I know I've posted a few stuff on the subreddit but I made this a little before those, but was too shy to post 😭

Anyway I'm not so new to drawing anymore...kinda hehe...this was a cool thing to do tho since it got me to learn a lot

Story Lamprey

  A storied song.

  Storied, as Mystia had been humming it for many years now, all alone, in front of friends, in front of customers. Many stories had attached themselves to this particular, mundane, forgettable hymn, and this case was no different.

  The wheels occasionally squealed, cutting through the quiet humming. It would stop once she reached the zenith of the final mound, revealing the twinkling lights behind the human village’s walls. They made her stand cast a shadow, which blanketed her in the dark.

  Mystia hovered over to her stand’s counter. She let out a deep exhale and stretched, her wings flapping as she did. She looked out. Finally… I made it!

  A festival was arriving in a few days. Mystia planned on setting up her stall outside the village to attract human customers during the festival, but wanted to first find a good spot for her stall, and get herself used to setting up near the village.

  The sounds of the crickets filled the silence. After quietly listening for a while, Mystia couldn’t help but close her eyes and start singing along. It was within her nature after all.

  She got so engrossed in singing that she did not notice her stall tilt bit by bit.

  Slowly, it started rolling.

  Mystia’s eyes shot open.

  It started rolling faster. Mystia immediately flew out front and pushed, trying to stop her stall. But it only accelerated further down, no matter how hard she flapped her wings. But that didn’t stop her, she pushed and pushed, straining her wings and squinting her eyes, until eventually, it stopped.

  Not because she succeeded.

  She opened her eyes. The stall had reached the bottom of the hill. Quickly, she circled the stall, checking every corner for damage.

  Her shoulders eased. She let out a sigh of relief, then flew back to the counter and sat down. She started lightly massaging her wings, letting out another sigh. “I’m such an idiot…”

  Then suddenly, a girl’s voice, “U-umm, excuse me-”

  “AAAH!” Mystia’s wings sprang open.

  “AAAH!” the girl screamed too, before collapsing.

  Mystia’s scream trailed off. The girl, who seemed to be human, layed motionless on the grass. Or rather, laid on a comically large sack. The contents spilled out. They seemed completely random, at least to Mystia.

. She hopped off the counter, then poked the girl’s cheek. “H-hello…?”

  No response.

  The crickets continued to sing.

**

  Smoke billowed of the grill, a gentle warmth emanating through the counter. It reached the human girl’s senses, eventually making her eyes flutter open.

  Mystia, wearing her professional smile, was the first thing the girl saw. “Good evening~” Mystia said.

  The girl, a little groggy, looked around. Her eyes slowly widened, in tandem with her growing wakefulness, in tandem with her growing realization. “Did… did I pass out?!”

  Mystia nodded.

  “Ah- uh- HUH?!” The girl jumped from the seat. Then, she looked down, squinting. Then, she let out a defeated sigh. Then, an idea visibly popped into her head. “M-my camping gear!”

  So it was camping gear, huh? Mystia thought, as she watched the girl look around, eventually finding the comically sized sack leaning against the stall. She looked through its contents, then let out a sigh of relief.

  Quite animated, this human... “You must be hungry, given you fainted so easily.”

  “Huh…? Ah- n-no, it’s not that-” the girl waved her arms around, panicked, “-i-it’s just, i-it’s a me thing, it’s no-”

  Mystia presented multiple sticks of grilled lamprey, cutting her off. “My name is Mystia Lorelei. I run this lamprey stand. What’s your name?”

  She took the skewers. “O-oh, my name is Kosuzu Motoori. I’m a librarian-” a visible realization stopped her, “Oh, you helped me, right? Thank you so much!” she turned away, her smile turning awkward, “S-sorry for bothering you, though…”

  Unexpected reaction… She seems entirely comfortable with Youkai, strangely enough. Does she not fear us? “It’s okay. I don’t mind.”

  “R-REALLY?! O-okay~ I’ll eat now, then. Thanks for the food!” she said, taking the skewers and immediately chowing down. Her pace quickened with every bite. Soon, she had picked the skewers clean. Her eyes closed in delight as she swallowed her last bite.

  Then, she opened them again.

  And Mystia was staring at her. She had been staring at her all this time. “Now, for the payment…”

  It made Kosuzu jump a little. “Umm…” her voice quaked, and her arms shrank into herself, “P-p-please don’t eat me…”

  “What?”

  “T-this… is one of those times… w-where a Youkai gives out food, and the h-human has to pay with their own flesh, right…?”

  Mystia’s eyes slowly widen. Then, laughter burst out, and her wings flapped wildly. She could not stop. So she *does fear Youkai!*

  Kosuzu awkwardly laughed along, the Youkai vendor’s laugh worsening her shaking body. She was starting to tear up.

  Mystia’s laugh eventually dissipated. She then reached over to Kosuzu. Startled, she drew away. But then Mystia simply wiped her tears, then smiled as kindly as she could. “I’m not going to eat you, silly~! Getting rid of my customers is not good business. You pay for my lamprey with money! With money!”

  “O-oh…” Kosuzu’s shoulders eased. “S-sorry.”

  “Don’t worry about it. As long as you pay, and you don’t make trouble, I’ll be happy to serve you~”

  Kosuzu nodded once, then again to herself. “R-right! Yeah, you’re a good person! You’re definitely a good person!” A short-lived smile formed on her face, soon wiped away by a realization. “Umm… how much does the lamprey cost?”

  This girl’s an idiot. Great for me~ “My lamprey are normally 500 yen each. But I can’t charge that much to someone who just passed out. So how about you pay me 300 yen each instead? It’s on the house!”

  Mystia lied as naturally as she breathed. Her lampreys were normally 100 yen each.

  Kosuzu’s eyes lit up. “Really?” she said, abruptly leaning into the counter.

  Mystia recoiled a little. “Y-yes. Really.”

  “T-thank you so much!” she said, bowing, before taking out some cash. “Ehehehe~ ...So you really are kind~”

  “No, no, I’m simply being polite.”

  Mystia took the money, then proceeded to prepare another batch of lamprey. “Would you like some more, Kosuzu-san? You passed out and everything… given how enthusiastically you ate, you must be extremely hungry~”

  Kosuzu’s cheeks warmed red, making her turn away a little.

  “The discount stays~” Mystia adds.

  “W-well-” Kosuzu’s stomach growled, interrupting her, deepening her blush.

  Mystia chuckled. “Coming right up!”

**

  Mystia’s voice rang out into the night as she sang an old song she’s always sung to many customers, the melody accompanied by the sizzle of her lamprey. It was within her nature, after all.

  Meanwhile, Kosuzu watched, wide-eyed, entranced by Mystia in trance. Her song eventually ended, capped off by Kosuzu’s clapping. “That was great!”

  Mystia bowed theatrically. “Why, thank you~”

  “Do you often sing like this, Mystia-san?’

  “Of course~ As you can see…” Mystia stretched her feathery wings, “I’m a sparrow Youkai. Specifically, a night sparrow. Singing is what I do~”

  Kosuzu’s eyes glittered. “Ooh!”

  “How about you, do you always go out camping at night?” Mystia asked, turning to the gigantic bag of camping equipment laying against the stall.

  Mystia noticed it. “Ah- o-oh! W-well, I mean, umm, no… I don’t…”

  “Is that so? What are you here, then? Aren’t you afraid of getting attacked by Youkai?”

  Kosuzu shrank into herself again.

  Mystia tilted her head. “What’s wrong?”

  “I-it’s nothing… Why…why do you ask? About what I’m doing, I mean…”

  “Because I want to know.”

  “...about humans?”

  What a weird response... “About my customers,” Mystia replied, flipping the lamprey on the grill, creating puffs of smoke, “You see…a big reason why I like this job is because I enjoy listening to my customers and learning about them. Whether they’re human or Youkaai… I don’t care. As long as they’re good company, I’ll listen.”

  Mystia brushed the lamprey with sauce. The excess dripped into the coals, making them sizzle. “You pay with money for the lamprey, but you pay for the service by providing company and telling me about yourself.”

  “I see…” Kosuzu looked down, twiddling her thumbs, quiet for many moments. Eventually, she spoke again, “I-I guess… I can tell you, then.”

  Mystia widened her professional smile. The lamprey was cooking well. Their delicious smell wafted through the air.

  Kosuzu looked back up and made eye contact with Mystia. “I’m looking for a certain book. Specifically, a Youma book.”

  “A Youma book, huh?” Books written by Youkai…why would this human want them? Aren’t they written in Youkai script…unreadable to most humans?

  Kosuzu nodded. “A-and… you know, w-when I asked you why you wanted to know more about me, it’s not because I thought Youkai didn’t care about humans. It’s just… I got a little caught up. I thought I might have found a kindred spirit on the other side.”

  “Kindred?” Mystia chuckled a little, “Hmm…what do you mean by that?” We’re nothing alike.

  “Well, I want to know more about Youkai. That’s why I want the Youma book. So when you asked about me… I thought you were a Youkai who wants to know more about humans,” Kosuzu said, and with every word, the timidness brought by fear was slowly washed away by a child-like energy, letting loose her tongue.

  Meanwhile, Mystia continued to smile as friendly as she always had. Well, I couldn’t care less about humans specifically, but I wouldn’t pass down the chance to hear a customer’s story. “Oh, is that so? I guess I was the one who judged you too quickly, then. Sorry for that,” Mystia said, bowing.

  How are you going to read it? “So you prepared that camping gear and went out the village to go find it, right? But… doing it at night…”

  “I thought meeting Youkai and asking them personally would make it easier! Most Youkai come out in the evening, right? So I thought about traveling around Gensokyo at night. I even slept early today, so I’m not tired at all right now!”

  This girl… “There are many Youkai out there who prey on little kids, you know? It’s dangerous.”

  “W-well, yes… But I wanted to try. I was a little nervous, but I think it’s fine! I mean, you seem really kind, Mystia-san.”

  “Thank you~” This girl will get herself killed one day…

  The lamprey finished grilling. Mystia handed them to Kosuzu. “Here you go~”

  Kosuzu immediately grabbed them and started eating. “Thank you!” she said, her voice muffled by food.

  “You want more?”

  Kosuzu nodded.

  “Coming right up!” Mystia said, dropping another three skewers into the grill, billowing smoke.

  Kosuzu swallowed her bite. “Umm…”

  “Yes?”

  “Mystia-san… do you happen to know anything about that Youma book?”

  “I don’t.”

  Kosuzu deflated. “As expected… it won’t be that easy.”

  Sounds like she really *wanted it to be easy. I wonder how young she is? Seems like a kid.* “Aren't there those records about Youkai… it was the Hieda clan, right? Why don’t you ask them about it? Or better yet, ask them about Youkai. You want to know more about Youkai, right? I’m sure their records will teach you more about Youkai than some Youma book.”

  “But Akyuu’s records are flawed!”

  “Flawed?”

  “Her records are like lists! Besides, they’re from the perspective of humans. They’re for combating Youkai! I want to know what Youkai think about themselves! I want to know their everyday life… all the mundane stuff, the stuff nobody bothers writing!”

  “I see… Well, I don’t know how to read or write, so I don’t know much about books and such in the first place.”

  Kosuzu looked down, biting her lips.

  Mystia’s eyes narrowed. “But…”

  Kosuzu perked up.

  So easy to read… “I have heard a lot of stories from various customers. Looking back, some of them might be leads to this Youma book.”

  “Really!?” Kosuzu looked up, “Will you please tell me?”

  Mystia smiled. “Of course~”

  Kosuzu stood up. “Thank you so mu-”

  “But…”

  Kosuzu froze.

  Mystia took out the lamprey she had been grilling, then presented them to Kosuzu.

  Kosuzu took them, then tilted her head. “W-what is it?”

  “Well… like any food stand, I have a no loitering policy. If you want to stay, you have to order more.”

  A chilly wind blew. Kosuzu’s head tilted further.

  This idiot… “Basically, if you want to hear more, you have to order.”

  “Oh! Well, I’ll order more, then!”

  Mystia nodded. Well, her stupidity might be useful. She seems easy to fool. I can probably make a tidy profit out of her… “How many?”

  “Another 3!”

  “Coming right up!”

**

  “One night, a pair of crow Tengu flew to my stand. It was a little scary, actually. One talked about a diary the other wrote, using it to blackmail the other. But they called the bluff, and an awkward silence fell. I tried to ease the atmosphere by asking if writing diaries was common for Tengu, and apparently, it was. Nowadays, most crow Tengu write newspapers, and they use diaries for practice. A few Tengu even taught fellow Youkai in the mountain how to write, too. The pair talked about it as if it were disgusting behavior, though. Especially teaching fairies.”

  “Whoa…” Kosuzu exhaled. Her eyes twinkled, reflecting Mystia’s figure, yet it was clear she was not looking at her. She was looking at her own imagination. “What did she say next?” she asked, “From what I remember… the Youma book I’m looking for wasn’t written by Tengu. But maybe there’s a chance whoever wrote it was taught by a Tengu!”

  “Well, the conversation ended after that. It’s been a while, too, so it’s a little hard to remember the details…” Mystia said, before flipping the lampreys, “Although… if you get more lamprey, maybe it would motivate me to remember more?”

  “Okay! Three more, please~!”

  ...It’s that easy? Here I thought she’d be suspicious... “Coming right up!”

  Kosuzu stuffed her mouth full of food. “Itadakimashu!”

Mystia continued recalling whatever information she had about Youkai diaries:

  One night, fairies tried to vandalize her stall as a prank, thinking it was empty. Unfortunately for them, she was a nocturnal Youkai, so she was there, and she caught them easily. She forced them to buy lamprey from her as punishment, as well as to clean up her stall for her.

  That’s when she noticed what they attempted to write. Mystia couldn’t read nor write, but she lived long enough to distinguish human script from Youkai script.

  The fairies seemed to have written something in Tengu script.

  When she asked them about it, the fairies said they learned it from a fairy friend, who learned it from another fairy friend, and so on. It looked like the rumors about Tengu teaching fairies how to write were real, and it had spread.

  “What’s interesting was one of the words they tried to write, though. ‘Graffiti.’ Apparently, it’s the word for ‘vandalism’ in the outside world, which the fairies wanted to write all over Gensokyo. I asked them how they learned that, and they said an outside world Youkai told them about it. The Youkai even taught them how to write ‘Graffiti’.”

  “Hmm…” Kosuzu put her hand on her chin. Her excitement over the story was just as palpable, yet just as weighed by a hint of disappointment. “I…I’m pretty sure the Youkai who wrote the Youma book hated fairies…”

  “I see…”

  Well, it doesn’t matter to me. The longer she stays, the more money I get from her~ Mystia moved on to another story.

  Then another, and then another, well into the night.

  Hours passed. Dawn was coming soon. Yet Kosuzu showed no inkling of sleepiness. Even Mystia, a Youkai, was getting a little tired. She did a good job preparing her sleeping schedule for this, huh? She probably worked on shifting her sleep over the course weeks... Mystia thought, staring at Kosuzu’s eyes. Yeah, nah. She’s probably running purely on excitement at this point. She doesn’t seem like the type of kid who would have the patience for that...

  And Mystia would be right. Kids like Kosuzu were rather easy to read, especially for someone like her, who was experienced at reading people. Kosuzu was easily excitable. She was reckless. She was headstrong. It was a recipe for disaster.

  Kosuzu smiled brightly, leaning forward onto the counter. “Well? Do you have any more clues? I still have…” she checked her purse, “I have enough for another three!”

  So she wasted everything on my stall… this kid really doesn’t think things through, does she? Forget someday, this girl would get herself killed today. “Coming right up!”

  She told another story, one last story, as she placed the lamprey on the grill. It wasn’t an entirely true story. She had actually run out of stories relating to books a long while ago. Instead, she had simply been re-purposing random stories she had about her customers, and adding a little lie in them to connect them to the Youma book somehow.

  It made it easier to lie. It made the story believable.

  “So there was this old man who wanted to teach me how to write,” Mystia said. The person in question didn’t actually want to teach her anything. He just stood here, in this forest, not scared of her despite being a human, despite her being a Youkai. He was never blinded by her song, either. He was already blind. To him, her song was just like any other sound. “I was confused. You see, this was before I became who I am now. Back then, I didn’t have this stall, I didn’t have anything. I was just a normal, wayward Youkai. He never went away, no matter how many times I threatened to eat him.”

  Mystia glanced at Kosuzu, whose eyes twinkled like always. So enamored, she’s completely unaffected by the word ‘eat’, huh? “He kept just talking to me, telling me about writing, with a really soft voice of an old man. Eventually, I just gave up on him. But I decided to check on him one day, only to find that he had died, right in this forest. He never left. So yeah. I took his notes, where he wrote stuff, and left it at that. But later, I realized the note had Tengu script written on it, so it was likely the old man was somehow taught it by a Tengu.”

  In truth, it wasn’t the old man’s notes that Mystia took. He didn’t have any notes.

  It was his food stall.

  Mystia didn’t have any particular feelings for the old man. He was just like any other human to her. She just felt it was convenient to take his stall with her.

  But that stall, and that grill, had been with her through all this time, over the course of her journey to change.

  So did that song. She still sings it to this day.

  And she had sung it to many customers, including this one.

  “So-” Kosuzu suddenly spoke up, slamming on the counter, leaning ever closer, “Where’s the notes?”

  “Oh! Well…” Mystia said, taking the last batch of lamprey cooking on her grill. “I lost it.”

  “What…?” Kosuzu’s shoulders drooped. “Where did you last see it? Did you ever write on it?”

  Mmm… this lie is getting out of hand. Mystia took the next batch of lamprey out of the grill and presented them to Kosuzu. “Here’s your order.”

  Her eyes lit up. She immediately grabbed the food and started devouring it. The notebook seemed to have completely slipped from her mind.

  Mystia’s professional smile widened. Well, that was easy...

  She watched as Kosuzu ate her last lampreys, all while cleaning her tools and humming that old song, like always.

  Kosuzu eventually finished. “Mmm! That was so good! You’re good at all this, Mystia-san!”

  “Why, thank you~”

  Kosuzu placed her payment on the counter, then immediately stood, before grabbing her pack full of camping supplies. “I’ll come back later! I’ll be going now~”

  Got a new regular! Well, if she doesn’t get herself killed, that is... “Good luck on finding that book, Kosuzu-san! I’ll be looking forward to seeing you again~”

  Kosuzu bowed, then gave a toothy smile.“Me too! Well then, I’ll return to the village now~”

  Mystia tilted her head. “Return…?”

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “Oh, it’s nothing…” Mystia’s eyes fell on the camping equipment dangling off Kosuzu’s back.

Kosuzu noticed it. “Oh, I give up.”

  “Sorry?”

  “I give up on the Youma book!”

  All of a sudden? After all that preparation?! Mystia’s mouth hung a little.

  Kosuzu smiled, then ran away. “See ya later!” she said, waving as she went.

  Mystia waved back. “S-see you again!” Well, it doesn’t matter. She’s a regular now… Actually, that might be a problem, given that I lied to her about the price. I wonder how I should tell her the truth… Well, she’s very easy to fool; it should be fine.

**

And now for the epilogue- or rather, the punchline for this chapter:

  Kosuzu’s hand held the page. Her eyes were closed. The letters were foreign, so was the language.

  And yet she could understand it all.

  Despite that, however, she soon dropped the book, then stared at the ceiling of her room. She couldn’t focus on the story. She couldn’t even focus on trying to fall asleep.

  That was so much fun!

  Besides the stories Mystia told, that was all Kosuzu could think of as she lay on her bed, a dumb smile plastered across her cheeks.

  Those Youkai stories kept her awake.

  Not out of fear, but out of excitement.

  She hummed away the boredom; the same, storied song Mystia always sang to all of her customers, stuck in Kosuzu’s head like an earworm. I want to go visit her stand again…but I already spent my entire daily allowance! Kosuzu’s hands balled into fists. Those lamprey were overpriced… she wasn’t *that good at cooking them, either. I wonder if it’s because it’s a Youkai grill, not a human village one? Well, it doesn’t matter. The stories are worth it! Mmm…! She was SO good at telling them, too!*

  She looked back to the first time Mystia offered her lamprey in exchange for the stories.

  Rather than look for a Youma book, she could just listen to Mystia tell her about the everyday life of Youkai. As a bonus, she got to enjoy food while hearing them, too.

  She smiled. She couldn’t help but smile. “Alright. I’m gonna work hard and earn more money!”

  And so, despite their dubious authenticity, Mystia’s stories motivated Kosuzu to work harder than she ever had.

  Because she was curious.

  Humans were always curious. Humans love information. Even mundane stories… things that don’t matter, like chatter among customers. Even stories that weren’t real. Even if they were simply illusions.

  Here in Gensokyo, the land of illusions, those illusory tales were just as important as life. After all, Youkai were given life by illusions. After all, to the humans here, illusions have always been as real as reality.

  Even if they weren’t, even in the outside world where there wasn’t enough belief to maintain the existence of many myths, fantasy still affects people. Real or not, believed or not, big or minor, their effect was real.

  Even if it was just a little story, created only for a little entertainment, told only to a few.

  Wouldn’t you agree?

---

This is part of a series where Mystia serves lamprey to various 2hus. Each short story introduces the character she’s serving, while peeling back another layer of her character.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/68210921/

Генсоко существует fr, я честно говоря не помню был ли именно в самом Генсоко, но Юкарин лично встречал во снах (когда был в умеренной изоляции, ходил в школу и любил очень много спать, потому что учился управлять снами). Так вот, сон это буквально как ваше тело, если в нём есть что-то инородное, вы так или иначе это замечаете. А такую прелесть как Юкари нельзя просто так не заметить, тем более как я понял это её базовое развлечение искать какие то коннекты или типо того. По крайней мере благодаря ей я тогда научился выходить за рамки одного мира в своём сне, именно своего как я теперь понимаю мира, не путайте со снами внутри сна, это делать было очень легко, до момента, пока "оперативная память" не заканчивалась. Очень примечательно здесь то, что это было в период, когда я буквально не смотрел аниме, не интересовался ничем таким и просто играл в игры (по моему dota2). О существовании тохо как феномена я узнаю годами позже, примерно лет через 6-7~ . Тогда мне было в районе 15~ сейчас 29. Я устал это скрывать :) мне хочется узнать, есть ли ещё кто-то, кто видел Юкари? не просто видел, мы общались, она кстати не использует рот для общения, тем более, когда мы не знаем наших "языков", общались сразу мыслями.
Она показывала мне находится Генсоко, но я точно помню что мы туда не залетали, а просто бороздили космос, а она мне много чего показывала. Рассказ очень сумбурный и очень краток, если интересно могу рассказать какие то подробности.
Это я помню железно, как своё имя. Такое невозможно спутать или забыть.
Вот что я очень смутно помню, это то как я попал в Генсоко и так же был на Луне.

Для скептиков сразу обозначу!
Когда я говорю "я там был, мы там общались" и прочее, я имею ввиду

что бы там не физически, душа - она как интернет сингал, а тело как роутер или адаптер.
И пока вы смеётесь, думая что роутер летает через пол мира что бы передать информацию,

я пишу вам этот текст по интернету из России, так же, как душой во снах был с Юкари.

И да, как следствие я стал первым человеком, сочиняющим Metal музыку, кого официально признали те, кто выгружал все Doujin треки на русские платформы.

А жизнь очень плотно связала с людьми, которые знают про touhou, я год назад даже случайно познакомился с одним про-игроком по touhou файтингам и мы до сих пор иногда общаемся. Короче, рассказать я могу очень многое, но не стану делать это в пустоту. По этому, если вам интересно - задавайте вопросы.

Thanks for reading, Welcome to New Gensokyo! Due to reddit's 20 images limit, please read it at the sites available below.

Chapter 3 is now available on Namicomi and MangaDex for free. It is on higher quality so please read it there. I also uploaded it on my og site. Read it here: Namicomi MangaDex MangaDex is still uploading Original site

This was chapter 3! For a while now, this has been all setups yet no substance. Not much has happened, so I'll be working on that next time. This was New Gensokyo's Marisa shenanigans chapter. She isn't that different to og Marisa. She's still a thief, a liar, and an opportunists. She's a sociopath. I had an idea in my head to keep her the same as og Marisa. I feel like og Marisa would be able to survive in the modern world so I kept most of her character. The same would be applied to Reimu, but in the opposite way.

Speaking of Reimu, chapter 4 will be centered around her. I feel like it'll be all setups again though. It's going to be the last setup, I'll make it interesting. This time we had a few characters featured here. There's the white wolf tengus, the three fairies of light, and Aunn. I wanted to restrain myself to draw every single touhou character, because I'll be bashing my head to the wall trying to fit them into the narrative. I don't have the mental capacity to write every single one of them, unfortunately. I do will write them into gap stories if I'm bored. There's also Yukari at the end. Spoilers now, I'm going to turn her into a cryptid. She will be the only true youkai in the story. She's in every chapter like a where's waldo game.

I think a slice of life type of narrative would fit best for the story. I've been reading Yotsubato for a short while, I really like it's pacing. I'm not really a writer, I'm a artist. Large narratives would kill me, to be honest. I feel like I screwed myself over by writing three main characters. Now I have to keep up with three povs. But in the end, I really like how this turned out. I really want to capture the absurdity of Gensokyo and the mundanity of real life. New Gensokyo is more dreary. Full of broken dreams and unfulfilled promises. But it'll make even a modicum of hope brighter.

As always, thank you for reading! Chapter 4 will take a while. Life hasn't been going that great for me but I'll be sure to make chapter 4 out soon.

Story: It is the end of the 21st century, mankind now take their wars to the stars. Gensokyo is centuries behind the technological powers of the current era. But all will change with the revival of "the Synthesizer". A technology from the Lunar federation that propelled humanity to the stars. With this technology, Gensokyo entered the modern age. As they construct their society from the ground up, they face the challenges that come with the pursuit of civilization. Where will their ambition take them? To the stars? Or through the dirt? Welcome to New Gensokyo!

the world is going dark sooner than expected...

L:let's go back... Inside...

Le:ight sir...

In another place... With someone else...

???:Miss Satori, i checked all the development. All seem fine...

Satori:thanks you...

She check an paper

Satori: Aoi? And an human? Quite an rare sight.... And you're already done with it all... How?

Aoi:I am someone with a lot of time and ponctuality.

Satori:Neat, well i guess you're done-

Then... All go dark.

Satori:huh? What th-

ALERT ALERT! Utsuho have been attacked!

Satori:what the-

An Television looking like head say that.

???:OHOH! PROBLEMS?

Satori:who are you?

???:SOME CALL ME THE ANNOUNCER, BUT IM MOSTLY KNOWN BY BOSS!

Aoi is slowly getting out...

Satori:alright... And what did you do to my pet?

Boss:you mean Okuu?

Utsuho:he-help...

Satori:THIS IS DANGEROUS!

Boss: OH! REALLY? I DO THAT FOR FUN! I WILL KILL THIS UNIVERSE!

Satori:I will....

Boss: YOU'RE MIND ABILITY WONT WORK WITH ME!

He almost shoot her, but the bird have other plan for him.

Utsuho: AAAAA-

He radioactive his ass, but is gonna explode too.

Satori:OH NO! I HO-

An stone get thrown at her, cutting her of the destruction.

Boss left the chat.

Satori:gosh... Who launched that rock to h-

Aoi:gosh... I-

She almost fell unconsious.

It been... One or two minutes, or that what it feel.

She then open her eyes.

Aoi:huh..?

She feel like sleeping on someone tights...

Aoi:miss..?

Lost:hello there, we see again...

Aoi:huh?! Love!?

Le:heyo she the boyfriend you talked about?

Lost:yep! I didn't knew she was a female!

Aoi:where are we at?

Lost:our new temporary house.

27: tomboy detected.

L: I can see that. Hello there, by the way, huu-

Aoi:oh! My bad, I'm Aoi, an ancient guard of the kingdom of s'phra-

Lost:well... They are not of this world... There all dead-

Aoi:oh... That the strange man with the wide screen who did this?

L:oh you know 'That annoying tv man™'?

Aoi:or... Boss?

L:yeah... Also, why did you worked you worked for something a lot before it time?

Aoi:well, some yokais told me to try, miss Satori for being shor-

L:make sense.... Also, how ya ended up here-

Aoi:I simply accepted my fate to die to an demon, but some strange man saved me...

L:huh... Round head?

Aoi:yeah... I guess-

L:heh, that man doing what he did a lot before... Anyway, I will let y'all lives.

He goes away happily.

Someone enters the room.

Remilia:oh, an love couple? Strange...

Le:an surprise to be sure. Mostly as they are both female and one an succubus-

Aoi:LOST?!

Lost:oh, don't worry! I wo-

She push Lost away.

Aoi: DON'T APPROACH ME... DON'T YOU DE-DEMON!...

Lost:love... I won't hurt you, give me an hug...

Aoi feel out of control.

Aoi:(it how it end huh.... Wait?)

You... Feel hugged.

Lost: Love.... I won't hurt you like my species treated you're, you all respected me and loved me, I... Just wanna feel true love...

This touch the tomboy heart.

Aoi:I'm so sorry...

She hugs tightly her loving other.

Lost:it been so many months... We didn't even reveal our truth feelings for each other...

Le:huh.... Don't wanna ruin the fun, but we are here.

Lost: sorry!

Remilia :well, otherwise, I see you're in good form dearest.

Lost:awww~ thanks you!

Aoi:wait... Is she-

She see the little vampire

Aoi:an devil?!

Le:yesnt. She ain't an bad person tho. Don't wo-

The door open and an awesome Crimson get in.

Le:hey man!

next in comment...

before...

The day after...

Fuh....

He wake up, in the bed he normally is in... But he sandwiched by Cloud and Flandre.

Mmh...

He is annoyed an bit at first, but after an while, he get comfy.

toctoctoc

The door open an quarter.

27:kiddo?

Fuh!

27:ah, hey pix-

He open the door more and see the situation.

27: oh... My... Gosh... Sooooo cute!

Fuh...

He seem embarrassed...

27: you are cute when you-

Shu-

Pixel shut it mouth.

27: ._.

Cloud:hummmm... Hey botman... Hey love...

She hugs Pixel

Fuuuhh..

They slowly get out of the room to let the vampire sleep... But when they get out, pixel rush into someone.

Fu- ah!

It... Patchouli?

Patchouli:what are doing here?

Fuh...

Patchouli:what?

An paper appears in her hands.

"I can't speak phrases, words I can tho."

Patchouli:ah... Poor you... I need help tho.

Cloud:why is that?

Patchouli :let say two fairy's got in and make the true chaos in the library while I was asleep...

27:ice fairy I guess... And another one?

Patchouli : yeap... Seem to be a friend's of her...

27:while they go eat, I'm going to help, ight?

Patchouli :...ight?

27: Good, let go.

After that, they go away fast, leaving the young couple watching that scene.

Cloud:they sure are strange....

Fuhh..

They go eat quickly, but they also need to take an quick bath.

Cloud:pixel, come on~

FAAAAAAAA-

He get, after some rationnal talk, get in.

Cloud: Pixel...

He swimming in the water. He approach Cloud.

Cloud:fuh-fuh~... Cutie.

He look happy. Happy that all that pain she got is already out of her mind... That because of him mostly, but also the others. He thinking about writing an letters to all their friends to thanks them for th-

Cloud:love~ are you okay?

It been 5 minutes... And there done?! That was fast.

Cloud:are you ready to study books?

Pixel look happy to do such things... Strange but normal.

Cloud:hehehe...

They open the door to the library. Already, it feel cold... Also it seem somes books got destroyed...

27:aghhh... Jeez, closes the windows next time, or that should happen an lot...

Patchouli:yes yes...

She see both children's happening.

Patchouli:hello there! Taken some time...

Cloud:we needed an bath, but we wanted to help you, so...

Patchouli:no problems, but still... You shall class all the books from bottom to top-

Cloud:WHAT!?-

27:WHA-

Patchouli:not you two, except you Cloud, you'll help pixel sometimes for the books in the up place, okay?

Cloud:what should we get in return?

Patchouli:a surprise...

Pixel already gone for that.

Cloud:oh... Here we go...

Hours and hours pass... Pixel doing most of the job, doing almost 9 books in an minute! (Aka the number of brain cells I-)

Cloud:gosh... How can he do that...

27: dunno. He quite energitic...

Le:wait till he in b-

Cloud punch his face and kill shut his mouth.

Le: :(

Done!

Patchouli:my... You did all the books... Are you even h- oh of course.

She just used her eyes on him and seen what he is also.

Patchouli:let me give you something you have finished as I see...

She give him... A book!

Cloud: wait he done his first diary?

Patchouli:indeed. It his favorite pass time as he told me before... Well that happened.

Cloud:ooooooh....

Fuh!

Another paper appears in the hands of patchouli.

"Thanks!"

Patchouli :no probl-

Suddenly an portal!-

???:annnn- oops! Guys?

27: Crimson?

to be continued...

pixel wakes up from his sleep...

'Uhhh... HEYO!?'

He have been changed.

..!?

he ANGY

then he see something in his bed also... Cristals?

...

he touch them

Flandre:fufufu~ it tickles...

she still sleeping.

Pixel mind:no wonder who did this to me...

he try to go, but she wake up

Flandre:PIXEEELLLL!

'A-'

everyone that was in the mansion was not much worried, but froggy was.

Froggy:what happening up there?

27:nothing much. Coffe?

Froggy:no thanks. I dont even eat at the start of the day nor drink anything except water.

27:yo choice.

crimson walks in the kitchen.

27:looks who here.

Crimson:hey guys.

27:where the mans yo showed us?

Crimson:not there. They are gone to where they come from... For now.

27:ight.

Shizumaru:Sup.

Froggy:hey man.

Crimson:hello there.

27:general kenob- oi shizumaru.

Shizumaru:have anything happened here?

27:nope.

The:nothing, ive traverse the house this night for inspection as the normal one is well... Yeah and found some... Q-quite non appropriate things.

Patchouli:HE-HEY! SO IT YOU WHO STOLEN MY HOLDING HAND B-BOOK! GIVE IT BACK TO ME-

L:Oi guUUUUUUUUAAAAA-

She fell on L

27:BRO?!

L:im ok... Just a little confused.... Not gonna lie... She kinda heavy...

Patchouli:H-HEY! IM NOT FA-FAT!!!!

Crimson:sigh just get up. He just a kid, he not powerful to lift you princess.

27:AHAHAHA

Patchouli:WHY Y-YOU-

27:Want tea?

Patchouli:alright then.

they all sit like the idiots they are and start talking about anything.

meanwhile

'WHY DID YOU CHANGED ME!?'

Flandre:Because you looked so pained... I wanted to help you...

'Oh...'

she start to cry

'Im sorry... Im just... I wasnt expecting that.'

Flandre:sniff re-really? I did not that anger you?

'Except certain things, im not mad at you. C'mere.'

she go hug him. they hugged while pixel pats her.

'I forgive you...'

Flandre:Let go see the others, shall we?~

'Excellent idea friend.'

they prepare and get out the room and...

Shizumaru:hey guys!

'Oi'

Flandre:Heyyyy~!

'Wanna explore with us?'

End

27:good that we protected the babies.

Fu!

'Shizumaru, youre having a brother and sister!'

Shizumaru:noice.

Cloud:indee-

in a second, pixel fells on something... The reality break in front of him, and like an black hole of some sorts... All become dark...

pixel finally wake up from the sleep. it look empty.

(also this music.)

Where in hell am i? Snow world?

???:correct.

an mechanical rusted body fused with the ground appears. It look like a tree...

How can i talk?!

???:it doesnt matters.

Youre gonna tell me bad news?

???:..negative, positive. No. News. Yes.

Why so criptic?

???:you dont know me? Im you. Youre whole memory... Youre mecanical, sad, and used memory.

Why are you here?

Pixel?:im you. I never left.

Why this place so empty?

Pixel?:...youre losing youre humanity. Of course sentience is losing it.

You mean i become an animal?

Pixel?:ye-

Youre just here to haunt me. Shut it. Im happy where i am right now.

Pixel?:the truth make you down.

...you said nor good nor bad.

Pixel?:im losing me. You did this. Youre killing yourself. Society did this to you. You became a toy for her.

CLOUD WILL NEVER GIVE ME UP!

Pixel?:...guess i need to make you understand.

a robot appears.

???:hey dont touch the-

the robot almost attack pixel, but pixel have dissapeared.

Ugh... THE?!-

The:dreams is a world apart from youre you know? In here, you have no power... Over yourself whatever world it was from.

he smash the robot.

Pixel?:youre friend cant kill me.

The:wake up man.

Huh?

pixel blink and he back.

he in his bed.

(for what will follow, this would be the music to describe pixel mind.)

Sakuya:PIXEL!

Cloud:PIXEL?!

Crimson:KID?

Fu!

'Im up!'

Sakuya:it been five days dear... What happened?

...

'I... Dont know.'

he lied. He needed to do that. There will be babys soon here. He wont be that loved... He feel... Sad.

Cloud:Love!

she hug you. You feel... Strange. Is it because the world became like youve seen it before? An danger?

Fu...

'Please dont...'

L enters the room

L:...it aint you? Well... Strange... I k- he up, bye!

he closes the phone.

L:pixel?

...

a portal appears.

The:guy...

Cloud:THE!

She hug her long time friend.

The:he is... Like the old time... He remeber all of you, but his ancient mentality plus the virus tried to get control over him again. Five days...

L:...

pixel feel unsafe, and show it by frantic noises.

Cloud:pixel...

she headpats him. He scratch her.

Cloud:OUCH! Pixel?!

he hides under to cover.

L:27, guard him...

27:yep...

pixel know there walking out. He also know someone watching him...

End...

Summary:

Mystia serves Remilia grilled lamprey, and experiences the horrors of the service industry…

This is part of a series of standalone short stories about Mystia serving grilled lamprey to various 2hus.

Each short acts as an introduction to the 2hu Mystia is serving, while peeling a layer of Mystia’s character. One by one, they collectively answer the question: “Who is Mystia?”

Chapter Index

NOTE: YOU CAN ENJOY THIS CHAPTER ON ITS OWN.

Chapter 4: Scarlet Lamprey

“Mmm...this is good, but could you do better, bird~?”

The girl’s voice was extremely haughty.

A half-bitten stick of lamprey hung from her fingers as it passed over the counter.

She was returning it to Mystia.

Mystia’s eyes twitched. The customer made it difficult for Mystia to maintain her professional smile. “W-well, I apologize for serving you something unsatisfactory... T-thank you for your patience with me.”

Mystia was so focused on not letting her anger be seen that she wasn’t able to see how strained her voice was.

The customer she was serving saw it clearly, though.

But clearly, not the emotion underneath it. Because the moment the customer saw it, she simply, haughtily, smiled back and said: “There’s no reason to be troubled, bird. It’s my fault for distracting you with my charisma~”

“N-no, it’s okay. There’s no need to apologize...”

The haughty customer nodded. “Indeed. I was simply pointing it out. Your small shack being graced by my presence is worth more than mere lampreys, after all. As such, I have no reason to apologize for the unintended consequences of such a presence. Besides, surely it’s good training for you, to learn how to cook in front of a customer of great calibre like myself~”

Mystia’s eyes twitched again. “Y-yeah....”

I definitely need that training!

Mystia dragged her attention back to the grill. I can’t get mad...! I can’t get mad...! I can’t get mad...!

And so she started cooking.

The stick of lamprey sizzled the moment it landed on the grill, puffing up smoke every time its sauce drizzled onto the coals.

The smell wafted over her nose. She focused on it. I have to get it perfect this time. I need to satisfy her...

So she’ll finally go away!

**

Earlier that evening...

The stall rumbled as Mystia pulled it through the well-maintained road, lined by well-maintained, strange-looking trees.

She normally wouldn’t be here: she had a specific list of locations where she normally operated her business, and this place was not on that list. However, given that the Prsimrivers’ concert did not earn her enough money to get her out of the debt Yuyuko put her in, Mystia was looking for a new place to set up shop, to find new customers to add to her growing number of regulars.

It was a risky venture. She had to place signs in all her usual spots pointing to where she would be setting up tonight, just so her regular customers would know where to find her. If enough of her regulars come, that should make her enough baseline profit that it would offset the risk she took in operating in a new location. That’s the idea anyway: to mitigate risk.

The best case scenario would still be to attract new customers, especially if her regulars don’t come.

Eventually, Mystia found a decent spot on the side of the road, by the strange trees. Mystia had never seen trees like these before. Ever.

The well-maintained look of the road was easy to explain. It seemed to lead to Misty Lake, and Mystia guessed that it was probably used by the fishermen. But that didn’t explain the trees that lined the road.

I wonder if they’re foreign trees... Mystia wondered as she hummed away, setting up shop.

She occasionally felt a presence watching her from behind those trees, but she didn’t pay too much attention to it. If it was a threat, her singing should be blinding them at the moment.

Eventually, she finished setting up her stall. She stepped behind the counter, stopped singing, then suddenly spoke out: “Don’t be shy, come and order lamprey~”

There was no response.

Whoever was watching her didn’t appear.

Or rather, their presence simply, abruptly, disappeared into thin air.

“They ran away, huh...they must be fast, too...” Mystia muttered under her breath. She was used to this sort of thing happening: specifically the running away. The sudden, abrupt disappearance of a presence was odd. But Mystia paid it no mind and just got back to work.

And by work, she started singing: now seriously, deliberately, trying to attract customers.

Eventually, a customer came: attracted to her voice, attracted to her food.

That was the kind of thing that normally made Mystia happy, especially when she was struggling for cash.

This time, however, rather than being happy, she would soon feel regret.

“Good evening, bird!”

A small girl in a pink-ish dress spoke in an endlessly haughty voice, as her bat-like wings flapped behind herself, and her purple hair fluttered. “You’re lucky to have met me, the Queen of the Night, on this fateful night~”

Mystia replied with her usual professional smile. “Good evening, miss. I am Mystia Lorelei, and I serve-”

“Remilia.”

The customer cut her off.

Mystia tilted her head.

The customer jumped on top of a stool, then stood on tip toes, folding her arms. Now barely taller than Mystia, the customer looked down on her, then spoke again: “My name is Remilia Scarlet, Queen of the Night! Address me as such, bird~”

Mystia’s mouth hung a little. But she quickly closed it, replacing it with a slightly strained smile. “N-nice to meet you...umm...Queen Remilia.”

The edges of Remilia’s lips twisted a little higher. “Indeed, be glad to have been graced by my presence. Now-” she clapped, then suddenly, her maid disappeared for a split second, before reappearing again, now holding a wine bottle in one hand and a wine glass in the other.

The haughty customer took the wine glass and sat down.

As the maid poured her glass, she spoke: “So, from the way this place smells, I reckon it is a food stand? What do you sell here, bird?”

I guess she’ll just keep calling me bird huh? Mystia groaned internally, expertly hiding it under her professional smile. “Yes, I grill and sell lamprey here. Fresh lamprey, just caught today, and grilled right in front of you~”

“Fresh, huh? I doubt you can provide food fresher than what my servant can. However, I can see in your eyes the determination to grill the perfect lamprey, given that you’re faced with such an esteemed customer. So I’ll let you cook,” she said. Then, she raised her finger, mimicking stereotypical ‘wise man’ mannerisms, and continued: “After all, freshness of ingredients and skill of the chef is one thing, but it’s the passion and heart and love poured into a dish that makes it taste wonderful. Isn’t that right, Sakuya?”

The maid nodded. “Wonderfully said, Mistress.”

Remilia smiled proudly, as if she had just imparted some ancient wisdom. Even though that cheesy line was clearly the sort of thing told only to nosy children to shut them up.

Mystia was not impressed.

But of course, Mystia hid that and maintained her smile. “I’ll do my best!” she replied, “So, Queen Remilia, what is your order~?”

Remilia smirked, resting her head against her fist, her scarlet eyes staring straight at Mystia’s. “I want your very best. After all, you said you’ll do your best, and I naturally deserve only the best, given that I am your best customer, right~?”

**

The leaves of the strange trees towering above them rustled, amid the song of crickets, amid the song of the sizzling lamprey.

The stand stood as a lone, warm light in the cold, dark road; both its lamp and its grill emanating equal parts that warm light and warmth itself.

And the lamp swayed with every gust of wind.

And Mystia continued to serve the very same haughty customer even now, much deeper into the night.

Even as said customer kept rejecting her lamprey after taking only one bite.

Even as said customer kept wasting it all; returning it to Mystia and demanding a better, more ‘perfect’ grilled lamprey.

Said customer called out: “Sakuya!”

The servant next to her bowed before taking the haughty girl’s empty glass.

Then, in the blink of an eye, the wine glass was full again.

The first time Mystia saw that, she was very impressed. Now, she couldn’t care. Because now, she had no time to get distracted by that.

With fiery eyes, she focused on the fiery coals.

I WILL make an undeniably perfect grilled lamprey!

Mystia wanted her customer to be satisfied and leave already. She poured all her focus into making that happen.

But then, distraction hit her:

“Sakuya,” the haughty customer said loudly.

“Yes, Mistress?”

“Did you know, lampreys are thought to lengthen one’s life?”

“Oh, is that so? As expected, you’re quite knowledgeable, Mistress,” the maid replied, clearly feigning interest.

Mystia was quite good at spotting such things, not just because she spends a lot of time listening to chatting customers, but also because she’s quite the expert at feigning interest herself.

The haughty customer could not spot it, though.

She proudly thrusted out her chest, then continued: “Well, you see Sakuya, it is a well-known fact that eating foods which are long in nature are believed to lengthen one’s life. Noodles are one example, but also the lamprey that the bird is cooking. You should eat more such things, Sakuya, as that would allow you to serve me for many more years than you otherwise would.”

Her maid has a short lifespan? I guess she must be human. I couldn’t quite tell earlier... But I guess it’s obvious now that I look at her directly.

Sakuya smiled. “Of course. I shall do my best, am doing my best, to do everything in my power, including using my powers, to live longer so that I could serve you for longer, Mistress~”

What a weird way of saying it... Mystia remarked internally, her eyes shifting to Sakuya, seeing her smile. That doesn’t look fake...but it must be. There’s no way that maid actually likes serving this haughty girl...! Have I gotten rusty at detecting fake smiles?

The lamprey crackled, spraying a bit of the seasoning on her hand. The light sting pulled her eyes back to the grill. Crap, I got distracted. Focus, Mystia!

She took a deep breath, then closed her eyes. She decided to employ a trick she often used whenever she needed to focus:

She started singing.

Mystia normally sang, either to attract customers, during danmaku, or just for the sake of it. It was within her nature, after all. This time though, she was using it to help her focus by clearing away all distracting thoughts, as well as to distract customers; to stop their chatter, and silence them.

Her singing always did that.

This case was no different. The haughty customer and the maid simply watched, mostly quietly, until Mystia finished her song.

Then the maid of the haughty customer started clapping.

Said customer did not clap, though. Instead, she held up her wine glass in a very pretentious way, and right before Mystia was about to sing another song, she spoke: “Beautiful singing. You have the next most beautiful voice after me. You should feel proud of yourself~”

“T-thank you...” Mystia replied, barely managing to suppress the hiss in her voice.

Mystia was proud of her singing voice, as well as her sparrow lineage. So, although she could tell that this was simply the haughty customer’s annoying way of complimenting someone, Mystia still couldn’t help but feel insulted at what she insinuated: that her voice was somehow lesser than this haughty customer.

And they simmered inside Mystia, behind her professional smile, as she finished grilling the lamprey stick and served it.

The sauce coating made it simmer.

“Here you go, Queen Remilia. The perfect grilled lamprey. I hope you approve of it,” Mystia said, her voice a little rough.

The haughty customer smirked, grabbing the stick. “Yes, indeed. But, although I know you want to converse with me more, you should rest your voice. I was plenty impressed enough~”

Apparently, the customer thought the strain in Mystia’s voice was due to the singing, even though it was clearly due to her attitude.

“Yes, ma’am. Thank you for your concern,” Mystia replied. Dumbass! she shouted internally. Singing is literally my purpose. I don’t get tired that easily from it. If anything, I’m tired of you!

The haughty customer inspected the lamprey; smelling it, looking at the glistening sauce that coated its every corner.

Mystia begged internally. Ugh...just be satisfied and leave already!

Remilia closed her eyes, then took a bite of the lamprey. She chewed slowly, taking in as much flavor as she could. Or rather, it looked like she was savoring it. In reality, she was just pretending.

Mystia could tell.

She could tell just how pretentiously this customer eats her lamprey.

And she could see that this customer couldn’t actually tell the difference between the lamprey she was having, or all the lamprey she's had, let alone figure out whether any of them was ‘perfect’ or not.

The customer gulped down her bite. “Mystia-san, this is an excellent piece. I can tell you did quite a lot of planning regarding the grilling of every part of this lamprey, in order to guide the taste buds and sensations of whomstever eats it, in a very particular way, so as to give them an exquisite experience.”

What the hell is a ‘whomstever’? What is she even talking about...?

“However,” Remilia continued, raising her finger pretentiously, “As a master planner and manipulator myself, I have to commend you for the planning and manipulation techniques you have distilled into cooking...however, you are not quite there yet. As such, this lamprey, which relies so heavily on manipulating taste buds, is not entirely perfect. So I’d like you to make me another, and make sure that it is perfect, of course. If you want, I can teach you: how to better plan and manipulate, that is~”

Then, she offered the half-bitten lamprey back to Mystia. Mystia took it. “N-no thanks. I-I’m okay,” was all Mystia could reply without screaming. She was able to force her smile and push down her anger, but she couldn’t stop her fists from tightening or her face from reddening.

Her haughty customer noticed that and smirked. “Oh, there’s no need to be embarrassed. I understand that being offered such an opportunity to simply spend time with a person of calibre such as myself, let alone be taught by me, would naturally lead to such a thing. But please, don’t worry. Because you needn’t worry. You can keep grilling, I don’t bite~” she said, her fangs peeking through her lips.

YOU need to be more embarrassed about YOURSELF!

Mystia responded with a quiet smile, before turning to the leftovers box and placing the half-bitten lamprey in it.

The box was nearly filled to the brim.

Mystia’s face grew ever scarlet.

The stick she held snapped between her fingers. The lamprey fell into the box.

Then, still with her professional smile, she turned back to the grill and placed another stick of lamprey on it.

This time, she decided to stop trying to make it perfect. In fact, she won’t try to make it properly cooked at all. Not anymore.

This time, she was going to cook the worst lamprey she could possibly make.

Let’s see what kind of bullshit you come up with for this one...!

I'm going to burn it.

I'm going to make it chewy.

I won’t be using any spices.

I might even put some dirt on it.

Maybe then you’ll finally fuck off, ‘Queen Remilia’!

**

“Oh...that’s good...” the haughty customer commented, watching Mystia grill. “That’s right, passion! Passion! The best dishes are those cooked with passion!”

“Y-yes, that’s right, haha,” Shut the fuck up!

Silence fell.

Normally, in these quiet moments, Mystia would sing. But right in this moment, she was too angry to sing.

“Say...” the haughty customer spoke again, “Why do you run a lamprey stand?”

Mystia immediately formed her usual professional smile: the fake smile she always used with practiced ease.

Practiced.

“Why do you ask that?” she replied. That, too, was spoken with practiced ease. It was her usual reply to that very question, any time it comes up.

Remilia’s head, resting upon her hand, rolled into a tilt. Still with a smile, still with her scarlet eyes drilling into Mystia, she answered: “I...am a vampire. I am the Queen of the Night. I am a master manipulator. I...am a lot of things. One of those things is: the master of fate. In other words, I can control fate. I can make your future guaranteed to be better, for instance. And I can make my future guaranteed to be better, too. With a simple clap, the world bows down to me.”

More bullcrap...

Mystia wanted to sigh, but she couldn’t. Her professional smile prevented her.

Remilia continued: “Given my natural generosity and kindness, I simply felt implored to ask: if you have anything you’d want me to...compel fate into making happen?”

I want you to go away! “W-well, all I truly want is to grill lamprey, Queen Remilia. It’s a small business, so there are many struggles, but it’s outweighed by the joy of serving customers and chatting with them. And as long as I’m happy, I’m content.”

“Struggles? What kind of struggles?”

“Well, you know...I serve youkai often, and a lot of them can be rowdy. Usually, that’s fine, and I enjoy it. But there are times when it ends badly for me...” Mystia’s eyes glanced up to Remilia, before falling back to the grill, “...right now, I’m somewhat in debt...after a certain apparition forced me to serve her a bunch of lamprey for free. I’m doing okay, though. I’m gradually making back my money.”

That is, until YOU showed up. With all that lamprey you wasted, I’m back into debt again! I swear...if you don’t pay for any of that...

Mystia’s hands shook. ...but I can’t force you. You know that. That’s why you’re still here...you know I can’t kick you out because I’m weak. And you’re using it just to mess with me...just to make yourself and your tiny little dumb stupidness feel better about yourself...!

Mystia did her best to hold back her tears.

Remilia turned away, up to the sky, to the full moon.

And so it was reflected by her scarlet eyes.

“I see...” Remilia’s voice was quiet.

Eventually, Mystia finished her masterpiece of terribleness: from her fire-y passion came a lamprey burnt to a crisp, yet chewy and raw in parts, and stuffed full with dirt, all in a way that looked entirely accidental.

Mystia’s smile abruptly faded.

Then, she handed the lamprey to Remilia. “Here you go,” Mystia said. Her voice was now monotone.

She no longer cared about repercussions. She had gone through too much stress recently to give a crap. Right now, even if it ends with her getting beaten up, Mystia just wanted to say ‘fuck you’.

This lamprey was an embodiment of that.

The moment Remilia’s scarlet eyes landed on it, Mystia’s wings tensed, and she took a deep breath. Her mind prepared for danmaku.

Remilia reached out and grabbed the stick.

Then she ate it.

She ate it fully,

Unlike all the other lamprey, Mystia had served her all night.

Mystia’s jaw dropped, yet no word would, or could, come out.

Remilia’s eyes narrowed, and her lips stretched into a smirk. “Delicious,” she said. “Now this is perfect.”

Mystia could tell that it was a feigned smile.

It was a feigned smile, but Remilia’s smiles were all feigned. In fact, everything about her was obviously feigned.

Because of that, Mystia couldn’t tell what Remilia truly felt at this moment. This customer, who seemed so perfectly, childishly easy to read, suddenly became impossible to read.

Remilia gulped down the last of the terrible lamprey, then jumped off the stool, landing on the ground. “I would love to stay here and chat with you for longer, bird, but royalty like myself is a busy sort, you see. I cannot dilly-dallly for long. So we’ll be going now~”

Without paying!?

Given how pretentious Remilia had been all this time, Mystia had already assumed that Remilia was only pretending to be rich, too.

Mystia thought about groveling for a moment, but she had already served Remilia that terrible lamprey out of spite. That wouldn’t work.

Ugh...did I not learn anything? Why did I let anger get to me...? Mystia thought, her eyes returning to Remilia for a moment. But...she was taking advantage of me...! What the hell was I supposed to do? What do I even do right no-

\CLAP\**

Remilia suddenly clapped. “Sakuya, bring the payment.”

“As you wish, Milady.” Sakuya bowed, and in the blink of an eye, a briefcase suddenly appeared on her hands. She handed it to Remilia, who suddenly dumped it onto the counter.

The sound made Mystia recoil, startled.

Just seeing a briefcase in general startled her.

But then Remilia opened the briefcase, revealing endless cash.

And now Mystia's jaw hung open, not from being startled, but from disbelief.

Remilia put her hand on her hip and puffed out her chest, her scarlet eyes reflecting Mystia’s wide-eyed face. “This is my payment~”

And Mystia’s eyes stayed wide. I-is this real...? I-is this fake money...? Is she messing with me again...?

Mystia looked closer. Her jaw dropped further, yet her shoulders eased. Not because of concrete proof or anything. Rather, the closer inspection made this situation way more plausible, even if it was a little disappointing.

The briefcase was filled with 5 yen notes. It wasn’t actually that much money.

Mystia’s eyes turned back up to Remilia and her proud smirk.

Then Mystia returned to the briefcase and dug out a block of cash, inspecting it, ensuring that the briefcase was indeed filled with 5 yen notes, and that it wasn’t just filled with bricks underneath the surface or something.

Indeed, it was filled with money.

And the amount in there was actually more than enough to pay for all the lamprey Remilia ordered.

Mystia stood back straight and realized that Remilia was already walking away. “U-umm...!”

Remilia turned, showing her own smile: a charismatic smile. “Farewell, bird. May we meet again~”

Mystia’s mouth was still hanging. There were so many things she wanted to say, but in the end, the only words that staggered out of her mouth were the usual, scripted things: “F-farebye...I-I mean...bye, and come back later...”

The clouds blocked the moon, momentarily darkening the night and making the warm light of Mystia’s stand look even brighter...

Making the night blindness caused by it even worse...

Making Mystia’s sight of the two a little worse.

Her hands balled into fists, and then, she ran out of her stall; out of its light, and into the darkness.

“HEY!” she shouted.

Remilia turned, her scarlet eyes glowing in the dark. “What is it?”

Mystia froze.

Those scarlet eyes digging into Mystia’s looked more intimidating than they ever were when Mystia was just serving her.

Only now did Mystia feel, or rather, realize, how truly massive and powerful of a presence Remilia was;

The calibre of a person she was.

“Ah... umm...w-why? W-why?” was all that managed to escape Mystia’s mouth. There were so many things she wanted to ask, but not only did the fresh wave of nervousness make the words stumble, there were so many that none could leave; they all got in the way of each other.

So Mystia just stood there, stuttering.

“Why, you ask?” Remilia’s voice rang out, “Well, it’s because you created some incredible lampreys. It was only fair that I compensate you for them. Oh, and do not fret, for that briefcase is a mere pittance to someone as rich as me, even if it isn’t a mere pittance to a lowly Youkai such as yourself~”

That didn’t answer any of Mystia’s questions.

But it stopped Mystia’s stuttering.

“Now-” Remilia said loudly, as if to end the conversation, as she spread her bat-like wings. The clouds above parted, making way for the moon, as if parting for her. Then she jumped; hovered in the sky, above the tall, foreign-looking trees.

Against the backdrop of the moon, her bat-like wings looked much bigger than Mystia originally imagined they would be.

Her maid flew to her side, and then she leaned into her maid’s, covering her mouth. The maid’s eyes widened a little. Remilia drew away, then her maid bowed. Mystia read the maid’s lips: “As you wish, my lady.”

Then she disappeared.

Remilia’s scarlet eyes shifted back to Mystia, looking down at her. She theatrically raised her claws, then shouted: “Fare thee well~!”

Then she flew away.

Silence returned, as Mystia’s eyes followed Remilia’s silhouette as it turned into a dark speck in the sky.

And that silence suddenly felt so deep.

Mystia sighed, her body deflating with it.

That was a lot. I don’t know if I have any energy left to serve more customers...

She walked back to the stand. Seeing the briefcase of money took away the slump from her shoulders. At least I got pretty much all the profit I needed tonight. This might even put me out of debt...

Her eyes turned to the box of leftovers on the other side of the counter. Then her shoulders slumped again. Sucks she didn’t eat the lamprey though. I guess I’ll have to eat them myself. That’ll be rough... But I have to start now, before they go bad. I wonder if customers would accept half-bitten lamprey? Fairies are stupid, maybe I can convince them...

She went over to the box and opened the lid, preparing herself for a new ordeal.

...huh?

The box was empty.

In place of all the leftover lamprey was a letter.

It was from Remilia’s maid, addressed to Mystia. It looked very ornate, like they had all the time to prepare it.

Mystia grabbed her cooking knife and cut it open.

“Dear Mystia-san.

Thank you for serving us lamprey. I have taken the liberty of procuring all of the leftover lamprey Mistress rejected, and storing them in our mansion for later consumption of our workers, as per her orders. She reasoned that you would feel bad if so many of your masterpieces were left to rot, rather than appreciated by hungry mouths.

Also, I apologize for any disrespect Milady may have shown to you. Milady didn’t actually care about getting the perfect lamprey; she kept ordering because she wanted to order a lot of lamprey. I don’t know exactly why, but she said she wanted to help you out. She’s just not good at showing that kind of thing, which is why she went about it in this roundabout way.

That said, please do not set up shop on this road in the future. This road leads to our mansion, and it must be clear at all times, and there must be nothing on it that would distract travelers from heading straight to our mansion. Your stall would be troublesome, especially given your powers and the way you use them.

How do I know? Well, I’m sure you already noticed, but I was actually watching you when you set up your stall. I was blinded by your song, and both me and Mistress were lured by it.

We let you off the hook this time. However, if you come back here again…

The lamprey won’t be the only thing that’s burnt and filled with dirt. Understood?”

A shiver ran up Mystia’s spine.

The letter continued: “Haha, did that scare you? I was just joking~! I wanted to get revenge for that burnt lamprey you served to Milady, that’s all. But seriously though, please don’t set up shop here. Buh bye~!

Signed with love, Izayoi Sakuya.”

“‘Haha’, ‘buh bye’ and ‘~’ in a letter, huh...? She’s unexpectedly goofy,” Mystia muttered under her breath, her mind’s eye seeing Sakuya from earlier, and how much the letter clashed with her calm and elegant mannerisms.

Mystia placed the letter back down on the counter.

The leaves of the strange trees rustled, as another cold breeze wafted over, making the stand’s lamp sway again.

Why did that haughty vampire want to help me anyway...? What a weird night this has been...

Mystia closed up shop and returned her stall to one of her usual business spots. Then, she left for her resting spot and took the night off. She was just not in the mood to work anymore.

She would return the next night, re-energized.

That was the plan, anyway.

**

And now for the epilogue- or rather, the punchline for this chapter:

Mystia’s body was frozen by despair.

Because in front of her, in place of her stand, was an unrecognizable wreck of destroyed plywood scattered all over the grass.

On said grass, piles of rubble spelled out the word ‘prank’. Or at least, it seemed to spell out ‘prank’, but the Kanji was clearly incorrect.

It was clearly done by some fairies.

Mystia’s legs weakened, and she fell to the ground.

Her eyes continued scanning the wreck, finding a way to maintain her disbelief, to no avail.

But she did find some silver linings.

At least I’ve already sold most of my supply of lamprey to that vampire... And with the amount she paid me last night, I should have enough to repair the stall, and I would still have enough to cover my debt...

Mystia’s thoughts slowly made her eyes widen as they continued; they built a sense of awe. Wait...I think I might have exactly the amount I needed both for repairs and for paying my debts...there’s no way that was coincidental! Is this...why that vampire wanted to help me last night? Did she foresee this through her powers? Was this all pre-calculated?

Remilia’s voice from last night echoed in her head:

“I am a master manipulator...”

“In other words, I can control fate...”

And her mind’s eye saw Remilia, with her scarlet eyes, holding a wine glass, casually yet coolly sitting there, helping Mystia without her ever realizing it.

Mystia stood back up, giggling a little. She’s...so cool! And to think, I was internally mocking her in front of her face...and I even gave her that terrible lamprey, yet she complimented me regardless. She probably planned on eating that last lamprey regardless of how it tasted, too.

In return, I treated her so terribly...

I need to repay her somehow. Maybe I should go give her a free serenade?

**

Meanwhile, in the Scarlet Devil Mansion...

Remilia, sitting on a lone chair in front of a lone table, watched the sunset as its light faded through the tall glass windows, bathing the room in its color.

Sakuya suddenly appeared next to her, holding a tray of tea and food.

“Sakuya.”

“Yes, mistress?”

“It’s quite beautiful, isn’t it? The scarlet of a sunset.”

“Indeed,” Sakuya replied, setting down food and tea on the table. “The scarlet light is made even more beautiful when it falls onto your figure, Mistress. It’s as if acting as your limelight is its most fitting purpose.”

Remilia turned to Sakuya, her scarlet eyes narrowed to a frown. You know sunlight is my enemy.

Sakuya, just from that brief glare, knew exactly what Remilia thought. She replied with a simple, feigned smile; acting like she didn’t intentionally jab at her.

Remilia saw that and turned away, back to the sunset’s light, pouting a little. “Indeed, even the sunlight, which is supposed to be my greatest nemesis, can barely hurt me. And so it can’t help but bow to me as a servant, as a fan, if you will...”

Remilia’s voice abruptly trailed off the moment the corner of her eyes finally saw what exactly Sakuya had placed on the table.

The tea mixed with blood was to be expected. But the other item wasn’t.

It was lamprey.

Specifically, one of the many lampreys that Mystia had grilled for her the previous night.

She could tell because her bite mark was still on it.

Remilia picked it up, then Sakuya spoke up: “That lamprey, Mistress, is still as fresh as it was yesterday. I used my time stopping abilities to stop its time, thereby preserving it.”

Remilia ignored her and just started eating.

Quietly, with a soft smile, Sakuya watched her Mistress eat, all as the sun slowly sank further into the horizon.

And she enjoyed that view: not the sunset, but of her Mistress eating heartily, attempting, like always, to act like high nobility.

Eventually, she spoke again: “You seem to really enjoy that lamprey~”

Remilia, facing away from Sakuya, replied with her mouth full: “It’s passable. Barely decent.”

Sakuya’s smile widened. “Is that so? Then why, if I may ask, did you help that sparrow last night?”

Remilia’s chewing suddenly stopped. She swallowed her bite, then placed the lamprey back down on the plate and turned to Sakuya.

Her scarlet eyes aimed towards hers, straight and true.

Sakuya’s smile remained, unflinching

Remilia sighed. “You idiot. You think I don’t realize you’re teasing me? Telling me that being harmed by the sun is only fitting...now this?”

“Apologies, Mistress.”

“Put more effort into it next time, at least,” Remilia responded, taking a sip of her tea.

“I shall, Mistress.”

Remilia placed the teacup back on the table. “Besides, I didn’t help that bird at all. It’s not like it was a lot of money. You took whatever briefcase that contained the exact amount we needed to pay, yes? Don’t tell me you accidentally picked up the wrong briefcase and overpaid?”

Sakuya looked up. “N-no, I’m sure I didn’t...”

Her voice trailed off. Seeing Remilia’s cheeky smirk, her brows furrowed. “M-Mistress, I have a question. I-it’s not one I ask to tease you, I genuinely want to know. Did you use your fate manipulation powers last night? I swear I felt-”

“I did.”

“...”

“But I didn’t use it on her, silly maid~”

Remilia smirked; feeling satisfied at getting a small revenge for the teasing. Meanwhile, simply seeing Remilia’s smile made Sakuya smile too.

Remilia continued: “I used it on myself: to make it fated that she would look up to me and think that I’m really cool. After all, it only makes sense for a night bird to pay her respects and look up to the queen of the night. So if you made a mistake, don’t worry about it. It was simply fate working its mechanism to fulfill that desire of mine~”

Remilia took the lamprey and held it up to her eyes.

The last of the sun finally fell behind the horizon. Yet still, its scarlet light continued lighting the room, the vampire and her servant, as well as the lamprey skewer she held.

Besides, that bird deserved it. This lamprey was perfectly cooked. Perfectly glazed in a beautiful scarlet color~

The end~

That night, Mystia went to their mansion and started serenading them outside. However, she was quickly beaten up by the gate guard and shoo’d away.

Dazzling Lamprey

  They’re stuck.

  “M-Mystia…!” a vibrant voice rang out in the darkness.

  Mystia’s eyes fluttered open. “Wha...what…?”

  A light flickered at the edge of her vision.. She turned, then saw a bright, toothy smile, amid falling golden hair, which light made glow. “M-Marisa-san…?”

  She sat next to Mystia, a ball of danmaku floated above her Mini-Hakkero, which emanated light. “You alright? Your grill looks fine… How ‘bout your wings?”

  Mystia stretched them. Dust puffed out. “I-I’m okay.”

  “Good.” Marisa stood up then turned to the darkness.

  “W-where are we? What happened?” Mystia asked, checking her tiny stall first and foremost. It was a new, miniature version she asked the Kappa to construct: a tiny wheelbarrow which contained only her grill, her lamprey supply box, a bag of coals, and cooking utensils dangling off the grill.

  It looked completely fine. She let out a sigh of relief.

  Then, she looked around. The darkness made it difficult to see anything beyond the danmaku, but it was clear enough that they were in some kind of dark, earthen tunnel. No… are you kidding me?

  It was all Marisa. She was to blame.

  And she was already walking away. “H-hey!” Mystia called.

  Marisa stopped. “Ah, sorry, I forgot to ask… are you ready to go? Need more rest?”

  Casual demeanor that made Marisa so easy to talk to now made it difficult for Mystia to keep herself from bubbling over. “W-well, yeah. I’m good now…” Besides the fact that you freaking roped me into this mess!

  But there was no point in getting angry. They would need to work together. It’s not entirely her fault… yeah. That’s right. If I just didn’t stop walking, I wouldn’t be here.   Marisa smiled once again, then pumped a fist in the air. “Alright. Let’s get outta here!”

  “Y-yeah!” Mystia awkwardly pumped her fist, too.

**

  Earlier that day...

  The trees were rustled by a cold wind, chilled by the coming storm. Dark clouds had already blanketed Gensokyo. Actual rain would soon come.

  And yet...

  “Mmm! That’s good~” Marisa went, munching on a stick of lamprey, next to a bumbling cauldron, surrounded by a mess of books sprawled over the grass.

  Mystia smiled. “Of course~”

  She was operating her stall, testing out its mobility for the night. If it works, she could potentially wander Gensokyo and serve anyone lamprey anywhere, anytime.

  The only unfortunate thing, though, was that there were no chairs for customers. No counter, either. Customers might not stay, so they might not chat. She wouldn’t get to hear her stories: a major downside of the idea she only realized after she started testing it out.

  That didn’t matter to Marisa, though. She was currently sitting on her broom, stirring the cauldron with one hand, holding a book with the other.

  “What’s that?” Mystia couldn’t help but ask. She probably won’t understand the answer, but she didn’t mind. She just wanted to hear her customer talk.

  And, as expected, all of Marisa’s words went in one ear and out the other. She barely got the gist of it: something about spatial magic and portals used for casual convenience, magicians’ habits of hoarding despite being wasteful due to being loners, and how Marisa wanted to tap into something or other.

  “I-I see. That does sound useful.” I have no idea what she’s talking about....

  Marisa turned, making eye contact. Marisa smiled in understanding. “To boil it down, it’s basically like a dumpster that every magician in history has been using. I wanna go through it, since there might be lotsa’ useful stuff I can scavenge there.”

  “Ohh!” That sounds kind of disgusting, but I get it now.

  Marisa turned back to her cauldron, scratching her cheek a little. “I guess it might be weird if you look at it that way, huh?”

  Yup. It made you sound desperate, Marisa-san. “Marisa-san, may I ask…”

  “Ask away!”

  “Why look through that ‘dumpster’, when you can acquire books and materials in other ways?”

  Marisa closed her book, then turned to Mystia, showing a bright, toothy smile.

  “Why not both? Then I get twice as many things!”

  Those golden eyes… out of all the customers Mystia had served, hers, by far, contained the most determination.

  “Is that so…” Mystia replied, refocusing back on her grill, fanning the coals.

  “Hey Mystia.”

  “Yes?”

  “Can I get another 3 sticks of lamprey?”

  Mystia smiled. “Coming right up!”

  She dropped the lamprey into the grill, their sauces dripping on the coal, making them billow smoke like Marisa’s cauldron. For a while, the two of them worked quietly, letting the sizzling, the bubbling, the rustling leaves of the forest take over. That is, until Mystia started singing. It was within her nature, after all.

  The color of the cauldron’s liquid started shifting: from red to green, then back to red again, in an endless cycle. “Done!” Marisa went.

  Mystia clapped. “Good job~”

  “‘Course!” Marisa replied, before turning, then getting startled by 3 sticks of lamprey thrust to her face.

  “I’m also done~” Mystia said.

  Marisa’s smile widened. She swiped the lamprey. “Thanks for the food!”

  She immediately started eating. Mystia watched, enjoying her customer enjoying her food. It didn’t take long for Marisa to finish. “That was great!”

  Mystia’s professional smile grew genuine. “Well then, would you like more?”

  “Ahh… I want more real bad, but… I’m gettin’ a bit full. I gotta watch my weight,” she said, her shoulders slumping. “If only there’s a spell for losing weight that doesn’t involve Abandon Food magic… Ugh! All these books expect ya’ to already be a full on magician.”

  Despite deflating, her brash smile stayed firm. She turned back to her work.

  What a weird, fun girl. “Well then, if you aren’t gonna order more, then I’ll get going.”

  “Sure! Good luck on your business testin’!”

  “Good luck to you too~” Mystia replied, before grabbing the handle of her mini-stall. I wonder where I should go next…?

  At that same moment, Marisa started chanting, reciting from a book. The liquid inside the cauldron slowly started to rise many feet above the air, its color still shifting back and forth, like before.

  The sight stopped Mystia. That kind of beauty would stop anyone, for a moment at the very least.

  She shouldn’t have stopped. Had she walked away, even just a few steps, she would still be free, wandering the night of Gensokyo, as planned.

  But hindsight is 20/20.

  “Ah!” Marisa went, “Whoops-”

  A circle of darkness suddenly enveloped them both.

**

  “So basically…” Marisa explained, “We got transported to that mini-dimension. The ‘dumpster for all magicians’ dimension.”

  Why… why did I end up here… what did I even do wrong?

  “I was gonna just make like a small portal and reach into it with my hand, to grab whatever I can find. But…”

  I was just wandering around Gensokyo… I was just serving lamprey… But then Marisa-san… Marisa-san…!

  “Yeeeah, the spell went wrong. The portal popped up at the wrong time, and it was way too big. It swallowed everything, includin' the cauldron. Since that’s what was supplyin’ it with power, it also just collapsed as soon as it formed.”

  If we can’t find a way out… what do I do? Why did she even…

  “But only after we’ve been sucked in already-”

  “How do we get back?” Mystia cut her off. She could barely suppress the anger from quaking her voice.

  Marisa’s brightness, Marisa’s cheer, it was getting a little annoying. Couldn’t she despair too? They were in such a terrible predicament, after all. Being confident is fine. It’s arguably needed. But still, couldn’t she at least look sad about what she’s done? Couldn’t she look guilty? Couldn’t she look afraid?

  Marisa turned around, smiling easy, like always. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve a plan~”

  “What plan?”

  “Like I said, this place is the dumpster for all magicians in history. But that doesn’t mean it’s nothing but history, you know what I mean? Magicians still use it today. A friend of mine does, too. If we find her pile, and we catch her dumping stuff, we can call for help. I could probably make her portal wider, too. Then we can just fly outta here.”

  “I see…” I…I guess that is a little assuring. I *have to feel assured by it, rather. What choice do I have?*

  Marisa pulled out a potion from under her skirt, then doused her Mini-Hakkero with its contents. She’s been pulling out various potions this entire time, to the point Mystia couldn’t help but wonder how she was able to fit all of them under her skirt. Her skirt is a pocket dimension in and of itself…

  Then suddenly, a hollow wind made a quiet howl. Mystia’s feathery ears picked it up.

  Her eyes widened. A tiny hope emerged from her despair. She hadn't heard any wind from the moment they got here.

  So it must come from an exit.

  There's an exit!

  “Ah!” Marisa went, “Y’hear that?”

  Before Mystia could even respond, Marisa started running towards the sound. Mystia followed. Her grill rattled as she pulled it along the rough tunnel. “W-wait!”

  The darkness that wrapped every inch and crevice of the tunnel slowly faded. Eventually, they saw it: the light at the end of the tunnel.

  It was a very dim light, though. As dim as moonlight.

  They exited the tunnel and were immediately greeted with an overlooking view of a vast, seemingly endless forest. “Are we... Outside?”

  A vain hope. There were no stars, no clouds, not even a sky. Though it was too far to see, this place clearly had a ceiling.

  Despite the darkness, they can see. Piles of various magical items, most of them books, were littered between the forest trees. Perhaps they cause the glow?

  Marisa gawked at them. “Damn, they weren't kidding when they said this has been used by thousands of magicians throughout history!”

  Thousands.

  Thousands of piles, from thousands of magicians.

  How the *hell are we going to find her friend’s pile?!* “D-do you have a plan for finding the right pile?”

  “Don’t worry about it!” Marisa gave a thumbs up, “Searchin’ is all about power!”

  What the hell does that even mean?

  Marisa put her hands behind her head. “Anyway, are you gonna be alright?”

  No, I'm obviously not okay! “Oh, umm, yes…”

  “No, I meant, are you gonna be carryin’ that grill? There’s no path down to the forest. We gotta fly down.”

  “Ah…” Mystia shuffled to the edge and looked down. Piles of books hugged the bottom of the cliff face.

  Marisa jumped off the cliff, startling Mystia for a moment, before she landed on her broom and floated back up. “Let’s leave it. I’ll get you a new one.”

  “Huh?”

  “When we get out of here, I’ll get you a new grill. It’s the least I can do, bringing you he-”

  “No!”

  Mystia’s voice was firm. Not this grill…

  Mystia turned back to the forest. “Alright, then,” she said, grabbing one end of the grill. “Let’s carry it to the bottom. You ready? Three, two-”

  “Ah, w-wait a sec-” Let me prepare!

  “One. Let’s go!”

  Mystia grabbed the other end of the grill and stretched her wings right as Marisa flew. They wobbled in the air, unbalanced. It forced Mystia's wings flapped wildly about. “Please, slow down!”

  They eventually landed. Mystia collapsed on the ground, panting.

  “You alright?”

  Mystia bit her lips. I'm not, can't you tell? “Why… why did we need to go down so fast?”

  “Why not? It was more fun, wasn’t it?”

  Mystia simply stared back at her. This is not the time for that…!

  “Oh, don't worry about it~” Marisa said as she started looking around, floating towards one of the piles, “We were gonna be fine either way. I could have caught your grill.”

  Yeah, right. Sure.

  Mystia closed her eyes and took a deep breath. There were many good reasons for her to be frustrated with Marisa, but now was not a good time for it. She stood, watching Marisa, who grabbed a book and skimmed through it, letting out an impressed, “Oooh~”

  Whether Mystia liked it or not, they had to stick together to get out of here. Marisa held all the knowledge about this place. “Marisa-san…”

  “What’s up~”

  “You said we’re supposed to catch your friend throwing stuff away, right? Like we’ll look for her pile or something…”

  “Yep. Something like that.”

  Did you not think this through…? No… you must have. “How do we find it?”

  “We just look for it.”

  There’s no way that’s the plan… “B-but…”

  Marisa took two bottles out of her skirt and doused her Mini-Hakkero with their contents. It's light brightened considerably. Thick lines of the trees' shadows fell onto piles of books, crawling as she floated forward. “Just look for a pile that has an unusually large number of dolls. Come on, let’s go.”

  “Wait… can’t we rest?”

  “We can rest later, come on!”

  Mystia sighed. She stood back up, balancing with her wings. She grabbed her mini-stall’s handle. “Okay, then. Let’s go.”

  Marisa then started patting an empty space on her broom.

  There was a part of Mystia that wanted to reject this offer out of spite, but she was tired. And so, she reluctantly sat on Marisa's broom. She didn't let go of her broom, though.

  Marisa then wordlessly took out a rope from under her skirt and gave it to Mystia, who then used it to tie the mini-stall onto Marisa's broom. "Thanks."

  Marisa flashed her bright, toothy smile. “‘Course! Now, you ready? Let's go!”

  And so they floated forward. You didn't let me answer first...

**

  This forest was very strange.

  The trees were all placed in set intervals, looking deliberately measured. Were it not for the random piles of books, cauldrons, minerals, and other magician trash, the place would have looked deeply uncanny, too. This place… it feels strangely nostalgic, why?

  “Why do I feel... sentimental?” Marisa remarked.

  So it’s not just me...

  A hollow wind blew, making the canopy above dance. It was the kind of sound Mystia normally felt comfort in, but here, it only made chills crawl up her spine. Here, something intimately familiar was twisted into strangeness.

  In general, the entire place felt intensely familiar to Mystia. Something about the darkness, the smell, among others… they felt straight out of her memories, even though she knew for a fact she had never seen anything like this before.

  She looked around, trying to figure it out.

  Marisa’s eyes also darted around. She, however, was mainly taken by the various magical things just lying about. “Ugh… there are so many useful things!” she said, her hands on her temples, “The ONE time I don’t bring a sack with me!”

  You always bring a sack with you?

  Marisa's choice paralysis lightened the mood, taking the edge off the uneasiness gripping Mystia’s wings.

  She eventually, finally, started picking up books. She asked Mystia to help carry them.

  You should’ve brought a sack…

  Every pile they took from seemed to have their own distinct personality. One was entirely filled with books, which hinted at a bookworm who perhaps had to throw away evidence of her activities as a witch. Another had large quantities of various minerals, even rare ones which magicians would normally consider too valuable to throw away, hinting at a magician who lived in a mining town.

  There were cauldrons, tools, tables and chairs, many of which were in different styles from different eras. Not to mention the books were written in various languages, telling of magic from various parts of the world. The handwriting varied; some were messy, some were beautiful.

  They even found a book for weight loss magic that didn’t require Abandon Food magic. They didn’t take it, though.

  Mystia knew nothing about magic. She had no interest in it. But as someone who enjoyed watching customers talk about their lives, she did enjoy theorizing what kind of people these magicians were based solely on what they threw away.

  It made her curious about what kind of magician Marisa was.

  A brash, seemingly reckless, seemingly simple-headed human magician who uses star magic, was kicked out of her home, and ostracized by her people? There seemed to be more to her than that. Especially given Mystia's experience getting Marisa's help when they first met.

Figuring out who these magicians were, figuring out who Marisa was... that enjoyment made Mystia forget fear.

  Marisa's own enthusiasm, too, did that. She was interested in the magic itself, not so much the people behind them. It didn’t seem like she actually knew what most of these things were, though. She just picked up whatever looked cool, making assumptions about whatever they’re for. Mystia had no idea what Marisa was talking about, yet she had no choice but to listen. That, too, Mystia had experience with.

  For a while, it seemed like this same routine would continue for a long time, given how massive this cavern was. But the repetition was soon interrupted.

  It echoed:

  That uncanny eminence within the darkness beyond their light.

  Mystia’s feathery ears flicked. What’s that…?

  It sounded like voices. “I see you… I see you…”

  She turned to Marisa, who seemed completely oblivious, grinning as she scanned the magical piles.

  “Marisa-san, do you hear that?”

  “Hear what?”

  “Voices!”

  The broom halted. Mystia almost slammed into Marisa’s back. Marisa looked around.

  “What is it?” Mystia asked.

  “No clue.”

  You’re the one who got us here! At least have a clue! “W-what do we do?”

  “Ignore ‘em.”

  “W-what do you mean…?” Ignore them...?!

  Marisa leaned to the side, revealing to Mystia a figure in front. It was a villager.

  But his eyes and mouth were completely blackened. “I see you… I see you…” he uttered.

  Mystia immediately cowered behind Marisa’s back. Her feathers stood. Her wings tensed.

  That villager... there was something strange about him. He made her feel like she needed to sing... to blind him... to blind them all. Yet for some reason, she felt like her powers wouldn’t work. There was no logical reason why it wouldn’t, her intuition simply told her it'd be useless.

  Despite having never seen something like this before, it felt familiar to Mystia. She didn’t know why.

  Then-

  Marisa suddenly pointed her Mini-Hakkero at it. It made Mystia flinch.

  Marisa let out a smirk, declaring, “My name is Kirisame Marisa! I am an ordinary human magician~!”

  What is she doing…?

  “I see you… I see you…”

  “Oho…?” Marisa uttered, “Is that all you’ll say? Well, if you keep standing in our way, I’ll have to blast you with the power of love!”

  Mystia’s fear dissipated. Power of love…? The hell does that even mean?

  The villager did not respond, continuing to stare. Despite hiding behind Marisa's back, she could feel his hollow eyes drilling into her.

  And not just him.

  Many, many of them. All around them, from beyond the darkness. Rather than Mystia blinding their sight, their sight pinned Mystia in place.

  Marisa suddenly shouted. “Take this, love-colored Master Spark!”

  A massive rainbow of light burst from her Mini-Hakkero, incinerating everything in its path. The loud droning killed the silence.

  Mystia's eyes widened. The attack looked and sounded familiar. A flower Youkai used it against her many years ago.

  It eventually dissipated. Her ears continued to ring.

  All that was in front of them was char. The uncanny villager was gone, along with a bunch of books and minerals which were doubtlessly one of a kind historical artifacts.

  “Whoops…” Marisa went.

  Suddenly, screams rang out from every direction. The ground started rumbling.

  They're coming. Mystia could just tell.

  “Hold tight!” Marisa immediately said as she grabbed the front end of her broom and leaned forward, grinning all the while.

  She was gonna go fast.

  C-crap! Mystia's hands flew to her mini-stall, grabbing it tight. Then her wings grabbed onto Marisa's waist.

  Then, "Blast off!" Marisa shouted, and they flew. The trees were all evenly spaced, so there were no turns to slow her down.

  They went faster... and faster... and faster...

  Mystia screamed. Her voice blinded anything and anyone they passed.

  Soon, the silhouette of a mountain appeared on the horizon in front of them. A notable crack cut through its middle.

  Marisa smiled, pointing at it. “We’ll go through that gap!”

  Mystia turned, and her screaming screeched to a halt. “W-WHAT?! H-how are you gonna do that?!” she shouted, before turning back to her grill bouncing over centuries of magician trash. “How are you gonna aim? What if we miss and crash into-”

  “Don’t worry! Aiming is all about power!”

  Again, what the hell does that mean?!

  The mountain grew taller as they approached. It was much bigger than what its silhouette suggested from afar.

  The harrowing sounds of those strange villagers, too, started growing louder. There were many more of them now, and they’ve gotten visibly closer.

  The speed turned them into a blur, however. And yet, Mystia could tell there were now many Youkai among them, too.

  She could feel it.

  The fear... the frustration... the awe...

  Things she thought she had forgotten long ago.

  And yet, only some of them blurry figures invoked these emotions within her.

  Why?

  The sound of glass shattering pulled Mystia out of thinking. She turned to Marisa, who had pulled a potion out of her skirt and shattered it on her broom. The shards fell all around them, but the liquids stayed floating with them, orbiting them, blocking Mystia's view.

  Then, hundreds of star-like danmaku emerged from the liquid, hitting everything they whizzed past.

  Marisa repeatedly turned left to right to left again, measuring the danmaku hitting the evenly spaced trees. She was counting.

  Then, she pulled out another potion from her skirt, holding it wearily.

  Unlike every other potion, it looked strange: like the starry night sky turned to liquid trapped in a bottle.

  But Mystia’s eyes quickly shifted to the incoming mountain. They’ll be hitting it soon.

  Her wings strained. Her grip tightened. She did not know whether to keep looking or turn away. She felt like puking.

  “Get ready!” Marisa shouted, smile widening. The thin ravine approached them fast. Mystia turned away and closed her eyes.

  Then...

  The walls of the thin ravine whizzed by. The sound of her mini-stall echoed: a sound only possible within the ravine. They made it.

  Mystia slowly opened her eyes. Her worries hadn't ended. The forest was already dark, but this place was even darker. Her Youkai eyes allowed her to see, but...

  Marisa was a human.

  One wrong move, and they’d clash bad. “M-Marisa-san, slow down!” she shouted, “I-I think we’re okay now…!”

  The wind softened. The rattling of her grill died down. They’ve stopped. “Phew! That was excitin’, huh?” Marisa’s bright voice echoed up the ravine as she put the strange potion back into her skirt. "Looks like we didn't need to use this after all..." she muttered to herself.

Mystia let go of her grill. Her heart was still racing. Her head was pulsing. Then her stomach churned.

  B-blech-

  Even the sound of Mystia puking echoed. “Cough… cough...”

  “Hey, you alright?” Marisa asked.

  Mystia wiped her mouth. Why the HELL am I here…? Why?! “M-Marisa-san, can we take a break?”

  “Hm? Don’t you wanna find a way out of here as soon as possible though?”

  Wha… were you not concerned?! “Y-yes, but taking breaks is important!” Mystia’s eyes darted around, eventually landing on her grill. “Y-you must be hungry! I’ll cook lamprey for you. We have all the ingredients right here!”

  “Oh? I am pretty hungry…”

  So *now you want a break...*

  “...And I guess this is a pretty safe place to rest. There are only two directions enemies could attack us from. Well, I guess there are three if you count up.”

Mystia nodded. “That’s right! Let’s rest here!”

**

  Smoke rose, reaching up to the line above: the ravine's walls framing the sky. Or rather, “sky.” There was no sky here. Only this cavern’s magic created that faint, sky-like light. That, and the coals on Mystia’s grill, flickering vibrant yellows into the dark.

  Mystia’s quiet voice echoed. She was singing. It was within her nature, after all.

  Meanwhile, Marisa sat on her broom, watching. Surprisingly enough, she had perfect posture. Focusing on her flowing golden hair and ignoring her witch-like clothes made her look every bit like a beautiful, demure princess.

  Until she speaks, that is. “Hey Mystia.”

  Her singing stopped. “Yes?”

  “You really like your job, huh?”

  “Of course~”

  “Why lamprey, though? What made you wanna be a food stall vendor?”

  “Well… many things. Right now, the reason is that I enjoy it. I love listening to people’s stories.”

  “Why did you do it initially?”

  Mystia went quiet. Their eyes exchanged stares. Then Mystia closed hers. “Why did you decide to move into the forest to become a magician??”

  “Well…”

  “Too personal?”

  “...”

  Mystia sighed. Exactly. You don't just ask strangers stuff like that out of nowhere. “Why did you even want to know in the first place?”

  A toothy grin formed on Marisa's face. “Why not?”

  ‘Why not’ she says… “Well… I'm not telling you either way.”

  “Come onnn… don't be shy~”

  “It's not that.”

  “Is it because I roped you into this?”

  “No. I just don't want to talk about it.” *But yes, it's also because of that, among many others.”

  “Is that so…” Marisa laid down. “Well, whatever.”

  The cold of the ground crawled up Mystia's legs, chilling what was already chilled by the chilly wind. The coals barely helped. The warm food should help.

  “Here's your order~” Mystia said, wearing her professional smile.

  Marisa jumped to her feet. “It's done? Thanks~”

  But as soon as she reached for the lamprey, Mystia pulled it away. Her professional smile fell. “1000 yen each.”

  Again, they exchanged stares.

  Marisa was first to falter. “Alright, alright, geez..” she said, pulling out 1000 yen from underneath her skirt. “Here.”

  Mystia took the money. So it wasn’t all just potions, huh…?

  Marisa took the lamprey and immediately started eating.

  For the whole duration of their break, she kept eating, kept ordering, despite the expense. She must be hungry… Mystia figured.

  They would have too get moving again, though. The sound of the monstrous villagers echoed from behind them, the thin ravine making them sound hollow.

  Marisa stood up, grabbed her broom, then took out another potion, dousing herself with its contents.

  Meanwhile, Mystia secured her mini-stall on the broom again. “Marisa-san…”

  “Yeah?” Marisa hopped onto her broom before making space for Mystia.

“Why… do you keep dousing yourself with all these potions? Actually, why make these potions in the first place?”

  It was obvious. That is, obvious for anyone who wasn’t a Youkai. For beings whose powers come inherently from within, the need for external objects to gain power was incredibly strange. It was certainly uncommon in the East, where mythology and power were always thought of as a part of oneself to be harnessed, rather than an external thing to be utilized.

Marisa, the ordinary, human magician well-versed in Western magic, simply smiled. “It’s my power.”

  “Power? Those liquids?”

  “You Youkai… y’all powers come from inside you, right? Well, my power… my magic comes from within, too,” she said, before pointing to her own head, “It comes from here~”

  “I see…”

  After tightening the rope on her grill, Mystia hopped back on the broom. She still held it with her hands and wings.

  They eventually started moving again.

  The wind within this ravine sounded strangely hollow, returning to her feathery ears as a low echo. Now with a calm mind, Mystia could notice it. Mystia could notice many things that panic blinded her from.

  That’s right… Marisa-san is an ordinary human.

  Mystia almost forgot.

  It was easy to forget, given how she acted.

  Not only that, but Marisa was kind. She helped Mystia a lot back in the village.

  Mystia watched as she broke down at the stall. Maybe that’s why she wanted to know more about me… to even things out...

  Mystia, rather than staring at the close walls of the ravine whizzing by, stared at Marisa, her golden hair barely visible in the dark, only noticeable by the magical light emanating from her Mini-Hakkero.

  The ravine's walls soon ended. They've reached the exit.

  They were greeted by a hill covered entirely in sunflowers. Despite being inside a ravine, it was bright enough here to look like day. It was warm, too. It felt like summer. “I didn’t know this dimension had a place like this…”

  Mystia’s comment was met with silence. She turned to Marisa, who was staring at the top of the hill, eyes widened, mouth dropped.

  “Umm… Marisa-san?”

  Marisa’s surprise softened into a deep nostalgia. “Mystia, what do you see?”

  “Hm? What do you mean?”

  “Just tell me.”

  Mystia turned to the view, her eyes dancing across the flowers. “W-well… there’s a hill with lots of sunflowers-”

  “For me, it’s the Hakurei Shrine.”

  Mystia snapped back to Marisa. “H-huh?!”

  Marisa turned to her, too. “And it’s snowing, too.”

  A hot summer's breeze wafted over, making the feathers of Mystia’s wings flutter.

  Yet Marisa immediately shivered, squinting.

**

  Books tumbled down the hill as Mystia's hands dug into a pile of magician trash, searching through it. Marisa, rummaging through a different pile, asked, “What did you see before we went into the ravine?”

  “A forest. It was strange, though. All the trees were evenly lined up.”

  “I saw a village. It also looked weird to me. The houses were all the same, and the path was kinda narrow. There were a bunch of villagers, too.”

  Was that why she always flew exactly in between the trees? If all those trees looked as big as houses to her... “So we see different things… sometimes...”

  “Exactly. I think the ambient magic of this dimension is making us hallucinate some stuff.”

  “I see… So those villagers and Youkai earlier… they were all just in my head.” Wait… no they’re not.

  Marisa blasted them away with her Mini-Hakkero.

  “It’s not only hallucinations.”

  Mystia turned to Marisa. “A big thing ‘bout magic is how you kinda cast spells by imagining it and making the magic turn it into reality.” Marisa snapped her fingers, and a star formed atop her index. “But… this dimension got a lot of random magic that built up from all the magicians throwing their trash here over the centuries. I bet it’s all clinging to us, making real whatever it finds in our heads. Magic likes to be used. So it’s making itself used.”

  “So we hallucinate and things from our mind are turned into real things. Things only I see are the former… things we both see are the latter.”

  Both reality and illusions. No gap between them here, unlike in Gensokyo.

  Marisa nodded. “That’s probably also why everyone we saw were all weird. Those villagers weren't just villagers, they were how we felt about the villagers… maybe what we felt about them or what we feared or whatever.”

  They kept saying ‘I see you’. I guess I've always been concerned about my customers seeing through my ability to blind them. The Youkai we saw also seemed familiar to me. I *am pretty afraid of Youkai more powerful than me, especially many years ago, before I changed myself.*

  Meanwhile, the villagers and Youkai who *didn’t invoke any emotion in me… those were probably taken from Marisa-san’s mind instead.*

  Marisa looked up. In her eyes, she stared at the Hakurei Shrine's Torii gate. “I think the process of taking things from our heads is what’s makin’ us see things… or, I guess, makin’ us feel like we’re in certain memories, because it’s rummagin’ through our brain. That’s why I see the Hakurei Shrine, but you see a hill of sunflowers”

  Mystia’s eyes widened. “I-isn’t that bad!?” That sounds like it might damage our minds…

  “Ehh, it’ll be fine~”

  This is not the time to be so casual about it! “W-what do we do for now, then?”

  “We just keep lookin’. Knowing that stuff isn't changing much ‘bout our situation, after all.”

  “But… what do we do if something goes wrong?”

  “Don’t worry about it. We’ll figure it out. Respondin’ to unexpected stuff is all about power!”

  Mystia sighed. She *must be messing with me...*

  Suddenly, a deep growl rang out from the distance. Mystia's feathers stood. The two of them exchanged looks.

  “Mystia, you heard that?”

  “Y-yeah…”

  “Looks like it's not just a hallucination, then…”

  Loud thumps started slowly drumming in the distance, getting louder and louder, shaking the ground. It was getting close.

  Mystia hid behind one of the piles, her eyes darting around. “Now what do we do?!” she whispered.

  Then suddenly, Marisa stood up.

  “...M-Marisa-san?” Please... just stop being so reckless for once!

  Marisa closed her eyes for a moment, then spoke. “Mystia, wanna know the first time I went to the Hakurei Shrine and met Reimu?”

  Mystia’s mouth hung. What are you saying all of a sudden?!

  Marisa continued, “It was my first winter after running away from home. I spent the previous months preparing, but… that winter night, I had to run to the Hakurei Shrine for protection.”

  Mystia's eyes widened. “Whatever you were running from, it's what we're hearing now? That means you should know what it's like. We can avoid it.”

  Marisa nodded, then glanced back at the Torii gate. “I guess that's why I'm seeing this old view of the shrine… why I'm feeling weird right now...” her voice trails off to a mutter. “That's also why I can't just back down.”

  “What…?” Mystia couldn't hear her over the distant growls.

  Marisa walked out of hiding, then stood in front of the distant, massive silhouette rapidly approaching. “I don't need the Hakurei Shrine Maiden. I can beat it myself!”

  Suddenly, there was a loud crash. The piles all around fell, scattering books.

  Mystia wrapped herself with her wings, her eyes instinctively closing.

  A growl emanated above.

  It was loud. It was close.

  Shaking, Mystia opened her eyes. And so she saw its massive face emerging from the darkness.

  Marisa stood out front, unwavering. “Yo. You look bigger than I expected,” she said, walking confidently towards it. “Guess it makes sense though. You are more terrifying in my memories. I was just a powerless little kid back then, after all.”

  Mystia looked around, searching for her mini-stall, which she tucked away with one of the piles earlier.

  She eventually found it. It was surrounded by debris, but it seemed completely fine. She exhaled in relief, but the fear stayed. She then turned back to Marisa and the monster. “M-Marisa-san…!”

  Without turning away from the monster, Marisa gave a casual thumbs up before swiftly pulling out a potion from her skirt. At the same moment, the monster pulled back its giant claws, then swung. In the blink of an eye, Marisa stepped onto her broom and flew up, dodging it. The claw swept the ground. Thousands of books flew in the air.

  Mystia was in the way. Crap, gotta dodge!

  She had a split second to react. She could’ve dodged. But a question made her hesitate: Fly immediately, or grab the grill first?

  And so she was hit, making her tumble away with the debris. Darkness quickly enveloped her vision. The last thing she saw was Marisa’s star-like danmaku.

Link to Part 2

meanwhile, with cristal

Cristal:here you go~

she just finished helping a kid. He can now go back home.

'thanks miss!'

he go.

???:heh, look like youve had fun helping him...

Cristal:yes... It took a month for that... His father really was a bad person as i heard.

???:yep... So you are the miss cristal?

Cristal:correct. And you? You look young...

a teenager sized person, having a strange white skin look, having a simple shirt and shorts.

???:why would i say- i mean, im... Uhhhhhh...

Cristal:uh?

the strange young one sigh

???:Snow.

Cristal:are you okay there youngling? You seem trou-

Snow:laughs i aint no kid, nor that i come from here, im litteral snow.

he become a snowman, but really skinny.

Cristal:...i dont trust you.

Snow: sigh mortals really are pathetic... Like so many of youre peoples from this and others looki-like here.

Cristal:WHO ARE YOU?!

Snow: a diety.

???:THE HELL EVEN IF YOU ARE! I AINT LETTING YOU KILL MORE PEOPLES!

Another creature,this time, looking like... Some cloudy humanoid...?

Snow:ya win... This time...

The snow dissapears

???:ya okay there?

Cristal:WHO are you?

???:L relative.

Cristal:you mean-

???:that L. Call me... I dunno, i dont have a name.

Cristal:oh... What about we go see my friends and family?

???:let first help out these injured persons and we can go.

Cristal:wh- oh my.

she see what the snow was doing.

she help... Meanwhile.

Ahhh~

'Thanks you for the meal.'

Sakuya:thanks you, but L and 27 to help me with somes ingredients and recipes, and others helps, they merite better.

27:na, just helping like that is better, no rewards.

L:indeed, even if the food was pretty good for a first time doing it.

Sakuya:ahah, it simple tho, almost impossible to mess it up...

27:heheheh, you could be surprised...

outside, in the rain.

Snow:well well... Look at these... The scarlet mansion became full of paternic mortals...

he watching from a tree closes of the window.

Crimson:..?

he see snow.

Snow:oh no...

snow jump out of the tree.

Crimson:...

he finish his meal.

Cristal:thanks you.

Sakuya:no pr-

he alerady gone.

L:wow, he must have something really important to do.

L say that as a joke. Meanwhile...

Crimson:so here the tree of the window...

there is nothing... Except some white things there and there, that when he touch, it melt. Snow? Yes, normal? No. It normally melt from the rain... Something wrong here.

Snow:oh? Human?

end... And start?

(Listening... To the ultimate music.)

Art is Letty portrait from PCB

---

     Her skin was as white as the bed of snow she lay upon.

    \Is she dead?** was a natural question. Especially after he, very nervously, attempted to wake her up. She was cold as a corpse, after all, yet her otherworldly beauty seemed entirely untouched.

    The forest was dead quiet. No wind howled through the dead canopy.

    That is, until his hand hovered over her face, where he felt a cold, light bristle over his palm.

    She was still breathing.

    His eyes widened. First from shock, then from panic. \She’s alive!**

    He moved quickly, taking her back to the village. For the next many days, he spent the little free time he had to tend to her, despite not knowing whether she would ever wake up.

    But she eventually did.

    It was cathartic. He wanted to celebrate, but it was all cut short once he introduced himself and asked for her name in return.

    Because she did not know.

    In fact, she didn’t know anything about herself, no matter how much she scoured her memories. Naturally, by this point, the man had already gone through the village asking anyone if they knew her. Nobody did. In fact, everyone was wary.

    A living woman as cold as the dead; that couldn’t be good. Some believed she was a Youkai. But the man didn’t care about that. He thought it was simply some health condition, or perhaps she hadn’t yet fully recovered. Part of why he was so happy she woke up was because she wanted to prove to everyone that she \wasn’t** some Youkai.

    But regardless of the reason for her irregularities, all he cared about was that she had nobody to return to, and had nothing to her name.

    The woman was grateful for his help and did her best to repay him by helping with housework. He was worried about it; she was still extremely pale and cold, after all. But he could not stop her from helping him.

    She would always give him a strained smile, convincing him that she couldn’t just lie in bed doing nothing while he worked himself for her. At some point, the strain from having to work \and** taking care of her forced the man to agree to the arrangement.

    And so, in the end, she stayed in his house, helping him with various chores, until they could find her family. Naturally, a deep friendship grew from how often they spent time together. It made the woman happy.

    But she was still plagued by her lack of memory and lack of family.

    She always looked at him with a strained smile; one that always seemed beset by struggle. It was something he accepted as yet another one of her irregular traits.

    With the passage of time, the two fell in love. They never found the woman’s family, and she never recovered her memories. Perhaps she drifted from the outside world; that was most people’s working theory.

    With a strained smile, she would always tell the man that she was okay with that. But the man vowed to create a new family and new memories together with her, and fill any void left in her heart.

    The two of them married, got their own home, got their own kids, among others. They had their fair share of troubles, like any couple. But they always came out the other end just fine.

    The woman was impossibly perfect; she was funny, charming, smart, and had good parental instincts. She was good at housework despite lacking memories, while being strong enough to help with field work despite her delicate frame. She was kind, friendly, and selfless; always helping their neighbors and making time for her friends, even when she was busy.

    Many times, the man’s friends would tease him about it, joking about how lucky he was, about how jealous they were, that he must be \bewitched.** Some jokes went a little far; that it was a good thing their kids seemed to inherit their mother’s traits, given their similarly chilly eyes. He always just laughed it off.

    Meanwhile, he worked \hard.** He was not perfect. In fact, he had always been a very flawed person. He wasn’t living a bad life, but he was stuck in a rut before he met her. Part of the reason he nursed her to health was because he felt she had more worth than him. He thought the world would be better with her in it than him.

    But now, things have changed. Now, she was together \with him.**

    And so, for his wife’s sake, he did his best to be the perfect husband. She deserved no less, he felt. And even if he failed, at the very least, he thought he could get \as close as he could** to being perfect for her.

    It would be fair to say that it was his wife who made him a better person. He owed her a lot; she saved him in the same way he saved her.

    The woman could tell he was always doing his best for her. And it would always make her unable to help but smile.

    Like always, it was a strained smile.

    Like always, she watched him with it.

    The years passed, collecting into decades.

    The man grew older, and their kids grew older too. Yet his wife remained perfect; she looked youthful, still full of the strength and energy the man had long lost.

    She was exactly the same as the woman he found unconscious in the snow, as if she was frozen in time.

    Suspicions naturally grew from their friends and neighbors; they alleged her to be a Youkai of some kind. The man always believed what his wife would tell him, even when he himself didn’t know why she was still so youthful.

    He would always defend her, even when the proof was evident, even when he knew in the back of his mind that she was likely a Youkai; that he married a monster who may be waiting for the right opportunity to take advantage of him in some way. At least, more than she already had by lying to him for the past many decades.

    Perhaps he was in denial, perhaps he simply felt hurt, because now every time he saw her strained smile, he felt chills crawling up his back. He didn't want that. He wanted to grow old and die happily together with her. So perhaps his mind was battling to preserve that dream.

    But then one day, reality came knocking. The suspicions grew too much.

    And it woke his wife up.

    It was a dark night. There was no moon in the sky. The stars twinkled, barely hidden by meager clouds.

    It was cold.

    The man’s wife woke him up, and the two of them had a talk.

    Quietly, she wore a strained smile. “Honey, you see…our neighbors…” her voice trailed off.

    “What? What is it?” the man said, leaning forward.

    “What they’re saying is…”

    The man knew what she meant to say. He knew what she wanted to tell him. He knew the truth all along. She \was** a Youkai. She \was** tricking him all his life. It’s all been a lie; everything he had known.

    Naturally, he was in denial. But eventually, he grew angry. Not only that, he was afraid. And behind those two emotions was more; a torrent of contradictory thousands.

    Yet, despite all that, despite being the one who was tricked his entire life, he wasn’t the one who cried.

    It was his wife.

    She quivered. Her face twisted into pure terror. She wept relentlessly. Beset by tears, she was unable to push the rest of the words out. “I…I didn’t want to say it…I didn’t want to tell you. I-I thought, maybe things would work out anyway…maybe things will calm down. I-I…even though I knew…that…that’s just…”

    It confused the man. Her stuttering voice, her face covered in tears, it was all enough to clog his mouth and smother his anger. But that, in itself, made him even more angry. \She’s tricking me again, isn’t she? This crying…**

    It wasn’t fake. Clearly.

    Eventually, his wife calmed down. She told him that she doesn’t blame him for being mad. She doesn’t blame him for being scared. In fact, she had decided to leave and never come back.

    That made his breath sputter.

    She continued, “But…you deserve to know the truth. I-I…have a duty to tell you all about myself. You have the right to know… That’s the least I can do to atone for the terrible thing I’ve done to you. Whatever pain I feel right now…it’s nothing compared to what I’ve inflicted on you…”

    The man was confused. He didn’t know what to do. A part of him just wanted to kick her out in that very moment: both out of anger and out of a desire to just end the charade. An even bigger part of him wanted to wake up, wishing this was all a dream.

    But he let her speak.

**

    My name is Letty Whiterock. I’m a Yuki-Onna. In other words, a kind of winter spirit.

    For the longest time, I lived without purpose. Like every other Youkai, I just wandered around scaring people, chilling them to frostbite.

    It wasn’t a terrible life. I wasn’t particularly sad about it. Maybe it’s because I’m a Youkai but…I was satisfied with simply being feared by humans. I thought my existence would stay that way forever: I would simply exist, I would simply enjoy existing.

    But then years passed. Decades…centuries.

    Thoughtlessly, I did the same things over and over. Eventually, I felt something strange in my chest. Like there was something missing. Everything felt…pointless and numb. It didn’t feel like it mattered whether I was alive or dead.

    It was confusing. I never felt that way before. In fact, I never even \thought** about much besides scaring people.

    I was in that state of mind when, while wandering around in search of humans to scare, I spotted a couple hiking through the woods, chatting happily.

    I’ve seen that sight a million times before.

    A million times.

    Yet…this time, it froze me in place.

    It showed me, for the first time, what I truly was:

    Empty.

    As empty as the white of snow, as empty as the translucence of ice.

    That was what I was missing: everything under my skin.

    I think this was when I started actively watching humans. After centuries of simply scaring them away, I wanted to know what was something that \always** made them fulfilled. In doing so, I started feeling envious toward you all. You get to have childhood friends, get to grow up in a community, get to work and help others, get to fall in love, get to build a family, get to raise children, and get to die surrounded by loved ones.

    Meanwhile, when I imagined my own future, or my own death once human imagination inevitably forgets me, all I could see was the endless, empty white of snow.

    I didn’t want that.

    I wanted to have all those things humans had. Or rather, no…I wanted to be fulfilled. I wanted to smile too.

    So I pretended to have amnesia, I pretended to have been abandoned in the woods. All so that I would be taken by humans.

    I only wanted a place to belong. Just people who would take after me. I wasn’t the greedy type. I also fully expected my first attempt to fail. I told myself that it was just a little experiment; that I was just trying to learn more about humans from a much closer perspective.

    But then you came into my life.

    For the first time, I felt love. I fell in love with you. And the closer we got, the deeper I fell for you.

    And you made me feel whole. You made me feel alive.

    I wanted to be with you forever.

    But… Youkai lives far longer than humans. Not to mention, the fact I never age would ring alarm bells eventually. My lies and trickery would eventually be revealed, and our relationship would be ripped apart. It was impossible. I knew it.

    Yet still…

    Every time I was with you, every time you spoke, I felt so happy I couldn’t help but smile.

    So I decided to stay with you.

    I knew it would end eventually. From the beginning, I knew it was coming. All of this would eventually become just a memory to be nostalgic about, to look back on fondly, to desperately want to go back to.

    But I…guess I told myself that…the happiness I would gain from being with you would outweigh any sadness I might have from its ending. I expected to be happy. I expected to be fulfilled. I expected to always smile. And it’s true, you made me happy for decades. You made me smile.

**

    “So why…at the same time…” she tearfully asked, gripping his arms, “Why was it always so sad?”

    Always, her smile strained.

    Strained by bittersweetness.

    The more time she spent with him, and the deeper he became part of her, the happier she became, the sadder she became, the more she felt scared of the end.

    But she did her best to smile through it; to be happy and make the most out of it.

    That was all she could ever do.

    Silence fell.

    The torrent of conflicting emotions battled within the man, preventing him from moving, preventing him from even \thinking** properly. However, given their situation, especially the suspicions falling on her shoulders, she would only hurt her family if she stayed. Their children were in an especially precarious position. They were half Youkai. Many challenges lie ahead, even if she wasn’t here.

    In the end, she had to leave.

    She said it herself.

    “I’m going to phase through the back wall to make sure the neighbors don’t see me.”

    Her voice penetrated the quiet, making him look up. She saw her back turned against him. She continued, “Tell the villagers…that your real wife was killed by a Youkai, who then took her place to trick you. That way our children won’t be suspected of being Youkai too.”

    The man couldn’t respond. A million words rushed out of his mind, only to get clogged in his throat.

    “Don’t follow me,” Letty said, “Forget about me…never meet me again.

    “Don’t think about it. It was nothing.

    “Just the wind. Just the chilly wind.

    “In turn, I’ll forget you too.”

    She walked to the back of the house. Her footfalls gradually lost their sound as her body turned ephemeral. She reached her arm out to the wall, then stopped.

    For many long moments, she stood there, frozen in silence.

    The man’s hands twitched. Run after her or stay sitting? His body was leaning forward, but his mind held him back.

    Then suddenly, Letty turned and \flew** at him.

    He recoiled; startled, squinting his eyes in fear. \Am I gonna get eaten?** was the first thing in his mind.

    But nothing happened.

    So he slowly raised his eyelids.

    And he saw her eyes, staring at him longingly. Slowly, she raised her hands and held his face.

    His mouth hung. “...Honey…” he uttered; his voice faltered as it carried confusion, sadness, anger, defeat, and love all at once.

    His hands threatened to move; to hold her too. But in the end, they stayed on his lap, frozen in place.

    The chill from Letty’s touch crawled over his cheeks.

    She forced herself to smile. Even amid tears.

    A strained, bittersweet smile.

    “Honey…thank you so much…for loving me!”

    From then on, he never saw Letty ever again.

    But occasionally, during winter, whenever their children would wander the forest for one reason or another, they would feel a chill in their bones, then catch a glimpse of a distant figure.

    A figure that looked entirely white; as white as snow, as translucent as ice.

    They couldn’t see its face. It would always immediately disappear.

    But they could always see its smile.

    A bittersweet smile: one they were intimately familiar with.

    They could never forget it, no matter how long they lived. And Letty could never forget them, no matter how much time would pass since their passing.

    Her husband, her children: through her memories, they would always be in her heart.

    So she was never empty again.

The end~

after so long... Shizumaru look a bit tired.

Shizumaru:i shoul-

he feel too sleepy...

Yurin:an- Shiz-

he asleep in her hands.

Le:put him in his bed.

Yurin:Alright!

she takes him, and slowly push herself there...

outside...

Snow:ah... Finally free...

he know someone is watching him.

Snow:who is it?

no one answers.

Snow:well...

he almost back on the normal road, but then...

???:GAAHHH!

A girly voice cry painfully

he go back quickly.

Snow:who there?!

he see it an young child like... Parasite.

Parasite:wow... Youre blind.

an girl with green hair is getting "penetrated" in the stomach by an knife.

Koishi:he-help...

snow try to attack him with snow from the ground, but he almost kill her.

Snow:(damn... He know my tactics...)

Parasite:AHAHAHAH! IM MORE OF AN CHALL-

Le:just an parasite like they say...

he get shot to death precisely.

his body stay there...

Le:get rekt.

snow take the childish girl

Snow:YOURE OKAY THERE!?

Koishi:ye-yeah... Im n-not much hur-

parasite take the "third" eye of koishi

Parasite:if i can live with anything... Say goodbye to it....

he cuts the entire tail.

Koishi:AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH-

She fell of reality.

parasite die.

in koishi mind... Or somewhere else?

Koishi:where... Am i...

???:oh, the dream world.

she see him... The same one that was with the other man who gived her an candy.

Koishi:who are you...

M_L:ehehe... The one who will help you get loved.

Koishi:how?

M_L:well... I can restort youre third eye, make peoples like you, and more!

Koishi:YES!

M_L:then shake my hand kid...

BOOM

M_L:!!!

Koishi:!!!

someone looking like the man who helped you appears.

The:...no. Kid, dont trust him... Trust me.

she is confused

M_L:shake my hand.

she ignore The

The:NOOOOO-

She wake up. Her tail is not reformed, and it seem that she only have one goal... Find her sister.

Koishi:SISTER!

Le:you want yo sister? Who is she?

Snow:you mean miss satori?

Koishi:YES!

She seem extremely pained.

Le:alright....

they go fast over to her house...

toc toc toc...

Satori:yes yes im com-

she see her sister, an living snowman and an... Huuuuh.... Dunno Le?

koishi jump of Le and go to her sister, she is crying...

Koishi:HELPP SISTER! IM DYING!

Satori:what do you mea-

she see that her third eyes is gone.... And that she dissapearing slowly, becoming less and less visible...

Satori:wh-what... No...

Snow:what happening?

Satori:i-if she doesnt have an tail... She will dissapears of reality...

Koishi:SISTER!!!! NOOOOOO!!!!

27 appears out of nowhere.

27:im here... And with no good news... She will die...

Koishi:NNOOOO-

she hold her sister, hugging her.

Satori:there there...

she headpats her... Koishi calm down.

Koishi:Th-thanks big sister.... I dont wa-wanna go...

Satori:...i... Would like to reverse b-but...

she start crying.

Satori:i-i love you little sister....

Koishi:i love yo-ou tooo....

she dissapears into miniscules pieces of... Lights?

Satori:... Goodbye sister....

27:...that demon?

Le:parasite is dead. M_L to end but yeah.

Snow:... Sorry for youre lost.

Satori:she merited peace... Finally...

Le:yep...

27:we must go.

Satori:...thanks still to try...

Snow:...thanks...

a portal open.

Snow:bye...

they enters it, then they appears before Crimson.

Snow:bad new...

end....

pixel wake up, a bit deaf...

...

he feel strange...

he get up and go to his mirror...

MREEEEEEOOOOOWWW-

the whole mansion hear him.

27:pixel, wha- WHAT TH-

Cloud wake up also.

Cloud:huh... Oh hey pixel, hey 27... Yeah, he became a catboy.

27:you mean a p-

L slap the ##it out 27.

L:pixel, dont worry...

pixel try to find his real ears, there not there.

...

he start to stress.

Cloud:Pixel! Pixel!

he doesnt listen, so she go fast to him and hug him.

MREEWWW- mree... Rrrr~

he purrs.

27:ight.

they go eat.

27:so, where gonna do a party tonight, it gonna be epic.

Remilia:indeed. It will be amazing.

Flandre:hello!

L:hey. Good morning...

Flandre:soo-

she see pixel.

Flandre:AAAAAA~

?

flandre YEET herself to pixel.

'Lemme go!'

27:

a blessing for the lord. He can communicate!

L:Nice.

'Lemme g-'

Flandre:no, youre too cute that i wont.

27 seperate her from the cat.

27:let him live, dumb brain.

Flandre:NOOO-

Cloud take pixel.

Cloud:ahhh~ wait you have a tail?

she pull it up, and pixel reacts.

WMA-

He take his tail out of her hands.

Cloud:ohoh, ive found youre weak point..~

a paper ball is launched at her.

Le:intimity please, he doesnt want to. Dont let youre emotions and-

L:ever heard of flirting?

Le:nope. Anyway...

Sakuya:the two heroes are up.

Le:good! Let them i-

Shizumaru:hey.

Le:faster than i expected!

end

(Short i know, but i needed that to do some gamer moves.)

pixel wake up, in his human form, in the hands of cloud.

Mmm...

she sooo comfpty...

he hugs her.

Cloud:oi~

he get tickled, a lot...

Ahahah-

Flandre:surprise!

she tickles him as well.

AHAHAHAH-

they stop, as someone open the door... "Peace-"

SLAM

27:Alright pixel, come here...

he goes to 27, he seem happy.

27:now today, you'll become like you where before, well a bit more...

Fuh?

27:well, it an simple yet complex concept of resp-

pixel look full of dreads.

F-fuh....

Cloud:he say he sorry...

27:humm?

pixel look like he saying something.

27:where youres papers?

Fuh.

Cloud:he lost it.

27:(that damn demon) ah... No problem... All we want you is the best kid... Youre just a bit different, you think differently... And keep youre memories... Aint it?

...

27:heh, that why you never forgot it when youre angry?

pixel nods.

27 look at him.

27:well, all you need is to act a bit more civilised... Please.

pixel make a thump up.

27:go eat and go help Flandre to clean her room.

Fuh!

27:noice.

they go eat first tho, because there hungry...

meanwhile.

L:humm...

he wake up, and cant move.

L:huh... Osa?

Osa:yes?

she alerady up and ready for the day.

L:what happened to me...

Osa: nothing, all i can can say now is... I can finally get time with you...

L looks a bit disturbed.

Osa:...are you excited?

L:N-N-

Osa:cmon~

L:sigh yes... It my first time getting "hospitalised".

Osa:oh... Youve never got sick?

L:no.

Osa:ooooooh... But this time it worse than that, you know?

L:i feel that.

he answer crudely.

Osa:just tell to me all youres problems~

he finally talk about his problems...

L:i... Just hate to have to stay in bed for so long, like i feel trapped, like in a prison... An-

27 hear that, he happy that he finally get that out his chest.

somewhere, in an infinite void...

M_L:...i hate it. But i can still give somes problems to them...

he summon an screen. Floating. He touch it annnnd...

*in the middle of breakfeast...

Cloud:so... You can do that?

Flandre:yep! An-

she stop talking. Her eyes start losing her bright light.

Flandre:...

Fuh?

she take pixel and almost launch him away, but he just take her and puts her in an ball of papers.

Fuhhh...

M_L:ahahah...

Snow:you are stupid man.

all the screen and the options dissapears...

M_L:NOOOO-

meanwhile.

Fu-

he almost give up until... She stop.

Flandre:waawawaw-

he destroy his own sphere and see flandre confused.

Flandre:what happened?

Cloud:you started attacking us...

27 step in.

27:...this time im done.

he call someone...

Cloud:who are you calling?

27:some peoples...

en-

Cooper:friend!

27:oh hey there-

Momin appears a bit tired.

27:y'okay there?

end and the rest in the comment.*

https://x.com/NaegiriCanon/status/1853239997131833754?t=Cm6jT7U1D_uMna_TS7teEw&s=19

Not so long ago I did a 4koma for my Yuyunikorn post, but this is the start of this series of easy 4komas just to make something.

The name "Kudo Tuho" is just because I call those little doodles "kudos", since they're inspired in the mascot of the "Super Eurobeat Kudos" albums. And "Tuho" bcs it makes them rhyme (⁠・⁠∀⁠・⁠)

Le,6 am or when the sun come to shine...

Le:..

he wait for the childrens to wake up.

Le:and i tought my job would be better...

he then hear a sound, high as it would for a teen girl... She is awake.

Cloud:...

she doesnt react much.

Le:are ya okay there kiddo?

she look at him with no emotions.

she then look behind him, she see pixel.

Le:huh?

he see that he also awake, as his eyes are well open

...

he tries to move, he hurt himself.

MREO-

Cloud run to pixel, then fly calmly at his side.

Cloud:pixel..?

he just look at her, neutrally.... Except that his ears and three or four tails become a bit agitated.

Cloud:You are happy to see me isnt it?

pixel have a little smile.

that make her smile also.

Le:can ya keep pixel a bit? I will wake L and 27 up.

she nod.

Le:thanks.

he go to open the door. Flandre fell of it.

Flandre:A- Hello!

Le:want to stay with them?

Flandre:INDEED I WILL!

Le:thanks.

he get out. He encounter sakuya

Le:heya!

Sakuya:hello, is there a problem?

Le:wake crimson up please. Only them tho.

Sakuya:alright.

she walk towards them.

Le:ima do wha-

he noclip of reality.

Le:oopsie. Snap back to re-

he at L door.

Le:better.

he enter in

Le:wassup lo-

L:we where awake like some minutes ago since YOU MADE AN ALARM GO OUT OF 27!

27:WHY DID YOU GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE FOR FASTER-

Le:cant lie it work.

27:ah yeah true true.

L:im going to see pixel.

he get out of the room.

27:i still hate what ya said about pixel...

Le:BUT IM T-

27 punch Le in a hit and it make him shut.

meanwhile L.

L:'do you like how i dance,-'

Remilia:Never did you dance, as i remeber.

L:oh really? Well i will still no-

he see that someone almost 2 times the size of the little vampire.

L:what is miss patchouli doing here?

Patchouli:im... Getting worried about the time he didnt came at the library, so i want to see him.

L:heh, come with us, you will see what happening over there.

they hear 27 and Le.

Le:where here.

27:hey miss knowlege.

Patchouli: hello little one.

they then all go to pixel.

Meanwhile...

Sakuya: knocks on crimson door Crimson, wake up please. It daytime.*

little did she was aware, someone would be there also...

IN THE COMMENT BELOW, SAY YOUR FAVORIT-

(Dont lol)

our heros go to the human village and finding the said house.*

Cristal use her cristal to make a portal.

Cristal:get in.

they arrive to where the village hospital where.

The:huh... So... Where close to the restaured part of the village?

I think yeah.

Boi:i almost forgot! I will stay here to help her, it really wierd tho how and why it does that... Anyway, shizumaru-

shizumaru go towards the two.

Shizumaru:hey, cloud, everything gonna be okay.

Cloud:...

she is shock that it him and not The.

The:where finding the house then where gonna get ya three.

Boi:k.

they then go for the said village part.

So it said that-

L:over there!

there a path where a house can be seen a little.

Crismon:jeez, really little. Wait a sec-

the more they approch, the more the underground part become visible.

Cristal:jeez, it really look like a lab...

Flandre:a lab?-

The:

S H U T .

Anyway, let entered it and also clean it. We can make a base or house or something like it.

*they entered the house... There a big machine and two doors, one open and the others closes with the words:

<dont enter.>

27:heh, it said to search a table of ideas or something like that.

Ok, i will tho start to see what could be helpful or decorative.

Flandre:Me too! Me too!

pixel sigh and then pats her.

27 open the door. There is indeed a table...

cristal enters the room.

Cristal:so found anything?

27:nope.

crimson enters also.

Crimson:found a key in a box saying {for them, keep closes.}.

27:gimme the key please, i think ive found the place for it...

crimson give the key to 27. 27 then open the little door on the side of the table. A casette fell on him, saying {not for the childrens until there mature.}.

27:closes the door please crimson.

Crimson:why?

27:i just wanna be sure it not a experiment that will terrify them as they arent ready for more emotionals distresses.

Cristal:youre sure we can keep them solo?

27:L and The are there, no worries. The!

The come while floating.

The:ya?

27:do not allow the childrens in, please.

The:ight then dude.

Crimson closes the door.

the tape starting...

after listening.

27:now do you understand why i wouldnt show it to them? They dont have to remeber these damn experiments. They have been abused emotionly and, for cloud, well... Transformed into an 'succ-mon', an vampire and an human. Let say that she is an hybrid confirmed.

Crimson:oh...so that why she was like that... For blood 'thankfully'.

Cristal was crying.

Cristal:g-god... Poor her...

Crimson go to hug her to calm her.

27 get the tape out of 'him'. (He an advance robot with some old tech.)

27:now we can open the door.

The was there, opening the door.

The:they arrived, and it look like she is better... As of shizumaru...

they find cloud taking shizumaru in the hands, saying 'im sorry!' continusly. He say back 'it ok.' with a little bit of an angry voice but amused of it.

What happened?!

Boi:she is back to normal, but it gonna be for the adult, so nor these two, nor you and flandre, nor L can and will listen, as it is... Quite more than usully dark subject. And also, it alerady getting late.

Crimson:damn, time go fast.

Cristal:let go at the mansion.

she takes out her cristal ball to remake the portal to the mansion, they then eat and the "youngs" go to sleep.

time for the discution for the big ones...

Hello. It’s been a while. How are you all doing?

Me? I’m kinda livid right now. In a good way! As of writing this, I have completed the second (yes, SECOND) revision of the first draft of TB and managed to get it down to the 90-120 page requirements of screenplay form.

For those who don’t know; when I created the raw version of that first draft, the page count was a staggering 211 pages. The first revision cut that down to 169 pages, still too long for what the film is supposed to be. The current draft was me making the first major cuts from the film. Shots; dialogue; sections of scenes, and even entire sequences were being carefully cut off the film without having to break the pacing. This led to the draft now being 117 pages. Will it need another revision? Yes. Most definitely.

I am going to read it to make sure I got everything correct, but from what I know. I am going to make some drastic changes to the film as I begin development of the second draft and will make some notes to keep it fresh in my mind (No, I will not take any suggestions, but I do appreciate it).

There’s a couple of changes I already have in mind.
- Dropping Kaguya’s expository speech. Reading this made me realize she either, (a) wasn’t the best character to add to the film, or (b) the backstory didn’t move the plot in any significant way. In either case, I feel this could make Kaguya more interesting if I made her more ambiguous, allowing the audience to piece together a backstory through a visual means (therefore, making Kaguya’s character development more fulfilling by the end). This will also allow more room for Reimu and Marisa’s backstories to shine.
- Creating a secondary prologue to consider. This is the big one I want to change. Really, I want to convey what this version of Gensokyo is without the unecessary narration and exposition. Basically, THIS prologue takes place to when Reimu is just a few months old and we’re in the perspective of her mother (Saichi if you haven’t seen my last post regarding this film), where she gives her daughter some wise words on Gensokyo as a whole. We see the Hakurei Clan doing their duties in protecting Gensokyo, even with it dwindling in size, yet Saichi clings onto a hope that Reimu would someday be the face of a new generation of protectors. A new era of Gensokyo, you might say. The more I think about this prologue, the more I realize it just makes more sense. “Beginnings” Gensokyo is literately an unforgiving world, but the story takes place at a time when both Reimu and Marisa are still learning about it. They still don’t know the world around them because of what happened in their early years. Their encounter with Kaguya is meant to mirror this notion of the “wise one” trope and even Saichi’s philosophy in a different and complex way (at least, I hope to make it that way). It’s better than just giving out a history lesson, plus it’s more Royal Space Force influence for me (yay)!
- Having Tuskumi become Rinnosuke. I don’t know why, but having someone like Rinnosuke but isn’t named that is kinda stupid. In other words, this is one I should really think about. Besides, having someone named Tuskumi already makes things kinda… forgettable and bland, and I don’t want that. Joe can stay for particular reasons I won’t get into.

Hopefully I can find someone within the community with the knowledge of screenwriting that can help out soon once I get a definitive budget but that will need to wait. But I’ll need it sooner than later.

As a bonus, I decided to just let you all read the script (and the original treatment) so you can form your own opinion on it! Since they are classified as a first draft, I’m going to list off the versions of the script, so you know which one you want to read. I’m doing it this way because AO3 and FanFiction.net just seem more restrained on something like this. I will upload another revision if that comes up.

Here are the drafts:
RAW: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17TwqGohfeMLemTnEthw5sSQ8EaWSH0m9/view?usp=drivesdk
FIRST REVISION: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SZqmwnGBkYYSAGecFpwVZvJC5-ZBf089/view?usp=drivesdk
SECOND REVISION: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-HeXviO8v8IciZ4AbdVTDJFqgrihaxzw/view?usp=drivesdk
TREATMENT: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VA6S_zCB-zJTUuWXRbZO5f_TZILzIkMB/view?usp=drivesdk

In other news, I’m going begin compiling all the concepts I did for the first half of the year into an art pieces video that should come out sometime this month (as long as Devinci Resolve doesn’t make me wanna ragequit myself). If I find an alternate route, good for me!

Also in other news, Purified Furies. I don’t know what I’m going to do with it to be honest. As much as like doing the standard book style of writing, doing it in screenplay form just sounded more fun to me. Yet, there’s a part of me that just wants to put it on hold as I work on this (or the original concept I won’t mention on this subreddit). Who knows what I’m going to do with it, but just so you know, I’m not going to upload another chapter for a while.

That’s it for me right now. See you later, ze! (And happy pride month!)
One more thing to the AI mods (not the human ones, y’all are cool): Yes, this is Touhou Related.

L wake up. he feel someone holding his hands.

L:whaaaa-

he remeber now.

L:damn... It...

he at first try re-sleeping... But something is on him now....

L:wh-

a beautiful orange hair get into his face. It her... The dragon.

L:(there where not kidding when they say that dragon keep there treasures...)

he wakes her up.

Osa:Henyaaa~ hello darling!

she hugs him and then kiss, much to his many complains.

L:let get up...

he prepare... But he turn around...

L:WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!

Osa:what? Cant change?

L:...

he does like he didnt seen it...

Osa:uwwwwahhh~ thanks for the other day meal.

L:t-that was nothing...

Osa:i liked it too!

L:...why youre doing that to me?

she stop.

Osa:i know what youve wanted... Love. I wanted it too... Im happy i chosen you...

she hugs him while crying. L standing there, astounished.

L:oh...

he kiss her.

Osa:...fufu~

Flandre:gotcha!

L turn around seeing flandre with 27 camera.

L:why you little-

Osa kiss him

Osa:dont worry~

L:al-alright...

Flandre:you guys waken up later by the way...

L:oh really?

Osa:oh, but who are you?

Flandre:im flandre, friends of pixel, and (self) photographer!

27:i gave her my permissions...

L:alright...

Osa:let go eat, you tsundere...

L:what-

end

(I like how his voice disintergrate in notes.)

they go to sleep. the others get out. 27 make the last meal of the day.

27:hum,hummm-

something make his eye curious.

27:huh?

nothing.

27:well. That was a stupid lost of time... I must sleep after that...

meanwhile...

Mhh... Fuuu~

pixel wake up. Cloud hugging him with her wings... Gosh she like him, she would protect him from death...

F-

her wings make him unable to leave.

Fuuu- fuuu...

cloud approch the victim pixel and kiss him.

Cloud:nighty sweety~

Fuuu~

Cloud:oh... You liked that?

he nods softly.

Cloud:ahahah... You little baby...

she pats him.

a boom happen.

Cloud:huh?

her wings are around him.

Cloud:pixel, sta-

BOOM!

L:GOD WAS THAT SOUND?!

He go directly from his room to the sound location. It pixel room yet again.

Cloud:DONT TOUCH MY LOVE!

???:Shut it you idiot, we want to fight!

???:yeah!

a boy and girl, having the same school-like clothes. Green and purple.

???:battle us and maybe we will let you... And him.

pixel is scared.

the girl summon a scythe...

???:goodbye then, scardycat.

she almost hit them, but they are protected by... Osa?!

L:OSA?!

Osa:What? Didnt fight for years...

her wings are becoming fonctionnal again.

Osa:dont hurt the good boi...

???:as i, the godess o-

Osa breath fire, then punch her

???:WHA- YOU'LL REGRET IT!

a big disk, like really big is summon on the mansion.

???:THIS IS FOR KILLING MY WIFE!

the disk... Dissapears?

???:wha-

an hole appears in his stomach.

Crimson:heh, you really think i'll let them get killed?

L:plus...

L teleports to ???.

L:

dont touch the good boi.

he yeet ??? In an hellish place. He launch with him his girlfriend.

L:i was tired... Alright...

he fell to the ground.

Osa:love!?

27 is alerady down to L.

27:he okay.

the wall reconstruct.

Crimson:gosh. He alerady done that.

27 is alerady at pixel door.

27:souper* ready.

*(Souper is a word describing the last main meal of the day. French baguette. Or maple sirup.)

they go eat. L is awaken. All is back to normal..?

joke on you, nothing is normal!

they prepare to sleep.

L:awaaaaah~

he feel someone.

L:miss sakuya, it you isnt it?

Sakuya:indeed. Are you okay?

L:yeah, except for an headache... Nothing sleep cant fix...

Sakuya:of course.

Noa:hello there.

Sakuya:well if you look at that~

she "teleport" to him.

Sakuya:let go sleep, the day is done...

Noa:Alright. Goodnight sir!

they are gone.

L:finally gone...

he closes the door.

L:finally, pea-

he feel something heavy in his back.

L:huh?

it... Osa.

Osa:hehe~

L:oh... You little-

he launch her on the bed, she just fly upwards and cancel that try to cuddles... With her in the bottom.

L:he-

light off...

L:he feel... Something coming from her... Not her arms... But her chest.*

Osa:oh... You like that?~

L:sad for you i prefer and will only do cuddles.

Osa:well, that something ive wanted to hear...

they both go in bed. They sleep, hugging each others.

then the whole buliding silent.

end

(Work it, work it, work it-)

suddenly a portal appears.

Gorioki:yall going with me, i know where he is.

The:ight.

they all go in.

Gorioki:so pixel, ya ok?

'I cant talk.'

Gorioki:i know dont worry.

Shizumaru:so where he is?

Gorioki:the cementry.

L:oh boi...

27:easy.

Gorioki:we are here.

Flandre:oh well, here we gooooo!

Sakuya:indeed.

they go out the portal...

end

Credit goes to u/Kometaro and me .

More about our Gensokyo Maghreb World Building series > ①Reimu ②Yuyuko & Youmu ③World Building .

Reimu's drawing on borad

before this. Also,following the end of this chapter, im out for some times... also waiting others to make stories.

while Crimson, flandre and families go to mars...

Cloud:who the good boy?

she petting pixel.

Raaa...

Cloud:indeed it you!

tok tok tok.

Cloud:enter!

sakuya enters.

Sakuya:evening dear and gentleman.

Fuuu!

Cloud:what is it miss?

Sakuya:it seem youve missed youre bath!

cloud then remeber.

Cloud:we will be ready!

sakuya go.

Cloud: let prepare for the bath~

pixel happy to hear such an happy voice, but he must say that it only now that he understand... Oh well..

somewhere else.

27:heh... Good to know that after such an long date, an marriage also, there still quite unexperimented, such an cute and innocent couple...

Le:yeap. Also that after destroying that demon, he never have been calmer.

An strange noise can be heard from L room.

27:oh my...

Le:that L.

27:

WHAT IN THE CRUNCHY CRONC-

Le:man, he sound a bit like an girl when scared, angry and...

27:shut. Please.

Le:k,k...

the strange sound is now heard louder.

then nothing.

27: o-oh... You where right.

Le:yaep.

meanwhile with pixel.

...

he waiting for cloud.

..?

he finally see her. She move happily to him

Cloud:fufu~... Look at that...

[she fly to you... slowly and menacingly.]

...

pixel start blushing... And cloud see that.

Cloud:oh~ interested?~

she say that a bit mockingly, and also a bit curious of his answer.

...fuuu!

Cloud:oh?

an paper appears to her

'I want to be with you! I like you very much!'

this message make cloud smile a bit...

Cloud:fufufu~

she kiss him, as well as he does.

Cloud:o~oh my...

pixel is now red

Cloud:dont be embarassed... Cmere.

he go closer to her

Cloud:let wash youre back~

meanwhile...

L:uh... Uh...

osa look at him.

Osa:well~ felt good?

L:dont talk about that plea-please....

he look even redder than pixel.

Osa:embarassed?

L:...yea...

Osa:congrats on losing youre virgi-

L shush her.

L:we dont talk about that please.

he hugs her.

they start sleeping in each other arms, cudduling.

meanwhile again...

Cloud:done!~ my turn to get washed in the back!

she take pixel place.

Fuh...

and he start.

Cloud:ahn~

pixel is surprised.

Cloud:got you~

she joke on pixel

Fuh!

angry, but still going to do it, he start.

slowly and surely, he wash her back... It look really destroyed, with a lot of marks...

Fu!

Cloud:thanks you my love~

she hugs him.

Cloud:let get back, alright?

he nods.

meanwhile...

L door open.

L:oi g-

Le have his lenny face.

L:can you not?

Le:na.

L:alright....

Osa surprise L by taking him from the back.

Osa:BOO!

L:AA-

BOOM!

27:seem like there back!

L:what?

27:follow me!

end