Chapter Text
The group, now finished with their scrimmage, walk together out of the academy. A certain superfan and her girlfriend also tag along a fair distance behind. With the sun still high in the sky, they arrive at an ice cream parlour.
Two umas stood out in particular from the few customers already there.
“One strawberry and one mint please!” Matikanefukukitaru stands with Silence Suzuka, picking out coins from her purse. The server hands over the ice cream to Suzuka, watching Fuku pull, inspect, and return some of the coins.
“Hold on just a moment Suzuka, I’m saving the lucky ones for the shrine.” mutters Fuku.
“Fuku, there’s people behind us.” whispers Suzuka. Fuku’s tail freezes for a moment before she hurries up and finally pays. Fuku bows as she apologises for holding up the line
“Sorry about taking so long!” When she looks up she realises it’s her friend, Copano Rickey.
“It’s alright Fuku, saving the lucky coins right?” chuckles Rickey.
From a door behind the counter, a girl with blue hair and red eyes similar to Reisen’s walks out with a tray of ice cream stuffed mochi. Her hat had the shape of rabbit ears coming from the top of them. She lays the tray in the refrigerated display and makes her way to the back again, but before she does.
“Seiran?” calls out Reisen, making the girl freeze in place.
“R-Reisen?!” Seiran turns around. Her surprise turns to confusion as she stares at Reisen’s ears, eyes narrowing on the uma ears where rabbit ears used to be.
“Oh Seiran, is this a friend of yours? Well you just finished a batch so you can take a break and chat with them.” The person behind the counter says, giving Seiran a smile before taking another order.
“O-oh okay, thank you!” Seiran comes out from behind the counter, making her way to Reisen. Reisen starts looking at flavours with Youmu.
Rickey’s eyes sparkle as she stares at the ice cream stuffed mochi.
Everyone else starts pilling into the parlour, Digital and Dober watching from outside.
Zanmu pays for Hisami’s stack of grape ice cream, Meiling and Sakuya order together getting red bean and chocolate ice cream respectively. Still In Love gets herself coffee ice cream while Sweepy nags Marisa to let her get three scoops. Rob Roy had to speak up over the yada yada from Sweepy, getting chocolate ice cream. Patchouli gets herself coffee before Reisen and Youmu decide to get carrot and sakura. Aoi Kiyurin and Happy Meek get a mix of flavours in a large cup to share. Finally, Marisa lets Sweepy have two scoops of whatever she wants and some of her ice cream.
Reisen and Youmu sit down with Seiran, who was already familiar with Reisen but was seeing her for the first time since they all arrived in Japan. Seiran couldn’t take her eyes off of their ears, the pair already knew what she was going to ask.
“You want to know what happened to us right? Youmu and I have been turned into umamusume because of that damn rabbit, even Yuyuko.” Reisen’s veins were popping out as she clenched her fist.
“I invited Reisen over to lunch and Tewi followed her, so when nobody was looking she spiked our drinks with something she stole from Eirin. After an hour we both got these ears and this tail, Yuyuko took all the leftovers and ended up having some too. After Reisen shook Tewi down, she told us it was HRT (horse replacement therapy). It only affected my human half.” Myon, her phantom half, comes out from behind her for a moment before hiding again.
“So it was Tewi’s fault. Did Tewi do the same to her? Would Tewi really do such a thing to the assistant of Hell’s manager?” whispers Seiran, gesturing to Hisami who was happily enjoying her ice cream.
“I don’t think she would do something of this level to someone like Hisami, I don’t think they’ve ever even spoken to each other before. Was Hisami why Eirin made such a thing in the first place?” The three stare at Hisami, but quickly turn away before Zanmu notices the stares in her direction.
Reisen’s ears twitch as she overhears something from the table next to hers.
“I saw this girl with white rabbit ears in a pink dress on my way to the shrine, I only saw her for a second in the trees. Then when I pulled a fortune I got a super lucky one!” Fuku smiles with her hands up in the air as she speaks to Suzuka and Rickey. Reisen suddenly stands, turning to Fuku.
“You saw a rabbit girl with white ears, in a pink dress? She had black hair that runs down to her shoulders right?” Reisen interrogates Fuku.
“U-uhm, yeah, I saw her in the forest on the way to the shrine with the red shrine maiden.” Nervously replies Fuku.
“Thank you, and sorry for being so rude.” Reisen bows slightly before sitting back down. Reisen starts rambling to the others on her table and an awkward silence falls on the orange haired table. Rickey has been meaning to ask since she saw Suzuka, she decides now would be a good time.
“Suzuka, what’s up with the outfit? Rickey chuckled a little at Suzuka’s slight blush. Her outfit consisted of a white t-shirt with an illustration of Fuku running, and jeans with patches of Fuku and Fuku related things.
“Err well, Fuku got me to wear this one time, I thought that she would be happy if I wore it today.” Suzuka’s confession earns her a kiss on the cheek from Fuku.
“So that’s why you wore this!” giggles Fuku. The slight blush on Suzuka’s cheeks grew more intense and spread across her face with the contact of Fuku’s lips. Fuku, realising her boldness, turns just as flushed as Suzuka. <add the image of suzuka’s outfit at the bottom>
Meiling, lays in wait like a hidden dragon, waiting for Sakuya to get ice cream somewhere on her face. Meiling pays so much attention to Sakuya’s ice cream eating that she doesn’t notice that she got a little on the edge of her mouth, something which Sakuya does notice at a glance.
“Meiling, you…” Sakuya taps the side of her mouth where Meiling got a bit of ice cream. Meiling doesn’t understand what she means, so she wipes it off Meiling with her finger herself. Meiling is left a little embarrassed, caught in the situation she hoped to catch Sakuya in. Sakuya smirks at the sight of red inching on Meiling’s cheeks, Meiling replies to the smirk with a frown. Meiling stared at Sakuya, then at her finger with the ice cream still on it. She holds Sakuya’s wrist and pulls Sakuya’s hand toward her lips, pressing them onto Sakuya’s finger and then licking the ice cream clean off. Sakuya’s smirk was wiped right off as she was left speechless.
From a few tables across, Digital and Dober feast their eyes upon the scene. A turn of their heads leads them to finding more and more material.
“Dober, OMG, there’s so much all around us!” Digital starts melting from excitement. Dober looks at her, then the ice cream she forgot about both melting.
“I should have some before it all melts.” Dober leans over, then gently licks Digital’s cheek. Digitan’s ears and tail shoot up, and her melting only hastened. Dober was eating up the view.
Hisami, having just finished her ice cream, was hungry for something else.
“Zanmu~” whispers Hisami, as she holds Zanmu’s hand and places it on her thigh. Zanmu tries to pull away but Hisami firmly holds her wrist, keeping her hand in place. Zanmu stays composed, taking Hisami’s hand and walking out the store with her to the alley nearby. Digital catches on and takes Dober with her to spy on the intriguing pair.
“Hisami, I already told you. And now, you not only did such things in public, but around your peers and my co-workers.” Zanmu stands before Hisami with her arms crossed. Hisami breathes shakily as she smiles at Zanmu, crazed eyes peek behind the petal veil.
“Mistress Zanmu, I-I’m sor-” Zanmu pins Hisami to the wall and scowls at her.
“You aren’t sorry in the slightest.” whispers Zanmu, while she grips Hisami’s wrist tighter.
Digital and Dober’s tails swish with excitement as they peep on the situation, their ears twitch as they try to pick up the conversation. They watch tensely as Zanmu brushes away the petals covering Hisami’s face before bringing Hisami’s face closer to her own. Zanmu bites Hisami’s bottom lip, just hard enough for Hisami to enjoy, but gentle enough not to leave a mark too obvious. Hisami’s ears flutter at the feeling of Zanmu’s teeth clenching down.
“Zanmu~” whines Hisami, as Zanmu pulls away, denying her a kiss. Before Hisami says anything else, Zanmu puts her finger over Hisami’s lips.
“Remember, we aren’t in private, Hisami. We already have two spectators.” Zanmu turns to face the two that were watching.
“ASFSKFJKL!!” Dober started trying to shake Digital back to life as she laid on the floor muttering about how she shouldn’t be able to watch that for free.
“You two won’t be telling anyone about this will you?” Zanmu glares at them. Digital shoots up, standing straight.
“No ma’am! Your secret is safe with us!” blurts out Digital. She grabs Dober’s hand and runs off.
“Zanmu. Do you think they will keep it to themselves?” Hisami composes herself as they walk out together.
“They don’t have the will to tell anyone. It’s not an issue. Hisami, we’re going to my office to talk about your racing.” Zanmu beckons Hisami as she starts walking back to the academy.
Sweepy and Marisa walk out, saying their farewells to the others. Sweepy happens to spot a dog plush that looks similar to her grandmother’s dog in a shop window.
“Marisa!” Sweepy’s tail swishes and she points at the window.
“Can I please get that doggy? My grandma had one just like it!” As Marisa stared at the plush, an idea and a certain person came to mind.
“Sweepy, how about I introduce you to a magician who makes magic dolls instead?” Marisa grins as she sees Sweepy’s eyes light up even more.
“Woah really!? You know someone like that here?” Sweepy forgets about the plush in the window for the time being.
Marisa starts to wonder to herself. (“Since Alice hasn’t made autonomous dolls yet, the one she makes shouldn’t do anything right? I doubt she would control it to listen to Sweepy all the time. She controls them with threads of magic, could Sweepy-”) Sweepy tugs on her sleeve.
“Marisa, how do those magic battles work? Can I learn how to do things like you and Reimu too?” Sweepy stares at the mini-hakkero.
“You mean the Danmaku battle? Well it took me lots of hard work to do what I do, and Reimu… Reimu has tons of natural talent, it’s easy for her, I’m always working to catch up with her.” Marisa catches herself, not wanting to start going on about feeling a little inferior to Reimu, she tries to move the conversation along.
“It’s different for everyone, Danmaku is an art. Spell cards are the core of duels, beauty and meaning are the most important aspects. The bullets and how we even use them are different, my mini-hakkero is the conduit for mine. But it’s not the only way, I use other tools too, that girl who works at the cafeteria, Minoriko Aki, even used sweet potatoes as bullets!” Marisa is glad to see Sweepy looking so excited, though a bit of worry comes over her. (“Will Sweepy be able to use magic like that?”)
“Woah! So does that mean I could maybe even use flowers to do that?” chirps Sweepy.
“For sure you could! Actually I know someone who uses flowers in their Danmaku, Yukka Kazami.” Marisa shudders as she starts thinking back to the few times she met her.
“She’s really strong, not to mention how scary she is. I haven’t seen her anywhere since I got here though.” Marisa recalls seeing some sunflowers but she shakes her head, (“No, surely not.”)
“Sweepy, I’ll start teaching you, but only if you can give your best at your debut. It’s a promise!” Marisa holds her pinky to Sweepy, which Sweepy enthusiastically takes.
“Of course! Winning my debut is part of becoming a great witch like my grandmother and like you!” Sweepy eagerly starts dragging Marisa along.
“Let's get back to the academy so I can do some more running!”
===============
“Cafe, your mouth tastes like coffee.” Tachyon rolls her chair back to her desk and drops another sugar cube into her tea before drinking.
“Really? Cafe, let me try!” Pokke leans over onto Cafe.
“I’d like to try too!” Dantsu Flame takes the other side.
“Well yours just tastes like sugar and tea Tachyon.” retorts Cafe, as her lips pull away from Jungle Pocket’s, just before they meet Dantsu Flame’s.
“I’d like to meet this new school nurse I’ve heard about! I’m quite interested in what she can do after seeing how fast that supplement worked on Patchouli! Have fun you three!” chirps Tachyon. She walks out from the room, leaving Pokke and Flame to double team Cafe.
Tachyon trots down the halls, stopping before the door of the nurses office. She hears a few voices conversing on the other side. She knocks on the door, grinning widely as the door opens to a woman with long silver hair wearing a modified uniform with various constellations embroidered onto it. Triagrams line the hem at the bottom of the red and blue uniform.
“Hello, are there any issues?” greets the woman.
“I’m not here because of my condition, I’m here because I wanted to meet Eirin Yagokoro. I am very interested in her medicinal genius!” Tachyon grins with her wide unblinking gaze.
“Oh you’re here out of interest in the drugs I make? Well, we don’t have any patients here at the moment, and I already have one pupil with me here. I suppose you can join for now. Your name?” Tachyon looks past Eirin, she sees an uma with dark green hair doing another girl’s makeup. The girl had straight black hair that reached past her hip.
“I am Agnes Tachyon.” Tachyon follows behind Eirin as she walks to the others. She overhears the uma and the girl as she walks over.
“Thank you MaoMao, this beauty is really too bothersome.” The girl holds a mirror to her face.
“No problem Kaguya, I get what you mean.” replies the uma.
“MaoMao, this is Agnes Tachyon. She wanted to see my work, so she will be here in today’s lesson.” Tachyon takes a seat as Eirin introduces her.
“Pleasure to meet you, I’m glad to have found some peers in making drugs!” Tachyon eyes scrub over MaoMao.
“Somehow, your eyes creep me out more than Reisen’s when she pulls that trick with her eyes…” MaoMao’s ears twitch uncomfortably as Tachyon’s unblinking stare inspects her and the surroundings.
===============
“Sweepy! That's enough for today” calls Marisa. Sweepy comes off of the track and sits down next to Marisa.
“You did good today, Sweepy, I’ll let you have this.” Marisa hands her a sheet of paper.
“Woah! So these are the rules behind the big spells I saw you do?” Sweepy skims over the list, paying particular attention to the principals and the bill.
Principal 3: To reject a system wherein only the strongest have the right to rule.
Principal 4: That beauty and meaning stand above all.
Sweepy notes the points: Combatants will give names and meanings to the duel for the benefit of beauty. And, combatants may not deliver attacks that do not have meaning, the meaning itself becomes the attack’s power.
“These papers will be called spell cards. Woah… And you’ll teach me after I do well in my debut!?” Sweepy jumps up, her tail swaying excitedly.
“Yeah. That's our deal!”
===============
Sweepy arrives back at her dorm, pinning the spell card rules to the wall with the rest of her magical studies. She cuts a piece of paper to the closest she can remember from the cards in Marisa and Reimu’s battle. Occasionally looking up at the bill, she decides to name it after the Camellia flower. She holds the hair accessory her grandmother gifted her, reminiscing back to her time spent with her grandmother and beginning to imagine the pattern of her spell. She writes the name and lays down on her bed, she closes her eyes and mutters its name.
“Love Sign: Camellia Sasanqua.” Sweepy sets the card down on her bedside table, next to her hat and the accessory. Sweepy dozes off without realising the glow from the accessory, the flower and the petals spiraling away from its centre. The spell was fleeting, the card being used outside the barrier was weakened. Sweepy falls asleep, unaware of her first spell card.
Suzuka's outfit
Post: https://x.com/shiraokihendryx/status/2080513054068908166?s=46
Artist: https://x.com/GreeneryUma
