picking the shells off her boiled eggs, and Orin isn’t doing much other than watching fairies dressing up to be zombie fairies.

So who will you have a chat with?

[] Satori
[] Utsuho
[] Rin

[x] Utsuho

Hell raven all the way, baby.

[x] Utsuho

Never not vote nuclear hell raven.

[x] Satori

I'm fine with any choice but i want to give Satori one vote even if it's the only one.

[x] Utsuho.

Hopefully it's not too late to vote.

[x] Utsuho

Admire her space cape.

VOTE RESULTS

[x] Utsuho (4 votes)

Utsuho it is then. Let’s have some shenanigans before nighttime does~

---

So you decide to sit next to Okuu, and you get up from you chair before pulling out a chair next to the hell raven on the table. She pauses from the shell-picking as you sit down to her left.

“You want some, mister?” She asks, as she slides a boiled egg in a bowl.

You blink in surprise but you accept her offer anyways, munching on the hardboiled egg at a casual pace.

While you are eating her offered food, you notice that Okuu is staring at your bandaged arm rather intently. She extends a finger towards your right arm and inches closer, but you quickly shield your injured arm to deny her curious pokes.

“No touching.”

Okuu pouts cutely at your warning, and you pet her head gently. She makes a rather silent ‘unyuuu’ as you pet her.

“So… will you be alright?” She asks as you remove your hand away from the pets.

“I suppose so. I just need some time to heal my arm, and then I can get back to guarding the palace. For now I just have to stay and don’t do too much work.”

“Good!”

Silence once again falls. Looks like neither the two of you had any way to continue the conversation…

At least until the hell raven thought of a question.

“Hey mister, let’s sleep together again tonight~” She suggests innocently.

You freeze on the spot.

From the corner of your eye, you could see Rin freeze from doing anything on the spot. She seems to be waiting for something from you, but Satori – who is walking behind Okuu with Roach – stopped beside her to give the hell raven’s ears a good flick before moving along. Okuu let out a surprised yelp and her hand quickly cover where it hurts.

Roach seemed to pretend he’s not listening.

“…I think that’s a sign that you shouldn’t say that.”

“…but I like to cuddle you.” She says. “You’re soft, just like that bolster I lost a while back!”

Okay, maybe she meant it innocently.

---

With you being out of commission for a while, you decide to do hang out outside at the gardens. In the meantime, you watch as Orin and Okuu play-fight with danmaku, high above the gardens. Satori accompanies you for tea while you are spectating the two, and you can also see Roach at the tower taking your post, all while headbanging to music or something.

You can guess he has his ways to cure his boredom.

“Seo.” Satori speaks as she breaks the silence.

“Hmm?”

“Still thinking about what Utsuho said a little while back?”

“…not really. I’m just, a little…”

“Bored?”

You pause just before you could finish your words. “Yeah, exactly.”

“I know you haven’t seen an action, but at least you got to wait until your arm is fully healed.”

“I understand.”

“And in the meantime, why don’t you hang around the palace? I believe everyone in the palace would love your company.” Satori sips her tea. “If you have any problems with your arm, I suggest you consult me immediately.”

“Got it.”

Silence falls between the two of you as you both spectate the play-fighting before it came with an end with Okuu as the victor. You can hear Roach yelling in excitement from the post, but rather faintly.

Okuu and Orin float down to the ground level, and despite the play-fight their clothes are burnt and tattered in various areas. That was to be expected.

“So, who won?” You ask.

“I did! I did!” Okuu replies, bouncing up and down with an arm raised to the air. Orin mumbles incomprehensibly about her loss but she calms down as Satori pets her between her ears. She pets Okuu as well, which makes the hell raven coo. She then casts a glance at you and emphasizes her pets on her pets.

It took you a little while before you can piece her hint together, and you pet Okuu first. The hell raven nuzzles up your hand as Orin pouts in jealously. When you pet Orin, she seems to shy away from your petting hand, but relented since Satori is close. A little bit followed soon after, and you have Okuu leaning onto your shoulder, all while happily munching her usual snack.

She is really huggy today.

“Well, it’s almost lunch. Go and take a bath, you two. Meet me in the kitchen, and get your dress in a basket.” Satori commands.

“Okay!” And off they go, back into the palace.

“Are you going to repair those?” You ask as Satori’s pets disappear from your line of sight.

“Probably not. They do have lots of similar clothes, so it’s not a problem.”

“…don’t they have other clothes to wear aside the ones I see every day?”

“Of course, it’s just those are the usual ones they like to wear.” Satori then leads you to the kitchen.

---

“You sure you can handle work?” She asks as you places the plates on the table.

“Probably something light like this would be okay.”

She giggles. “Well, if you say so.”

Just as you finish putting down the plates, Koishi enters the kitchen. She sees you doing some work and also, your bandaged arm.

“Am I home for lunch~?”

“We’re about to make lunch anyway.”

“Hooray!”

She hops up right next to you, eyeing your bandaged arm. You stare right back at her, knowing full well what she is going to do next and what she is thinking.

“So… mister…” She starts. “Just got back from a hot date with the oni?”

Or not.

“No.”

“So what happened then?”

You glance away. Maybe you should tell her later. “I’ll tell you later, okay?”

She puffs up her cheeks. “Why not now?” In response, you pinch her cute cheeks.

“Well, because it’s a long story.”

Satori continues to check the fridge for things to cook, and after a while, she calls both of you to come closer.

“What’s up, sis?”

“Well, here’s the thing, I think I haven’t asked him on what kind of food Alex would like.”

Koishi tilts her head. “Who’s Alex?”

“The replacement guard. Seo needs to rest due to him arm injury, so I asked his CO to replace him for a while, as a rookie takes his post at the Human Village for a while.” Satori explains.

At the end of Satori’s explanation, you can see Koishi’s finger inches slowly towards your bandaged arm, but before she can poke your arm, you pinch her cheeks again and making her flail her arms about.

“So, Seo, Koishi, what’s going to be for Roach’s lunch?” She asks.

Hmmmmmm.

[] Something meaty?
[] Something spicy?
[] Let’s ask him.

[x] Something spicy?

[X] Let’s ask him.

Roach should have his own taste.

[c] Let’s ask him.

[X] Let’s ask him.

>>13874
[X] Something spicy?

and make it spicy enough to melt his eyes

VOTE RESULTS

[x] Let’s ask him. (3 Votes)

Asking for confirmation wins! Better luck next time, spicy. This took me a while; I broke the one month per update thing.

---

“You know, maybe it’s much more proper to ask the guy himself.”

There is a pause as Satori awaits Koishi’s answer to her question. “Oh! Oh! I think so too!” She finally pipes out her answer, complete with her usual chipper.

“Good thinking. So who’s going to ask him then?”

“I’ll do it!”

And before you can say anything about it, Koishi is already on her towards the guard tower.

--[[Koishi]]--

You climb up the stairs to the guard post merrily, humming as you make your way to Alex’s temporary post. Once you’re there, the door is slightly ajar. You try to sneak through the door but the metal door makes a noisy squeak at the slightest movement. Of course, the sudden noise alerted Roach, who turns around and stares at the door.

“Who’s that?”

Perfect, he didn’t see you. You quickly slip past the door and past the temporary guard tower as he inspects the door.

“Nothing here… never hurts to check.” He mumbles to himself as he turns around… only for you to greet him with a surprise!

“Boo!”

And instead of jumping scared, he raises his rifle to your face! “FREEZE MOTHERFUCKER HAAAANDS!” There is a moment of silence before Alex puts down his rifle, finally realizing who you are. “…sorry. Would you just go through the door like a normal person?”

“Nope!”

Alex casts his annoyed glance aside. “So, what’s up?”

“Sis is going to cook lunch, so she’s asking me to ask you what you want for lunch.” You ask Alex, trying to look cute as ever. “So what it’s going to be?”

He turns his attention back to you. “Lunch, eh… Are you sure you’re not going to pull nasty tricks on me?”

You pout. “Of course not! My sis is cooking, and she’s asking you what you would like for lunch.”

“Oh. Alright then… I’ve been thinking about getting a sub for a while now.”

“A sub?”

“Yes.”

“A submarine?”

“…no. And no, it’s not yellow either.”

You giggle at his words. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, see you later~!” And then you hop up towards the door, giving it a swift kick inwards to open it, before you zoom down the stairs.

“Hey! Stop kicking on the door! Have pity on it!” You can hear Roach yell at you in the distance, but you only chuckle at him as you head back towards the kitchen.

--[[Seo]]--

Before long you hear the telltale pitter-patter of Koishi’s shoes, announcing her arrival. She comes to a skid stop in front of Satori, and then straightens herself.

“He said he wants a sub!” Koishi tells Satori.

“…what’s a sub?” You ask.

“I think he meant sandwich.” Satori explains. “And it just happens I have everything that’s perfect for a good sandwich.”

You turn your attention towards Satori as she walks up towards the fridge, opening the door and taking out items one by one and putting it on the counter.

One item after another…

As Satori takes more items, you stare at her and the fridge in disbelief. “That fridge can really fit anything in it, is it?” You ask in a puzzled tone.

Satori smiles at you as she finishes getting things out of the fridge.

---

So since it is decided that everyone gets a sub for lunch, and Satori gets on preparing things with Koishi lending a hand. The mindreader cuts up meat slices then heats them up a little on the cooking pan, making sure it’s nicely cooked. They are mostly luncheon meats, lots of beef and chicken slices on the tray beside the pan, and the prepared ones on a different tray to the right.

You, on the other hand take the prepared meat slices and arranges them on the baguette you cut up in half and different portions a while ago, and added cheese slices on top of them.

“Slices of cheese on the bread~ then goes the smoked beef and smoked chicken~ add some bellpepper~ and some chopped red onions too~” Koishi sings as she adds the vegetable garnish to the sub.

With the subs all done, you place them on plates and serve them on the table. Apparently Satori made extras on her whim too. You put down the glasses next to the plates as well.

“Are the drinks ready?” Satori asks Koishi.

“100% MJ, ready up!”

“What the heck’s MJ?” You ask as she places the big jug of iced juice on the table.

“It’s Mango Juice, mister~!” Koishi chimes her answer as she gracefully (with some haphazard posing) pours the juice into the glasses.

“…Oh.”

And then all is set, and Orin and Okuu shows up just in time for lunch too.

“That smells so good…” Okuu coos as Orin takes her seat,

“Alright, that looks lovely. All’s done and almost everyone’s here.” Satori then turns towards you. “Seo, go ahead and call your friend here.”

“Alright.” You nod and grab your radio for Roach. “Roach, lunch’s ready. Get down here.”

“Gimmie a sec. I’ll be there.” There is a pause before the radio crackles back to life. “It’s safe to leave my post, right?”

“Just get down here.”

”You’re the boss.”

---

The lunch was great, and the extra piles of subs Satori made were gone in matter of minutes. Everyone seems happy with it, as you can really see it in their face.

“Thanks for the meal~” Koishi chimed as she finishes her share of sub.

“That was a great one. Thanks, Miss Satori.”

Satori smiles at the replacement guard. “Glad you liked it, Alex.”

He nods. “Alright, break’s over. Back to the post I go.”

“See you later at dinner then, Alex.” Satori says before Alex sprints off back to the post with Koishi on tow. “Alright, Seo. I’ll be in my study, so feel free to see me if you need me.” She then turns to her pets. “Who’s turn to do the dishes this time?”

Okuu quickly points to Orin. Satori smiles and walks away, leaving you with the two of her pets.

So what are you going to do now?
[] Rest for a bit
[] Chat with Roach
[] Help Orin with the dishes
[] Read some stuff in the study

[x] Rest for a bit

Sounds good.

[X] Rest for a bit
Not much else to do, might as well take a nap.

>>13893
[X] Chat with Roach

not sure what to chat about but hey socialising

[c] Rest for a bit

VOTE RESULTS

[x] Rest for a bit (3 votes)

Resting wins.

Well then, time to take a rest. Nothing can go wrong, right?

Teehee.

---

“I think I’ll rest around for a bit.” You say. “Nothing much to do since I can’t do work…”

“Have a good rest, Seo.” Satori responds before she heads back to her study. Orin is obviously grumbling as she had to clean up the dirty dishes, while Okuu is nowhere to be seen.

When you reach your room, you shut the door, and sigh a little. Just to make sure nobody can slip into your room while you are sleeping – which has happened twice during your stay here by now – you lock the door and put the bolt on it as well.

Once you toss away your shirt into the laundry basket, you lie down on the bed carefully so that your injured arm wouldn’t get hurt.

And it’s off to dreamland you go.

---

Waking up longer than your planned nap isn’t quite the best feeling for you, since you’re sore all over. You can also feel someone lying beside you and hogging the blankets, which might explain why you feel so cold.

…wait a minute. That’s strange.

You question if you had forgotten to lock the doors or they had just walked in with extra keys… which you bet would be the latter. Just like before, you grumble and grope your bed infiltrator because you are too lazy to turn on the lights.

Breasts? Check.

Pretty big ones? Yup.

Something odd between them? Definitely.

Wings? They're there.

It’s Okuu.

You lean back and turned on the bedside lights. Now with the lights on and the blankets out of the way, it’s easier to see her features, lying on her side facing you, wearing only an open shirt and simple white panties. Your heart is racing when you see her like this, with how vulnerable she is in her sleep.

As you stare at her, your mind starts to think about groping her chest. You can't shake this off, despite having 'survived' previous similar incidents before. Now you're thinking, why do they tempt you so much? You can't help but extend your hand towards her semi-exposed chest. At this point, you put your hand close to her, but then she picks up your hand and guides it to her right breast, pressing it there.

Wait a minute.

Your gaze moves up to her face, now seeing her eyes blink lazily open. Oh, she's awake now.

"Naughty mister is naughty~"

It takes a while for you to form a reply. "...I should say the same to you too... How did you get in my room? I thought I already locked it..."

She winks at you, giggling as well. "It's a trade secret, teehee~"

The hell raven squirms closer towards you, before hugging you. You receive a sharp sting from that since she hugs your bad arm as well.

"Okuu, stop!"

She quickly pull away. "Something wrong...?"

"You forgot my arm is hurting."

"Ah... Sorry, sorry..." She hugs you again, this time avoiding your bandaged arm.

Much better.

Still, it's rather awkward as you return her hug. Of course, with her unbound chest squeezing against your chest, you can't help but blush deep red.

"Okuu? What do you want actually...?"

"I want to sleep with mister~"

"Just that?"

"More than just that~" She says as she turns her back to your chest.

More than just that?

Of course, while she's snuggling her back against your chest, she once again guides your hands towards her breasts. This time, you feel less awkward since she's allowing it and you gently squeeze and knead her lovely chest. She giggles ticklishly as you do so,

"This is okay, right...?"

"Satori-sama allows it~"

...that's right. You wonder if she heard what Satori said to you a couple of days back. As you continue to wonder, you move a hand from her chest to her thighs. She squirms a little but does not resist, which fuels your arousal even more.

“This… is fine, right?”

As you continue to wander, you move a hand from her chest to her thighs. She squirms a little but does not resist at all, instead she squeaks happily.

She turns over to face you, and removes her shirt, leaving her in her panties. You can feel how hot she is since you are topless at the moment. It gets even warmer as she presses her chest against yours, wrapping her arms around your waist. You return the hug as you wrap yours around hers, futilely resisting to touch her more. Finally relenting to your urges, you adjust your hand and land it on her rear, making the hell raven squeak in surprise.

But rather than make her focus on your growing tent, you call out to her. "Okuu?"

"Yes?"

You push her up a little, but it seems to be not enough. "Can you show your chest to me some more?"

She proudly pushes herself up to display her rather large and delectable breasts to you. "Like so?"

With her showing off her breasts like that, your hands swiftly move to cup her breasts. Okuu let out a little yelp as she feels your hand against her free breasts, fondling and kneading it. You even play around with her hardening nipples, causing her to let out gasps.

Pushing her chest together, you attempt to suck both of nipples at once, which you succeed. Once you pull away, she is panting and blushing. "You really like my breasts... Don't you, Seo?"

"Of course... They are quite large and tempting, just like you trying to tempt me..."

Okuu giggles as you suck on her breasts once more, alternating between sucking and tugging her nipples. Her little cries of pleasure are sort of pleasing to you, but at the same time you hope that the room is sort of soundproof.

The sucking would soon stop and you smother your face between her cleavage, not minding the strange... thing between her breasts. It's certainly a smooth jewel anyway.

Of course, all that fondling on her breasts only makes your tent even more noticeable. Now it's your turn to gasp when you feel her hand snaking from your side to your bulging tent. She curiously squeezes on it and making you flinch in the process, rubbing it with her hand before discovering the hook on your trousers. It doesn't take long for her to undo it, along with your zipper as well.

With the zipper down, it's time for her to get curious.
Of course, you have briefs as your last defense of modesty but that too quickly gets pulled down. Your member suddenly springs upward, causing her to gasp as she watches it rise. She blushes heavily but appears utterly entranced at the sight of your member towering in the air. You swallow a lump in your throat as she eyes and touches it curiously. Eventually Okuu starts nuzzling her cheek against your shaft, making you shiver.

"Ehehe, it's warm and twitchy~"

You don't comment on it, blushing as she pokes the head with her nose. She gets a little thoughtful there, before licking it, much to your surprise. She's doing this as if she's seen it being done before, starting fron the tip and then working down, and vice versa.
. You're completely hard after a few rounds of licking, making you shiver and twitchy, seeing her somehow pause to admire your meatstick, before her face lights up with realization.

While you still have your eyes closed from pleasure, the hell raven does something – you realize she is pressing your shaft between her warm breasts -- once you open your eyes. Your blush grows even deeper, and you moan when she starts to move.

“How does it feel, mister~?”

"Warm… squishy… where did you learn all this?"

"Well... I learned it from the books I found at Satori-sama's library~"

She did what now?

“H-how did you find all those things…?”

“Just my luck~ now the book said if I keep doing this something white will shoot out of it…” She says as she continues to rub your cock between her breasts. “I should do it harder~”

And so she does. Your endurance quickly goes downhill as you get your first taste of a pleasurable titjob. Your member is twitching and throbbing between her breasts -- and rubbing against that weird jewel – and soon enough you reach your peak.

Before you can warn her, you shoot your first climax right into her face, which makes her squeak and close her eyes. Slumping on the bed, you panti heavily as she tries to get the sticky liquid that got onto her face, and inside her mouth as well. She swallows some of it anyway.

“It’s bitter…” She complains.

Honestly, you don’t want to be in her shoes regarding that.

You turn her to lie on her back as you. This time you choose to please her instead, spreading her legs and diving face first into her crotch. Okuu giggles at this with her giggles soon turning into moans as you figure out how to lick her. Your tongue lashes feel quite good to her, despite your amateurish attempts. Licking that nub above her slit makes her squirm and hold your head down, forcing you to lick harder against her while wrapping your arms around her thighs.

Soon enough you feel something wet drenching your face, with her legs twitching. You guess she just reached her orgasm. Wiping your face dry with the blanket, you sit up on the bed. She's dripping wet by now, and you guess that's a good sign for you to carry on. Under the dim light she adjusts her body to make herself comfortable to your bed. You're staring intently into her face as you kneel in front of her, completely unsure if you should proceed in doing this or not.

With the tip pressing against her netherlips, you decide to just go with it and push it in deeper. To your surprise it feels incredible, forcing a moan out of you despite yourself, as you push it in until your thighs met hers. She squeals in pleasure as she tries to get used to the feeling of your shaft in her. Once she does, you start to move, following your instincts to thrust into her womanhood while holding her hips for support, firm but gentle.

Your thrust gets faster eventually, and you lean down on her chest, moving your hand to intertwine with her fingers while you kiss her once again. The hell raven accepts it and plays with your tongue, and you suppress her moans the kiss goes on. After you pull away from the kiss, your mouth clamps upon her breasts. She lets out pleased cries as you play with her bountiful chest, while your hips continue to pound into hers. You can even feel her inner walls clench you hard stick, making it slightly hard for you to pull back after your thrusts.

Everything went blank as you finally release it all into her – the hell raven let out a scream of pleasure as her lower body twitches with her own orgasm. You wish you could continue, but you are too tired to do anything, except to lie down on her sweat-soaked body and watch Okuu’s consciousness drift away. You continue to suckle on her chest and soon enough you fall asleep as well.

---

It doesn’t take long for you to wake up, for what felt like a dream. You shake yourself awake and look down… and Okuu is still there. So that means it’s not really a dream. You check your watch, and it seems that you will have enough time to eliminate ‘evidence’ from… possible jealous noses long before Satori calls you for dinner.

That means taking a bath.

[] Leave her to sleep, take a bath by your own.
[] Wake her up and take a bath together.
Pick either one too:
>[] Shower
>[] Bathtub

[x] Wake her up and take a bath together.
[x] Bathtub

Weird ot have a vote with only one choice.

[x] Wake her up and take a bath together.
[x] Bathtub

[x] Wake her up and take a bath together.
[x] Bathtub

the shower's more for railing Orin anyways.

[c] Wake her up and take a bath together.
[c] Bathtub

...oh my. I did NOT see that coming.

[X] Wake her up
[X] Bath

We need to soak our reactor in water, lest she go critical.

VOTE RESULTS
[x] Wake her up and take a bath together. (5 votes)
[x] Bathtub (5 votes)

As you wish, bathtub it is then. Non-lewd update will resume.

---

Well, you have to wake her up anyway or else they'll notice something is off. Satori might not mind what you did, but you aren't sure that’s the case with Orin. At any rate you two still need a bath and, with Okuu’s sleepy state later, it’s best of you to take advantage of the bathtub that you haven’t used yet.

There’s a problem with your plan though. She’s not waking up, instead sleeping very soundly on the bed.

You shake her a little to wake her. “Okuu? Wake up.”

She lets out an incomprehensible groan, all while hugging the bolster pillow as a substitute of you.

“Okuu, it’s going to be dinnertime soon and we need to take a bath before that, are you listening?”

More groans. Seems like she is responding to the word ‘dinner’.

“Satori is going to cook dinner~”

“DINNER!”

She jumps out of bed, throwing the bolster away, and then stares around her. “Where’s Satori-sama? Where’s the food?”

Giggling at her reaction, you get up from you bed and hug her from behind. “Stop dreaming, you silly bird. Dinner will be there after we get ourselves cleaned up.”

She blushes as she realized what just happen, but not before she gives you a good hug as she follows you to the bathroom.

You fill up the bathtub with cold water like Okuu told you to, and then slip into it. It's expectedly cold, but that sort of changes when Okuu takes a dip. The cold water turns warm, enough for you to relax in. Once she's inside the water you wrap your arms around her waist. She gets herself comfortable as she relaxes her back against you. There's a relaxing silence between the two of you as you figuratively melt in her cozy warmth.

It sort of stops when you feel her hand snaking towards you crotch, squeezing your rock hard member, which has gotten excited from her closeness.

The hell raven giggles at this, and you return the favor by squeezing her breasts. Okuu giggles in joy at that too. "Naughty bird." You chide her playfully.

"Says the person who got excited first~"

Instead of stopping, she shifts a little upwards and starts stroking your shaft slowly. You match her pace as you fondle her juicy teats, sighing happily into her ear.

A while later, your erection starts to become a little uncomfortable. You know you want more out of this, so to remedy that you shift your hand from her chest to her sleek folds. Okuu lets out happy squeals as you do so and you decide on going further. But, being the sly bird she is, Okuu bends over to show you her rear. You can see her grin as she wiggles that cute birdbutt of hers.

Of course, instead of resisting, you jump at her and mount on her, planting your hands on the tub's deck for support. You slide in her easily as well, making her moan.

"It feels good to have you in me again~"

"Of course it does~"

You gently thrust into her, her body following your movement, while being mindful of the slippery bathtub. You wouldn't want any accidents in here.

Okuu's moans are pleasing to your ears, and as you continue to sensually thrust into her, you can feel her tightening up on you. A few more thrusts follow before you start to throb inside her. With the way she is keeping you inside there is no way you could pull out. You eventually fill her womanhood again, with the hell raven accepting it with a load moan.

The two of you then climb out of the tub, this time for a more proper cleaning than soaking. Seating Okuu down on the stool, you start to lather her body with body soap, making her giggle ticklishly as you fondle her body, twitching a little as you reach between her legs. "Close your eyes, Okuu." You say as you pour some shampoo into your hand, before you start to wash her hair. You can hear her coo as you massage her scalp, just like how your sister used to do with your hair when you were little.

When you are all set, you take the shower hose and begin rinsing everything off her.

"Your turn~" She giggles,

Of course, as you sit down on the stool, she repeats what you did with her earlier beforehand. She even massages your shaft, along with pressing and rubbing her squishy chest against your back rather pleasingly, but just enough to get the soap lathered between your legs. She then moves to shampoo your head, a little rougher with her hands but it still works before finishing it off with a bucketful of water instead however.

With that done, you feel sooooo much fresher now.

As you dry yourself up, Okuu shakes her wings beside you, causing you to get drenched again. You stare at her, but she only smiles innocently at you, and you grab a different towel to rub her dry. She giggles as you do that, struggling a little to get herself loose regardless.

Once both of you are clean and dry, it's time to get dressed. You really hope all that soap has rid you of the reek of lewdness by now!

Just as you finished dressing up, Satori comes over to call you for dinner.
Of course, by then you're fully dressed, and Okuu somehow resumed napping. “Seo? It’s almost dinner time. Get up and get dressed if you haven’t.”

"Coming right up."

You can see Utsuho waking up just as you open the door.

Making sure the coast is clear; you get out of the room first, dressed in your plain t-shirt and black tracksuit. You make your way towards the kitchen, getting there with Utsuho lagging way behind.

“Ah, there you are, Seo. Have you seen Okuu?”

“She’s on the way.” On cue, she appears in the dining room. "Speak of the devil."

“Good evening, Okuu.”

“Good evening, Satori-sama…” She replies, rubbing her eyes. She appears to be just waking up from sleep, but Satori knows what exactly happened behind the bolted door. “Where’s Orin?”

“She’ll be back a little late, she had some errands to do.” Satori replies as Koishi puts down the plates and cutlery on the dining table. “Hmmm… if she’s going to be late I guess we’re missing a person then.”

“Should I call him, sis?” Koishi offers her assistance.

“No. The next time you try to look for me at the tower you might as well kick the door off the hinges.” Alex appears on time, still with his uniform on but minus the helmet and balaclava. It seems like he’s just went off the hook from work.

“Ah. Hello, Alex.” Upon hearing Roach’s story and with Koishi right next to her, Satori baps Koishi lightly in the head with her ladle. “Bad Koishi. Bad.” She chides Koishi.

Koishi holds her head and makes whiny noises. Of course, Roach isn’t giving her any pity.

“Hey man, how was your sleep? You look a little lively.”

“Pretty good… I guess.”

“You guess?”

“Well, I'd rather not talk about it.”

“Alright then. How’s your arm?” Roach switches his topic.

You glance at it. “Good enough for me.”

"That's great to hear. Hope your arm gets better. I kinda miss a shooting partner."

"Why don't you ask Koishi?"

Satori's little sister quickly switches to making puppy-dog eyes at Roach as he stares at her, but he ignores her and switches his focus back to you.

"I'd rather not let her have a gun in her hand until both of us train her proper." Of course, she slumps her head in disappointment. "That was kind of the plan if you wanted to join me at the tower."

"How lewd." Satori teases.

"That's not the kind of training we're thinking." Roach tries to wave it off. Perhaps the satori caught a flash of interesting imagery.

"I'm pretty sure you did."

"...uhhh... say, what's for dinner?" Roach asks as he tries to dodge the topic.

"Dinner would be chicken-fried steak."

"Oh, I see."

"Fried chicken for dinner?" You ask.

"No, it's actually breaded beef, fried in oil used to fry chicken." Roach explains.

Satori chuckles. "You do know your stuff, Alex."

"Well, you did say chicken-fried instead of fried chicken. Plus I haven't had that for a while."

Suddenly, you feel someone's nose poking on the back if your neck. You quickly turn around to see Orin standing behind you with a suspicious look on her face.

“You smell weird…”

Welp. That failed.

“…what kind of soap did you use for a bath? Detergent block?"

"...maybe?"

Or not.

"You should know better than using them to take a bath with. It's not good for your skin, you know."

"Yeah, whatever."

Satori attention turns to the conversation you are having with the hellcat. "Alrighty then, looks like everyone is here. Have some appetizer while I'm getting the main course done. Koishi, serve the soup."

"Okie dokie!" She salutes Satori before zooming off to fill up the necessary bowls and drinks.

A few minutes later pass, and after the cheese soup the main course follows, again served by Koishi.

Koishi serves a meal seems both similar and different to what you've eaten before. The "chicken fried steak" appears to be a large fried beef cutlet but you're unfamiliar with the white peppered sauce on it. Satori must have been reading your mind because she replies, "It's cream-based gravy, Seo." Huh, interesting. The mashed potatoes are familiar to you as is the gravy but the baked beans in the sweet sauce are something you haven't tried before. Still it all looks and smells good and you're soon tucking into it along with everyone else.

Once dinner is done, Orin is once again stuck to dishwashing, and everyone else quickly scrambles back to their things and all. Looks like it's time to find them again to cure your boredom.

So what are you going to do now?

[] Kill off some time at the garden
[] Consult Ageha via sleep
[] Meet up with Roach

[X] Consult Ageha via sleep

We need to work on our innate powers.

[x] Consult Ageha via sleep

I forget who this was.

>>14016
She's one of the two fairies or spirits in the pendant Seo gets from Koishi. He talks to them here: http://www.touhou-project.com/underground/res/5934.html#10918

>>14018
Just FYI, Ageha is a he.

[X] Consult Ageha via sleep

VOTE RESULTS

[x] Consult Ageha via sleep (3 votes)

Can't find a good picture of Ageha so have a Tateha.

---

Now that you think about it, you haven’t seen Ageha for quite a while. Maybe you need some advice from him, or perhaps learn something about your innate powers. So while the others either go back to their agenda or rest, you slip back to your room stealthily.

Once you reach your private space, you lock and bolt the door, adding a chair against the door just to be sure. As much as you enjoyed that session with Okuu, you want to be left alone for real this time. After making sure that everything is in order, you lie down on your bed, staring at the ceiling and sighing. Holding up your pendant you examine it closely, spinning it in your fingers. Sighing again, you prop the back of your head.

“Sometimes I wonder… how does it feel to be able to fly…?”

Of course, as soon as you think about that you start to imagine your fireteam being pinned down and needing support, Roach yelling into the comms and asking for help, only for the main command to deny because they have air support being dispatched elsewhere.

“Sir! We need air superiority or we are going to get overwhelmed!”

“Negative, son! All of our CAS is being engaged at the moment, you need to hang on until they are clear!”

“Sir! We clearly need someone to unfuck our position as much as possible! Ammo running low! Enemies are bringing in armor! Our AT is out of rockets!”

And then a miracle happens, someone finally replies. “This is Scarlet Devil One-One to Omega Actual. It’s been a lovely day out here, and I hear you need some air support.”

Words can’t say how elated Roach is. “That would be very helpful, Scarlet Devil One-One!”

“Omega Two-One, this is Scarlet One-One, flight of two Scarlet Devils. Time on station, 1-5 mikes, holding at three Sierra northwest… carrying two Laevatains and two Gungnirs, over. Standing by.”

“Scarlet Devil One-One, targets are as follows: enemy encampment, artillery emplacements and enemy armor at grid 2-5-2-1-7-1. I need you to take them all down. How copy, over? “

“Solid copy, Omega Two-One. Rolling in now. Target acquired.”

A minute later, a flash of red can be seen and the Scarlet Devils arrive at the scene with cackling laughter. They make a pass above you and unleash hell on the targets described. Both have their Lævateinn and Gungnir in each hand, throwing them straight towards the targets. Targets are struck with huge explosions confirming their destruction and the enemy starts fleeing.

“They are falling back! Keep up the pressure on them!”

With renewed vigor your men continue to shoot off the stragglers and the Scarlet Devils linger around to do the same.

“Omega Two-One, they are all gone. We’ll stick around until then so that they won’t be turning around and trying the same thing again.”

“Thanks, Scarlet Devil.”

“No problem, boys.”

“Omega Actual, this is Hawkins, EVAC is inbound, make sure the area is clear of hostiles before we arrive, over.”

“This is Omega Actual… they retreated already. Just get your ass over here quick.”

“Roger. ETA 5 mikes.”

And of course, this is eventually where you snooze off for real.

---

The first thing you see when you wake up is Tateha staring down at your face, although everything is a blur. Once your vision is much more stable, Ageha does the same, standing over you.

“Hi, Seo!” Tateha greets you chirpily.

“Those were some interesting situations you had there.” Ageha states.

“What?”

“Your war dreams.”

“Oh.”

“Give me your hand.”

At first you thought of holding out your right arm, but with the injury you decide to hold out your left. Ageha takes it regardless, and pulls your hand so that you can stand up.

“Haven't been able to talk to you since these last few days, I know you’re busy and all.” Ageha chuckles at the last words he said, which makes you roll your eyes and Tateha look at her brother with a puzzled expression. “Also this time I see you tried to look for me consciously. Need something?”

“…yeah… I was wondering if you could do something about my arm.” You say as you roll up your right sleeve and show him your bandaged arm.

“Ah, so that’s why you don’t hold up your right arm. Working hazard?”

“Definitely.” You reply, rolling down the sleeve. “Long story short I was in an operation, and during that assignment a crook got free and stabbed me in the arm.”

Tateha cringes. “Nasty.”

“Damn right it is. But that aside, let me take care of your arm. Tateha, you need to help me too.”

“Okay!”

You sit down, and the siblings kneel beside your injured arm. Taking off the bandage, Ageha and Tateha hold their hands above the stitched area, before focusing their powers to their hands and making it glow a warm green. You feel your arm twinge a little with the sudden jolt of power, but it’s only a little uncomfortable instead of total pain. They finish their work before you know it, and they've moved their hands away when you look again.

No superficial changes on the stitch can be seen though.

“There we go. It will still take a while to heal proper, but we sped it up for a couple of weeks.”

“A speedy recovery is something desirable, yeah. I sort of miss my work.”

Tateha comes back with a small roll of new bandage and scissors, and dresses your arm nicely. “Done!” She says, as soon as her deed’s done.

“Good girl.” Ageha praises his sister, complete with a pat to her head.

You stand up. “That aside… I was wondering what else could I learn from you, since I am here and all.”

“Oooh, that’s a good question, Seo.”

“Huh?”

“In the face of danger, how fast can you react?”

“Probably fine I gue–“

TSSSH
You freeze in shock as a bullet flies past, missing your ears by a hair. Of course, when you recover you see Ageha wagging an admonishing finger at you.

“You’re too slow.” He says. “You reaction time needs lots of work, though it’s not something we can train with the short time we have.”

You shake your head. “So how do I deal with it?”

“Well, of course with repeated training with your friends. It’s not just about speed, but knowing how to differentiate a threat from sudden movements.”

“Okay.”

“Now, with that out of the way, let’s try that again.” Ageha takes his distance, standing with his arms behind his back. As you reach for your holster, Ageha denies it by coughing. “Relax, Seo. Hands off your gun, assess the situation, and if you spot a threat, respond to it.”

“Well then, if you say so…”

---

A lot of tries later, you start to grasp Ageha’s idea but you still need more time on the threat detection part. You now squat on the ground, exhausted.

“I have to admit, you are quite a fast learner, Seo.”

“Did I win?”

“Unfortunately, no.” He states bluntly. “You still need some work with actual threat detection. I provided the basics to sharpen up your instincts.” You grunt and hung your head. Ageha stands beside you to pat your shoulder. “Cheer up, it’s something magic can't solve alone.”

"Are we done, though?"
"Certainly. You can return back anytime you want to."

Now what?

[] Wake up. (Progress manually)
[] Hope the week’s over. (timeskip, fast forward a week)

[x] Wake up. (Progress manually)

I want to see what other fun we could have. A cat is fine too.

[c] Hope the week’s over. (timeskip, fast forward a week)

Tough choice, but I'll go with this.

[x] Wake up. (Progress manually)

[x] Wake up. (Progress manually)

>>14047
How about both cats and ravens?

VOTE RESULTS

[x] Wake up. (3 votes)

And so adventure continues per usual. Much faster this time.

---

As you decide to wake up for the morning, your vision starts to turn blurry. You can still see Ageha nodding. "Very well, then. We will meet again." He says, before he fades away. The rest of the environment goes away with him.

Of course, you would soon fall over to your side and lose your M9 just like before. Everything slowly fades to black this time.

---

//A Somewhat Peaceful Morning//
Fujisaki “Spectre” Seo
Day 9, 09:15:36
Palace of the Earth Spirits
Scarlet Devil Mansion Guardians Division

When you are back in your world, your eyelids feels so heavy and it makes you feel lazy to wake up. That is, until you feel someone poking your cheeks. Repeatedly.

"O' mister, wakey wakey~"

That sounds like Orin. This can't be real, you already blocked the door. Of course, more pokes follows, and eventually it gets quite irritating.

"Let me sleep, damn it..." you wrap yourself with your blanket so that she stops poking.

"Satori-told me to wake you up, and if you're not waking up I am going to do it the hard way!"

What?

"Just leave me, dammit. You're not real." you grumble as you turn away from the source of Orin's voice.

"Not real, eh?" Without warning, Orin slips into your blanket and lie down face to face to you. "Wakey wakey, sleepy Seo!"

Just as you stare at her face with half-open eyes the next thing you know you are staring onto the ceiling with a pained grunt. At the corner of your sight you can see the kasha pulling back her leg, which is soon replaced with her staring at you at the edge of the bed with a grin. You raise your right fist at her in frustration.

"Damn cat." you mutter. "I thought I blocked the door, how come did you still can get in? What's with you people sneaking into my room?"

She sticks her tongue out a little. "It's a trade secret~” Same answer as Okuu, huh. "Satori-sama told me to check up on you, and make sure you don't become lazy when you're recovering."

"Whatever." you reply simply, getting up and grabbing your towel. "I'm going to take a bath. Make sure you're gone from my room when I'm done."

Orin chuckles and she vacates the room regardless, while you head to take a bath.

---

Few minutes later, you finish your bath and walk back into your room as you dry yourself with your tower. Since you are not in duty until your arm is healed, you're wearing civvies’ clothes. Just as you are done dressing up, Orin walks in with a first aid kit. You sit down next to her so that she can replace the dressing for the wound.

"I didn't know you're a medic in duty."

"Someone had to do it, you know." She pause her work to examine the bandage. "Hey, did you do your own dressing?"

"I didn't, why?"

"It looks new."

"Nah, I didn't do that."

Regardless of that, Orin still changes the dressing on your stitched arm after applying some medicine on it, just to be sure. "All done."

"Thank you."

"You're welcomed." Orin gets up from her seat. "Now, are you ready to go?"

"Where?"

"Just around and inside the palace." she says. "You haven't known everything around the palace, right?"

Come to think of it, so far you only know the areas where you usually patrol, like the compound, the perimeter of the palace, the dining and living areas as well. "Uh, of course not?"

"Good! Now let's go!" without warning, she pulls you up by your good arm and tosses you into her cart, which appeared out of nowhere. "In you go, mister, straight to the Orin Express!" And thus she speeds out of your room with you as a cargo.

---

But first, Orin makes a stop at Satori's study. You hop out as she abandons her cart, and follow the kasha straight inside. Satori seems to be quite busy; she has her glasses on, and writing down onto a piece of paper. Of course, she notices you and Orin's presence in the room, which she looks up from her work and remove her glasses.

"Satori-sama, I brought in the requested person~"

Satori approaches the kasha and pets her head gently. The latter would purr happily at the pets, nuzzling Satori's hand. "Thank you, Orin."

She grins. "My pleasure~"

"Hmm. I suppose that I should introduce you more about the rest of the palace, Seo. I know by far you only know the surface of the area." She says. "And no, none of those kinds of secrets."

You snort at her extra remark about the thought that passed by you head. "Just the surface area, yeah. What do we have below the palace?"

"A few places of interest. They are rarely visited by non-residents since we rarely got visitors ourselves, the latest visitors were Yuyuko and her entourage a couple of years back." Satori explains.

"Food stuff?"

Satori only nods to confirm.

"What else is there?"

"A little far from here is the nuclear reactor, powered by Okuu. We can visit her there and see how she is doing."

"Would the place be safe for him, Satori-sama?"

"We have three-layer protection, everything will be fine."

"Are we leaving Roach behind?"

"Alex told me that he can take care of everything. He is your senior after all."

"Well, if you say so."

"Also if you're feeling like going to the surface for some time off, I might ask you two deliver my manuscripts to Suzuunan to be printed as a novel."

"Sounds like a great idea."

"Perhaps visit your family too to say you're doing fine down here, Seo. They might heard the news.".

You nod to her. Satori would stop talking for the moment, as if realizing something was missing. And when she does, she turns to you to ask. "You haven't gotten breakfast yet, right?"

"Ummm... Yeah. Orin brought me to your library right after she fixed the dressing on my arm."

"Let's get that fixed as well. Orin."

"Aye!"

She didn't leave the room, yet somehow she managed to sweep you off your feet and into her cart. Orin speeds off while Satori casually walks towards the kitchen. Once she is at her destination, her cart screeches to a stop. Satori caught up with the two of you, and she quickly gets to work, just as you and Orin sit down at the dining table.

---

Breakfast is rather simple. Unlike the other meals, Satori served something less flashy this time, which are pancakes and orange juice. Instead of sweet pancakes, she makes few with corned beef, which is rather more filling than the usual plain pancakes. Once everything is done, Satori cleans up the dishes as you and Orin wait outside of the kitchen.

Of course, neither of you would talk, until Orin breaks the silence.

"Are you sure you're not the one who did it?"

"Did what?" You ask back

"The new dressing, I mean."

Now that she mentioned it, you remember clearly that Tateha redid the bandage after she and Ageha attempt to heal it with their powers. "No, I didn't do that."

"Who did then?"

"You'd call me crazy if told you but someone in my dreams fixed it for me." Immediately at your reply, Orin plants a palm onto your forehead. "Orin, what are you doing?"

"I'm checking if you have high fever or not, because people with high fever turn delirious." She cackles.

"You see, that is exactly why I hesitated to tell you about it."

Orin removes her hand from your forehead, and then gives you a light and playful bap to the top of your head. "Oh, don't be a spoilsport, Seo. I'm just joking."

"Fiiine." You try to mock a pout.

As the conversation ends, Satori walks out of the kitchen to join you and Orin. "Alright, dishes are done. I see you two are very chatty just now."

"Eh, nothing much, it’s just Seo telling me a crazy story. Something about meeting things in his dreams and fixed his arm for him."

Satori chuckles, before she turns her attention to you. Hopefully she doesn't think that's just a dream. "Alright, Seo. Since we have three places to go, where do you want to go first?"

"Hmmm..."

Where to head first?

[ ] Satori's Exotic Fisheries
[ ] Underground's Nuclear Reactor
[ ] To Suzuunan!

[x] Satori's Exotic Fisheries

[x] Underground's Nuclear Reactor

Yes this story got updated

Underground's Nuclear Reactor

[X] Satori's Exotic Fisheries
Giant fugu whales!.

[x] Satori's Exotic Fisheries

I'm curious.

VOTE RESULTS
[x] Satori’s Exotic Fisheries (3 votes)

Oh hey, my 40th update.

---

You think between your choices, thinking what you would do in such areas. Going to the surface would definitely be out of your list first, since you think your family wouldn't be happy that you were defending youkai. Then again, they might be twice unhappy if you are a part of the thieves. On the other hand, there's the underground nuclear reactor... Or rather the Underground Geyser Center, now that you remember the proper name for the place. Visiting Okuu might be fun but getting there isn't easy.

You wonder if evil spirits still linger in that area, which may be bad for you if they do since you are still a human. Then there's the fisheries, which might mean catching some of those for dinner. You expect it might even be a big dinner, considering that almost everyone is there.

"So where's the fisheries again?" You ask satori just as you drop out of your thoughts.

"Below the palace." Satori replies.

So that means it's the closest out of the three options. "Should I bring my gear along?"

"If you want to, then go ahead. Orin well guide you to the fisheries, I'll be waiting for you there."

You nod at Satori, just before Orin scoops you into her cart and then blaze off back to your room. Once there, you disembark and throw on a light recon vest, your shotgun and handgun loaded to bear with few extra shells and magazines in their separate pouches, and not forgetting the flashlight attachments - both standalone and tactical attachments - just in case. Once you are ready, you decide to sit in the cart instead of letting yourself swiped off your feet for the third time today.

The kasha obviously did not have a problem with your voluntary ocupation of her 'vehicle', and she speeds off just as you brace yourself in her cart for safety.

---

Before you knew it, Orin even speeds down the stairs down to the fisheries, and you can see Satori's figure facing the pools with water, watching some of her pets feeding the fishes with flakes. Once Orin stops her cart, you jump out and stand beside Satori with your knees shaking a little.

"Rough ride?" She asks.

"Definitely." you sigh as you finally recover from Orin's rough driving. "Are they your pets too? How come I
never see them?" You ask for confirmation.

"They are my pets. They told me they can take care of themselves, so they rarely come up to the upper floors."

"Oh." From your observation, most of the pets that worked the fisheries are at your size, which means they are mature enough to live on their own.

Of course, there's the little ones that would abandon their post and quickly run up to the mindreader to greet her with hugs. She accepts them all with a bright smile on her face, occasionally petting their little heads. One of her older pets approaches Satori. "Satori-sama." he greets Satori.

Of course, just as he noticed you, the wolf boy would start sniffing at you.

"A new human pet, Satori-sama?"

"Ah, forgot to introduce him. Seo, this is Ichirou. Ichirou, he's not really a pet, he's to guard the upper towers."

"Hi." you greet simply, as he would continue sniffing. You can see his nose twitch a little.

"You have some scent of blood and gunpowder..." Ichirou snarls at his last sentence, baring his sharp fangs a little. "Are you a hunter?"

"Again, tower guard." you state firmly. "The only thing I hunt would be infiltrators and thieves, so, still a guard."

"Alright, break it off, you two." Orin says as she gets in between the two of you to avoid a potential fight. "Alright, Ichirou. Stop being a tough guy already and get back to your post."

"It's fine, Orin. Let him hang around with me. It's not like I can visit him often." Satori says, much to Orin's chagrin. At her words, Ichirou immediately joins Satori's saide, while the younger ones scamper away to play.

Satori and Ichirou walked ahead of you and Orin, in which the former pair is busy conversing to each other. You and Orin lags behind, with the kasha seething at the wolf. From what you can see, Ichirou is obviously happy with his wagging tail and twitching ears.

"Jealous?" you ask Orin.

"Damn right. Mangy wolf is trying to get her attention all time when she's down here."

"Eh, it's not like she's here often."

"I think he wants more than just her presence you know." Orin gives you a light elbow nudge to your arm. "You know what I mean."

"I know."

Perhaps you need a change of topic.

And bingo, you spot a peculiar creature in one of the pools. "What's that?" You stop and ask, and everyone else stop as.well to look at the pointed object.

"Ah, the horseshoe crab. It's not really related to crabs at all, but it tastes like one. Pretty delicious if you know how to properly prepare them." Satori explains. "Your CO likes them so much he sometimes buy them from me. Reminding him of his younger times eating roasted horseshoe crabs or some spicy sauce with them at the Outside World, he said."

"Wait, you can actually cook that? I never knew." You say.

"The more you know, Seo. Every aquatic creature that lives in this fishery is edible one way or another~"

"Even that? You point to a larger tank mounted on the wall.

"Yes, even the sunfish."

Ah, so that large fish is a sunfish... Its size is unlike the fishes you see at the surface market. Then again, most of the fishes sold there were freshwater fish... As Satori's tour goes on, you were introduced to various crustaceans, sharks, and so on. The walk stops at the bank of a pool full of rather... round fishes.

"I guess this is the fugu whales?"

"Correct-o-mundo." Ichirou affirms.

"They don't look as huge as whales to me... how did it get the name though?"

The wolf put on a smug grin, showing off his knowledge in this area. "Well, because these fish are like pufferfish, they are poisonous and will puff up if threatened. If you have a trained chef who can prepare it, they can remove the lethal parts. The liver is the most delicious part of this fish, if you feel like dying after eating it." Ichirou would cross his arms and stares at you. "Do you have the guts to eat them?"

"I'd rather live."

"Pffft, coward."

"Have you eaten it yourself?" You ask him. That smug grin quickly disappeared from his face. "I'll take that as a no then."

"What do you mean I haven't? I ate it before-"

"And promptly carted off to Eientei because of poisoning." Orin quickly cut him mid-sentence.

You snort in amusement. "So what about the whale part?"

"It can reportedly grow twelve times larger than what you can see on the surface, so there's probably the origin of that part of the name." Satori explains. "Of course, it never grew that large because it's being raised as food here."

You nod in understanding. Of course, hearing the word 'poison' is enough to justify the reason to stay away and not eat this fish without a trained chef in the vicinity. There's nobody capable on doing it in this group of four either.

Satori must have sensed your uneasiness, however.

"Still feeling doubts about the fish, Seo?"

"Definitely."

She pats your back. "It's fine."

"The human is scared of dying, ha!"

"Well, I gotta wonder, if the poison is enough to send a wolf to Eientei, I wonder how much of the stuff did you eat."

"Ten!" He answers proudly.

"Lies, it's just a bite actually." Orin counters.

"Well, there you go. Now that makes me feel less confident about the fish since there's nobody to prepare it."

"Oh yeah, Jirou isn't available for that..."

You got a feeling that the stupid wolf would probably eaten the damn thing without preparing it properly. You shrug and turn around, looking for something safer to be eaten. Satori follows you as she catches your intention, following right behind you.

"Seo."

"Yes, Miss Satori?"

"If you want we can have crabs and lobsters for dinner instead."

"That would be very appreciated." you reply. "Though would any of these would mean a paycheck cut for me?"

"No, silly."

"Then it's fine. I'll take crabs, lobsters, fishes, even horseshoe crabs. Anything but fugu."

"Dinner is still far away, any idea where you want to go after this?"

"Oh, let me think of stuff then."

"Don't think, catch. All yours for dinner~" She says. One of her pets skitter over with two hand nets in hand, one for you and the other is for Satori. "Well then, let's catch some, shall we? After that we can visit Utsuho or do other things."

So which ones should you catch? You may change your mind about the whales.
[ ] Write-In, Pick two!

What to do after the catch?
[ ] Visit the Underground Geyser Center
[ ] To Suzuunan!
[ ] Any bright ideas what to do? (Write In)

[x] Visit the Underground Geyser Center

You forgot your choice of catch, mate.

So which ones should you catch?
[c] Horshoe crabs.
[c] Sunfish.

What to do after the catch?
[c] To Suzuunan!
Kosuzu shenanigans, ahoy!

[x] Visit the Underground Geyser Center

>>14086 here

adding
[x]Lobster
[x]Crab.

>>14089
You too, mate.

[x]Lobster
[x]Crab.
[X]To Suzunaan

Lobster with herbs butter. I'm practically drooling.

And it'll be fun to see Kosozu.

Lobsters , crabs are getting cooked. Geyser vs Suzuunan settled via coin flips. Bookstore wins.

Writing.

VOTE RESULTS
[x]Lobster (Cooking to be on hold, 2 votes)
[x]Crab. (Cooking to be on hold, 2 votes)
[x]To Suzunaan (Tied to UGC by 2 votes, won by coin flips)

Oh deary me. I have written more for this chapter, more than usual even. Last chapter was half of today's length. Enjoy and vote for your next outcome!

Some references from other writer's stuff has been added in here. You know who you are, thanks for the permission anyways.

---

The possibility of eating luxury-slash-exotic seafood for lunch sounds very tempting, but the way it was described to you sounds a little too intimidating. You don't see any specialized chefs around here, which makes you feel you should just stick to the safer option.

"Taking the safer road, Seo?" Satori asks. She might have already picked up your choice by now.

"I would like to."

"If you insist. Follow me."

You follow Satori's lead to the earlier parts of the fisheries, while the quarreling wolf and kasha finally realize that they are lagging behind. When the two of them catch up with you and Satori, you're busy listening to Satori as she gives you a tip or two about choosing the best fresh crabs. Once you make your choice based on her advice, the pet that's manning the area puts the crabs in a different cage to be hauled in later. The same process is repeated with the lobsters, which are ludicrously big compared to the crabs.

"Lobsters, hmm? Herb butter will go nicely with them," Satori says.

"Well, you're the cook, so you know what's best with 'em."

Satori responds with a giggle at your minor compliment. "Of course."

Ichirou's ears perk up at Satori's words. "Satori-sama, can I join you for lunch and dinner?"

She turns to the wolf and smiles warmly. "Sure thing, dear."

Your trip to the fisheries is pretty much over by then, and you and Orin are ready to move on to next objective.

"Are we going to Suzunaan or to the Geyser Center?" Orin asks.

"Suzunaan. This should be really quick," you reply.

Satori approaches the two of you as she hears your choice."Going to the bookstore, yes? My manuscript is on top of my table in the study," she says. "Be home by lunch, you two. There's a lot of food to eat."

"Okay~!"

Before you can react, Orin summons her handcart and bowls you into it yet again, before speeding off upstairs back to the palace grounds. While you reorient yourself into a more comfortable position, she retrieves a sealed file and hands it to you. "Uh, Orin? I think we need to fetch the backpack. I don't think I should hold it like this the whole way up," you say.

"Sure thing~"

"I know you're excited about carting my body o-AAAAAAAAAA!" With a mischievous cackle, Orin speeds off again to your room. In there, she fetches a backpack, stuffs the file inside, and slings it over her back.

"There we go. Ready to go back to the surface?" She grins at you.

"Just take it easy and don't scare the crap outta me, dammit."

"What are you talking about? It's fun to feed on your fear~"

"Oh, I know you can't wait to cart my body off..."

She waves her hand dismissively. "Oh, mister. You're such a scaredy cat. You gotta enjoy the speed you know. I don't think I want to cart your dead body off, since I'd rather have a proper burial for you~" This is getting morbid. "Or, if you want to go slower, you can have boots on the ground. What do you say?"

On second thought, walking all the way there isn't going to be productive. "Cart. Just don't speed."

"Alright then. Rickshaw cart mode on

And despite what she said, Orin STILL speeds off like Roach on Eirin's drugs.

--(( Yamame, Yamame's Poison House ))--

"Order up! Hey! Who ordered the steak chops?"

"Ey! Over here!"

Watching a hand go up in the air, you walk over to the table and serve your customer his food. "Thanks, Yams."

"Hey, no problem." You then look around. "Anyone else hasn't gotten their food yet?" you call.

"Nope!" one of your customers chimes after making sure everything is on his table.

"All served here," another one responds.

"Okay, good, I'll be taking a break for a bit. If you guys need anything, I'll be outside."

"No probs, Yams."

You walk out of your diner with a bottle of liquor and a cup in hand. Finally, some time to rest from all that cooking.

"Hey, Yams. Mind if I join?"

"Go ahead, Yuugi."

You and Yuugi share a bench outside the shop, watching the passersby going about doing their business at the shopping district.

"Slow day at business?" Yuugi asks.

"Nope, I got my hands full already. I've been so busy lately that I barely have time for myself."

"Eh, understandable. I can relate to that too."

"What are you busy with? Partying?"

Yuugi laughs. "Making booze, silly. It's gotta come from somewhere, you know?"

"Yeah, yeah."

While you are busy with your drink, you hear the sound of rickety wheels coming towards your shop. You catch a glimpse of Orin speeding past instead of stopping by, with familiar legs in cargo trousers hanging out of her handcart. Yuugi sees it too, her head following the speeding cart away until it's out of her line of sight.

The oni lady breaks the awkward silence. "Aren't those his trousers? And why he's going to the surface?"
"Knowing him, it might be an errand from the triclops or something. I also felt his fear." You sip your drink. "Must've been the cat's bad driving."

"Totally."

--(( Seo, Human Village ))--

You drop to the ground as soon as Orin stops close to Suzuunan. You've never felt so thankful for solid ground. Orin intentionally prolonged the trip to the village, and her giggles are full of mischief as she observes your antics. Once you regain your composure, you glare at the kasha.

"You're evil, Orin."

"Oh, cheer up. It's not like you're dead."

You get close to her and pinch her pointy ear, which makes her flail at you. "Bad cat. Bad driver." You release your pinch with a sigh and look at the store. Orin grumbles as she rubs her smarting ear. "Come on, Orin. Let's get things do-"

Just as you are about to walk into the the bookstore, you see a flash of... something speeding directly towards your face.

"Look out!"

You quickly drop to prone, feeling the 'thing' fly past your body and out of the store. You flip over to your back, unfolding the stock of your SPAS-12.

"Somebody stop it! Don't let it run away!" a girl cries out.

"I'm on it!" Not bothering to line up your sights, you fire your shotgun as fast as you can, racking the pump and pulling the trigger until the chamber's completely empty. The girl makes a surprised shriek as you open fire, and she tries to protect her ears from the obscenely loud noise until the thing falls down from the sky and drops to the ground. You get up to your feet and cautiously approach, loading more shells into the chamber the tube magazine.

"Is it safe?" Orin asks.

"Uh, I guess. It's back to being a scroll again. All clear."

Even so, you keep your shotgun leveled as the shopkeeper rushes towards the unfurled scroll.

"The scroll seems to be still intact and not full of holes... thank heavens." She stands up and faces you.

"Sorry for the inconvenience, the scroll ran amok while I was reading it." She bows at you, only to notice that something's off as you bow back at her. "Your face is pale, are you alright?"

"Ummm... I guess? Sorry, I just realized that I opened fire with you too close."

“It’s alright. My ears will get better... if it doesn't then to Eientei I go. It doesn't ring anymore, anyway.”

Just as she says that, a man in his early 30s shows up, panting for air. "I heard gunshots coming from the shop while I was on the way, so I ran the rest of the way here! Is everything okay?"

"Yuuki!"

You fold the shotgun's stock, putting it in safe position in your shoulder sling. "Everything's fine, sir. We just got a runaway monster scroll under control."

He turns towards Kosuzu, who is right now rolling back the scroll with Orin's help. "Kosuzu, did you let loose another scroll again...?"

"It was an accident, I swear."

Oh, so he works here? You notice Yuuki is carrying an MP5 on the slings. Something tells you that the MP5 he's carrying isn't SDMGD's standard issue, and it looks rather light. You consider commenting on it, but there's a crowd forming close to Suzuunan, wondering what's going on.

"I think everyone should get inside." Kosuzu laughs nervously as she carries the scroll back into the shop.

"It's okay, folks. Nothing to see here, just a runaway scroll needing some -"

"That's enough talking, soldier. Get in here!"

"-whoa!" Orin grabs you by the back of your recon vest and pulls you into Suzuunan.

As you're now inside the bookstore, you straighten yourself up and approach Kosuzu's desk, with Orin sticking her tongue at you. You reach for her ears to pinch them, but she evades it this time, so you shake a fist at her instead.

"Sorry about the fuss, folks... I was reading the scroll and it went loose on its own..." Kosuzu says just as she sits down on her desk, before suddenly getting up and bowing apologetically. "Ah, sorry, sorry! I forgot to introduce myself. My name's Kosuzu Motoori, and this is Yuuki. Welcome to Suzuunan." He bows. "Or rather, Yuuki is my nickname for him. His name's Hafizi, if you prefer to call him by his proper name."

Hafizi nods and bows as Orin leans towards you to whisper. "No wonder he doesn't look Japanese." She then focuses back to Hafizi. "An outsider, I presume?"

"Indeed, miss." He replies.

"Ah, I hear ya. By the way, this is Seo Fujisaki, and my name's Rin Kaenbyou, Hafizi."

"Nice to meet you two." He shakes hand with you.

"So, what brings you two here?" Kosuzu asks as she returns to her business mode.

"Right, back to business." Orin takes the backpack off her back, and then takes out the file with Satori's manuscripts. "Satori-sama asked us to send this over to you. I'm not sure what it was, she never tells us about what's in it."

Kosuzu unties the string to the file, pulling out papers to examine them page by page. "Ah, I see that she's just finished a horror novel for me to publish soon."

"So you publish books here too? I thought you just rent out books," you ask.

Kosuzu puts the manuscript back into the folder. "Well, we do all sorts of things with books. Sell them, rent them, bind them, and so on and so forth." She gets up from her desk. "I'll get Dad to proofread this for me. Yuuki, when it's done you can help me print it and bind it. You can show Seo around if you want to."

"Sure thing. This way, Seo."

Hafizi leads you to another part of Suzunaan, and Orin happily tags along.

---

"I got a few questions, Seo. Are you a part of the SDMGD?" Hafizi asks as you finish a tour around the area with him.

"Quite right. Just started a couple of weeks ago. Stationed at the Palace of the Earth Spirits."
"I see. You know, back when I first came to Gensokyo, Koishi and Satori actually asked me to live with them Underground. I said no since I am not familiar with the world down there. So I get the option to stay at the Hakurei Shrine, as long as I find work," he says. "So how's the Underground's like?"

You lean back and stretch. "Well, depending on who you ask, we would either call it Ancient City or Underground, From what I see, the place is a shopping heaven. It's divided into many districts, so we have the textile district, the food district, and so on." You then remember the places when you have some community requests back then. "Lots of youkai down there, the only humans I saw were the ones looking for fun. I know the oni folks hold lots of drinking parties on their turf."

He nods understandingly. "So... is that a real shotgun? As in real steel shotgun?" Hafizi asks, changing the topic. He seems to be very interested In your weaponry.

"I suppose. Franchi SPAS-12, works and sounds like one, except that it's danmaku safe," you explain, letting him him examine it. The safety's on, just to make sure. "What about yours?"

Hafizi hands his MP5 to you. "Its airsoft, but just enough to defend myself. Reimu did something with it, so I can actually use it in danmaku should the need arise." With the MP5 in your hand, you inspect the body of the weapon. When the magazine is removed, you can see a white pellet sticking at the top of the feed chute. The safety of the weapon is on too. You slide the magazine back into its well before you return it to its owner. "How does your weapon become danmaku-compliant, anyway?" he asks.

"It's because of specially-made bullets." You pick an orange shell from your pouch, showing the danmaku shell. "According to my briefing, I was told that I can shoot real buckshot with the proper colored shell, but that's only for an emergency." Putting the shell back into the pouch, you rub your arm. "For danmaku shells, they sure do pack quite a kick."

"And you shot someone with it before?"

You let out a nervous chuckle as you scratch your cheek. "Err... well... to be honest I did. I was on assignment - an investigation, rather - and I ran into some errant problems. It involved investigating a robbery, so naturally I ran into opposition who don't want me to interfere. I had to shoot my way through after that."

Hafizi nods at your answer. "So that might have explained the breaking news on the Bunbunmaru a few days ago." You freeze. Since when did the Bunbunmaru catch wind of this? "Some people just can't find good jobs, so they steal from others instead."

"It's much worse than that. They attempted to steal on the old folks' works and then burn their shops down. Then they tried the same stunt on the oni district... and they got their arses kicked to oblivion for it. The bandits were humans, even."

Hafizi snickers as he orders the books on the shelves. "Serves them right. Was it a big solo operation to clear them out?"

"Err, no, it wasn't a one-man operation... I have friends in the Underground City, so they helped out a lot." You pick a book from the shelf to examine the title. The title of the book is 'Wintry Steam,' and the author goes by the pseudonym Hedena Nine... You give the book a quick read by flipping over the pages and raise your eyebrows, with the book quickly rising in ranks to your imaginary to-read list. From the gist of it, this book is actually a love letter in novel form, which makes you snicker in amusement.

You put it back at the shelves, remembering to take it later. "I had squadmates from the surface to back me up when I got framed. The guy who mans the guardpost at the village is currently covering my position since I got injured in the operation."

Hafizi nods in understanding. "You sure made a lot of unique friends in such a short time."
"Well, I don't have many human friends, but I make quick friends with youkai. It's been a trait of mine since I was a kid."

"I could tell." he says as he looks at Orin, who is now examining a guitar leaning against the wall.
"Don't touch that, Orin. It's not yours." You tell her.

"It's fine. Bring it here," Hafizi says, and Orin does so. She even stick her tongue at you, that damn corpse cat. "Seo, do you ever give nickname to your precious things?"

You stare at your shotgun. "Nope, not yet."

The guitar has a Stratocaster brand on it, so it might be a well-known one. "This, I call it Lord Canti." Hafizi says as he plucks a few strings on his guitar, taking a seat as he does so. You lean back and let Hafizi strum a few tunes from it. "You don't mind if I play something, yes?"

"Go ahead."

And so Hafizi plays his guitar, humming a slow song. After that he plays it, singing in a language you've never heard before. Orin is watching him intently as well, her ears perking and twitching. You smile and lean back as you listen. He has the the talent for sure. This guy is so good, he might already be with Choujuu Gigaku.

After a couple of songs, you hear the pitter-patter of brisk steps coming towards your location. You can tell who it is already. "There you guys are," Kosuzu says as she finds you and the group. "The proofreading's done, and we'll begin printing and binding the book soon, so how about you guys come back in a week? We'll have the master copy done by then, and start selling the rest to the public soon."

You realize that Orin's not holding the backpack anymore, so you take it in your arms and sling it over to your back.

"Thanks, Kosuzu. We'll see you next week. See you later too, Hafizi."

"Yeah, catch you later."

Just as you step outside of the bookstore, you suddenly remember about the book. The fact that you are now holding the backpack instead makes things a little bit easier for her...

"Seo! Let's go!" Orin's call snaps you out of your reverie.

"Oh! Orin, can you wait outside for a moment?"

"Huh?"

"I'll catch up with you later, it'll be quick."

"Hurry up!"

You walk back into Suzuunan, going back to the shelf where you saw the Wintry Steam book. You soon spot the book and take it off the shelf, then jog towards Kosuzu's desk.

"Kosuzu, I think I'll rent this," you say as you place your target book on her desk.

There is a light blush on her face when she recognizes the title. "Ah... okay then. How long would you hold on to it?"

"About a week or so. Thinking of returning it when we get back here for the master copy."
"Alright."

You pay her your rent fee before putting the book inside one of the backpack's compartments. Then you dart outside to where Orin is waiting

"What were you doing in there?"

"I left something behind in the store by accident," you lie. "Anyways, we have some time left before we go back for lunch. Anything you would like?"

Orin's ears perk up. "What would you suggest?"

Hm. Let's see...

[ ] Drop by the candy store.
[ ] Get some specialty frozen meat buns for steaming later.
[ ] A souvenir?
[ ] Visit your mom, going sneaky-beaky like.
[ ] "I got nothing. Let's go home."

[X] Get some specialty frozen meat buns for steaming later.
[X] A souvenir?
[X] Visit your mom, going sneaky-beaky like.

Can't imagine candy appealing to Orin so meat buns may do nicely. Souvenirs are always fun and if you're lazy you can just say the special meatbuns are the souvenir!

And it would be fun to see Seo's family and how they react to his stories from his assignment.

[X] Get some specialty frozen meat buns for steaming later.
[X] A souvenir?
[X] Visit your mom, going sneaky-beaky like.

[x] Drop by the candy store.
[X] A souvenir?
[X] Visit your mom, going sneaky-beaky like.

Heh nice reference.

[c] Get some specialty frozen meat buns for steaming later.
[c] A souvenir?
[c] Visit your mom, going sneaky-beaky like.

Wonder if our mom has a say about us becoming a PMC.

>>14149
I wonder how she'll feel about Seo fucking Okuu, a youkai.

>Its airsoft, but just enough to defend myself.
>is that a real shotgun? As in real steel shotgun?

Is it true? Have I finally found another airsoft player here on THP?!? Gods know how long I've waited for this moment to appear!

[x] Visit your mom, going sneaky-beaky like.

VOTE RESULTS
[X] Get some specialty frozen meat buns for steaming later. (3 votes)
[X] A souvenir? (4 votes)
[X] Visit your mom, going sneaky-beaky like. (5 votes)

We’re on a quest to know his family members, one person at a time.

>>14162
You're looking at one here, though hardly able to play due to real-world obligations.

Three, two, one - let's go!

---

Well, it’s easy enough; you have lots of time to burn through for something to take to the palace. Since you’re here, you might as well do something about visiting your mother…

“Let’s get some frozen meat buns and souvenirs for Miss Satori, and while we’re here, we might as well visit my mom.”

“Just your mom?”

“I don’t think I like to see the rest of my family much, so just her.”

Orin as if knows that you’re going to tell her a very long story. “Oh, okay then.”

And so, you buy a few packets of frozen meatbuns with varying flavors. There’s a new kind of bun that has been added since you last visited this store – buns with a kaya cream filling. When you inquire the shopkeeper about the peculiar-sounding filling, she said something about a new recipe one of her outsider worker brought along. It’s even meatless, since it’s quite sweet, she says. You also bought some that’s already steamed.

After you make your purchase and saying goodbyes to the shopkeeper, you leave the shop for the second objective: souvenirs.

“You sure this will stay cold?”

“Pretty sure it still does by time we reach the Palace.”

Unfortunately, you are not sure what to buy for Satori. You should at least buy a book for her when you are at Suzuunan earlier. So to remedy that you decide to buy plush toys – one for your mother and then another for Satori. After that’s done, you and Orin head towards your family’s house, which is a few minutes walk to Myouren Temple.

Once you’re there, you place the items in Orin’s cart. Just to make sure you are not going to meet with your older siblings, you peer over the windows.

“Okay, Orin. Can you sense anyone in the house?”

Orin take a huge whiff of air, before finally responding to your question a minute later. “There’s nobody else but a female in the house.”

“That means we can drop the sneaky-beaky act now.”

“Sneaky what now?”

You only wave her off and open the door. It’s even unlocked, so that would save you trying to find your keys… if you have brought them along. You take off your shoes and walk inside, breathing in.

It feels good to be home.

“I’m home!” you call out.

“Who’s there?” A woman’s voice can be heard coming from the living room.

“It’s Seo.” You reply as you pop into the living room with Orin on tow.

Your mother, as you can see now, is lying on a rocking chair, her waist below is covered with blankets, and next to her is a table with a piping hot tea. You’d really hope that she is not the one who made it, since she’s a little too frail for kitchen work. And despite being as old as your father, she still looks as young as you can remember.

Once Orin is in your mother’s sight, she would take a good look at the kasha from head to toe, her eyes a little fixated on her two sets of ears. “You’re a youkai, dear?” You can say that rather than a hint of fear, she has an amused tone to her question.

“Unfortunately… yes, ma’am.” Orin bows.

Your mother only smiles and reaches for Orin’s head to pet it. Orin seems to be hesitant about it but seeing how gentle your mom is with her hand, Orin relents and let out pleasant mews.

“So where’s dad?”

“He’s manning his shop as usual with your brother and sisters.” She looks out of the window. “I haven’t heard from you for a while since you decided to live underground, dear. How have you been?”

“I’m good.” You reply, handing her a cat plush toy you bought earlier. She accepts it with a smile on her face.

“So about the standoff I heard a few days back… were you there? I heard news about it…”

“I was there, but I was asked by some people to stop a group of an organized robbery. We managed to stop them with some of my friends, even though there are some bumps on the road. Why you ask?” You might as well ask her about your work. “Are you unhappy about my work, mom?”

She shakes her head. “I’m just worried about you. I heard from the news that someone got injured but they didn’t say whom.” As for your work, if it makes you happy then I don’t have anything to say about it. The only thing that matters that if you are working, then do your work well.”

“Thanks, mom.”

Her eyes then lay upon Orin, now almost half-asleep on her lap. She chuckles at the kasha’s state, admiring her cuteness probably.

“I wouldn’t worry too much about you having a youkai for a wife. Your father on the other hand might not approve it.”

Now that’s a statement you did not expect at all coming from your mother. You briefly remember sleeping with Okuu… “…I am too young to get married, mom.”

She smiles teasingly. “I know. It’s just a thought.”

Orin’s ears suddenly perk up, and she quickly gets her head off your mom’s lap.

“Time to take a leave, Seo.”

“What? Why?” You ask, suddenly puzzled at her sudden order. You look outside and saw people you don’t want to meet – namely your siblings. You quickly reach for your boots. “Oh damn it. Sorry, mom, I have to leave now. I wish I could have stayed longer.” You hug her tight.

“There will always be another day, Seo.” She says. “The backdoor is always open; you can get out from there.”

“Mister! Hurry up!” Orin calls out, since she had already made her way to the backdoor just as your mother mentioned it.

“Coming!”

Just before you forgot, you stuff the kaya buns into your house’s freezer before jumping out of the kitchen’s backdoor and closing it. Orin is already waiting outside with her cat cart, and you jump into it.

“Just hold onto your shoes, Seo! No time to put them on!” And with that, she zooms off towards the Ancient City as you hold onto your boots close to your chest.

“WAAAAAH!”

--- (( Hitomi Fujisaki, Fujisaki Residence )) ---

As Seo left the house, you can hear your elder children running into the house. They might have heard him screaming.

“Are you okay, mom? Who screamed? Did someone break into the house?”

You chuckle at their barrage of questions. “Oh, don’t worry. I’m fine, nobody broke into the house.”

Your reply doesn’t seem to make them relax, but nobody seems to notice the plush doll you’re holding in your arms either. As your children look around the house for anything missing, you lean back on your rocking chair while holding the gift Seo gave to you close to your chest, as if you’re holding him when he is still a child.

--- (( Seo Fujisaki, Palace of the Earth Spirits )) ---

Just as Orin reaches the palace, she skids to a stop, sending you hopping out of the cart. You put on your boots, just as Alex goes down the stairs from the lookout tower.

“Hey, I thought you’re supposed to be resting. Where did you go to?” Alex asks.

“I have to do some errands. I feel like wearing my kit when going overground.”

Instead of taking the last flight down the stairs, Roach hops onto the metal handrail and slides down until he reaches the ground floor.

“How’s half of the day up there?”

You shrug your shoulders. “Good, perhaps. What about you?”

“Boring as fuck. The things that kept me entertained was Koishi talking about food and then the smell of food coming from inside. I can smell it all the way from the tower.” He sighs, taking off his helmet and balaclava. “So, I keep wondering what’s cooking in the kitchen.”

“Well, I can’t say for sure but do you wanna bet? Losers will have to pay 2000 yen to the winner.”

“A bet, huh? I’d say she’s cooking a roasted bird.”

You smirk to yourself as Alex accepts your challenge. “I’ll say she’s cooking lobster with herb butter.”

“Deal!” And to seal it the bet, the two of you share a fistbump.

---

Once you, Alex and Orin reach the kitchen, Orin stores the meat and kaya buns in the freezer. Satori and Koishi in the meantime are busy prepping up the dining table, putting down tableware and food covered underneath metal round lids. Despite being covered like so, it still doesn’t stop the delicious smell coming from them.

Satori then notices you and Alex. “Welcome back, Seo. What did the storekeeper tell you about the manuscript?”

“It’d take a week to have the master copy finished and then sold the first few copies, she said.” You reply as Alex nudges you to ask Satori about lunch. “So… what’s for lunch, Miss Satori?”

“Its lobsters with herb butter, dear. The crabs can wait until dinner.”

As soon as Alex hears what Satori said, he groans and pulls out two 2000 yen notes and begrudgingly stuffs it into your RRV’s chest pocket. You smirk at Alex for his loss, but then again, he had no idea you were at the fisheries earlier this morning. Well, at least he did not have to worry about buying food when at this palace; Satori cooks plenty of delicious food. And speaking of delicious food, the wonderful aroma of the lobster is wafting through the food cover on the table.

“I know you boys are hungry, but at least sit down. Okuu and Ichirou will be about soon.”

“Who’s Ichirou?” Alex asks you.

“One of her humanoid pets.”

You soon realize that you are still busy standing up that you Alex would immediately scramble to the chairs for a seat.

A couple of minutes later, Utsuho shows up and walks into the kitchen, hugging a rather large wolf in her arms. She doesn’t seem to be having problems with the weight at all. She winks at you as soon as she sees you, which make you smile at her in return. After that, the wolf plops out of her hands, before morphing back into a much more recognizable form – it’s Ichirou.

Before you know it, Orin and Okuu flank you, sitting with both of you in the middle. Alex seats himself right next to Orin’s left, with Koishi, Satori and Ichirou for the rest of the seat.

“Take the lid off, Okuu.” Satori instructs.

“Will do, Satori-sama~!”

As she does, you are almost completely overwhelmed by the wonderful scent of herb-buttered lobsters. They are cooked to perfection, the shells are roasted until they are totally red, and they are quite big they can fill the whole plate and leave no space for the rice. And everyone gets at least two for starters, with plenty more for seconds.

You swear, one of these days you’re going to get fat from eating all the things Satori cooks for you.

---

You went back to your room to take a bath after that lunch, cooling down after stuffing yourself too many lobsters, surprisingly quite a lot too. Satori’s delicious cooking might have helped that.

Once you finished taking a bath, you get a new set of t-shirt and tracksuits. It’s only a few minutes after lunch, and sleeping after lunch might be going to be a bad habit for you if this keeps on.

You got to do something, but what?

[] Read the book.
[] Do some physical training. You are already dressed for the occasion.
[] Talk to someone. Cuddling is optional.
> [] Talk with Alex about work.
> [] Talk with Satori and Orin about your parents.
> [] Look for Koishi, starting with under your bed.

[x] Read the book.

Definitely curious about what's in it.

[c] Talk to someone. Cuddling is optional.
- [c] Talk with Satori and Orin about your parents.

[X] Read the book.
[X] Talk to someone. Cuddling is optional.
- [X] Look for Koishi, starting with under your bed.

>>14166
[x] This

Orin might be curious and Satori might appreciate us sharing something personal-to balance things out, at least

[x]>>14166
Yeah, good one.

Besides, she might feel left out (satori I mean) because we never do anything with her.

[X] Talk to someone. Cuddling is optional.
- [X] Talk with Satori and Orin about your parents.

Alright, dudes. Votes are now called.

VOTE RESULTS

[X] Read the book. (4 Votes)
[X] Talk to someone. Cuddling is optional. (5 Votes)
- [X] Talk with Satori and Orin about your parents. (4 Votes)

Excuse the not-so-witty title.

---

That’s right, the book. Since you have the backpack close to you, you might as well read it to pass some time. You unzip the bag, take out the novel and place it on your desk. You flick the table light on before hopping off the bed.

Reading time!

---

The story, as you start reading it stars a young noblewoman, whose name is Ayaka. It starts with her doing her usual job of documenting important events, writing down long scrolls for later viewing. She’s described of having shiny black hair that went past her shoulders, complete with a ribbon fashioned into a simple flower on the side of her head. Being a noblewoman, she's well-dressed with a multi-layered kimono, at least three.

Later scenes would reveal more about her body, which is curiously detailed in text as well. It was justified however, since she is being bathed by her servant.

At first, the first few chapters would be detailing about her daily life at the mansion, her usual activities aside from writing fantasy stories and other things - waaaaaaait a minute. Of course, starting from there, you can feel that familiar feeling coming from the book, but nonetheless you keep on reading.

Fast forward a few chapters later, you reach a scene where she visits Yukimura's house, who was introduced a while back. Of course, the scholar is described to be good looking and single, a typical story virgin. He invites her in.

Their conversation during tea was rather normal, mostly Ayaka asking Yuki about his health, family and such. One of the questions she throws at him is asking if he have found a girl or not. Yukimura awkwardly laughs it off, but he replies Ayaka's question with a definite no. And then silence falls between the two. She breaks it by asking Yukimura if anyone is at his home, which the scholar again awkwardly answers 'no'.

This is where the book starts to get lewd.

Ayaka gets up from her cushion and would start seducing Yukimura right off the bat, much to his surprise. Her jacket is the first article to hit the floor, while she has her top off her shoulder to give Yuki a hint of her lovely chest. Not quite busty but above average. She lays on his chest and kissing him, in a rather forward way. Of course, Yuki is too surprised that he did not resist Ayaka at all. When he realizes what is she doing, only then he would decide to carry her off to his bedroom for better privacy.

For a noblewoman, Ayaka is quite a perverted lady, and she is very forward with her feelings about Yukimura. And when you read it even further down, the thinly-veiled personification only confirms that the Maiden of Hieda is lusting on your friend Yukikaki. And this somehow makes you chuckle. It’s not really that hard to figure out either.

You do realize that she might be writing this because she is in love with Yukikaki, but unfortunately, he is in love with Wriggle.

"Oh man... I bet Yuki might already read this, but he'd probably have no idea that he's in this book..."

---

Now with the book out of the way, you decide to meet up with Satori, since you feel like speaking out some of your personal issues that somehow arisen during your visit to the surface. As you open the door to the study, you realize Orin was there, watching Satori write. With the door creaking open, their attention quickly shift towards you.

“Good afternoon, Seo. How may I help you?” Satori asks as you get closer to Satori's desk. Orin fetches a chair for you to sit, which you accept with a thanks.

"I feel like talking about something, my family mostly."

“Something about 'what would your mother think if you’re going to get married to a youkai?'”

"...it's not that!" you quickly respond. “I don’t think my mom would be against it, judging by her response when Orin’s close. It’s my father that I am worried about.” You scratch your head. "I heard from my mother that he was once married to a youkai. A few years later, she left my father, even though he protested." You explain, trying to recall some history. "Mom met her one day while looking for me in the woods, and asked her why she leaved her husband. Her answer? She left him because she thought she can't bear a child for him after years trying. But only after she left that she realized that she did bear his child. I never met her myself."

"Such a shame, she sounds like a nice person."

"Indeed, Miss Satori."

"I still question why she doesn't meet my father and explain things, though."

Orin pats your back. "She has her reasons, I suppose."

Since you just told them your issues, you might tell your first meeting with your commanding officer.

"Well, that aside... when I was a kid and when dad still has his farm, there's this boar that keeps digging up our harvest. So one day we waited to chase away that boar, and perhaps deter it from coming back. We waited and we saw it, my siblings and I would start throwing rocks at it. One of the rocks I threw hit its eyes, so he stared at me for a good while before running away." You say. "After that, no more boar."

"That's great!" Orin cheers.

"Well… almost. A year later I was out in the woods to find fairies, but then I ran into that same boar - which for some reason had gotten way bigger than I remember it. I know it wanted revenge so I started running... then I trip myself right next to someone, who's my commanding officer today."

"You run into lots of interesting people in your young age, huh." Satori comments.

"Of course."

"So, what's next?" Orin urges you to continue.

"I guess he looks like he's hunting, with the boonie hat and whatnot. and starts shooting at the boar. That got his attention away from me. he circled around and grabbed me." You tell them. "So, since he can’t take it down with his rifle since it was blessed to not harm or maim, and then decided to do something else, something I'd never thought possible when I was young. You know, at this point, he doesn't look like a youkai, because his tail is hidden."

"What'd that wolf do?"

"He got to a clearing with me stuck on the trees for safety, then, when he got the boar baited to run straight towards him, he… for a lack of a better word, jumped and threw and exploding fireball below him. That gets him flying and makes the boar miss, before he shoots a rocket that exploded on the boar. To be honest it's quite messy, with the boar ripped apart with a huge hole and bits and pieces of it everywhere."

I know this sounds crazy but that’s what he did. He threw away the launcher, got me down from the tree and just left."

"Ludicrous. What a waste of meat though." Orin comments as you finish your story.

Satori laughs.”That’s him alright, quite flashy as always. Did you know, he can actually just kill it with explosive manipulation skills, without using any rocket launchers ever?”

"That's what I thought too. In retrospective, I mean." You say. "To this day, I don’t think he likes boars or anything the related to it."

Satori nods understandingly. "And did he remember anything about the day?"

"Oh yes, he does remember. I talked to him when I was on recruitment for the SDMGD. He told me that the reason he brought along the launcher after hearing an extermination request was because he had to use it before its expiry date."

That remark made both Orin and Satori laugh.

"The more you know."

Once the two regain their composure, it's Satori's turn to ask you some questions.

"Well, how was your childhood aside from that?"

"Eh, it's really nothing to say about but did I ever tell that I don’t have much human friends?”

Both Satori and Orin shake their head as a no.

“Why’s that?” Orin asks. "You're the kind who is friendly with everyone, how come you're not getting friends?"

“Whenever I tried to mingle with other kids, I often got singled out for no good reason, but I never had that problem when I played with youkai. Some did scare me, but others liked me.” You try to remember your past. “For some odd reasons none of them were actively harming me, even the scariest ones saved me.”

You can tell Satori sees the image of the spider-legged Yamame flash by. She nods at you. “I see.”

“You did, literally.”

The mindreader let out a chuckle. “I think I know the reason why. It’s because your friendship with youkai that makes people think you’re weird.”

“What can I do? If I tried to make friends with other kids with my age back then I’d only get bullied.”

Satori nods and offers her commentary. “That’s typical, a child bullying other child just because they are stronger or they feel you’re weird. Those people are best to be ignored, however. ”

"Perhaps so."

There is small silence as you finish talking to her.

"Do you feel better now?"

You nod at Satori, feeling more relived. "It feels better. As long as I can get my head off this problem, or at least have a chat with.”

The mindreader closes the book she was examining, "Glad I could help you, Seo. If you have any problems, just don't forget to tell me."

"Alright."

"Feel free to run along, dinner is still a few hours away."

"Hmmm... Seo, it's time to change your bandages. wait for me at your room, will you? I'll go get the medkit." Orin says.

"Why can't we do it here?"

"Sanitary reasons. Now come along..." She says as she pushes you out of the study, before she zips off to get the first aid kit.

---

Back at your room, Orin inspects your stab wound on your arm. "Mmm..."

"What?"

"Your wound is healing up nicely, Seo. In a couple of days, you might be able to heal completely in a couple of days." She says.

"What makes you so sure?"

"Have you seen your arm? It's closing up, and no longer bleeding. I don't think you need any bandages by tomorrow." With that, Orin applies bandages for your injured arm. "There we go. Now then… time for me to do something important. See you around, Seo."

"Yeah, see you at dinner."

Orin packs up her medkit and then leaves your room, closing the door. With nothing else to do, you decide to give the book another read while waiting for dinner.

--- Few hours later... ---

While reading the book for the third time, you are startled by the sudden series of knocks on your door. It's Satori calling you for dinner.

"Seo? Dinner's ready. Come downstairs, the rest are waiting for you."

"I'll be there in a moment after some change of clothes." You reply to her.

"Alright."

You hear her footsteps fade away as you grab your tower for a quick shower. A clean shirt and tracksuit later, you jog downstairs to the dining room, where Satori, her pets and Alex is waiting for you.

"Hey, what took ya so long?" Alex asks.

"Quick shower before new clothes." You explain. "So what do we have for tonight?"

Satori takes off the round metal lid and presents to you a large pile of cooked crabs, which was floating in delicious looking green curry.

"Enjoy them~" And of course, at her words, everyone spring up from their seat for a ladle. Satori only chuckles, seeing she knows this is going to happen, so the pot has a ladle for everyone. "Everyone has their share and their own ladle, no need to rush~"

---(( Watchtower, a couple of hours later. ))---

After dinner, you and Alex would camp at the tower, having a chat to pass some time away.

"Buh... man, that green curry is really something." Alex starts.

"Too spicy for you?" You ask.

"I didn't expect it at all, but it's somehow so good... not really that hot that I could literally breathe fire." Alex replies. "So I heard you were at the surface earlier today. Orin told me that. What're ya doing up there?"

"Errands and stuff. Bought some frozen buns, met my mom then go back to base."

"Tch, you could at least tell me something about it, I'd like some of the kaya buns."

"Ey, don't worry, we bought some. It's in the fridge, ready to be steamed next time."

"...oh. That's lovely, can I finish it off?"

"No."

"Then can I?"

From out of nowhere, Koishi shows up, surprising Alex.

"The answer is still ‘no’ for you!" He says.

Koishi tries to make Alex change his mind about it, by making puppy-dog, pleading eyes. "Pleeeeeeeease~?"

"Nooooooo."

You sigh. "I should have brought extras from the surface. Anyways! Alex, I might have good news for you."

"What is it?" Alex asks curiously as he pinches and pulls Koishi's cheeks, which makes the latter flail her arms futilely to get the American operator's hands off her cheek.

"My arm's getting better, so I expect in a couple of days, you might be able to go back to the surface."

Koishi and Alex stop and stare at you. "What? That's fast for a recovery. Are you on magic or something?"

"To be honest, yeah."

"How smashing. Let me see that." You do that and undid the bandage wrapped around your arm. "Golly, so I might be able to go back after all. Looks like its closing up nicely. You don’t need this then."

"Okay, I'm gonna leave for now, see you later, Alex."

"Alright."

You leave the guardpost, and both Koishi and Alex to their devices. A quick look on the watch reveals that it's almost time for you to sleep, so it's time to leave to your room.

---

It was not quite a peaceful sleep, however. A few hours after midnight, you woke up from your sleep, most likely due to a bad dream. Only then you would realize that someone's occupying the bed. You sigh disparagingly, knowing that a locked door is completely useless. Still, there's only one to your side, sleeping soundly.

A quick groping check reveals that your bed infiltrator is...

[ ] Something fuzzy?
[ ] Something feathery?
[ ] Something petite?

[X] Something fuzzy?

Okuu's had her fun, now lets get Orin!

[x] Something fuzzy?

[x] Something petite?

I'd rather have Satori next, she contrasts better following Okuu and Orin got more attention than her in the history of THP.

[X] Something petite?

Eh, why not.

[x] Something fuzzy?

[c] Something petite?

Can this be Satori time?

[X] Something petite?

Because one can never have enough Satori.

Votes are closed, over.

VOTE RESULTS

[x] Something petite? (4 Votes)

Hmmm, what could it be this time?

Must be something very interesting... just in case the title isn't obvious enough.

---

It would be better that this time you turn on the lights and making a shot in the dark, so you reach out to the table light to the left of the bed. A little bit of fumbling later, you manage to push down the switch, filling the room with dim orange light.

With the table light on, you can see more of her figure. Slim, petite, and with the veins running around her, she looks absolutely heavenly. As you stare at her body line, its only then you realize that she is naked and hugging you.. and for some reason you are naked as well. When did she take off your clothes?

The presence of light in close proximity stirs her awake, and soon Satori is staring up to your face sleepily.

This is getting awkward, moreso than your night with Utsuho yesterday. "Sorry for waking you up, Miss Satori... but what are you doing here? I thought I locked the door..."

“Your room’s not locked, so I got in just like that. In fact, I need someone warm to hug... cold nights, you know.”

"What about Okuu?"

"I told you with Orin on the bed she's likely to kick someone off in her sleep, right?"

Oh, about that, right. She did tell you that when she slipped in on your bed last time.

Satori keeps her hug around your waist. Since the blanket is not covering the two of you, this is the way she could get your warmth, all while resting her body atop of yours, and using your chest as a pillow for her head.

“By the way… you have some interesting book you brought home…”

Uh oh. “What book?”

“The book you rented from the book keeper, of course. It’s on the table, what was it called again... Wintry Steam? I know the characters seem familiar to you.”

Ah crap, so she did saw it. "Did you like it?"

"That's my question I should ask to you." She has a smirk on her face, and you know this will be a trick question. "Did you enjoy it~?"

"Of course... but why is everyone so interested on me lately?"

"You're quite an interesting human, Seo. They want you more than just becoming a partner, as in the 'I want to be your bride' kind." She replies, chuckling in the end. "Remember, you did say something about not being afraid to youkai like me. And plus I heard your story from Okuu, which makes me feel interested in you even more..."

"Does Orin know anything about me sleeping with Okuu?"

"I do believe she's waiting for a good time for her turn." Satori chuckles, possibly at the image of Orin throwing a tantrum at her not getting her share of you. "You're one lucky boy."

"Why's that?"

"That’s because girls are swarming and fawning over you, of course. Remember to divide your attention to them if you're planning to keep them in your embrace~"

"But I am not supposed to... you know, be romantically involved with my employer, right?"

"Don't worry about the details." You can even see her smirk grow wider. "Nobody else but us knows of our relationship. It's safe with anyone in this palace." She utters, kissing your cheek.

You are pretty sure that this would turn more than just cuddling, and you are again right about it. The cuddling soon evolves into more kissing and fondling, and you choose to not hold back, now that she's open for you. You spend some time teasing Satori like you do with Utsuho, nibbling her ears and squeezing her rear. Her chest, while modest, feels good as she keeps them squeezed against yours.

Never you thought you'd be fondling your employer here, but It somehow feels odd when you have the chance to do so.

Of course, since Satori has no qualms of being manhandled, she chuckles and kisses your lips instead.

"Shaky, aren't you?"

"I'm just not used to this feeling. I mean, doing this sort of thing with you."

"Understandable, don't worry about that, it's not like you are being forced on or forcing yourself on someone. But still..." She says, her hand trailing to between your legs and grasping it slightly. "...you seem to be excited down here. It's as if you want me to service you here with my mouth like Okuu did, yes?"

"...yes." You hesitantly answer her.

Satori lets out another chuckle. "Oh, don't worry; I won't bite you for being honest." The petite mindreader slides down your body and focus on your member, giving attention to it by stroking along the length with her hand. "Now, all you have to do is relax~"

"A-alright."

You try to do so, lying flat on your back and trying to normalize your breath. As you did just that, Satori teases you with an upward lick from the underside of your shaft's head. As she drags her tongue against your shaft, you writhe and squirm restlessly, and she stops after a while later. When you look at her, you see Satori nuzzling against your now rock-hard shaft. "There we go~ are you ready for the next round, Seo?"

"Of course I am."

The mindreader smiles at your affirmation, shifting her positioning so that her cute bottom sticking out more to the air. Giving you a few more strokes, she takes your length into her mouth slowly, engulfing the tip of your dick and sucking the pre off you, then slowly going down and until she finally hilts your whole shaft into her mouth. You grab her head and caress her there, cringing as she continues to suck on your meatstick with increasing eagerness.

Her eyes are looking at you as you prop your upper body up, as if asking something. You reply to her wordlessly, stroking her head and ears as you lean against the backboard. Satori's eager yet slow and steady pace is arousing, steadily building up your climax. A few more rounds of bobbing her head along your length later, she suddenly pulls away, much to your disappointment. She is aware of this, however.

"As much as I want you to stain my face with your seed, Seo, I believe that I should let you finish inside of me~" She coos, getting up and positioning herself over your awaiting shaft. "I want it in he~re~"

With her current positioning, her body becomes much more visible. The light's illuminating her body some more, exposing her petite but beautiful body that was mostly hidden when she was cuddling you earlier. Her modest breasts definitely gets highlighted more with the lighting and her pussy is dripping wet, with the tip of your shaft kissing her lower lips. You place your hands on her hips and squeeze her rear cheeks, before pushing her downwards to accept your shaft.

"Here it comes~" You continue to push her until she hilts your cock in her womanhood. "It's going in so deep... so full~" she says as her inner walls squeeze you. Satori places her hands on your chest as a support, and raises her hip before pushing it back down with a low moan. "Don't worry, Seo... Let me handle it by myself..."

And soon enough she starts repeating her actions, starting with slow pace. You relax your back against the backboard, letting the petite mindreader slowly rock her hips against yours.

"How does it feel, Miss - "

"-just Satori would be fine, Seo. No need to be formal while making love, it might kill the mood."

"Right, I'm sorry." You chuckle sheepishly.

"In that case, it feel so good, Seo~" The mindreader then increases her intensity, straddling you as hard as she can, before lying on top of you for a kiss. The frenching she does with you doesn't cease her hip movements, and as you wrap your arms around her back, you roll over, getting her on the bottom this time. She squeaks at your sudden position change.

"Mmmm~ just as expected, our guard likes to be on top, hmm~?"

"Of course, Satori." You reply, adding kisses to her lips as a plus.

She spreads her legs for you, allowing you take her in a pleasurable position. "Now then, take me as much as you want~"

"Will do~"

You did not hesitate to start pounding on her. Satori squeals in surprise at your sudden action, but she apparently likes it. The two of you continue to embrace, kiss and moan with each other, and you doesn't stop your thrusts into her womanhood.

"Mmmm... Seo~ I can see it, I can feel you're so eager to shoot it all inside me~" She chuckles and caresses your face. "Do what you want, I won't stop you~" That's right, with your shaft throbbing and twitching inside of her, her inner walls in the meantime wouldn't stop from squeezing you, pretty much mirrors what she said.

"Are you sure?"

"Why not~?"

There’s another squeeze from her inner walls, even harder than the previous ones. She really means it. You can't take it anymore, and Satori even prevents you from pulling out with a leg lock to your hips.

"Shoot it, Seo~"

And not a moment too soon, you push yourself into her before finally giving the mindreader what she wants. Satori arches her back with a hearty squeal of pleasure as she reaches her orgasm, before sprawling back on the bed and panting heavily. You lie on top of the Satori, the two of you panting exhaustedly. As Satori and you look into each other's eyes, both of you lock your lips in a kiss, complete with tongue wrestling that would part off a little later, where you and Satori continue to lie on each other, simply cuddling in the afterglow.

"I can feel you getting hard again inside of me~" Satori speaks up after a while.

"Shall we go for another round?" You ask her teasingly.

"If you wish then make me yours again~"

---

The next morning arrives, and you notice that Satori was not in your arms anymore. You get up while still covered in your blankets, looking around but there's no sign of her. She might have woken up earlier, and chooses to not disturb your sleep. As you left the bed and grab the towel hung from the chair to cover yourself you, you notice a a memo on the table, written by Satori herself.

"If you read this, Roach wants you to go to Eientei's shooting grounds. Make sure you have your full gear up, but no need to bring along your weapons. When you're done setting up, meet Orin at the gates. Love, Satori."

"What is that cockroach up to today?" You wonder aloud.

Nonetheless, you went off to the bathroom to wash yourself up, and remove any evidence of your close contact with Satori, especially from the sensitive noses like Orin's. You're done in a minutes, and you dry up before starting to getting your basic clothes on, followed by your gear. Once you're all set, you jog towards the gates as the memo instructed.

"What took you so long?" Orin asks when you get close to her.

"I just woke up."

"Good, Satori-sama has packed breakfast for you, but she said you'd better eat them later when we arrive." She says as she hands you a tiffin carrier.

"Figures, you drive so fast and craz - hmm?" You soon realize Orin is sniffing at you. "Uhh, Orin?"

She stops sniffing, before staring at you annoyingly.

"What? Did I smell bad?"

"No, more like you smell like Satori-sama. Did you sleep with her again?"

"Uh, yes?" This is probably will not end well.

"As in 'that' kind of sleeping?"

"...yes?"

Orin grabs your forearms and shakes you about! "You pervert! Pervert! I can't believe that you really slept with your own employer!" She continues to shake you irritatingly.

"Aa-aa-aa-aa-aa! I-can-explain-so-stop-shaking-meeeeeeee!"

She stops and lets you go, as she crosses her arms angrily. "Explain!"

"Okay. First things first, she climbed into my bed."

"That's it?"

"And she's naked, and she stripped me earlier while I was snoozing."

"Is it a cold night?"

"Of course..."

Orin grumbles. "Why'd she choose you of all people, when she has a close-range warmth generator as a pet..."

"Oh she has her reasons... mainly because... well, she said you have the tendency to kick someone off the bed."

Instantly, her ears droop. "But I didn't kick anyone off the bed when I am sleeping!" Orin protests and flails her arms about in her tantrum. "This is not fair!"

"She said it twice, so it might be true..."

Orin throws a punch at you, but you quickly dodge it. "Fine! Tonight I'll sleep with you too!" She grumbles.

"That's a bold thing to do, Orin..."

"Enough! Get in the Orin Express before I change my mind and make you walk aaaaaaaaaaaall the way to Eientei!" Orin gets her cart ready.

You sigh and get into the cart, holding the carrier close before Orin speeds off towards your destination, complete with a shout of excitement coming from her.

---

Once you reach Eientei, Reisen greets you, in which she tells you two wait for the rest to show up. You and Orin then sit on the corridors where you start to unpack your tiffin carrier. Alex shows up, apparently just arrived.

"Hey man. Haven't gotten your breakfast yet?"

"No, I'm just about to eat it. Satori packed it for me. Where have you been?"

"I asked Orin to stop me at the village so I can check on stuff and have breakfast. Mokou helped me to get here." Alex stops and sits right next to you. "Are those pancakes?"

"Yup." You answer his question.

Since the tiffin carrier comes with three containers, you see that two of the containers are filled with hot pancakes and the third container has the condiments stored in it.

"You can have this, Roach, if you want to." You hand the extra pancake-filled container to Alex, but he declines it.

"Oh, its fine, I already ate breakfast, man."

"What about you, Orin?" She shrugs and snatches it from your hands. "No need to be pissy about it, you know...?"

"I'm not pissy, I'm hungry!" She retorts. "Alex, pass me the strawberry jam packet."

Alex reaches into the third container and grabs a packet of strawberry jam, before tossing it to Orin. "Here, catch."

As soon as she catches it, Orin angrily bites the top of the packet and squeezes it all over her first pancake. Alex was about to ask about something, but you instead show him the gesture to keep silent. He obliged and sits still. Moments later, Orin occasionally asks for another Jam, which Alex would toss it to her. Before long, Orin's all finished with her container of pancakes while you are still munching on your third. Without saying anything, the Kasha went off to take a stroll.

Once you're pretty sure she is out of your sight, Alex finally asks his question. "What's her problem?"

"It’s jealousy, possibly."

"What's this about jealousy?" Someone else asks, prompting you and Alex to turn around to the source.

Of course, it's your CO, Zero. He has Eirin walking with him.

"I didn't know you're visiting, sir."

"Just checking up on you to make sure you're ready to go back into the mission tomorrow. In the meantime, we'll have some shooting games and target practice." Hafizi would soon show up, tailing right behind Zero and Eirin. "Oh, right. I believe you have met Hafizi, Seo?"

"Not even a full day since we last met. How are you doing, Hafizi?"

"All good. Your CO invited me here for some target practice. I've been here before for the same reason though." He shakes your offered hand.

"Ah, cool."

"Before we move on, let's check that arm of yours, Seo." Eirin says, as she takes the space Alex left behind. She rolls up your right sleeve and smiles after a quick check. "For a stab wound it healed quite fast."

"So does that mean I can get back to duty tomorrow?"

"Well, just to be sure it won't be tomorrow. Give or take another couple of days and you can return to active duty."

"That's good to hear. Well then... everyone move to the range." Zero jumped off the corridor. "Race you there, oscar mike, out." And he jogs off with Alex and Hafizi following right behind him.

---

You decide to take your time reach the range, and when you do, you see Reisen watching Hafizi shooting at the range while Zero and Alex is busy checking the condition of the available weapons.

"Took a scenic route, eh, Seo?"

"Hey, you took your sweet time getting here."

"Says the Terminal Lance who came in third." Zero jokes.

"That's uncool, sarge."

"I kid, Alex." Your CO then turns towards you. "So! Now that we're having quite a multitude of stuff here, thanks to Eientei for sponsoring their stuff for most of the things you see on the table. Are you ready for some fun at the range today?"

"Sure I do." You reply excitedly. "So what do we have today?"

"We have stuff from the usual handguns, shotguns, SMGs, rifles, MGs... then we have the new launchers - wait, why those look new." Alex explains, only to stop and notice something is out of the ordinary.

"Yukari bought it." Obviously, that means she stole it.

You walk towards one of the familiar launchers, hefting them onto your shoulder "Hey, this looks familiar. Isn't this the one you used to kill a boar, sir?"

"...a boar... with the AT-4, sir? Are you serious?"

"Yeah, he's right. I did kill the dire boar with one of those, because it'd be a waste if the launcher expires, don't you think?"

"Riiiight. Good thing we don't have the Javelin, else you'd try to kill a boar with it too."

"Why, that's a great idea, I'll keep that in mind. I should try the new tracer darts Yukari stole too."

Alex rolls his eyes away. "IF it works with a Javelin, that is."

So what would you choose?

[ ] Let's hop on to the firing training. Specify the weapon of your choice. Choose one course only.
>[ ] Handguns to Rifles. Better try not to hurt your arm while having fun.
>[ ] Launchers! They look brand-spanking-new.
>[ ] Machine Guns!
[ ] Nah, I'll just watch.

[x] Let's hop on to the firing training. Specify the weapon of your choice. Choose one course only.
-[x] Handguns to Rifles. Better try not to hurt your arm while having fun.

[ ] Let's hop on to the firing training. Specify the weapon of your choice. Choose one course only.
[ ] Launchers! They look brand-spanking-new.

And so Seo's conquest of Chireiden is almost complete. I assume Orin's turn is not far off, yes?

[c] Let's hop on to the firing training. Specify the weapon of your choice. Choose one course only.
-[c] Handguns to Rifles. Better try not to hurt your arm while having fun.

>>14188
It should be happening in the not-so-distant future.

[x] Let's hop on to the firing training. Specify the weapon of your choice. Choose one course only.
-[x] Handguns to Rifles. Better try not to hurt your arm while having fun.

Best to train for one-shot, one-kill.

VOTE RESULTS

[X] Let's hop on to the firing training. Specify the weapon of your choice. Choose one course only. (4 Votes)
-[X] Handguns to Rifles. Better try not to hurt your arm while having fun. (3 Votes)

"Changing mag!"

Then I remembered the "Changing mag!" on a revolver in some Korean MMOFPS trailer...

---

"Some handguns up to the rifles might be good, sir. I don't want my wound to open up again."

"That's perfectly understandable. Everyone, to the pistol table!" And then he adds another. "Before anyone even starts thinking about picking up the guns, get your ear protection on first." Everyone present would then stuff their ears with earplugs, while you, Alex and Hafizi adds a sound muffler on top of the ears.

You pick up a P2000 from the table, your CO and Hafizi takes out a USP (though it seems to be in different variation and coloring), while Alex takes a Five-Seven and Reisen twirls out a P226. With a shout of “Ready! Aim!” from your CO, you line down your sights. Here, you notice that the hold differs between people. Alex and Reisen hold their guns two-hand with the thumb forward grip while you and Hafizi use cup-and-saucer. Your CO on the other hand is aiming it down the range one-hand.

"Fire!"

And everyone pulls their trigger almost at the same time. "Hold away!" Zero yells, holding his gun and pointing it upwards, finger away from the trigger. "Looks like everyone hit their target well."

He has some sharp eyes, as you need to squint to see small black hole where your bullet is lodged in.

"Alright. Aim down sights! Fire at will!"

With that command, everyone is allowed to squeeze their trigger at the targets. Once everyone's handgun slide locks empty, Zero issues an order to eject the magazine, and reload it. With a push on the slide release and a flick on the safety to on, he then puts the gun on the table, and everyone else follows. Reisen then ushered the rabbits to come over and collect the shot targets, where they scribbled names on the targets for later identification.

"What's the scribbling for?" Hafizi asks.

"Scoring." Zero replies

"I didn't know we are keeping score."

"It's an afterthought. Alright then, now swap to the revolvers, people."

When it comes to revolvers you have absolutely no idea what they are named, at least they are helpful enough to have the manufacturer and model name on the side of the barrel. You then take the MP412 REX, and right there you are stumped.

"Uh, sir? How do I open this thing?" You ask, since this gun is completely new to you.

"Pinch the side latch near the rear sights. It'll pop open." Zero instructs.

You do so, and the revolver's top frame breaks open, allowing you to see the loaded chambers, and then snapping it back in place before you take your aim at the target posts.

"Open fire!"

And everyone pulls the trigger, firing between pauses after resetting their aim. The high recoil makes the MP412 quite difficult to fire accurately at quick succession. And 6 rounds in a chamber just really feel inadequate when you're much used to a high-capacity handguns like your usual M9.

"Reloading." You call out. You repeat what you were told earlier and open the break-top revolver. To your surprise the empty casings gets ejected out of the chambers automatically, whereas the other participants has to push the pin on their swung-out cylinders. You grab the speed loader on the table to reload the MP412.

"Awesome, isn't it? Whoever designed the MP412 REX with the automatic extractor is a genius; it makes it easier with the reloading. All you have to do is pop the top open and tip the barrel down."

Another volley follows, before everyone puts down their weapons and letting the rabbits take away the targets for scoring and replace them with a new one. In the meantime, Reisen helps Zero to replace the pistols with the sub-machineguns. Lying on the table are a lot of familiar models, the MP5, MP7, MP9, UMP45, MAC-10, and a bunch of new but weird models, which you could not recognize at all. They might be the Russian models.

"So, what model is this, Reisen?" You ask her as she passes by you.

"Oh, that's the PP-Bison; the other one that looks similar is the PP90M1, Russian SMGs with a helical magazine. Lots of bullets in that magazine." You point between the Bison and PP90M1 before you would pick the former, checking the chamber as if you're used to it already. "Good choice, Seo."

"Ahh, the UMP-45. Something I like to hold dear." You CO say as he examines the black UMP-45, reseating the magazine and doing the familiar slap on the bolt.

"Why's that, sir?"

"One word, power. Sure, it's ugly and low-cap than the rest of the stuff here on the table. But stopping power always wins an argument. Now how many of you know to hit the bolt release instead of pulling the bolt and slap it down? Anyone?" Only Reisen raises his hand. "The more you people know now." He would then turn to Hafizi. "Want to try out the special MP5, Hafizi? This one got a bit more weight to the furniture."

"Ah, that wouldn't be a problem to me." Of course, the one he picked was the MP5SD with M203 attached.

Alex's eyes caught the peculiar setup on the MP5. He knows full well where it was from, however. "Oh look, something straight outta Half-Life."

"I wouldn't be surprised, SFs back then used to have a loadout like that. Back to the target practice business, people."

Everyone complies and aim down their sights to the new targets, making holes into target, reloading and repeating the whole process again once before putting down their weapons. At the end of the target practice, Reisen even gives Hafizi two dummy rounds to use with the M203.

"How was the MP5?" Reisen asks.

"It certainly feels different after I am quite too used with the MP5 I bought before I get here. The weight and everything, really."

"You'll get used to it. Now, onto the next course."

Then there comes the shotguns. Reisen has placed the USAS-12, AA-12, Saiga, Jackhammer, and UTS-15, aside from the more familiar R870 MCS and M1014. Alex picks up the AA-12, you choose the Saiga-12, Hafizi takes the Jackhammer while your CO and Reisen opts for the M1014. It appears that the AA-12 Alex is using is fitted with an 8-round instead of the drum magazine, which is lying on the table.

"Eyes on the target, Seo." Reisen advises when she catches you staring elsewhere.

"Right, sorry."

The shotgun volley started soon after, with Alex expending his whole two magazines full of shells just as you are about to slap the second magazine into the Saiga. After you pull back the Saiga's bolt in an underhand fashion, you resume finishing off your magazine. Zero and Reisen finished last as they fire off their last slug into their target posts.

"Nice underhand reload, Seo." Alex comments.

"Is that that it's called?"

"Yeah."

For the next stop, you help Reisen arrange out the assault and battle rifles. Zero however slings his M4A1 from his back. Alex takes the M14 EBR from the table, passing the AK-74M to Hafizi.

"I heard you like the AK platforms, this should suit you."

"Thanks, Alex."

You on the other hand take the AN-94 from the table, as you want to give the Russian rifles a familiarity trial. Again, after two volleys, the target posts are changed, and finally it's time to test out the sniper rifles. Everything bolt-action is on the table, ranging from the Remington 700, the Arctic Warfare family, the Intervention, and the last is the .50 BMG Barrett M95.

"No DMRs?" Alex asks.

"Nope! Bolt-action only."

With his M4A1 slung to his back again, his eyes would focus on a familiar sniper rifle in a green chassis. "Ah, my old love." Zero remarks as he picks up the AWSM from the table, working on the bolt and loading a danmaku round into the chamber.

"Also known as the overpowered Counter-Strike sniper rifle."

Zero wags a finger. "Well, as much you might say that, this thing has the confirmed longest distance in kill record, 1600 meters. British record. I personally used the AWM back in the army."

"Hey Reisen, is everything here is with the 5-round cap magazines?" Alex asks.

"Yup. Everything is at 5-round." At the same time, Reisen oversees Hafizi taking the MSR from the table, and

"Then I'll take the R700. I recommend this for you, Seo." Alex tosses you a M40A3, which you quickly catch.

Everyone then takes their position, unfolding their bipods and anchoring them to the table. The sniper volley would soon start and after five shots, you need to reload. The only problem was that there was no magazine for you to pull out, but thankfully, Alex is up to the rescue. As you watch him reload his R700, you pick up the bullets from the box and slot it into the internal magazine of the M40A3. When you have five bullets added into the rifle, you close the action and resume firing

---

At the end of the session, everyone gets their score tallied. Reisen and Zero go for the first and second place, while you, Alex and Hafizi gets the third, fourth and fifth place.

"Looks like you still have a few things to learn, Hafizi, but don't sweat it. You can always train here when you have time. With enough training, you might even be better than those two."

"Yes sir."

"As for the two of you, congratulations, Seo. Alex, you are a trained soldier and seen actual combat, so you should perform better than Seo. Find something that's non-living, put a target marker over it and shoot it."

"So do we get to shoot you, sir?" Alex jokes.

"Be a smartass like that again and I'll NJP you. Do I look like a non-living thing to you?"

Alex visibly recoils at the word. "No! Anything but that!"

"What's NJP?" Hafizi asks.

Alex leans to Hafizi to whisper out his answer. "It supposed to mean Non-Judicial Punishment, which if given out so much it will mean a demotion... but instead of going with that, he decided to replace it with Ninja Punch instead."

"...how does that even work?"

"Either he punches you so hard that you remember not to do the offence again, or he punches you hard your chevrons comes off your collars."

"You think I can't hear you, Alex." Zero raises his eyebrow at the Marine. "Well, with the scoring part out of the way, you guys can go ahead and shoot something to pieces in the field. Let's do some free play, folks."

---

Since it's free play, everyone is free to test out things with the weapons they don't pick from earlier on. Here, you could see Alex's silly side, which involves him dual wielding weapons, he even tried to dual-wield the M249s, which results in absolute zero damage on the targets in front of him.

"Come on, were you expecting it to hit with that terrible accuracy and range?" You ask him.

"No, but its fun as hell."

In the meantime, Zero and Reisen help Hafizi concerning the more complex guns, and proper stance for holding weapons.

"So, Zero, I've been meaning to ask you, what's it like in the local military?" Hafizi asks while he chambers the AN-94. You and Alex would soon join the three and putting the M249 on the table.

"Boring." He answers bluntly.

"How come?"

"What you get is train and train and train for the time where we will be needed. Aside from exercises with foreign army, there's not much to it. Join the army they say, you get to use guns they say." Zero loads a magazine into his M4A1's magazine well. "Truth be told, when you get in the army all you get is the AUG, if you got there before they started to phase out the AUG with the basic M4A1s. Then when the budget comes for us to update our things, then some moronic civvies had the gall to say we're wasting the people's money." He then presses the bolt release on the side. "What, they think these things are cheap? I'd wish I can drag them to boot camp and go Full Metal Jacket on them with my werewolf form."

Alex chuckles. "Funny, I believe the same thing about the budget applies to the Marines. I heard that when Bush era ends, the Army gets more love from the money. What about the stuff in your army, sir? Do you get funding?"

"I just said we got funding."

"Oh, sorry." Alex then picks up the AA-12 and slaps on the drum magazine for it.

"The thing is that we rarely get new stuff, the AUG just got replaced years ago with the basic M4A1 with the funding. Recently I heard we got the PT-91M, and a new camo for troops to replace the tiger stripe ones. The special forces get more funding, so that's why they have the AK-102 among other things."

"Digital?"

"DDPAT is currently the trend in modern army camouflage, so yes."

You feel the need to ask him a question. "Sir, if I may ask, what is your power actually?"

"Fire manipulation, the high explosive kind. I don't really use my powers much, because that would mean two things - collateral damage and..."

"Ludicrous gibs!" Alex yells as he tears down a ballistic gel dummy with the AA-12 loaded with slugs, starting from the arms and then the right leg, before slapping in a new full drum mag and finishing off the rest of the appendages.

"What he said, but mostly collateral damage."

"What’s ludicrous gib?" Hafizi asks.

"Okay, put it this way - you have a turkey in a microwave oven that cranked to eleven, and that makes the turkey explode... which somehow explode into bits in greater volume than the original turkey itself. Does it make sense to you?"

"Maybe?"

"Let's roll with it then."

A few hours after free play session ends, you, Reisen and Hafizi clean up the area and stash the weapons on display earlier on back into their crates.

"Right. Hafizi, I want you to have this." Zero says as he hands Hafizi a MP5SD.

"What for?"

"There's an extra MP5SD that was not in our inventory, and I'm not sure where did it come from, so I decided to register this to you."

"Oh, thanks I guess?"

"You're welcomed." Zero sports a friendly grin. "As for the two of you, how about you get back to your post?"

"Uh, we'd be going. But first, I’ll be getting food first."

"I need to find Orin if I need to go back. It's a long walk if I don't."

"Suit yourself."

---

And so you start looking around for Orin in Eientei. At first you look for her around the shady and cool spots, but no signs of her around. You might as well look for the kasha in the building. Of course, you had to ask the little rabbit girls running about for help.

"Did you see a black and red cat around here?"

"Nope!"

And with that she quickly runs away. A few times of asking with other rabbits later, you decide to think she might already be home.

"Looking for your cat, Seo?"

"Oh... Miss Eirin, you scared me." You get up to your feet and turn around to face her. "Yeah, I am looking for Orin."

"She might be with Princess Kaguya at the moment. And since I am heading to her room, you might as well follow me."

"Alright."

As Eirin walks towards the destination, you tail behind Eirin, following her through the corridors and doors. Minutes later, you reach an ornate sliding paper door. This must be the princess' room.

Eirin knocks on the frame. "Kaguya, someone's here to get his cat back."

There is a pause before Kaguya replies. "Come in." Eirin then slides the door open to the princess' room.

As soon as the door is wide open, your eyes would focus on a person sitting at the corridors outside of the room. Her majestic robs are spread across the floor behind her, and it was as ornate as the rest of her room too. That's right, you never seen her before. This is the first time you meet Kaguya Houraisan in person. And there's the familiar dash of dark green dress lying across the princess - that's Orin alright.

"Wearing your multilayer kimono on a sunny day again, Kaguya?" Eirin asks as she sits down beside Kaguya.

"Oh, why not. It's not really that hot." She replies, stroking Orin's head gently. The kasha stirs up awake as you walk closer to the princess. "Had a nice nap, kitty?"

"Yeah..."

"Time for you to go home, your owner's here."

Orin looks at you, before going back to bury her face on Kaguya's lap. "Mmmmn... give me five more minutes, Seo..."

The moon princess chuckles and gives Orin gentle strokes on her head. "Sit down, Seo. I'm pretty sure she will need more than five minutes."

So, what should you do after she wakes up?

[ ] Get some quick munch at the village.
[ ] Go straight home.

[x] Go straight home.

Not opposed to the village snack but it calls out to me.

[X] Get some quick munch at the village.

Spend some Orinrin time together.

[X] Get some quick munch at the village.

>Stopping power.

Somewhere, in a distant website, gun enthusiasts are raging over the terrible vocabulary and technicalities of this.

>>14194
There really isn't much difference between 9mm and .45ACP from what I remember. Also don't most submachine guns use bullets loaded to a higher pressure so whatever issue with a smaller caliber they're having, they're shooting it out with a much higher muzzle velocity?

[c] Get some quick munch at the village.

Time to get acquainted with the hellcat.

>>14195

As far as I know, there are bullets of certain calibers that are marked with the "P+" to symbolize increased pressure, at the cost of a higher recoil, lower caliber guns would be slightly more effective in a self-defense situation.

Regarding the difference between 9mm and .45ACP... Not really much I can say without pulling shit outta my ass, since the majority of the stuff is either hearsay or "Statistics" What I do know is that from what I'm taught, 9mm = slightly weaker but more ammo, while .45ACP = more powerful but less ammo. Simple. There are other mechanisms in mind but I'd rather not go too deep into it.

Will we get to see Reisen use her bunny gun (http://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/1993236) at some point?

>>14198
Part of me is tempted to say no. She has a collection bigger than those of SDMGD, so why a bunny gun of all things.

>>14196
I can get behind this (and her)

[x] Get some quick munch at the village.

alright folks, votes are now closed.

It's now to grab a munch at the village.

VOTE RESULTS

[x] Get some quick munch at the village. (4 Votes)

It lives!

Oh, that "changing mag on a revolver" from last update was actually from Battery Online.

---

True to Kaguya's words, Orin takes an extra 10 minutes to wake up. You almost snooze off by yourself while waiting for Orin, but once she's up you bow to the princess before leaving her room.

"So, what now? I still need some more sleep…"

"Let's get to the village. We missed lunch, didn't we?"

"Mmm… right…"

As you both get outside of the building, Orin is awake enough to conjure her cart and bowl you into it again, before leaving for the village.

---

As soon as you and Orin are out of the bamboo forest, you lead Orin towards the village and the restaurant areas. While browsing at the choices, you see a familiar name on one of the name plaques.

"Let's try this one." You suggest as you jump out of her cart.

"Kitsune's Pot?"

"The guy who owned this shop was invited to the Ancient City food festival last time, Parsee and I tried his food and it's delicious."

"Whatever goes with you I guess."

You and Orin enter the restaurant, and as soon as you're past the curtain, there is a blue-haired, four-tailed female fox immediately to your left. She must be the receptionist.

"Ah, welcom -" She starts as she notices your presence.

Before she can even finish her sentence, you realize her eyes are fixated on the M9 on your chest holster - right before she bolts off from her counter and straight to the kitchen. You can make out the scream of 'someone has a gun at the door!' coming from the blue fox even if she's at the kitchen. At this point you consider backing out and leaving, until Nanabi walks out of the kitchen and spots you.

"Ah, Seo! Welcome to the Pot. We haven't met for a while, no?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Have a seat; I'll get back to tend to you soon after I get Hikari to calm down."

"Was she really always this jumpy?" Orin asks staring at Hikari peeking around the doorframe of the kitchen.

"Usually not, but she is afraid of guns, I can't blame her." The seven-tails replies. "Hikari, you can come out now." She meekly walks out of the kitchen, but she still hides behind Nanabi.

"It's fine; at least I have a reason for owning weapons."

"Are you in law enforcement?"

"No, more like a hired armed guard."

Nanabi coughs, trying to get to a different subject. "Well, that matter aside, please have a seat, you two. Hikari, lead them, will you?"

She nods meekly. "Right. Follow me, please." The blue fox would lead you and Orin to a table for two, and you order Nanabi's specialty kitsune udon, complete with beverages and snacks.

Nanabi himself would serve your orders, before leaving you and Orin alone to enjoy your meal.

Needless to say, he is still an excellent cook.

After your meal and a short chat with the seven-tails fox, you then pay for your orders before leaving for the Palace.

---

Of course, by the time you reach the Palace it's almost evening. You spot Alex patrolling the atrium when you step into the palace.

"You two sure took your time getting back home."

"Yeah, decided to get a quick lunch at the village instead of going straight back."

"It’s fine. At least I am first this time." Alex grins smugly.

"Congratulations. Here's your prize." Orin pats Alex's shoulder, dripping sarcasm.

"That's it?'

"That's it."

"Dang it."

"What were you expecting?" Orin shoots the human a glare.

Alex glances away. "It’s nothing to be uppity about, you know."

"Well, a pat is better than nothing, no?" You respond, trying to diffuse the situation.

"Touché. Well, then, if anyone needs me I'll be at my post, or in my room." Alex then quickly snakes off, leaving you to stand there with Orin.

"Right."

"What are you going to do now?"

"Take a bath and then get the gears off me."

You see Orin's cat ears perk up as you mention the bath, and leans closer to you… before she gives your cheek a wet lick. You shriek in surprise and she quickly bolts off, leaving you behind as you wipe your cheek with your wrist.

Instead of going back to your room, you decide to see Satori first. As you reach there, you give the door a couple of polite knocks.

"Come in."

You open the door and walk in, seeing Satori at her desk, writing something on her paper.

"So how did the whole thing go?"

"It was alright. I think Rin was bored though. She somehow found her way to Princess Kaguya's room and slept on her lap."

"She could come back home, but I'm pretty sure the moon princess didn't mind that, yes?"

"Well, she didn't look angry in the slightest, so…"

There is a pause, with neither you or Satori speaking, aside from the noises coming from her scribbling.

"I guess today is Orin's turn, is it not?" She asks, breaking the silence.

Immediately a blush flares up on your face. "…what do you mean?"

"Oh, you don't have to act clueless, Seo." Satori chuckles and waves dismissively. "You know full well what it is."

"I'm still unsure if I should do it, Miss Satori."

"Just indulge her, Seo. After all, it's time for you to have more control of someone after being seduced and coerced to do it, even~

Again, the blush on your face gets darker. "I'll try." You reply after a pause. “I should be going now.”

"Do your best~" She cheers as you leave the room.

---

As soon as you reach your room, you hear the water running in your bathroom. A little survey on the source of the sound reveals that your hunch is right - Orin is taking a shower in your bathroom and intentionally leaving the door open.

You at this point make up your mind, locking your bedroom door, and start to strip before grabbing your towel from the cloth hook and walking into the bathroom. You leave the towel on the hook inside the bathroom, before advancing towards Orin and immediately cup her breasts from behind, pressing your body against her back.

"…and here I thought cats hate water." You remark, causing the kasha to stop her action and pout. She didn't turn around but you can clearly see her pout reflected in the mirror.

"Meanie. Have you ever learned how to knock?"

"This is my room, I don't have to knock." You hug her close to you. "After all, why are you taking a bath in my room when you can have a bath in your room?"

Her pout would soon turn into a grin. "Oh, don't you know~?"

Of course, the second she says that, you pin her to the bathroom wall, caressing Orin's shapely rear. "Of course I do. Just like Okuu and Satori, you want to have a way with me, don't you?"

"That's nonsense!" She protests, only for you to keep Orin pinned against the wall and starting to fondle her. "Oooh~ you're good with your hands~"

You continue to feel Orin's shapely body, nibbling her pointy ears and squeezing her breasts at the same time. "At times I wonder why you people like to sneak in my room even after I lock the door, and where do you people come from anyway?"

"It's a se~cr~et~" God damn it, same answer, at this rate you will never know.

You can feel the kasha pushing her rear against your shaft, making you groan. "If you want to know, you have to make me talk~"

No matter how hard you look at it, it really does seem that she wants you to do her, and she really sounds needy. Just to confirm, you quickly run your fingers between her thighs and that makes her shriek. You repeat the teasing before settling on alternating between rubbing her clit and fingering the inner walls of her womanhood.

"Hrgh… d-don't just tease me there, Seo…"

"You forgot to say please." You remark, just to be sure.

She seems to try and say it, but she just shakes her head. It seems that she doesn't want to say it out loud. And so, instead of waiting for her to finally say it you decide to shove your shaft right into her womanhood.

Orin jolts at the sudden insertion, throwing her hwad back and letting out a shriek of surprise. You don't stop there, as you grab her hips and pound her full force right off the bat. The kasha mewls and moans with each thrusts, and apparently losing her composure really fast.

You continue to push her against the wall and keep your pace, enjoying her squeals of pleasure. Prolonged rough thrusts keep her on the edge, as evidenced by her inner walls tightening around your meatstick.

"Seo… you're too rough…"

"And you seem to enjoy it."

"Mmmm… of course…" she moans, unsubtly bucking her hips back towards you. "Do me as rough as you want to~"

With a chuckle you continue pounding her from behind until you feel her squeezing your stick harder while you feels yourself throbbing inside her. A few more rough thrusts follow until you and Orin reach the peak. With a grunt and a loud squeal of pleasure from the two of you, you shoot your seed into Orin.

You continue to ride out your orgasm, and Orin slides off you to hug you.

"Thanks, Seo…"

"Thanks for what?"

"For letting me have my chance to have some pleasure, duh."

"Eh, you're welcome I guess…"

You jolt when you hear sudden knocks on the main door. It's Satori. "Seo? It's time for dinner" she calls.

"Forget about dinner…let's make love instead~"

You smirk at Orin and kiss the kasha while she moans lovingly, and you carry her out of the room to resume your activity elsewhere drier~

---

The separation is intentional. Well, there's more after this before the new arc starts.

AND THE DAYS THAT FOLLOWS…

The day after tomorrow…

"You're clear for duty." Eirin says after she checked the wound on your arm. It had healed completely, and left nothing but a scar on your skin. "If you want to remove the scar, I could provide you a skin medication cream."

"Nah, it's fine. Thanks, Miss Eirin."

"You're welcome." She then packs her things back to her medbox. Reisen is there with her as well, smiling at you.

"Are you going back home already, doc?"

"Unfortunately so. I have other business to do here, Alex."

"Right, too bad. I think Satori wants you stay for a little while for some tea."

"No need, I have other important things to do. Seo, say my regards to Satori, okay?"

"Sure thing."

"Alright, If you need anything regarding your health, you know where to look for me, Seo." She then gets up and packs her items into her box. "Udongein, let's go."

Reisen nods. "Right behind you, Master."

The moon rabbit opens the door for Eirin, before going through it and down the stairs, and the main door. Both Eirin and Reisen waves at you and Alex before flying towards the Ancient City. You and Alex watch until the doctor and her assistant are out of sight.

"Looks like I'll hand your post back to you, Seo. Be sure to keep an eye out for hostiles' positions next time. Oh, and one more thing - don't break that thing again." Alex reminds you.

"What thing?"

"The DM?" Alex points at the DM over his shoulder with his thumb.

"Not my fault last time." …

"Doesn't matter. I'll leave the repair kit inside the care package and instruction manual, and… Where’s the M60E4?" Alex asks as he fishes out the contents to make space for the kit.

"Uhh… about that…" You start sweating bullets, wondering how to answer this. Good thing you did not notice the Vector's missing since Satori borrows it.

Right on cue, Yamame shows up and lands on the guard tower without the DM engaging her. She even has the M60E4 you loaned to her during the last incident slung to her back, plus the extra ammo pouches as well. "Oh hello, you two. Did anything happen since you're both around here?"

"Hey, Yams. And no, nothing much."

"Right. Sorry that I forgot about things, Seo, but I believe I have something for you." Yamame then hands over the light machinegun, where you accept with both hands. You give it a good check before taking the ammo pouches and storing them back in the care package.

"Why did she have those with her?" Alex points at the equipment Yamame has.

"It's a long story, Alex."

"Make it short then."

"Why don't I do the explaining then, since I am the one who asked to borrow it from you?" Yamame cuts in. Seeing that Alex doesn't protest, she continues with her words. "Do you remember the last incident that got Seo resting for the week? Seo loaned this baby for me."

"That was an incident?" Alex asks, turning towards you. "I thought you were just running after criminals."

"It was more than that, actually. The guys we caught were actually stealing things from various districts in the Ancient City. They targeted the textile district first and devastated it first, then attempted to raid the oni district later, which was totally a failure since I told Yuugi and her pals to keep an eye on things." you explain.

Alex snorts. "So I got to the rear end of the action, is it? Wonderful. Actually I wonder why I didn't ask why you were after them in the first place."

You shrug the excuse. "I got some people hounding me around here to do things." You say. "I got too busy with people pulling me around to actually tell you the whole story."

"Right, don't forget your favorite gun." Roach then hands you your SCAR-H. You cradle your battle rifle close to your chest, smiling a little as Yamame ruffles your hair. It's good to be back in the saddle.

The door opens again, this time with Satori holding a tray with cups of tea complete with snacks. "Oh, Eirin left already?"

"Yeah, she had other things to do, and she told me to send her regards to you."

"Ah, I could have come here sooner. Though, there's four of us - are you up for some tea and snacks, Yamame?"

"Of course!" She responds with a toothy grin.

You and Alex then bring out the folding table for Satori to put down her tray, and extra stools for Yamame and Satori.

---

Alex left the Palace with the little fox and his things in the afternoon, after leaving you back at your post.

When night falls, there's nothing much to do aside from making sure your gear and weapons are in a tip-top condition before you get back to guarding tomorrow. Magazines are topped up with their bullets, the load-bearing vests are all stocked with the magazines and your guns are maintained proper.

Just as you finish cleaning up your SCAR-H and place it on the table, you hear a knock on the door.

"Come in. The door's not locked." You call out.

Just as the door creaks open, you turn around and see not just Satori, but Okuu and Orin as well behind her. All three of them are wearing pajamas, and they all have a pillow in their arms. You can only stare at them in stunned silence.

"What's the occasion?" You ask, finally breaking the awkward silence.

"Oh, nothing much, we just want to sleep together with you tonight~"

You turn and stare at your bed; Even though you're not up to doing anything lewd to them you don't think your bed would fit four people. "I hope I don't get kicked out of bed." You mutter silently. Orin only tilts her head at the mention.

After a bath and a change of clothes, Satori and her pets join you on your bed… and soon enough most of them are asleep while cuddling you, with the sole exception of you, being unable to sleep due to Orin and Okuu's combined heat.

"Maybe I need a bigger bed… and a fan…" You mutter, finally getting to sleep almost an hour later despite the heat.

Satori did exactly that the next day, to your bewilderment. She upsized your single-size bed to queen-sized and silently installed a ceiling fan with Ichirou's help of while you were up at the tower.

How sneaky beaky.

===

Finally remembering about the book you sent over to Suzuunan a week ago, Satori sent you to the surface to retrieve her master copy. This time, you decide to take your sweet time walking all the way to the surface. You see Hafizi helping out at Suzuunan again by the time you reached there. Too bad you're there only for a short while, if not you would have had a chat with him.

Your next stop is Alex's post, but along the way you met his fairy partner patrolling.

"Hey, Seo!" Shirayuki waves at you. "Are you looking for Alex?"

"Of course, what's up?"

"Mind snapping some sense into him?"

You raise a brow at the fairy's request. "Sure, but what's his problem?"

Shirayuki leans closer to you and whispers. "New girlfriend in years. He's in love with some drunken redhead he picked up a week after he got back from the underground, now they are bit too noisy about it."

"Ohhhh… I'll see what I can do."

A little bit of more walking and you end up at Alex's assigned guard post. As you climb up the ladder, you decide to 'steal' a bit of his tea to quench your thirst from walking.

True to Shirayuki's words, Alex is busy staring off and smiling into the distance, a telltale sign of him being lovebitten.

"Earth to Alex? Hello?" You ask, waving your hand in front of Alex's face. No response. A couple of finger snaps in front of his face and still nothing happens. You sigh, nothing you do seem to be attracting his attention. You might as well try to spark something aside from pouring your tea on top of his helmet. "So… I heard you had a new girlfriend, Roach."

Of course, as soon as the 'new girlfriend' gets mentioned he snaps out of his reverie. "Who told you that?"

“Shirayuki did.” You say, taking a sip from your cup. “She said you two were so noisy back there that she couldn’t help but think you scored one.”

He grumbles and looks away. Of course, he stops his grumbles as he sees someone from the bottom of the tower, waving at Alex. You've never seen this redhead before, who is she?

"Oh, speak of the devil."

“That’s her?” You ask for confirmation.

“Yep. That’s her alright. How much time do I have left?”

You check your watch to see the time.“You’re almost done anyway, in about two minutes or less.”

“Then clock me out, will you? Erin will be over in a few minutes, so I don’t want to wait.”

You giggle and wave the American off. “Fine, get going. Shoo.”

Of course, you did not expect him to jump off the post and land on the ground in front of his girlfriend like it was nothing. You soon hear the sound of someone climbing up the ladder to the post. This must be the new person that took over Roach's place when he replaced you during your maintenance days.

"Where's Roach?" He asks, after noticing Alex is nowhere inside the guardpost.

"He’s gone dating." You point to the two lovebirds as they walk away from the guard tower and towards the village.

"Ah…" He nods. "Sorry, but I don't catch your name."

"It's Fujisaki Seo. And you might be?"

"Erin Murasaki, reporting for duty, sir!" The new personnel introduce him, unexpectedly ending it with a salute to you.

Your attempt at a casual greeting somehow ends up with an awkward formal greeting, which makes you chuckle nervously. "Uh… I don't think that's necessary, since I'm still a few weeks… I think three weeks new in SDMGD, so… I don't think I should be called as a 'sir'."

"Eh? I thought you're one of the top brass?"

"If Alex is here and heard that you would probably hear him laugh louder than me." You put down the now-empty teacup, before checking on your watch and clocking out for Alex. "Well, since I am on an errand and you are already here, I should be going back soon. Though, it’s
nice to meet you, Murasaki."

"Nice to meet you too, Fujisaki. Seeya later!"

And just like Alex, you decide to take the shortcut by jumping off the tower instead of taking the ladder down. After landing with a roll, you straighten yourself up and walk away and towards the Ancient City.

===

Two weeks have passed since you resumed your duty, and Yamame decided to throw a party for your recovery. Instead of holding it at the palace, she invites you to her place. She even arranged it so that it falls on your day off, and for once, you decide to show up with your villager kimono instead of the usual trousers and shirt.

There, everyone congratulates you for you recovery, and also about your successful operation on eradicating the thieves. Yuugi and her fellow onis who helped are also present, raising their large mugs or sake dishes full of booze.

"I wonder what those mugs are made of; they look like they can withstand the oni apocalypse."

"Beats me, Seo. Go ask the glassblower, the's the guy sitting at the corner over there."

"I'll pass."

"Passing from joining them and getting smashed too?"

You scratch your cheek and chuckle nervously. "I don't think II am up to their level of drinking yet. After all, I don't really do well with those."

"If that's the case, may I tempt you with coffee instead, Seo?" She asks as she holds a glass of coffee for you.

You stare at her offering and accept it before holding it to take a whiff of the beverage. "…you’re drinking coffee?"

"Don't you know? Spiders get drunk with coffee. This is why alcoholic drinks are just water to me."

That smells like a strong brew, she's going to feel it the next morning. "No, I don't."

She shrugs her shoulders. "The more you know then. Hey guys!" And her call makes everyone present to turn to her. "This is for the human who helped the old folks and his fast recovery! Three cheers for Fujisaki Seo!"

"OORAH!" They all cheer and clink their bottles and mugs together. The participating oni would cheer despite the beverage the spider lady is drinking, downing more sake and beer on their side. You on the other hand would sigh and watch the frenziness, only to jolt when you feel someone's hand on your shoulder.

"Hey, Seo."

You turn to the side to see Yuugi standing behind you, with a drunken Parsee in a headlock "What are you two up to, flirting huh?"

"Says the person who has the bridge princess's head wrapped with her arm." Yamame grumbles.

Yuugi laughs, waving dismissively. "I'm just joking, don't take it too hard."

"A human and a spider… sitting on a tree… k-i-s-s-i-n-g… so jealous…" You hear the bridge princess mutter out her words, with makes Yuugi snicker even more.

"Stop mumbling." Yamame grunts. "When you're drunk you keep saying embarrassing things, Parsee."

"…Jealous… Yams found a boyfriend to sleep with tonight… all I got is a girl with muscles…"

There is a stunned silence as you, Yuugi and Yamame hear more of Parsee's drunken rabble.

"…Let’s pretend I didn't hear that. More coffee for me, I guess."

"Right, and as for you… I think you should just go to sleep, Parsee. You don't mind if I throw her upstairs for a bit, Yams?"

"Sure, you know the drill by now."

"Be right back then!" Yuugi then runs upstairs to 'stash' Parsee from making any more nonsensical mumblings, and while Yuugi does that, Yamame had downed her fourth shot of coffee.

"Hey Seo, can I ask you a question?"

"What is it?"

"Have you ever slept with anyone at the castle? As in… you know… what Parsee just said."

"Err…" You are conflicted on whether to answer it honestly or tell a white lie, before deciding to tell her honestly after making sure that there is no animal-eared youkai in the vicinity. You lean towards her shoulder to whisper. "What if I told you that during the week I was under house arrest, they seemed to have the knack of sneaking into my room to seduce me?"

As you can see, Yamame stares blankly at you, with her blush now starting to cover more of her face's surface area. That's definitely not from the booze.

"Er… well… let's pretend I didn't hear that either." Yamame chugs her coffee some more. Yuugi can be heard running down the stairs to Yamame's quarters before taking back the seat beside you she left behind.

"Not drinking, Seo?"

"I have no idea what to choose. Something that's not too strong, you know?"

She hands you her sake dish, and picks up a bottle from the counter. "Perhaps something lighter than last time, maybe get your spirits up better too." You just nod and drink away slowly, with Yuugi patting your shoulder. "Good to see you active again, buddy."

"Thanks.:"

Yamame leans against your shoulder, completely drunk from her coffee intake. "I guess you should take care of that now?"

"I'll wait until there's less people." The blonde oni would grin at you - even giving you a double thumbs up before promptly leaving for other things, and of course, leaving you blinking at her in confusion. "What should I do with you, Yams?"

And all you get is a drunken grumble.

---

Yamame is totally out cold by the time the party is over. Yuugi had left the premises with Parsee over her shoulder, leaving you, Yamame , Kisume and the shop behind. Kisume helps you clean up and close Yams' shop, before carrying her upstairs.

The bucket girl even leads you to Yamame's room before spreading her futon for you to lie the spider lady down.

You stare at her peaceful sleeping face before getting up to leave… only for you to feel something holding your arm. When you turn around, you see Yamame's hand holding your wrist, before her free hand grabs at your collar and yanking you onto her.

"Gyah!"

---

THREE MONTHS LATER

As you sit on the guard's chair, you sigh and stare around the tower.

It's been three months since your last mishap and ever since then you have been itching for action. Just as you're about to get up from the chair you hear the door to the tower creak open. Satori, Orin and Okuu walks out of the doorframe as you stare at it, with a tray of tea and snacks in Satori's hands.

"Hello, Seo. I figure we're not disturbing your work, yes?"

"Hardly so."

"I can tell someone's bored right now." Orin chuckles.

"It's rather obvious."

As the cups are placed on their saucers, Orin pours the tea for everyone, muttering a 'perfect!' as she gets the tea in equal amounts for all cups. You, Satori and her pets would later gather around the tea and snacks, slowly finishing them off and letting you relax from the boredom in the process, occasionally chatting as well.

"By the way, Seo, there are letters addressed to you that came in earlier today. Orin?"

"Here it is, master." She hands over a small box to Satori.

"Thank you, dear."

"From who?" You ask.

"I have no idea myself, since I can't read letters that are not mine. Privacy, you know?" She winks at you. "All I know is that this looks more like a personal letter, the other seems to be an official-ish letter. " Satori then put the two letters in front of you, and a letter opener.

You pick the first letter with the wax seal and take the letter opener to cut the envelope open. For the scroll, you simply pull the ribbon loose.

The first one appears to come from the Youkai Mountain - specifically the tengu territory. A quick read reveals that it's more of an invitation to the mountain, with the unfamiliar name 'Kyo Fujisaki'. You never heard the name, but the family name… maybe it's just a coincidence.

Moving on, the next letter is from the village, coming from Keine and asking you to join their investigation squad. It could mean anything here.

"Since… when did I become a problem solver again?"

"You did after all did a stellar job with your first local incident."

"True, but still…"

"Think of it as to broaden your experience, Seo. You are, after all, a part of Gensokyo's law enforcement."

Which letter?

[ ] The envelope with a wax seal. The familiar family name somewhat intrigues you.
[ ] An ornate-looking scroll. Sounds important…

<Equipment>
- FN SCAR-H w/ Red Dot Sight + Foregrip (20 + 380) – Standard SDMGD Primary slot. High damage and low recoil.
- Beretta M9 (16 + 120) – Standard Sidearm for SDMGD. Secondary slot. High capacity, low damage.
- BlackHawk Tatang (x1) – For melee and throwing.
- Basic SDMGD Gear (Kevlar vest, knee & shoulder pads, helmets are optional), Condition: 89% – Protects you from harsh danmaku battles.
- X1 Level 3 Sentry Gun aka the Death Machine, Condition: 100%, Ammo: 499/837 – For setting up defenses while you are away from your base. Detects heat signatures. (Deployed)
- Four Stun-nades, Two Frags, two Semtex Grenades.

Choose your incident proper, since the one you did not choose will not be revisitable once you finish the one you choose.

As for the sudden stop before the three month jump, it's actually supposed to contain something with Yamame, but I'll post it on the other thread because it is stalling me from updating Infi.

Stay tuned!

>'someone has a gun at the door!'

No rest for the wicked, eh?

[X] The envelope with a wax seal. The familiar family name somewhat intrigues you.

Essentially a choice between Drama or Action. I choose the former.

[x] The envelope with a wax seal. The familiar family name somewhat intrigues you.

Gotta look out for family.

[c] The envelope with a wax seal. The familiar family name somewhat intrigues you.

And so our intrepid operator has completed his conquest of Chireiden. What's next, I wonder?

[X] The envelope with a wax seal. The familiar family name somewhat intrigues you.

Who is this mysterious person who shares our family name? I hope we find out.

VOTE RESULTS

[X] The envelope with a wax seal. The familiar family name somewhat intrigues you. (4 Votes)

Well that was fast.

And so the Mountain Arc begins!

---

The familiar family name... you can't help but think about your father's first wife. Could it be that this Kyo would be your father's supposed child if she didn't leave her for the reason she thought?

"I can see you're interested with the familiarity, Seo." Satori's remark snaps you out of your thoughts.

"...should I go, Miss Satori?"

"You have my blessing to go and find out about it, Seo." You nod to her. "My advice is that you stay safe, and think carefully about your choices."

"Got it."

"I don't think you'd be away for too long if everything goes right, but you don't know what will happen. Now, carry on."

You nod to her words again, before leaving to your room to get your kit ready. Once you're done, you pick up your radio and press on the PTT button. "Command, this is Spectre."

There is a moment of silence as you let the button go. "Command here."

"How do I get to the tengu’s place at the Youkai Mountain? I have a letter from someone there and whoever sent me this wants me to be there."

"Meet me at the Command Centre. Command out. Arikado!"

With a poof over your head, you could feel a familiar softness on top of your head. “Arikado’s PK Teleport at your service~ where would be your location be today~?”

---[[ SCARLET DEVIL MANSION, Command Centre]]---

"You can't go?" Zero asks after you tell him your intentions.

"I have to choose between the incident and the letter from the mountain. And the more I think about my family's history, the more I want to know more about the sender."

"Right, I'll inform Keine. That means Roach and I will go for the investigation, so if things go south I wouldn't be able to provide support. What did Satori say about your decision anyway?"

"She said 'you have my blessing, Seo.'"

"Ah, that's lovely. Alex, you will have to escort him there."

"So how do we get there? You know we can't fly all the way there yet."

"Obviously, though I can see Seo might be able to in the future." You raise an eyebrow at your commanding officer's remark. "That aside, that's something for Nitori to take care of."

"Nitori? What kind of crazy contraption did she come up this time?"

"Well, more like she and I recovered a nice asset, and she managed to repair it. Alex, how familiar are you with the M1030M1?"

"The modified Kawasaki KLR670 that uses the JP8 fuel, for use in the USMC? Of course, why?"

"I hope you can maintain it. It's yours now." Zero tosses a keychain towards Alex, and he catches it with both hands.

"Sweet. Where do we keep the jet fuel though?"

"It doesn't run on JP8 anymore, since all we have is biodiesel." Nitori interjects as she shimmers into existence in the room. "The kappa factory is making quite a good progress for the experimental fuel, with all the things we have in hand so far." She then stares at your face, which is somewhat stuck in a state in disbelief. "You look like you may have questions."

"How long have you been there?" You ask.

"A while ago. I just walked in."

"So what about the shimmering in then?"

"It’s optical camouflage, a kappa's best invention – basically making you invisible to naked eyes."

"I'm more familiar with Koishi whooshing in and out of sight, not the shimmering though."

Zero let out a cough so that he can introduce you better. "Right, with that out of the way... Nitori, this is Seo Fujisaki. Seo, this is Nitori Kawashiro. One of the kappas from the Youkai Mountain."

"Nice to meet you, Nitori." You bow to her in greeting.

"Nice to meet you too." She grins as she bows at you. "Your superior told me that you're supposed to head for the Youkai Mountain because someone there sent you a letter?"

"Well, at least what it told me. Here it is." You hand the envelope to Nitori.

The kappa examines the envelope, but did not open it to read the letter inside. "Hmm... I don't know anyone from the Fujisaki Clan - it's a pretty common family name after all. Though, you have good intentions so it's worth a shot."

"If you say so then."

"By the way, Seo, I think you missed out on the kit upgrade that happened last week, so I'll leave you these stuffs." Zero says as he puts a small box and a new device on the table.

<<HOLOGRAPHIC SIGHTS ACQUIRED>>

<<EGLM SMOKE ACQUIRED (1/3)>>

"What are these?" You ask.

"Alternate sight for your weapon, the world-renowned holographic sight made by EOTech, imported by you-know-who. The other is a grenade launcher. But instead of HE grenades, we're giving you smoke grenades instead. Standard issue 40mm, M83A1 Smoke, White. Useable either standalone or as an under-barrel weapon, but we don't have the module kit for the former yet. Hand me your SCAR, Seo." You do so, getting the SCAR-H off your two-point sling and hands it over to Zero. Your CO then demonstrates on how to mount both the sight on the top rails and the EGLM on the under-barrel rails.

"Right, I've been meaning to ask you this, sir. Can I snipe people across the battlefield with it, sir?" Alex asks jokingly.

"Don't be silly, it only works with the M320 under the AUG A3."

While Nitori is giggling about it, you have zero idea what is it about. "By the way, Seo, send my regards to Momiji. I am supposed to play dai shogi with her today in the afternoon during her break, but I have to deliver the M1030M1 to the SDM, so yeah, work happened."
"I'll do that."

Zero then heads over to the cupboard and pulls out a helmet. "And this is the helmet, for use during motorcycle rides."

"Do I get one?" Alex inquires as he points to himself.

"No. You are already wearing one." You then accept the helmet from your CO. "Just be sure to return this when you get there."

"Got it, sir."

"Hey, Seo, have you ever stepped foot at the Youkai Mountain?" Alex asks.

"Never. What about you?"

"Me either."

"Then how'd we know the way?"

"That's why you have maps, Seo." Nitori says as she pulls out a map from her huge backpack and unfolding it onto the operation table. "Lucky for you, the rider, the route to the mountain and the Tengu Fort is rather straightforward. Once you get out of the mansion, you will need to head to these two checkpoints here and here, and past the forest path, and you're now at the foot of the mountain. Go straight up and stop and drop off here. You're too noisy to go through anywhere past this."

"Right, we'd be like dinner bells calling the wolves for lunch already." Alex remarks.

Nitori then folds her map. "That's where you can come in handy, Seo. You should keep an eye out for your friend for surprises."

"Alright boys, chop chop. Let's get out and see the beauty already."

---

When the word 'salvaged' is mentioned, the first thing you thought about the vehicle's condition is 'terrible'. Your expectations are way off, as the dirt bike looks... faultless. The motorcycle's body is painted in woodland camouflage, and currently standing on its double stand under a shed outside of the mansion.

"...Nitori?" You call to her.

"Yes?"

"Are you sure you salvaged it? It looks brand new." You ask, pointing at it as Alex approaches it amazement.

The blue-haired kappa laughs momentarily at your question. "Zero and I saw it in completely worse shape than this. Of course, I fixed it and all. He's the one who did the camouflage paint on the cover set."

Alex is already on the dirt bike and testing it out by bouncing lightly the bike up and down, before putting the key on and starting the M1030M1 with a loud revving noise. "AWESOME!" He yells over the engine noise.

"Zero, I wonder why you're giving Alex the bike instead of you handling it." Nitori asks your CO as you walk past both of them.

"I'm bad with motorcycles, actually."

"Ah, that would explain it."

You put on the helmet and fasten the straps, before sitting behind Alex's position. In the meantime, Alex is busy revving the engines.

"Before we go, I need to make sure a few things! Is your helmet strapped properly?"

You give the straps a few testing tugs and then raise a thumbs up at Alex.

"Are you comfortable with your seating?"

Another thumbs up.

"Weapons armed and ready?"

You keep your SCAR-H on your chest, and test out the positioning and your turn radius. Again, you give Alex thumbs up.

"Alright! We'll be off!"

And so Alex disengages the bike from its double stand, shifts the gear and speeds off with you towards the Youkai Mountain. Nitori and Zero waves you off until you and Alex are out of their sight.

---

A few minutes later, the ride brings you through the Youkai Forest's path and Alex slows down before stopping at the foot of the mountain.

"Alright, this is the foot of the Youkai Mountain. So all we need to do is follow this path right up. Check those sectors for me, Seo."

"Roger that." You say as you bring hold out your battle rifle.

Alex engages the gears again and rides up the mountain at much slower pace this time. As you carry on, you pass by various locales and beautiful scenery. A school of kappa can be seen in the river, before suddenly disappearing when they spot you waving at them.

A little bit ahead, you see the Goddess of Misfortune, Hina, doing her usual misfortune-gathering spin as Alex continues to ride uphill.

"How far are we from the tengu territory anyway?" You raise your voice so that Alex can hear you over the sound of the engines.

"We are already in it!"

"Already?!" You look around to see your surroundings but all you can see are just trees.

The fast ride would eventually slow down and finally comes to a stop. Alex pulls up his protective goggles as you remove the helmet. "Alright, this should be it. Careful with what you here, Seo – this is the Wild West after all. The tengu might already have eyes on you, so don't do anything stupid, will you?"

"I'll keep that in mind." You then hand Alex your helmet. "So I have to go there, right?" You point at the fort in the distance.

"That's the one."

"Got it."

"Catch you later then!" With a swift drift, the American speeds off back towards the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

As the noise of Alex's dirt bike fades out from your earshot, you turn to the long road ahead, before jogging off the direction opposite from Alex's, right towards the tengu fort.

"Halt!" You suddenly hear a shout.

Almost instantly, three figures jump from their tree cover and block your path, with their weapon pointed at you. In reflex, you whip out your SCAR-H and train it at them. You count three wolf tengu, armed with naginatas and shields, masked, but it doesn't mask their feminine voice.

"This place is off-limits to humans. What is your business here?"

What would you do now?
[ ] Put down your weapon; ask them to bring you to the group leader.
[ ] Keep your SCAR-H up and tell them what you need.

New Items!
EOTech EXPS3 Holographic Sight - Alternate sights for weapons with a matching rail. Useable with nightvision.
EGLM - Grenade Launcher. Fits for SCAR-H.

[X] Lower the weapon into the ready position, Explain the situation but be ready if things go sour.

Show you're willing to talk, but not willing to budge.

[X] Lower the weapon into the ready position, Explain the situation but be ready if things go sour.
Can't be too easygoing around them and we do have a situation to deal with.

I hope the letter was brought with us.

[x] Put down your weapon; ask them to bring you to the group leader.

It'd be better to go along and see the leader; it might be Momiji for all we know.

[x] Keep your SCAR-H up and tell them what you need.
Lower yours first

VOTE RESULTS

[X] Lower the weapon into the ready position, Explain the situation but be ready if things go sour. (2 votes)

This is worded much better than what I did, but it's essentially Vote #2 for the aftermath.

---

You lower your weapon and point it at the ground. Before you respond, you fish out the letter from your vest pocket and show the envelope with the wax seal at them. "Someone named Kyou Fujisaki wants to meet me on this mountain."

One of the guards lowers her weapon so that she can take it from your extended arm, and then her eyes scan the contents of the letter.

The three girls then bunch up, discussing to themselves before focusing back on you, and then returning the letter.

"Fujisaki-sama is one of the higher-ranking wolf tengu, what business do you have with him?" One of them asks.

Him? So instead of your dad's wife, you get your dad's replacement instead? Still, there are a few things to ask. "That supposed to be my question. And I need to ask you a question about him then."

"Go ahead."

"Who is Kyou Fujisaki's wife?"

One of them lifts their naginata closer to you, pointing it close to your chin. "That question shall not be answered."

You take the letter back from them. "Well then... I only ask because I feel it's important."

"Important or not, we will not answer that."

"Though... I do wonder why Fujisaki-sama is interested in a human like you."

"That would mean we would like to see your strength, human!"

Well that is just brilliant. You whip your primary weapon back in ready position before you and the female guards stare at each other's eyes intensely, waiting for who would be foolish enough to make the first move. Soon, the shortest out of the three would break from the stare and charges at you with her naginata.

She tries to slash at you multiple times, and you have to evade it as fast as you can while keeping your distance from her. Eventually she stops and jumps at you for an attempt for an overhead slash but you quickly fire your EGLM, shooting a smoke round right to her belly. That throws her back from mid-air, making her groan and crumple in pain. You on the other hand quickly reload your grenade launcher with a new round and train your rifle at the remaining tengu guards.

The remaining tengu guards look at each other, before the taller one dashes at you at a much faster speed than you can anticipate. You sidestep the attack and jump away from her but she quickly reorients herself for another charge. This time she sees your moves as you sidestep the charge, and she suddenly stops before awarding you with a right hook with the stick part of her naginata, and slamming you on your back.

She drives her blade into the ground beside your head, standing over you and stepping on your chest. "You have some guts for a human."

"You forgot my hands are free."

"What?"

Just before she can fix her mistake, you already whip out your M9 from the chest holster and proceed to empty the whole magazine to her chest to make her tumble backwards. To finish the job, you shoot another smoke grenade from the EGLM to her stomach, sending her crashing backwards to the ground, clutching her stomach like the first one that attacked you.

Seeing her comrades down, the last of guard starts to feel hesitant on attacking you, just as you load another round to the EGLM. When she runs away, you shoot the grenade past its arming range to expel smoke. She stops dead on her tracks as the smokescreen blinds her from her path ahead, and cowers behind her shield while she turns around to face. You load the last grenade to the launcher and turn the safety on, letting the rifle hang from its slings.

"P-please don't shoot me!"

"Sorry about that." You kneel beside the last victim you shot, checking if she's injured. "Are you alright?"

"I just ate my lunch..." Tears of pain can be seen streaming down her visor-mask, as she moans in pain.

As you try to figure out what to do, you hear a shutter snap behind you. You whip around to face the photographer, and true enough you see Aya Shameimaru floating behind you with her camera in hand.

"Ancient City's Incident Solver Infiltrates the Youkai Mountain, Two Experienced Guardians Becomes His First Victims! How do you like the headline, hmm~?"

"Rather than busying yourself by coming up with a headline, how about you get a medic here instead?"

"Oh, don't worry, their help is already here." Almost on cue, two pairs of crow tengus appear and land beside the two guardian wolf tengus you just shot. Aya on the other hand lands in front of you. "On a more serious question, why are you on our territory? You know this place is off-limits to humans, unless you're invited."

"Can I trust you on a private matter? I still don't get how you managed to know about the underground operation."

"I have my ways and I can at least show you the way~" She cheerfully says so. "Oh, I think he's here already."

"Great, one more thing to make my day even more complicated." You mumble when you catch someone flying towards your direction.

You prep your SCAR-H as the man in a more detailed robe - definitely someone of a higher rank - lands near the girl cowering behind her shield, speaks a few words you don't catch with her before she runs away. He draws his sword out of his sheath while you bring up your rifle into bear. The two of you exchange intense stares and just as sudden as his appearance, he sheathes back his sword and smiles at you.

"Fujisaki Seo?" He asks.

Finally breathing a sigh of relief and relaxing yourself, you reply to him. "Yes, that would be me, sir."

And since Aya is still lingering around, she takes a snap of you both before flying off to find other things.

---

After that skirmish, you and Kyou talk while making your way to the Tengu Fort. Once you stepped on the bridge connecting the land and the fort, the scenery turns to be more beautiful. There are actually a lot more bridges connecting one end of the cliff to the other, and various exquisite houses built into the cliff side. All the houses you see have a gate for flying entries, with a red carpet hanging off the edge. All the houses have the distinct old Japan feel to it, more so than the houses back in the village, but more similar to Ancient City houses. Of course, the houses have regular wooden walkways to normal entrances.

And Kyou's house is one of those, but he opts to walk you towards the main entrance. There, you and Kyou remove your shoes at the front porch, as per the proper customs not quite practiced at the Palace of the Earth Spirits.

"Welcome to my home, Seo. Please make yourself at home."

You nod as Kyou leads you to the living room.

"Why did you try to come in contact with me, Mr. Kyo?"

"Please, there's no need to be too formal, Seo." He laughs, patting you on the back. "Have a seat, Seo. I'll prepare tea."

You sit on one of the cushions in the living room while you wait for Kyou to return. This gives you time to look around the house, with is very, very luxurious, compared to your house at home. The furniture around the house looks very polished, and there are pictures of Kyou and his family on the wall. There are a few electrical appliances around the house, but not too many of them dotted around the house and that way they don't clash with the rest of the house's old Japan feel.

You rest your SCAR-H on the floor, and Kyou returns with tea. "Usually my wife prepares tea and snack for the guests, but since she and her daughter are out to shopping and the rest of her children are out to patrol, I hope my tea is somewhat drinkable." He then places the tea and snacks on the kotatsu, which prompts you to move there.

You give it a sip, but it doesn't really taste as bad as Kyou makes it sound like. "That sounds awfully negative, si - err..."

"Just call me by my name. You'll get used to calling me 'dad' in the future." Kyou chuckles. "To answer your earlier question, well, I've known you from Aya's news from a few months back, Aya's contacts picked up a great news happening underground. There's a picture of you in Aya's papers and then Hisagi wondered why the person in the picture seemed so familiar. I had to make some research and yes, you are indeed Hitomi and Ryouga's lastborn child. The one she saw running around in the forest while Hitomi was looking for you."

"Oh... so that's how she got the wind of the underground operation..."

"She's quite the newshound, she always finds a way." he lets out a small cough, sipping his own share of tea. "Anyways, I am well aware of Hisagi's history with your father. Your father is quite a stubborn man, but it might be because how he still feels bitter about Hisagi having to leave him. This was nobody's fault at all."

"I'm just not sure if he'd forgive her after a while. I don't think my father even knew that marriage was actually enough to conceive a child."

"Hmm. What if I tell you that she actually did carry your father's child?"

"Is it true?"

"Yes it is." You nod at Kyou. "You don't seem to be surprised."

"My mother told me about it first, and I still remember it to this day. I’m just still unsure if I heard it right."

"Ah, so that's one surprise spoiled."

"There's more?"

And then you hear the front door open.

"Ah, just right on time." Kyou remarks.

"Father, we're home."

"Will be back to you in a bit, Seo." Kyou jogs off to greet the newcomers. "Welcome home, you two. We have a guest."

"A guest?" You hear more hurried steps coming towards the living room.

Just as you lean back to grab your rifle, another tengu shows up. Seeing you reaching for a weapon would immediately perk up and unsheathe her dagger.

"Halt!"

Again, out of reflex you pull out your M9 from your chest holster and jump onto your feet, only to realize the slide is still locked back.

"You're out of bullets." She remarks.

"More like I forgot to reload."

Both you and the younger-looking wolf tengu withdraw your weapons and straighten up, with you swapping the empty magazine in the M9 with a new one and dropping the ejected one into your empty mag pouch behind you.

"Seo, I introduce you to your stepmother, Hisagi Fujisaki, and your half-sister Hiiragi Fujisaki. Hisagi, Hiiragi, this is Fujisaki Seo." Hiiragi bows at you, and you return the gesture. Hisagi on the other hand would approach you and give you a motherly hug, and you hug her back. When she lets go, it's clear that she is crying, but at least she's crying in happiness.

"Finally I got to see you after all these years. You've grown so much since I last saw you and met Hitomi way back then. Still running around the forest looking for friends, Seo?"

"Mmm... not anymore - it's in the reverse now."

"I see, I see..."

As you and Hisagi converse, you hear Hiiragi talking to her father.

"Have you seen Kaede, father?"

"No, he's probably off skulking somewhere or skipping his patrols."

"Who's Kaede?" You ask.

"He's one of my children with Hisagi. Kaede's the youngest in the family, just like you. I'm pretty sure you and he will get along well."

Just on cue, someone jumps into the window and lands behind you. You quickly turn around to see another wolf tengu - a male this time. It looks as if you're looking in the mirror. Without the white hair and animal ears and tail, his face almost exactly looks like you.

"...so you're the guy who beat Shizuka and Meguri."

"Well, yes, I did. In defense... they said something about seeing my strength, so I literally gave them what they wanted."

"You should ask them to bring you to Momiji instead. That would have helped things more."

"Well, I thought they'd be a bit more helping when I had proof of your dad inviting me to the mountain." You sigh dejectedly. "Now I'm more worried that I might have hurt them more than I thought I would."

"The medical team reports that there's not much injury done, aside from a roughly round bruise on their stomach."

"Uh... yeah, that's my bad."

His eyes would soon rest on your SCAR-H lying on the floor, which he quickly picks up from the ground. "Is this yours?" He asks simply.

"Uh, yeah."

"Looks cool." He says examining and staring at the SCAR-H's details as Kyou, Hisagi and Hiiragi looks on. They are right about you and Kaede getting along well. "So did Nitori make this?"

"No, that's mostly my commanding officer getting his imports from Yukari. He makes the conversions to danmaku-compliant, and makes it less lethal in the meantime. They still hurt, obviously."

"So what does the Scarlet Devil Mansion Guardian Division actually do? Up until Aya's paper show your involvement, I didn't know it exists." Hiiragi asks, noticing the command patch on your right shoulder.

"Well... to put it simply, we are hired guards. We also act as law enforcement should something happen during our duty." You explain. "Kind of like tengus, but we mostly cover the area close to the Human Village."

There's a bit of more silence as nobody else found a topic to discuss. Hisagi then breaks the silence, not that she remembered something. "Ah, right! Would you like to stay a couple of days? It's a shame that you have to leave after such a short visit."

You totally did not expect Hisagi to invite you to stay over, which isn't really a problem. "I'll have to talk to someone first."

"Go ahead."

You turn your radio on, and excuse yourself for the radio call.

"Spectre to Command? Spectre to Command, come in, over."

"Command here." That doesn't sound like Zero at all. He must be already out to investigate. "This is Jack, taking temporary command as Werewolf is on an investigation."

It's Sakuya. "Command, can you inform Satori Komeiji that I might not be able to return to my underground post tonight? I've been invited to stick around for a couple of days."

"Roger wilco. Over and out." There's a moment of silence before Command calls you back. "This is Command to Spectre; I have words straight from Satori Komeiji herself. She said "Take as much time you need on the mountain, you need to take a break for a while. P/S: Koishi isn't home, so if you're lucky she might run into you there."."

"Thanks, Command."

"You're welcomed. Command out."

You return to the living room after the call. "I've been given permission to stay around for a couple of days."

Hisagi smiles brightly and clasps her hands together. "That's great! Hiiragi, help me in the kitchen. Honey, Kaede, round up the rest of the kids, we're having a nice lunch together~ as for you, Seo, I think you need a quick rest first. You’re looking quite tense."

You silently nod at Hisagi before Kaede shows you the guest room.

---

While waiting for dinner, you and Kaede decides to have a small chat. Eventually, after hearing your operation stories, Kaede seems to come up with something.

"Seo, after lunch, there's something I want you to do."

"What is it?"

"Let's have a sparring match, you and me, one on one, your gun versus my shield. I can't help but think you're quite strong on your own, and I want to test you out."

"Right now?" You ask.

"No, not right now, as in a couple of hours after lunch." You can hear Kyou calling Kaede outside. "Ah damn, what a buzz kill. Well, if you decided on the challenge, just tell me after I get back, okay?" Kaede grumbles as he jogs off and flew off the flight balcony, while you look out the windows as they leave. It'll be a bit before lunch, you might as well sort your things out.

So what would you respond with Kaede’s challenge?
[ ] Accept
[ ] Decline, offer excuse.

[x] Accept

I don't think trying to weasel out would amount to much in the long run.

[X] Accept

>>14214
I don't see any reason to weasel out. It's just a friendly sparring match, not a life or death duel.

[X] Accept

Ehh...Sure, why not.

>>14215
Friendly my ass. Win or die I say.

[x] Accept

VOTE RESULTS

[X] Accept (4 votes)

This is one short update, but it’ll do.

---

When lunch is ready, Hiiragi invites you to the dining room while Hisagi continues to serve dinner. Of course, you offer to help but Hisagi declines.

When Kyou and Kaede comes back, you have no idea their family would be this large. They have five children including Kaede, and excluding Hiiragi, three girls and two boys. Unlike Kaede, his older brother looks a bit effeminate. As Kyou would later introduce you to them, you learn that the girl's names are Tsubaki, Enoki and Miyuki, while Kaede's older brother is Kotaro.

All of them bowed politely at you, only for the girls to pull you into a sisterly hug, much to your embarrassment. Kyou then managed to get them let you go, as you try to catch some air to breathe.

For lunch, it seems that you're having rice, deer offal stew and deer slices. Other than that, lunch went on rather quietly.

When lunch is done, everyone else lingers about before they run back to work, especially Tsubaki, Enoki, Miyuki and Kotaro. Kaede, Hiiragi, Hisagi and Kyou stayed home. You figure Hiiragi and Kaede had done their rounds.

Few hours after lunch ends, Kaede would inquire you about his challenge again. "So, what's your say?"

You shrug your shoulders. "It's not like I am going anywhere soon. Let's get on with it."

"Great! I don't usually get human challengers; you're much braver than the usual folks!"

"There's a problem though, I don't have spellcards."

"No spellcards? No problem. We'll do it the manly way then."

---

Kyou had to leave later, leaving you, Kaede, Hisagi and Hiiragi to do things. Kaede leads you towards the tengu training arena a bit further into the tengu fort. Lucky for you and Kaede, there is an empty danmaku arena for you and Kaede to duel.

As with any battle, you and Kaede prepare your weapons and gear before facing off from both ends of the arena. The two of you assume fighting stances.

"Listen up! Quick rules - no spellcard, danmaku and physical attacks only! Whoever gets disarmed and disabled first loses! Ready up!"

You pull the charging handle, ejecting a bullet out of the chamber while Kaede unsheathes his sword and bringing his shield to bear.

"Set!"

Then, you turn on the holographic sights' power, now displaying red dot in a circle reticule on the small screen.

"Fight!" Hiiragi announces, acting as the referee.

Kaede takes the first initiative, running sideways while facing you while you. He even fires the first few shots by slashing the air to produce a stream of bullets towards you. This is easy for you to strafe and return fire, until he starts slashing horizontally to send a long stream of bullets. This forces you to dive to prone and return fire.

One thing for sure, Kaede is a LOUD fighter. With every strikes he make, he yells out his kiai loudly.

Right after you see the bright orange trails leave your gun, you know that it's the sign of you running out of bullets. You tilt your rifle, hold down the magazine release button, and then flick the rifle swiftly to your left before jamming in a fresh magazine taken from your front mag pouch and hit the bolt release in a swift motion. You then quickly re-acquire your target.

"There!"

Instead of moving, Kaede braces himself behind his shield and this allows you you shoot at him In short, controlled bursts.

Bad idea.

You quickly realize that there a reason that he stayed put, and with a flash of blue around his shield you are soon greeted with a hail of your own bullets, forcing you to dive away and go prone.

"How do you like that?!"

"Not even a bit! Clever trick, Kaede."

"It's not a trick, it's something I'm proud of!" He replies, grinning smugly.

You get up and observe how the shield covers him, and quickly try to devise a way to counter it. And then, you remember that you still have your last smoke grenade inside your EGLM. You dive as he fires another volley of danmaku at you, and getting up as he sweeps lower.

As soon as you prep up your rifle, you can see Kaede immediately bring up his shield, expecting you to fall for the same trick twice. You shoot at Kaede - instead of his center mass you aim for his feet. He is visibly surprised with your change of tactic and quickly tries to cover the lost ground by jumping away and crouching with his shield ready. You use this chance to blindside him by shooting your last smoke grenade right onto his shield. Once it spews smoke on impact with his metal shield, and you open the launcher's chamber to dispose the shell, before you close it shut.

Keeping your momentum going, you circle-strafe him and feed the wolf-tengu your bullets until you see the tracer indicator again, only to see him suddenly in your face just as you are about to reload.

Too close!

Kaede quickly tackles you down and snatches your rifle off your hands and toss it away, before pointing his sword to your face. And as if he knows what his colleagues did wrong, he even confiscates your handgun. Hiiragi then concludes the fight as your ability to fight is disabled. "Fujisaki Seo is disarmed and unable to continue the skirmish! Fujisaki Kaede wins!"

Kaede grins and puts his sword back to its sheath, before offering you a hand to stand up. "Good game."

"This is not the first time I ended up with a sword inches from my face today." You accept his hand and he pulls you back to your feet.

Hisagi chuckles and approaches the two of you. "That's quite a great fight, you two. I am surprised that you can keep up with Kaede, Seo. He's quite lazy, but he knows what to improve."

"Mother, you don't have to mention that part..."

The wolfess chuckles and ruffles her son's hair. "You still have a long way to go, and you just need to train a little bit harder, dear."

You swear, with how Hisagi interacts with her children reminds you of how your mother would with hers. Of course that mood changes as the four of ou notice a female wolf tengu entering the training arena hastily.

"There you are, Fujisaki!"

"Errr... which one?" You ask.

"The tengu, of course!"

"What is it, Iroha...?" Kaede asks, a bit agitated.

"Your division leader want you to meet him right now, it's urgent he said!"

Kaede grumbles at the mention of his superior. "This better be good... And not about giving me extra overtime..." Just before he takes off to the skies with the female tengu, he turns around and waves to his mother. "See you later, mom!"

You sigh and store your M9 back into the chest holster, and was about to pick up your rifle, but it was not there. Instead, Koishi stands there with your rifle cradled in her arms.

"Looking for this, mister?"

"Oh, Koishi. There you are. Were you watching the match?"

"I did! Too bad you lost though; you can do better next time!" She giggles.

And apparently even Hisagi and Hiiragi didn't notice her presence until she shows up. "Hello there, little one. How did you get here? Are you Seo's friend?" Her eyes would soon notice her third eye. "A Satori, even... but her eye is closed..."

"...yeah, She's a satori alright, just like her sister living underground."

"I see." Hisagi replies shortly, petting Koishi's head.

Hiiragi bends down to Koishi's eye level, sniffing her scent before licking her cheek, which causes Koishi to giggle ticklishly. "Hee~! That tickles, sis~"

"She seems friendly enough." Hiiragi remarks, petting Koishi's head as well. "Well, while the two of you are here, and there's still time before sun goes down, how about exploring the mountain a bit more?"

"Yeah. That sounds like a good idea." You reply, might as well stick around Koishi to keep her in check.

So what would you do now?
[ ] Buy her food.
[ ] Visit the Moriya Shrine with her.

[x] Buy her food.

Awww

X] Visit the Moriya Shrine with her.

Cute update. Kaede is fun and Koishi is cute.

[x] Buy her food.

[c] Buy her food.

Just read through the updates. I can't help wondering what would we encounter had we chosen to investigate the scroll.

>You pull the charging handle, ejecting a bullet out of the chamber

That's a bullet lost. There's a thing called a press check. Though, Seo probably did it for the "Cool" factor.

[X] Visit the Moriya Shrine with her.

VOTE RESULTS

[X] Buy her food. (3 Votes)

---

"Thinking of doing something with her, Seo?" Hisagi asks.

"Yeah, I think I'll take her out to find something to eat."

"Hmm... pity. Then again, we did finish our lunch, and there are no extras left." Hisagi says. "Right, before you go off on your own, I need you two to put this on."

"What is this?" You ask Hisagi, looking at the necklace placed on your palm.

"Family crests, dear. This will show that you're our family's guest, so nobody will ask you too many questions about your presence on public areas." You put it on, and then help to put it on Koishi. Only when you finish with that, does Hisagi has something extra to say. "Ah... I forgot to tell you, it's apparently a little enchanted."

"I don't feel any difference though."

"Well, nothing too different, actually. Hiiragi?"

"Yes, mother."

Hiiragi unsheathes her sword and shows off your reflection on the side. True enough, you see yourself with white hair and wolf ears. The same illusion also applies to Koishi as Hisagi gives the girl a crescent necklace as well. Since it is an illusion, the ears are non-existent when you place your hand there.

Hisagi chuckles to herself as she stares at you.

"What is it?"

"It's nothing, dear. I am amused that with this form, you look exactly like Kaede." She stops her chuckles as she answers you, petting your head. "Feel free to run around, Seo, Be back by sundown, we'll make dinner."

"Got it."

"Can I stay around, madam? I want some too~"

Hisagi giggles and ruffles Koishi's hair as well. "Of course you can too, dear."

"Thank you~"

And with that, you and Koishi run off to find something for the little satori.

---

As expected, the marketplace has various foods sold there. To Koishi's delight, there is a lot for her to choose and indulge, at the expense of your monthly pay. At least she looks happy from your 'sacrifices'.

The things you buy for her include grilled deer, chicken skewers, sweet buns, meat buns and so on. Some delicacies were completely new to you and unavailable at the village as far as you can remember, and you couldn't help but try them out as well. Koishi even decides to be generous and shares her food with you.

True to her happy face, everything she shares is very tasty.

It seems that the crest did wonders on making the tengus not question your presence, which is for the best.

Of course, things don’t always run smoothly all the time.

You notice that while you are busy tending to Koishi and her appetite, there is one fellow that keeps following you. When you turn around to look at her, she quickly runs into the closest alleyway.

You feel the need to check things out.

"Koishi, I'll be right back."

You then enter the dark alleyway, but can't see anyone around except for boxes and a whole lot of them. Still, you press on, with your M9 and flashlight drawn and firmly in your grip.

As you pass by the boxes, you suddenly feel a pair of hands grab onto your vest before you are slammed against the wall.

"I don't remember a wolf tengu joining the SDMGD, what are you and a satori doing up here in the mountain?"

You groan slightly from the rough welcome. "Hey, easy there. I was invited here. As for Koishi, she wandered about and found me up here."

"Who invited you?" She demands.

"Kyou Fujisaki."

"You'd better not be lying to me!"

"Actually, Momiji, I did." Kyou says as he lands behind Momiji in the alleyway. "I should have known someone would have an issue about it."

She lets go of your collar and looks straight at Kyou. "For what reason?"

"Hisagi's request. You do read about the things Aya wrote in her paper, right?"

"I don't read her nonsense."

Kyou sighs. "Hisagi had a sudden bout of familiarity with him, must be because how he reminds her of her former husband - and he is indeed her former husband's child."

"Why don't you just go and meet him then?"

"His assigned area is around the Palace of the Earth Spirits, and you know full well who else lives in Ancient City, right?"

"Oni."

"Right, even I am still scared of them all these years. The travel ban may be lifted but I am definitely not going in there."

"Fine, Kyou, you win." She then turns to you. "As for you, I have my eyes on you, especially since you took out two of my patrol squad members."

You raise a protesting finger as you make a statement. "Okay, first of all, I never agreed to the show of strength. Two, they didn't believe Kyou's letter. Three, they could have at least shown me the way instead of forcing me into a fight..."

Momiji plants her palm to her face. "Great, just great."

"By the way, Seo, this is Momiji Inubashiri. She's the squad leader of the tengus you incapacitated a while ago."

Oh, so that would explain the sudden roughness. "Ah... that would explain things. Sorry about that."

"Fine."

Momiji leaves the area by flying straight towards the sky. Kyou on the other hand approaches you. “They can be a bit antsy about your presence in their territory. It’s a shame that your visit here starts with a little bit of a conflict."

"I'm well aware of it and I swear it’s not my fault."

"Yes. Well, that aside, I'll linger around. Go ahead and continue your date."

"...she's not my girlfriend!" You protest.

"Eventually she will~"

And with those words, Kyou sends you out of the alleyway and immediately to your right is Koishi waiting as she leans against the wall.

"Where've you been?" Koishi asks as she notices your appearance beside her.

"Long story." You reply. She however didn’t inquire you any further, as she grabs your hand off to visit more places to eat.

---

When the sun comes down, you and Koishi return to the tengu family’s residence, apparently managing to exhaust the younger satori with all that walking. Hiiragi and her sisters greet you home, and once inside, they grab Koishi before running off to the bathroom with her, with the satori squeaking in surprise. You watch in complete puzzlement as the group of five disappears around the corner.

“What the heck’s going on there?”

Kaede appears, looking a little disheveled and grumpy. “I guess they find her cute.”

“Would the bathroom fit all of them?”

“What if I say it would?” Kaede’s tired frown turns into a fanged grin. “Once my sisters are done with the bath, it’s your turn. I’ll take your stuff there.” The wolf tengu passes you a towel, and you hand him your backpack, your load-bearing vest and your service rifle to him. “By the way, the guest room is at the other end of the hallway.”

“Thanks, Kaede.”

“You’re welcome.”

A few minutes later, the Fujisaki sisters show up, with Koishi squealing happily and leading them. You only see them for a brief moment as they exit the bathroom and head elsewhere. Of course, they are appropriately wrapped up with towels. Now it’s your turn to head inside.

When you’re done with the evening bath, you walk back to the guest room where Koishi is waiting. Just so you can get some privacy you cover her face with a different tower and quickly put on your trousers and plain shirt.

“Meanie!”

“I’m changing clothes, Koishi. No watching.” She pouts cutely and you ruffle her hair. “You’re so cute that I can’t stop teasing you.”

“That’s what they say. But they are so soft… and fluffy too…”

“Well, considering that they are wolves, of course they are fluffy.” And then you hear someone knocking on the guest room's door. “Yes?”

“It’s Hiiragi, Seo. Mother is calling you for dinner.”

“I’ll be right there.” As soon as you reply, you hear Hiiragi walking away away from your door. “Okay, Koishi, time to eat. You’re still hungry, aren’t you?”

“Of course!”

“…sometimes I do wonder if you’re trying to become Yuyuko or something.”

And all she does for a reply is to grin childishly at you.

---

Dinner was great, with Hisagi cooking her best dishes for everyone. She is smiling as her children and guests enjoy her dinner – which once again consists of deer, alongside some beef and chicken meat, cooked in various ways. Ironically, Koishi is the first one to surrender from eating that much. You soon follow her after a while, mostly to avoid overeating. The rest finishes the dinner like pros, which isn’t surprising considering that they are carnivorous youkai.

When everyone has had their dinner, you and the tengu Fujisaki family lean back and have chat about various topics.

It soon enough would be time for you to head to bed, as Koishi started snoozing off in your arms.

---

Midnight...

Your peaceful night is disturbed by a series of frantic knocks at the front door. You stir awake and grumbles, rubbing your eyes as you sit up.

“What’s going on?” You ask yourself sleepily.

What would you do?
[ ] Answer.
[ ] Stay put.

You always seem to be cutting out the middle man, eh?

[X] "Who is it?]
-[X] If no response, arm yourself.

[x] Answer.

[x] Answer.

[c] Answer.

[X] "Who is it?]
-[X] If no response, arm yourself.

[X] "Who is it?
-[X] If no response, arm yourself.

We don't fuck around.

I mean, we do, but in the literal sense.

Since the current custom vote and option A are pretty much the same for the aftermath, I'm closing votes and merging the results.

VOTE RESULTS

[x] Answer + [X] "Who is it?" - [X] If no response, arm yourself. (3 Votes)

PRESS [MOUSE 5] TO COUNTER-KNIFE

---

While Koishi is still sleeping soundly, the knocking wouldn't stop at all, causing you to get up and grab your gun from your vest on the floor. You then approach the front door with your M9 in your hand.

"Who is it?" You call to the door, while hiding from the door's plain sight.

And just like that the knocking stops. Staying silent for a few moments doesn't seem to make the knocking return, but you should check it out to be sure. You unlock the door and stand at the doorway to see if anyone is outside. Just as you avert your gaze away a hooded figure suddenly appears at the front door. He stays still and then for a split second you see a glint of metal before he's rushing straight at you, knife in hand.

Immediately you catch his arm and wrist and restrain him there, dropping your gun on your feet in the process. He seems very adamant on taking you down and killing you.

Not on your watch!

In the struggle, you lock his upper arm and lower his wrist before jamming it right into his chest, and pinning him to the wall nearby until he stops struggling.You let the attacker slide down the wall and fall to the ground... dead. When you look up from the dead man, you see more hooded figures in the distance, and after they see their accomplice drop dead you see more glints of metal. Looks like he had brought friends along for the ride, and you need to keep them away.

Before you can bend down to retrieve your weapon, Koishi emerges from the darkness behind you and snatches your handgun off the floor. She holds it firmly before firing it from the hip, basically emptying your M9 at the group that tries to approach you until the slide locks back. Despite that she is only aiming at their general direction, she manages to chip a couple with a few bullets.

This time their resolve breaks and they run away. Once the situation dissolves, you stare at Koishi in stunned silence. Koishi however only looks up at you with a childish grin.

"Seo!" Kyou calls as he runs up to the main door. The rest of the Fujisaki household follows him, and crowding around the main door.

Everyone present stares in shock at the dead body at your feet. Kaede however steps forward to check his pulse but it's already too late for the assilant.

"He's already dead. The guy's human, too."

Humans?

"...what are they doing up here, and how did they get all the way here without alerting the tengu guards?"

"That's what I want to know too."

Momiji lands hastily in front of the house a little later

"Kyou! Oh my god - "

"Don't worry, he's hostile. Now not anymore." Kyou assures.

Momiji bends down to check the dead man. "A human. Does he look familiar to you, Fujisaki?" Momiji asks, addressing you.

"Not that I know of,"

"Back to matters. Kyou, we have bad news."

"What is it?"

"The bad news is that someone's kid got kidnapped. Everyone's getting active and trying to find her. Those sneaky bastards got away without a trace."

"He got one at least." Kaede remarks.

"He's no use to us since he's dead." Momiji rubs her temples irritatingly. "Keine is so going to be ballistic when she hears this."

Kyou sighs, not expecting this at all. To be honest, everyone feels the same as well. "Seo, go back to sleep, Let us be on guard instead."

"Right."

Of course, the ordeal makes you feel completely sleepless, even if Koishi offers a hug.

Trouble always seems to follow you no matter where you are.

"Gimmie a break already."

---

Conference Room, a bit later that morning.

The situation is very tense as all the higher ups gather around the table as one of them reads the report on what happened. You feel quite tired since you barely got enough sleep as a result from the fight. You shouldn't be here but people keep telling you to be here, since you are the main eyewitness.

"...about 3 in the morning earlier on, a human intruder tries to take a step on Fujisaki Kyou's guest, in an attempted murder, and as a result of the assault, the assailant is perished with his own weapon. The eyewitness himself sees his friends before he opened fire on them to scare them off." The crow tengu reads her report to the higherups.

The only thing that is not right about the last part of the report is that Koishi is the one who fired on them. Kyou might be hiding that fact, as he thinks the knowledge of a satori on the mountain isn't going to be good.

"Did we catch anyone?"

"No, they all disappeared without a trace."

"In the morning just now, the Hibiki Clan received their ransom letter. In short, they are demanding an exorbitant amount of money for the children to be released. Anything else such as a rescue attempt would be ill-advised since they will attempt to kill them."

Right now, the thought that runs to your mind is how familiar those robes are. The thing that puzzles you is how sudden they appear in front of you. Perhaps the robes are enchanted or some such?

"We don't negotiate with terrorists and that will never change. All we need to know is where they are, and they will regret demanding from us."

"How?" One of the officers asks. "We don't even know where they are."

"We will need to scout and investigate. If they continue to harass us, we might as well send in the Black Assassins." One of the black wolf tengu said. "My subordinates can't work without good intelligence."

"What about him? He looks like he's dressed for the part."

Of course, out in the field you always have your plate-carrying vest on. It is a part of your uniform after all. "Me? I don't think I'd fit in..." you say, as you know how this will end.

"Nonsense. I hear you disabled two of Momiji's underlings without taking too much time. No offense, Momiji."

Since Momiji is close to you, you can hear her grunt irritably at the reminder. "None taken."

"Contact the Scarlet Devil, boy. I want to hear from your superior." The Dai-Tengu speaks. "Before I have you absorbed into the team, I need to make sure she knows."

"Roger wilco." You pull out your radio. "Command, this is Spectre. Requesting Scarlet Devil to be on the line for very urgent matters."

As you stop talking, murmurs can be heard, possibly in slight distrust.

And then the radio gives a static before the reply . "This is Scarlet Devil, currently in charge of Command. Got yourself dragged into trouble again?"

You sigh at her fitting description. "More or less."

"Put me on the radio's speakers, Spectre." You do so and place the radio on the middle of the conference table. "So, ladies and gentlemen, bring me up to speed on what's going on."

The crow tengu that started the meeting repeats her report to the Scarlet Devil on the line. "Some officers seems to suspect your subordinate is a spy for the intruders."

"As far as I am informed, Fujisaki Seo was invited to be up there on the Tengu Fortress for family reasons." Remilia speaks. "If he has enemies, he's more or less an enemy to them since the last Ancient City incident, which would mean they would have him as a high priority to eliminate as evidenced with their murder attempt."

"Obviously that failed." Momiji remarks.

"Humans are persistent, I am willing to say will try that again."

"How do they know I am up in the mountains?"

"Hearsay, I suppose. Besides, your trip up to the mountain isn't exactly stealthy."

You cross your arms. "Right, it's like I made my own mess here. So what should I do?"

"I'd say that you need to thread this carefully, sure you managed to clean sweep on the robbers during the underground incident four months back, but be cautious. If there is no other options, terminate with extreme prejudice."

"Roger wilco."

Remilia sighs from over the line. "I'm afraid your teammates are still busy investigating that castle, so you have to make do with what you have. If you need resupplies, Jack will be in command in the afternoon. Scarlet Devil out."

The radio fizzles out and there is silence in the boardroom. The masked Dai-Tengu and other top brass keeps silebt to think of a better course of action. After a while, the Dai-Tengu breaks his silence. "We need to find them and at the same time keep up the security in our territory. I am arranging three teams for this.

Group one - your objective is to cover the base of the mountain and keep an eye for possible enemy hideout.

Group two - maintain your position on and around our fortress. Keep everything secure and make sure nobody slips into our cracks.

Group three - stay put in the fortress. Should group one saw our targets, fall back and let group three take over. Any questions?"

You raise your hand.

"Yes, Fujisaki?"

You exhale. "I shouldn't ask this but to you have a treasury room somewhere?"

"I wouldn't tell you where it is, but yes, we do have one, it's heavily guarded. What do you have in mind?"

"I'm thinking that they are going to repeat the same tactic like in the Ancient City heist. Using the hostage situation as a distraction and then slipping in to raid the treasury. I got a feeling that they have their own professionals for the job."

Dai-Tengu rubs his chin in understanding.

"I also need a partner."

"From what I hear, your underground operation to root out the thieves four months ago is quite successful, and you even have a youkai as a partner. Very well! Kaede! Hiiragi! Momiji!"

"Yes!" They respond in unison.

"I suppose the three of you would like to work with a human for once?"

Hiiragi nods. "I would love to."

"I know how he fights, it'd be fun."

Momiji however isn't fond of the idea. "I'd rather be his leader and keep an eye on him."

"So it's settled then. Fujisaki, go ahead."

Select your battle fighter! Pick a wolf.
[ ] Kaede (partner, defense specialization)
[ ] Hiiragi (partner, attack specialization)
[ ] Momiji (superior, range specialization)

What to do first? Pick one.
[ ] Visit the coroner for the body.
[ ] Help search the mountain's base .
[ ] Patrol the fortress.

[x] Kaede (partner, defense specialization)

What to do first? Pick one.
[x] Visit the coroner for the body.

some defense wouldn't hurt.

[x] Momiji
[x] Coroner
She needs to chill out

[X] Momiji (superior, range specialization)
[X] Visit the coroner for the body.

Man she's annoying. It's not our fault her squad members attacked us first!

The human intruders seem to be familiar....

Select your battle fighter! Pick a wolf.
[c] Momiji (superior, range specialization)
She needs to understand the nature of our occupation. Besides, she can provide us with long-range support.

What to do first? Pick one.
[c] Visit the coroner for the body.

VOTE RESULTS

[X] Momiji (superior, range specialization) (3 votes)
[X] Visit the coroner for the body. (4 votes)

---

After considering your options, and looking at their faces (Kaede and Hiiragi for their eagerness and Momiji's very dour look) you decide on choosing on Momiji instead. "I'm deciding to be Momiji Inubashiri's disciple, sir."

"Wise choice, Fujisaki. Momiji, you're in charge on him from now until the end of this incident." Dai-Tengu announces. You and Momiji bow deeply with his ultimatum. "That would be all for this meeting. I want everyone to hold your ground and defend whatever we have here. Find them and we'll being them to Eiki's court. Dismissed."

"Meeting adjourned!"

At the announcement, the officers leave the conference room and you're about to be the last person to leave, only for the Dai-Tengu to stop you. "Fujisaki." He calls out to you.

You stop in your tracks and turn around to face him. "Do you need something from me, sir?"

"Yes, in fact I might have a few things to ask you. Have a seat." You sit down on the cushion, facing the Dai-Tengu. "How familiar are you with our pact with the village?"

You blink in surprise. "I'm... unaware that was a thing, sir."

"Understandable, since your father might have hid it from you. Basically, a healthy man from the village would be married to one of the tengus, and by raising children to be the future guardians, we would also protect the village in return."

"But since my father divorced Hisagi, what happens to the pact?"

"Luckily, we have a second candidate, and their childmaking... is much more succesful, to say the least. Hisagi is a bit too worried about herself, so that would be more her guilt than your father's."

"So what do you suggest I should do, sir?"

"Fujisaki, when this is solved, I want you to reconcile Hisagi and introduce Hiiragi to Ryouga. I don't ask you to return Hisagi to Ryouga's side, but I want him to know that he has at least a legacy with his former wife even if she's a half-breed."

You nod in understanding. "Will comply."

"You may go, Fujisaki."

You get up from the cushion and bow at the Dai-Tengu deeply, before taking a few steps back and then getting out of the door. As soon as you walk out, you see Momiji leaning against the wall, waiting for you.

"So top brass told you about the whole thing about the pact, huh?"

"Yeah. I never knew that was a thing."

"It's been around for ages. We protect the human village in secrecy, that's why you never heard of it. Let's go." Momiji beckons you to go outside of the halls. "I hope you're fine having a wolf in charge. My rules will be strict."

"Got it." You nod. "Truth be told you're the second wolf in charge of me."

"Who's your commanding officer again?"

"Zero."

Momiji nods. "Ah, Rei. I almost forgot about him."

"Was that his real name?"

"His changed name, to fit him in the populace. He's an outsider, but a youkai outsider. It still baffles me how he got to Gensokyo. I know for sure he started the SDMGD after splitting off the village rangers for the betterment of male youkai image and operators." Momiji expains. "His 'Zero' name and Rei mean the same thing."

"More things I don't know."

"You learn new things everyday. Back to business - since you killed the guy, he will probably have left things for us to check out." Momiji says. "The only logical place you go is the coroner as he's the one taking care of the body."

"Roger wilco."

"What does that even mean?" Momiji asks.

"Roger, will comply."

The wolf tengu sighs. "You Guardians and your silly terms. Let's go."

---

Momiji leads you to the morgue at the fortress' hospital, where the coroner is preparing the body to be sent back to the village. You let Momiji do the talking for you, before the coroner leads you and Momiji to the room next door.

"Here's all the things I found on his body, Identification, weapons, valuables and clothes." The coroner says as he shows you and Momiji the items on the table. He then gives you both a pair of gloves to wear.

"Nice knife. Too bad it turned on its own master." Momiji remarks as she examines the knife on the table. "Engraved with his name."

"Stylish, but impractical." You comment, feeling indifferent about the person you counter-knifed. "The rest of his stuff looks too ordinary, nothing too eye-catching either."

Though, what hovers in your mind is about the cloak itself.

What if... you wear the cloak?

"You look like you have something on your mind." Momiji states. "Something about the cloak?"

"I just want you to focus on me. Watch me."

You take his cloak and wrap it over yourself.

"I can still see you."

"Well, let's try this then."

You walk behind her, pulling out your M9 from your holster, and proceed to perform checks on your gun, doing it as noisily as possible. Momiji shakes her head and then you open the window. You walk up to her and tell her to cover her ears, before firing a round outside, safely aimed to a nearby tree.

PAF

The sight of Momiji wincing is the sign that she can hear that. You then take off the cloak.

"So it doesn't muffle very loud sounds. But I still have no idea how to activate invisibility."

"It probably only works at night. Now the question is who might be capable of making things like this." And Momiji examines the cloak. "We could use this against them, or we could make sure they screw up. Either way, they sure know how to cover their tracks."

"How?"

"Possibly experienced mountaineers. They can't hide their tracks for long. A good old-fashioned tracking will show the way." Momiji takes a whiff of the cloak. "They know what fabric to use to absorb their scent, I can barely single out your scent and the owner's from this thing."

"I see..." Suddenly you feel something click in. "I think... there's actually more to the Ancient City's textile district theft a few months back..."

Momiji's ears perk when you speak. "What do you mean?"

"Those guys I had trouble with were just the smaller fish... there's bigger ones who left first after the incident!" You exclaim. "They tried to hold me behind with Satori at knifepoint, so that the important contraband left first..."

"Wait, wait, wait, you work for Satori?"

"More on that later."

---

After the hospital's morgue, you follow Momiji to meet the Dai-Tengu, and he quickly calls the rest of the higher ups for an emergency meeting.

"So basically this is still a theory, but the cloak can absorb scent, and somewhat muffle their noises a little... but we still don't know how well it works in the dark."

"Hmmm. Let's make a quick experiment. You people, get some extra curtains from the storeroom. Fujisaki, you're wearing that thing."

"Alright." The wolf tengus bow at the Dai-Tengu's command before running out of the conference room to get the curtains, and they return shortly later. They immediately cover up the windows so that no sunlight can get in. They also blow out the candles inside as well.

"It's all night now. Demonstrate it to us."

"On it."

You get on with the test, throwing the black cloak around you while everyone watches. You whip out your M9 and eject the loaded magazine and letting it drop onto the floor. As you have a bullet chambered, you eject it by pulling the slide and letting the still-usable bullet drop on the floor.

After holstering your gun, you pull out your knife from your holster. And that is when they drop the curtain, allowing the light to pour in the conference room.

"I see how it works now. I can see it clearly in the dark." The Black Assassins' leader speaks. "They will regret we woke up this morning."

"I believe we need to have a change of plans. Group three, conceal yourselves in the treasury. Once they breach in, subdue them. No compromises. Dismissed."

You and Momiji leave the room as well, and hang outside of the conference room. One of the officers walks out and hands you your ejected magazine and the bullet. "I think you forgot this, Fujisaki."

"...oh, thanks." You accept the items and load them back into your M9.

"Nice find, you two. Hopefully with all the safeguards we have they won't get too far." She says. "As for your successful discovery, may we tempt you both a drink?"

"Umm... one moment, please."

Momiji drags you a behind a corner.

"Okay, what's the big idea?" You ask.

"Since you didn't know, the one on the left is Lord Tenma, basically even higher than the Dai-Tengu himself. The one with the black robes and wings is the Dai-Tengu's wife. She's pretty high up on the rankings..."

"The one on the left's a bigger boss?" You peek out of the corner before going back to hiding. "So what should I do?"

"If I were you, I wouldn't be declining their offer, you know..."

"But we are kind of at work, don't you think?"

"Well, that's up to you to decide, not me."

What to do?
[ ] "We're kinda caught up with work... maybe later?" (Decline)
[ ] "We'll take the offer." (Accept)

[x] "We'll take the offer." (Accept)

[x] "We'll take the offer." (Accept)
Of course we accept. You don't offend the leader of your hosts.

>>"We're kinda caught up with work... maybe later?" (Decline)

Only a real man would drink while guarding.

[c] "We'll take the offer." (Accept)

VOTE RESULTS

[X] "We'll take the offer." (Accept) (3 votes)

---

"Good! Follow us then."

The crow tengu in black garbs grabs you and Momiji's wrists, before flying off towards a spot. There, two girls are waiting for the four of you. Only when you land that you notice the rather beautiful view around the fortress.

"So what's the occasion?" You ask as one of the girls pass you a sake cup. "Was this to tell me to loosen up and not to get too serious about the job?"

"Bingo~"

"And since we are not introduced yet, I am Tenma of the tengus, this is my friend, Nyo." Lord Tenma introduces herself. "We known you long before you even stepped foot on the mountain, Fujisaki Seo."

"Right."

"Now now, no need to be too tense. Have a drink." Nyo then passes you a small cup of sake. You accept her offer and take a sip yourself.

With all the food and drinks provided, you and the tengus chat over random things, but mostly revolves around your experiences for the last couple of days. After a while, Lord Tenma stretches her wings and gets up.

"Nyo, I have some supervision to do, so I'll leave Momiji with you. Fujisaki, you're coming with me."

"Ah, leaving already? See you two later then, let's drink some more when the problem's solved~"

"Take care, Fujisaki."

"I wish."

You leave with Lord Tenma, and all in a sudden you are yanked to the sky, making you squeak in surprise. Since you are pretty much dangling off the air by the arm she's holding, you really hope that she is not planning to let you go mid-air.

Thankfully, she doesn't.

When you reach a high point of the mountain she tells you to jump off to land. You do so and she lands as well, right beside you.

"I had to yank you off so that Nyo won't be making you overdrink alcohol when you have an assignment to do."

"What about Momiji?"

"She can handle her liquor better than you do."

"Ah, alright."

She sighs and watches over the tengu fortress from the even higher height. "Fujisaki, how aware are you with your lineage?"

"From a sliding scale of one to ten, I'd say two. So, immediate family only."

"Is that so." She replies. "I have lived for a long time, I know your family at least married a tengu thrice, your father being the last one who did it."

"And your point is...?"

That dour look turns into a sly smile. "I was wondering when you will follow their footsteps." Your mouth opens agape in stunned silence as she chuckles. "Got someone who likes you already?"

You look down to hide your blush. "More on more than one..."

"Keep up the hard work." She says, patting your back. "Seems like that charm is really working, no matter what youkai you're facing with."

"What charm?"

"I've been keeping tabs on you, Fujisaki. Reports say when you were a child, you manage to befriend wild animals, and you made our scout wolves look like dogs to you. And for the same reason, you manage to befriend the Underground City's onis and even the Earth Palace's inhabitants."

"...I don't know how to explain that."

"Fret not. It doesn't matter if you don't have anyone in the tengu side, but your children might have the chance to, you know."

"Right."

"Anyways, that aside... I'm kind of sorry that your trip turned to this. I was hoping the reunion would be smooth."

"Nothing is smooth, Tenma-sama. Good thing I am prepared... somewhat prepared."

"So what will you do once this is solved?" Lord Tenma asks.

"Do what the Dai-Tengu asked me to do, introduce Hiiragi and reconcile Hisagi with my father."

"Good boy." She smiles. "How about a bit of a flight tour around the mountain sound to you?"

"I might take that offer, but I can't even fly..."

At that point, Lord Tenma spreads her wings, and telling you to jump on her back. With a bit of hesitation, you do exactly that, right before she takes off.

---[[ Hiiragi ]]---

Under the afternoon sun, you and your squadmates split up to cover up more ground. So far, none of your searches is fruitful and nothing is out of the ordinary at all, just more and more thick vegetation around you.

That is until you sense an unfamiliar scent lingering around.

Humans.

You follow the scent and it leads you to a dilapidated hut, and lots of signs of human presence around it. There is no sign of your other squadmates around, and you question yourself on choosing between two options.

Rescue the hostages on your own or get your teammates?

"There's nobody around..."

After debating with yourself for a while, you sneak your way toward the abandoned hut. Circling around the area and peering into the hut, you see the hostages inside, but no sign of guards inside.

"They muat be stupid to let the hostages inside without a guard."

Slowly, you push the door and it goes ajar. You slip in stealhily and check the corners. Nobody there either, so you bring out your knife and creep towards the first hostage you see.

Once you cut off the rope, you undo the blindfold on the child you see. After he runs off you get towards the next hostage.

Then everything suddenly went black.

---

When you finally came to, you wake up with a sharp pain on the side of your head. And as your vision clears, you see a group of men standing before you. You try to get up, only for you realize you are tied down to the pillar.

"Oh? You're waking up, eh?"

"We caught you snooping around our place, and you managed to get one of the hostages free!" The man lifts your chin and examines you. "So you're one of the wolf tengu, huh? Pretty stupid of you to come here alone."

"Let go!" You shout as you thrash your head, but the men only laugh.

"Shut her up." The burly man orders. "And when you're, leave."

"Whatcha gonna do with her, boss?"

"I need to talk to her."

"She's a lovely lady, boss, be nice to her."

"Oh, I will."

While you struggle to get the ropes off you, his underlings tie a cloth around your mouth ordered, and you let out muffled grunts of protest as they leave. He then locks the door and cracks his knuckles.

"So, lady, when I give you questions that means I want answers. If not you'll get hurt and I don't want a lovely lady like you hurt."

You glower at the man and starts praying, in hopes that Kaede will come to your rescue... or at least that other half-brother of yours.

--- [[ Seo ]] ---

Later that night...

"What's the commotion is all about?" You ask when you finally find Momiji in the operation room.

"Ah, Fujisaki, there you are. You didn't look quite smashed as I thought you would be."

"She only allowed me to drink a little. What's going on, though?"

"One of the hostages managed to escape. But that's the least of our worries." Momiji let out a long sigh, and with Kaede seething right beside her. "Hiiragi got captured after she attempted to rescue one of the hostages..."

"She could at least find her squadmates first... what is she thinking?" Kaede said.

"Get inside, Seo, we'll brief you more."

Of course, as soon as you get in, various wolf and crow tengus are gearing up for the operation. Discussion can heard loudly as Momiji leads you to a table.

"Momiji, don't you think it's suspicious?" One of her teammates asks.

"What is?"

"From the hostage's description, they let Hiiragi get one kid free, and then they knock her out."

"Definitely a distraction so that we all focus our forces there, and only the weaklings get caught." Momiji says. "Just stick to Dai-Tengu's current plan. We can see them as they move. I do believe with properly placed traps we can expose them." She says."Fujisaki and I will help him attack the area where Hiiragi and other hostages are last seen."

"The hostage can lead us there, right?" You ask just as one of the crow tengu passes a scroll to Momiji, and she unfurls it on the table. It is a topographic map of the area.

Momiji nods as she circles an area with a red brush. "According to the description, this is the area where the hut is. By any luck they will still be there, but chances are Hiiragi would now be a high-priority hostage now."

"Understood." Kaede nods. You can see him balling his fists in anger.

"So if we need extra hardware, I can handle that." You say.

"Seo, I don't know how accurate Aya is, but seeing that she reported that you actually managed to diffuse knifepoint hostage situations more than once, I think you should go ahead and be the leader for this time."

"Roger wilco."

"Kaede, you're with him. Subdue those bastards and bring them back. I know you're worried about your half-sister. We all do too."

"I understand, but what about backup?" He asks.

"Group one will provide the backup we need. I'll be your eyes from a distance, Fujisaki - no, Seo -, if you have something that can help me danmaku them from a safe distance."

"Can be taken care of as well."

"Lovely."

"Time's running out, let's make a list of things we should have." You say.

Equipment! Pick up to three items.
[ ] M4A1-S (30-round assault rifle, suppressed. Replaces SCAR-H, comes with extra rifles)
[ ] USAS-12 (20-round automatic combat shotgun. 12-G Flechette, replaces SCAR-H)
[ ] SPAS-12 (8-round pump-action/semi auto shotgun. 12-G Buckshot, replaces SCAR-H)
[ ] Riot Shield (Versatile clear shield made of... something robust. Replaces any two-hand weapons available.)
[ ] Helmet w/ Nightvision Goggles (Head protection and night vision mounted on the top)
[ ] Extra Smoke Grenades for the EGLM(+5 Smoke WHITE resupply)
[ ] Extra Full SDMGD attire for Kaede (Full operator gear from top to bottom)

Select something for Momiji as well. Pick one sniper rifle or a DMR. Non-.50 cal rifles comes with suppressor, all snipers and DMRs has bipod.
[ ] Arctic Warfare Super Magnum (10 rounds, variable zoom, bolt action)
[ ] Remington 700 (5 round, bolt action, straight pull)
[ ] Barrett M95 (5 round, high penetration, bolt action)
[ ] M39 EMR (20 round, ACOG, semi auto)
[ ] SCAR SSV (20 round, semi/full auto)
[ ] AS50 (5 round, high penetration, semi-auto.)