Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Taking a huge, HUGE risk, you decided to stay in Eientei for the night and ask Eirin if there was anywhere to sleep. And so, with a perfectly straight face, you suggested, “Actually, we should check with Eirin and try staying the night here.”

“Huh? Wait, that’s not actually a bad idea!” Sanae replied. “Although from what Reimu told me, we could be getting an… unorthodox wake-up call, to say the least, at any time throughout the night.”

You thought back, and remembered the still-ongoing rivalry between Kaguya and Mokou. Though the fanworks you saw depicted this rivalry in wildly varying manners, you concluded that it wouldn’t be too much of a problem.

“Eh, we’ll be fine…” you commented.

With that sorted out, you and Sanae headed through the hallways, trying to find Eirin or anyone else who could help find a place for you and Sanae to stay in Eientei. It didn’t take long for you to find who you were looking for: within minutes, you noticed Eirin walk by.

“Excuse me, miss,” Sanae asked, taking the initiative. “This may be sudden, but is there anywhere here the two of us can stay in for the night?”

Eirin turned to face the two of you, her eyes fixed on you. “Oh dear me,” she said.

“Since we rarely have actual guests instead of patients, we didn’t bother to make a guest room….. If you really want to stay for the night, I’m afraid you’ll have to use the patient beds.”
Sanae groaned. “Really? You don’t have a guest room just for the occasional guests?”

“Most of them don’t watch their step and fall victim to one of Tewi’s traps, so the patient rooms are basically the guest rooms,” Eirin explained. “On that note, I’m surprised you managed to avoid getting hurt!”
“Oh… now that I think about it, that makes sense.”

“Anyway, just follow me and I’ll show you guys to an empty room. People have actually been a bit more cautious lately, so we haven’t had to deal with many patients for the past few days.”

“Sure thing!”

With that squared away, you looked forward to a somewhat decent night of sleep as you and Sanae followed Eirin, eventually reaching an empty patient room. It wasn’t much, but it was orders of magnitude better than nothing.

You started to feel a bit drowsy as you laid on the bed. Come to think of it, this is the first time I’ve slept in Gensokyo, you thought, and just thinking about what happened today… wow. Without the influence of the usual clutter in day-to-day life, and only the sound of occasional wind outside, you were out cold in minutes.

You weren’t expecting to get a full night’s sleep, but life decided to take it easy on you: the first thing you noticed when you woke up was the noticeable change in lighting. Somehow, you’d survived the entire night with no interruptions!

“Oh, you’re awake!” Sanae said. “I’m actually surprised you managed to stay asleep… I could swear I heard an explosion in the middle of the night.”

Well, I guess I reap what I sow… you thought. If I ever try another project on the scale of the paper cranes, I’m never cramming that much ever again.

“An explosion?” you asked. “Eh, must have been the wind.”

“Hm… we should check just to be in case.”

After getting ready for the day, you and Sanae stepped out of the room, ready to take on anything else Ori Tsuru could throw at you. So everyone else’s got the rest of the cranes… I hope the 1.2 hours I put into those fangames before ragequitting comes in handy, you thought. Either way, you knew conflict would be inevitable, and if word got out too far about the wish, you and Sanae were pretty much done for.

As you eventually reached the door you’d entered Eientei through, you immediately noticed three things: the cool morning breeze, the slight heat from the sun, and the mysterious smoke and scorch marks everywhere. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened.

“Uh… did you mean this?” you asked Sanae.

“Seems like it,” she responded. “Anyway! Onward and upward, we’ve got some cranes to find!”

Completely ignoring the obvious signs of a makeshift bamboo pipe bomb, you and Sanae headed out from Eientei to find any of the groups Ori mentioned. You knew it would be best to follow the original plan and visit the Human Village, and while you were at it, the Hakurei Shrine. But before you could do any of that, you and Sanae found yourselves lost… yet again.

“Alright, I’m not dealing with this again, let’s just fly out of here…” Sanae commented. “Grab on!”

As what you knew would be usual, you held on as Sanae took off, establishing a vantage point within mere seconds. It only took a few minutes to make your way over to the village, where your feet found solid ground and you started thinking about how to find the remaining groups of people with cranes.

“Man, being airborne can feel a bit weird…” you commented.

“You’ll get used to it,” Sanae replied. “But I do get where you’re coming from!”

With that squared away, you continued your thoughts about how to get the remaining cranes. You knew that from the pattern established, it would be best to hit the remaining major locations and find the groups there. Myouren Temple, the Divine Spirit Mausoleum, Hakurei Shrine, and the Shining Needle Castle all seemed in reach, but you knew some locations were just downright impossible to get to. For example, you knew that picking a fight with the Lunarians would be suicide, Makai was probably already sealed off, and there was no way Ori would put any cranes in Former Hell.

But your thoughts were interrupted when you noticed a familiar face walk by. You thought for sure that after you fumbled the bag on the first day, you wouldn’t have ever seen her again during your time in Gensokyo. Yes, this was Marisa Kirisame, now with what you estimated to be around 90 or so cranes.

And so it begins, you told yourself. Time to lock in.

“Oh! Xenoa, was it? I didn’t expect to see you here!” Marisa said, taking the initiative. “I saw a few of the cranes flying around Gensokyo, and I decided to try and collect some just for fun. Sure enough, I ended up finding quite a few!”

“Unfortunately, I’m not gonna sugarcoat it,” you replied, “but the goddess we met- Ori- says the rest of the cranes are already with other groups. She also mentioned that, well, we may have to resort to violence to get them.”

“Hm… in that case, I have a feeling you’ll want to earn these cranes instead of me just giving them to you. If you can come up with a fair challenge and beat me in it, the cranes are yours!”

“Alright, let’s do it!”

You thought about what to challenge Marisa at. Of course, a traditional danmaku battle would be nearly suicide, but you could think of a few alternatives. After careful consideration, you decided to…

Chapter Text

For some reason, as you thought, something told you it would be a good idea to ask Marisa if she needed any help on anything, then try and complete a larger part of the task than Marisa to win the challenge. It then proceeded to suggest to hit Marisa with a metal pipe, take the cranes, and run for it midway through, but you figured that wouldn’t be a very good idea. The last thing you needed was a Master Spark to the face at point-blank, after all!

“Okay, I came up with a decent idea,” you said. “We find something you need help on, we finish it together, and whoever contributes the most wins the challenge!”

“Hm… that’s actually not a bad idea!” Marisa replied. “To make things fair, I’ll let you and Sanae combine your results and work together. Now, for things you could help with…”

Marisa thought for a moment, and you contemplated whether this would actually be a good idea.

“… I actually took a commission not long ago that I never got around to doing, from … well that doesn't matter right now, ” she continued. “But basically, someone lost their pagoda for the fifteenth time this month, and it somehow found its way into Makai of all places. Which is a pretty big problem, since I know a certain person who’s probably already coming up with the most ridiculous Spell Cards possible using… those lasers. I haven’t had a chance to try and get the pagoda back yet, but I think this should be pretty easy with all of us!”

You looked over to Sanae, and you both nodded. Even if this would be ridiculously difficult, it would definitely be worth it.

“Alright, let’s do it!” Sanae said. “So, I guess whoever contributes more total damage wins?”

“Sure, that works! And if it’s too close to tell, I’ll give you the cranes anyway for your trouble. Let's go!”

And so, after you followed Marisa so she could store the cranes safely, the challenge officially began.

“Alright, we’re in. If I remember correctly, Nazrin—the mouse youkai who originally gave me the commission—said the pagoda should be somewhere over there. Which is convenient, since we’re probably going to get ambushed by fairies now!”

Encouraging… you thought. Wait, do I even have a shot type? What do I use to shoot? A GLOCK?

You didn't have much time to think about it as the area quickly got infested with fairies, who almost instantly began to shoot danmaku. It was pretty easy to dodge in person, much to your surprise. But even then, you were panicking. I don’t know much medical stuff, you thought, but I’m pretty sure I’m having a panic attack!

In an attempt to seem like you knew what you were doing (you weren’t), you tried extending your hand towards one of the fairies, expecting nothing to happen. But to your utter surprise, a card flew out from your sleeve: a King of Hearts. 

As you continued extending your hand, more cards flew out, barraging your target and sending them flying, never to be seen again! You tried the same thing on the other fairies—at least the ones that hadn’t been taken care of yet—and sure enough, you were actually contributing something to the team!

“Wait, since when did you have a shot type!?” Sanae asked

“I have no idea!” you shouted back. “Maybe it’s a reaction to being in danger, which would technically make this an adrenaline rush on steroids.”

“Pretty sure that’s not how danmaku works, but okay!”

You were starting to feel confident about your contributions, eyeing another target to possibly shoot down. But before you could do anything, a massive rainbow-colored laser came out of nowhere, effectively vaporizing both your current target and the fairy you were hoping to go for next!

“Whoops, sorry about that!” Marisa shouted from a distance.

It then occurred to you that, of course, you were still competing against Marisa Kirisame of all people. In other words, you and Sanae were trying to out-firepower someone who specialized in firepower. But there was no turning back now, and even if you lost… there was still THAT option.

As you, Sanae, and Marisa continued blasting through the waves of fairies, you were thinking about how to deathbomb when you noticed the pagoda, a couple hundred meters ahead. But, as you soon noticed, your group wasn’t the only one going for the pagoda.

“Wait, is that…” Sanae started, stopping in her tracks as the last fairies left for the time being.

“No… it’s been years…” Marisa commented.

The person was standing behind the pagoda, shrouded in darkness. But even that didn't stop some distinct features from being hidden, notably the symbol of the sun above the person's eyes. You tried to think of who it could possibly be. Then you finally realized. The woman in front of you couldn't anyone else but-

“Mima?” Marisa said in a confused tone. “You've been gone for years.”

“Years? It's been nearly 3 decades.” Mima responded and continued. “You haven't aged a single day since I last saw you!”

Then her eyes quickly gazed towards you. “And what’s that  t h i n g   beside you??”

“Erm, actually, I-” you started. “-Okay, okay, I’m just messing with you. I’m Xenoa, and I found myself here after…”

And with that, you explained literally everything you had gone through to this point. Or at least you tried to, because Mima lost focus within seconds.

“Uh… sorry about that,” you said. “Anyway, we kind of need that pagoda, since we’re here on someone else’s behalf.”

“Oh you NEED it? And for what purpose exactly?”

“Well, you see,” Marisa replied, “Aside from returning it to its rightful owner, I had a feeling you might try and find it. And let me tell you this: I am NOT seeing the day you incorporate those lasers into your Spell Cards.”

“Spell Cards? Wha?”

“Have you been living under a rock for the past nearly 30 years!?”

“Yes, I have. Anyway, if you want the pagoda…”

Well, this is gonna be interesting… you thought.

“...then you’ll have to take it. But you already know that.”

“Woah, woah, woah,” you said. “How did you even know about Devil May Cry? The series is still going strong, there’s no way you could’ve- nevermind, let’s just get it over with…”

Mima lets out a loud (and fake) laughter. “You've got a lot of gall for a pest like you. Say, what if I turn you half the man you currently are?”

“How would you do that? Slicing me?”

“Precisely, brainiac. Unfortunately, I have better things to do.” And without any further warning, Mima grabbed the pagoda, flying away with it within milliseconds!

The three of you knew exactly what to do: Marisa immediately went after her, and you and Sanae followed soon after. Within around a minute, you caught up to Mima, ready to not sugarcoat it if things got to that point.

“Persistent, aren’t you…” Mima commented. “Well, you know what? If you want a fight, I’m up for one! Heck, I’ll give you the pagoda if you win!”

“Alright…” you replied. “ But I’m not gonna sugarcoat it! ”

“Remember the challenge,” Marisa said. “This is where the big numbers pile up!”

“Wait a minute…” you thought to yourself. “I don't know how to use spell cards… eh, I’ll let Sanae handle those, or I can just improvise with my normal shot, I guess…”

But it was too late for any takebacks: Mima had already began her first nonspell, and by the looks of it, she knew nothing about danmaku battles past 1998. Sure, what you saw so far was dense and meaningful, but something about it just felt dated. Maybe it was the fact that they were extremely aggressive and built around hitting you above all else, or the complete lack of any color, but something just felt off.

Unfortunately, you didn't have time to think about it as the danmaku kept on going, growing denser the longer it went on. It started to seem a bit ridiculous how long this ONE SPECIFIC PATTERN was dragging on, as there were three people, all at full power, targeting one specific person.

Wait a second… she’s cheating, isn’t- you thought, only for the pattern to clear itself.

“THAT long!?” Marisa shouted. “Come on, you really need to work on making more balanced patt-”

Before Marisa could finish her sentence, Mima shot a perfectly aimed laser out of nowhere, sending her reeling backwards.

“ I see… That’s how you want to do things… ” you heard Marisa say to herself.

“So… uh… how do I even declare one of those ‘Spell Card’ things everyone uses now?” Mima asked.

“ I think you're supposed to think of a pattern and a name and then shout that name out loud… and the only problem you should have is with the name, since you have plenty of patterns to choose from.”

“ Heh, seems easy enough… so let’s see… uh…”

For the next minute, you watched as Mima tried to come up with a good name for a Spell Card. You figured your time was better spent trying to find more cranes, and sure enough, you had time to grab a group of 20 cranes which just so happened to be nearby, making your total 530.

“Ah! Got it!” Mima materialized her staff, rose it high in the air and shouted, “ Crescent Moon … uh… 「Vengeful Luna Blade!」 ”

Within the first second, you knew you had another few of those seconds to figure out how to deathbomb, or you’d be completely cooked. Maybe you had to have a Spell Card of your own on hand, or you just had to do some weird thing…

And then it finally hit you… literally. You fell to the ground, feeling as if you were just stabbed by a thousand knives or hit by a full-force fastball, since you technically were just hit by one . The entire world has turned into a blur and all sound was replaced by loud ringing. You weren't sure, but you suspected that this is how death feels like. It didn't take long for you to lose consciousness.

You woke up with a really heavy cough and a headache. Thankfully, you were still alive, so as you took time to recover from the most traumatic experience of your life so far, you checked if you still had all your body parts. Fortunately, you were still in one piece, only your clothing looks like it shortly caught on fire. Sanae’s concerned voice could be heard from a distance.

“You alright!?” she shouted as she fired a few more shots, ending the Spell Card.

“I… I have no idea…” you replied, taking your sweet time to recover.

“Yeah… that’s what it feels like to get hit. I’ll take over for a while, the pain usually goes away within seconds but you should still take your time!”

Well… you thought. This is gonna be ROUGH.

With that, you watched as Sanae prepared a nonspell of her own, one that turned out to be much more interesting and meaningful than Mima’s. But that wasn’t the focus right now: the focus was on outdamaging Marisa and beating Mima. And so, as you refreshed on your dodging and shooting for a bit, you got back up in time to see what Mima had cooked up.

By the looks of it, Mima had completely forgotten about the concept of slowing down: she seemed to be completely battered, and by the looks of it, was probably on her last hit with no bombs left. It was pretty obvious that she was getting desperate, as the nonspell she was using was all aimed projectiles, fired at maximum speed with killing intent.

“You call this danmaku!?” Marisa shouted. “I know it’s all about firepower and being flashy, but this is a bit much!”

“I call this a difficulty tweak! ” Mima replied.

Thankfully, your experience with a certain skeleton gave you an idea… but it would be a direct violation of the Spell Card Rules, and not to mention, extremely unfair. On the other hand, you did have a different idea. If life was to be trusted…

“Hey, Sanae, can I borrow a bomb?” you asked, making your way over as the nonspell finished.

“Uh… sure, I guess?” Sanae replied, slightly questioning your decision. “This one’s a leftover from Kanako, so I have no idea what it does, just call out its name to use it!”

Sure enough, you were already pressured as Mima’s next Spell Card started: the spaces between bullets seemed too close to even fit through. Suspiciously close. As you looked over, you saw Marisa get hit, briefly stumble backwards… then immediately get hit again by the same bullet.

“Hey!” Marisa shouted, searching her pockets for a bomb. “You have to leave a space so… THAT doesn’t happen!”

As you assessed your own situation, you decided you weren’t taking any chances, and immediately used the bomb/Spell Card Sanae gave you to make things easier on everyone.

“Alright!” you shouted. “ Kiwami Sign 「Essence Of Metal Bar!」 ”

“WAIT, WHAT THE-” Mima said, but it was too late. The bomb Sanae gave you took effect, sending a metal pipe flying at Mima at what you estimated was Mach 0.2. Within a split-second, the pipe made impact, ending the Spell Card immediately, sending Mima flying backwards, and making that oh-so-familiar metal pipe sound effect. It was already over at that point: the first bullet of Marisa’s nonspell made contact, ending the battle instantly.

“Okay! I get it, that was my last life, I’m out!” Mima shouted as Marisa ended her nonspell. “ Just please NEVER bring… whatever THAT was… to another fight!”

“Alright,” Marisa said, “I think we won somewhat fair and square, so we’ll be taking the pagoda back now.”

“Take it, just… sorry about the extremely unfair and nearly-impossible-to-dodge attacks. Seems like I’ve got some catching up to do with the rest of Gensokyo.”

“Heh, times have changed. Good game, though, you gave us a pretty hard time!”

“Nearly 3 decades, and you haven’t gotten a bit rusty. Don’t get too full of yourself, though! I’ll be back, and when that time comes, I’ll be ready for whatever you can throw at me!”

“I’ll be looking forward to it, then!”

“Alright, Nazrin, we found the pagoda… somehow!” Marisa said.

A few minutes after the battle, you, Marisa, and Sanae had made it to Myouren Temple to return the pagoda. Marisa had also decided your contributions were enough to warrant the cranes, so you’d returned to where she stored them earlier before going to return the pagoda.
Gathering the cranes, the number has shot up to 625. You gently smiled, seeing how the progress is going. However, helping someone else deal with… whatever the heck that was, or something similar isn't going to be feasible in the long run. You didn't have the patience of a Yakuza fan or the time, for that matter.
And so, you had to decide where to go next if you wanted to find a group with more cranes. You could stay where you were and try to find someone, or you could visit some of the other destinations you knew. After much consideration, you decided to…

Chapter Text

You decided to let the Die of Miracles decide your next destination, and gave it a roll. Surprisingly, it landed on a picture of what you assumed was a stereotypical Discord moderator.

What… you thought. Wait. I think I know what this means. Discord moderators supposedly never go outside and just stay where they are. So I should stay at the temple! 

You also figured that it was likely that some of the Taoists showed up at any point, and they could also have cranes. If that were to happen, you’d also (probably) have one location off the list of possible areas.

“Hm… I say it's best to stay here for now,” you told Sanae.

“You sure? We haven't really checked the Hakurei Shrine yet… but I suppose this is alright,” Sanae replied.

“I guess we'll go there next, then!”

With quite a bit of built-up exhaustion, you decided to sit down for a bit and examine the surroundings. After all, who wouldn't want a break after multiple near-death experiences and almost committing an accidental murder? Either way, you knew you needed the rest: anything could happen from here on out.

You were relaxing and just enjoying the scenery when suddenly, you noticed something out of the corner of your eye. Or rather, someone. There was no mistaking it: Aya Shameimaru, who you’d last seen launched into the stratosphere, had SOMEHOW recovered and made it here!

“Phew… well, I finally made it back!” she said, clearly exhausted from being launched at (presumably) hypersonic speeds. “That… was one way to get back home, I guess.”

“Aya!? How did you even survive that!?” Sanae asked.

“Well, they call me the fastest in Gensokyo for a reason… although that didn’t stop me from slamming into the side of Youkai Mountain and nearly destroying the entire ropeway.”

“Uh…”

“Oh, don’t worry, it’s already repaired… at least I think so. Anyway! We should be able to find a group with cranes here, so let’s go!”

So much for a break… eh, five minutes is better than nothing, you thought. This should be interesting.

With renewed focus, you went off with Sanae and Aya in search of the next group you may have to deal with. There wasn’t a single crane in sight this time around—probably because Byakuren and the others had already collected them all. This time should be easier than… whatever the thing with Marisa was, you thought. We may run into a few hurdles, but this should be a much-needed break!

But that, as you would soon realize, was the worst moment to be letting your guard down.

“ BOO! ” someone shouted behind you out of nowhere, almost sending you flying in shock!

“WHAT WAS THAT!?” you shouted, still recovering on the ground. And then it hit you: you had just made history. As you looked behind where you were standing pre-jumpscare, the umbrella was enough to tell you exactly who was responsible. It was none other… than Kogasa Tatara!

“YES! FINALLY! It's been decades, but I STILL GOT IT!” Kogasa cheered as you fumbled to stand back up. “MAN, that felt great!”

As you were thinking of a way to respond and motivate Kogasa even further, you noticed Aya in the distance, remembering your original goal. With Hatate mostly out of the question and the original promise of a wish, an idea started forming in your head as you noticed a single paper crane stuck to Kogasa’s umbrella…

“Wait, Xenoa…” Sanae asked from a distance. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“What are you thinking?” you asked back.

“Hm… good question, I forgot!”

“Then it’s probably what I was thinking,” you concluded, turning back to Kogasa. “This may be sudden, but hear me out…”

“...so if I join you guys and help find the rest of the cranes, I’m included at the end when everyone gets a wish?” Kogasa asked.
“Well, we never really asked if the wish was for everyone or one wish each , but yeah!” Sanae replied. “So… wanna join?”

“Sure, why not? As a matter of fact, I was there when someone dumped a bunch of paper cranes at the temple and left right afterward, so I think I have an idea about where they may be… but it’s really just a guess.”

“A guess is better than nothing! Let’s go!”

With a full party and better chances than ever of surviving anything that may come your way, you followed Kogasa back around to the front of the temple, right in time to notice someone with a gentle smile, along with long, wavy, light brown hair that faded to purple. She was holding a scroll, seemingly chanting something. 

“That’s Byakuren, the head priestess here,” Kogasa smiled, waving to the priestess of the temple. “If we start by asking her what happened with the cranes, we may get somewhere!”

“Alright, sounds like a plan!” Aya replied, going up to Byakuren without even wasting a single second.

This may not end well… you thought, going after Aya just in case anything disastrous were to happen. By the time you caught up, you breathed a sigh of relief as things hadn’t broken down to the point of an all-out battle… yet.

“...paper cranes, you say? I did see someone dump about fifty or so around here… those were a pain to clean up, but we should have them around,” you heard Byakuren say. “I do have a sermon to give in a few minutes, but I should be able to find them. Stay right here!”

As Byakuren left to find the cranes, you were still on high alert and prepared for the worst that could happen. The encounter with Mima was a reminder that you were still in Gensokyo, and anything could happen at any moment. But to your surprise, not only did Byakuren return with all the cranes, but she just handed them over without any fight or hassle! You were in complete shock as the number in front of you rose again, reaching 695 cranes.

“Wha… no ridiculous fight, no comically long substory? You’re just handing them over?” you asked.

“What else would I realistically do?” Byakuren asked back.

“...honestly, good point. Thanks so much for the cranes!”

“No problem, feel free to come back anytime!”

With around 700 cranes and not that many places left to search, you decided to continue taking a brief rest while the others did their own thing for the time being. As you were resting, you thought about what to do next…

Chapter Text

A mysterious voice in your head told you it would be best to get on with it already and visit the equivalent of the police department in Gensokyo. And so, after putting it off for the longest time possible, you finally, FINALLY decided to head on over to Hakurei Shrine!
“Alright… I think it’s finally time to get on with something that we’ve been putting off since forever,” you said. “It’s time to pay a visit to Hakurei Shrine.”

“Hm… I have my reservations, but you know what? We’ve been on a roll so far, what’s the worst that could happen?” Sanae replied. “Let’s do it!”

“Well, about the worst that could happen… well, one or more of us could be… forcibly removed from the premises,” Kogasa commented. “And I think we all know what that means…”

“Come on, I’m sure Reimu won’t do anything to us! Mostly sure, that is. ”

With that out of the way, you held on to Sanae as she slightly hovered above the ground. As she started flying off to Hakurei Shrine, you noticed that being in the air was a lot less… jarring than before, but you chalked it up to the time you’d spent in Gensokyo. Come to think of it, I’ve actually gotten a bit stronger in my time here, as well… you thought. I’ll take it, I guess!

“You know, I’ve been wondering… is there any way for me to learn how to fly by myself?” you asked a few minutes later.

“Hm, that’s a tough one…” Aya replied. “I wouldn’t be able to tell you.”

“Honestly, I’ve never really thought that deeply about it,” Sanae commented. “Maybe if you could borrow Marisa’s broom… but that could also just be for the aesthetic… Yeah, I’m completely stumped. Once we get to Hakurei Shrine, you might want to bring that up with Reimu, she might be able to help.”

“Sounds solid!” you remarked.

Aside from some brief interruptions by stray danmaku, things remained pretty calm and peaceful for the rest of the way to your destination. Maybe it was a break to prepare you for what was to come, or maybe it was just because of the drastically lower amount of cranes outside of your possession, but you were grateful for that either way. With Hakurei Shrine visible in the distance, you readied yourself for anything that could happen.

“...and we’re here! Thank you for flying with Kochiya Airlines!”

As your feet felt solid ground again, you took some time to analyze your surroundings. Hakurei Shrine appeared to be surrounded by trees, on top of some sort of mountain with the rest of Gensokyo visible. There (predictably) weren’t any other visitors, and aside from the main shrine, you noticed a smaller one near the main path: a relic from the Mountain of Faith incident.

“Man, this place really is empty…” Aya commented. “Wait. Something’s up, usually there’s at least a few visitors around.”

“Maybe the shrine’s just not open?” Kogasa suggested. “But then again, I’ve never seen that happen before. And I did see ”

Before you could chime in with your own theory—well, actually, your own hypothesis—you suddenly noticed what appeared to be a giant metal bar, flying straight at you at full speed!

“DUCK!” you shouted, bracing for impact.

But just as it seemed you were too late to react, the metal bar just… disappeared. As you looked around in confusion, you realized that everyone who was with you had disappeared as well, as if they’d never existed. Something was obviously up, but you just couldn’t put your finger on what.

“Looking for someone?” a voice said behind you. And just as you turned around, it hit you—the several buckets’ worth of freezing water, that is.

“ AAAAAHHHHH!!!!!! WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT!? ” you shouted, still reeling from the freezing water you’d just had thrown in your face. As you tried recovering, you noticed three main things: you weren’t the only target, Hakurei Shrine was getting visitors, and you, Sanae, Kogasa, and Aya had all been the victims of the Three Fairies of Light’s latest prank. The three of them—Sunny Milk, Star Sapphire, and Luna Child—were notorious for their “minuscule acts of tomfoolery” in the Touhou-related media you’d seen, and you realized you should’ve seen the prank coming a long time ago.

“Alright! We got ‘em!” you heard someone cheering—probably Sunny, although you couldn’t tell for sure: you were still trying to get water out of your eyes.

“Uh… do you think we may have gone a bit too far?” you heard someone else ask. You assumed it was Star by the direction of the sound, which lined up with what appeared to be a dark blue blur.

“Nah, they’ll be fine.”

“Okay…” you chimed in. “I’ll admit you got us pretty good there, but really? Did you HAVE to do that!?”

“Come on! It was just a harmless prank! See, your friends seem to be doing fine…”

As you looked back, you noticed that somehow, everyone else had already swiftly recovered, and they barely even seemed fazed from the experience! Kogasa was even taking notes for some reason, notepad and all.

“Uh… sorry we didn’t warn you about them,” Sanae said. “Those fairies have really mastered the art of practical jokes over the years!”

“Don’t worry, I probably don’t have brain damage… yet. But I… definitely see what you mean, ” you replied, turning to the fairies afterward. “And speaking of which… HOW DID YOU PULL THAT OFF!?”

“Heh… it’s quite simple, really!” Sunny laughed. “All we did was use our abilities to hide everyone else at the shrine—the five or six people that even came here, that is—to set up a sense of confusion! Then, when you arrived, we got Clownpiece over there to set up the illusion of a flying metal pipe, and the rest is history! (Man, I still can’t believe we pulled that off all in one take!) ”

“Okay, you really just sold yourself…” you commented, noticing a familiar figure behind the fairies. “...and by the way, you might want to start running.”

“Huh? I don’t see anything out of the ordinary,” Luna replied.

“RIGHT BEHIND YOU!”

As the fairies turned around, they realized that standing right behind them was a very familiar red-white shrine maiden, purification rod in hand. To most in Gensokyo, she was Reimu Hakurei, the Hakurei shrine maiden. But for the Three Fairies of Light, she was known as the Crimson Slasher.

“AH! We’re sorry, we’re sorry, we won’t do it ever again!” Sunny pleaded, begging for mercy alongside Star and Luna.

“You know what?” Reimu replied, lowering her purification rod. “As long as you’re not hurting our visitor count or our visitors themselves, I’m fine with your pranks. Just keep them manageable.”

The fairies breathed a sigh of relief, knowing they wouldn’t always be spared so easily.

“Anyway! You guys alright?” Reimu asked, turning to you.

“Could be better, but I’m alright…” Aya replied. “Seems like Kogasa’s doing fine as well, she’s calling this a ‘learning experience’...”

“I’m fine… and on that note, we may need your help with something. Xenoa, you may do the honors!” Sanae added, turning to you.

“Oh! You mean the cranes thing or the flying thing?” you asked.

“Preferably both.”

“Alright then. Hear me out before you try and send me back to the Outside World…”

“Hm… well, that would explain the paper cranes that crazy lady dropped on the shrine yesterday,” Reimu noted. “As for learning how to fly… yeah, good luck, I’ve got no idea how to help you. I do know exactly where those cranes ended up, though: with them.”

So much for a break, you thought. Looks like we’re gonna have to somehow propose a fair challenge between the equivalent of a coughing baby and a hydrogen bomb.

“Alright,” you said, approaching the fairies again. “I think you pretty much heard the entire conversation, so you know about the whole thing with the cranes and the wish.”

“Mhm… If you want the cranes, I could hand them over, but that wouldn’t be any fun,” Sunny replied. “I kinda feel bad for what happened earlier, so how about this? You suggest something for us to compete in, and whoever wins keeps the cranes!”

“Did you just… read my mind?”

“No, that was me,” someone said, coming out from behind a tree and going back behind the tree again.

“Ah, makes sense. Anyway, I accept your challenge! As soon as I can come up with something, that is.”

You knew that even though the Three Fairies of Light were fairies, they were no pushovers, as you’d learned the hard way a few minutes earlier. Still, you figured it would be best to suggest something quick: you were still under invisible time pressure, and erroring on the side of caution was better than running out of time! After a bit of thought and discussion with the others, you decided to…

Chapter Text

“Alright. Hear me out,” you said. “ I challenge you to a tic-tac-toe battle! ”

“...wha?” Sunny asked as you stood there, pointing like some sort of anime protagonist. It suddenly occurred to you that you may have overdone it a little bit, but your point still stood.

“Wait… how do we even do a tic-tac-toe battle?” you asked Sanae. “99% of the time it just ends in a draw. Unless… ”

“...I think I’ve got an idea!” she replied. “What if we made it so you have to actually put in some skill? Maybe something like shooting the board from a long distance to place your… uh… marks? What are those things even called?”

“I don’t know either… still! Sounds like a good idea!” Aya added, turning to the fairies “Are you three up for it?”

The fairies thought for a bit.

“Alright, let’s do it!” Sunny answered. “We never back down from a challenge, especially not a battle like this!”

“...even if we do lose a lot of them,” Luna added. “Especially against a certain ice fairy…”

“Come on, that wasn’t THAT bad a loss! We almost went the distance… in a 3-on-1… yeah, you know what, that was kinda embarrassing. But enough talk! Have at you!”

With Reimu’s (reluctant) permission to use a tree for what was essentially glorified target practice, the seven of you figured out the finer details of the tic-tac-toe battle. You settled on a 2-team battle format: teams would alternate taking one shot each at the tic-tac-toe board, rotating members after every shot to give everyone a turn. And just to make things actually fair, you also settled on a first-to-3 match format. Even though you still hadn’t figured out how to shoot danmaku at will, you were pretty confident in your chances of winning.

“May the best team win,” Sanae said as she shook hands with Sunny.

“Oh, we intend to,” Sunny replied. “You’re going DOWN!”

Predictably, the fairies had the first shot, and Sunny was first in the team rotation. You figured that given the first move, Sunny would probably aim for the center and block off a few combinations. But then again, you had no idea whether she could aim—or think, for that matter—well enough to make that decision.

“Watch and learn… observe the art of a tic-tac-toe master!” Sunny exclaimed, turning her back as she shot at the target. To nobody’s surprise, her shot completely missed, hitting a nearby tree and setting a singular leaf on fire.

“Uh… I think you may have missed…” Star commented. “...by quite a lot.”

“Oh, COME ON!”

“Not like I’ll do any better, I don’t even remember how to shoot danmaku!” you laughed. “Anyway! Despite my reservations, I’ll be going first for my team!”

As you stepped up and faced the target, you quickly realized you’d completely forgotten how to shoot. Which was obviously a big problem, since this entire thing depended on your ability to do so!

“Guys…” you asked. “How do I shoot!? I completely forgot!”

“WHAT!? This whole operation was your idea!” Aya replied. “Uh… Just… try swinging your arm at the target and see what happens? Danmaku just comes naturally to me so I don’t know how to help you…”

“Okay, I guess that works!”

With a completely empty board, you knew that all you had to do was make a move to start things off. And so, praying to all the possible deities you could think of, you extended your hand to the target as you’d done before in Makai, expecting nothing… but once again, a card flew out from your sleeve, hitting dead center!

“WHAT!?” Sunny shouted.

“How!?” Star added.

“INERTIA DRIFT!?” Sanae gasped. “Oh, wait, wrong genre. Sorry about that. But looks like you’re in a bit of trouble here!”

“Nah, we’ll win. Watch and learn!”

As Star stepped up, she took her time (unlike Sunny) and carefully aimed at her target, shooting a single star and hitting the upper right corner of the board.

“Crap… It’s the Lunar Tranquility Defense opening!” Sanae commented. “By placing the O on the top right corner with that exact amount of spin, the user can subconsciously manipulate the opponent’s mind to blunder more often! She just used an opening that results in a win for the defender exactly 62.1% of the time, we’re in trouble!”

“Does tic-tac-toe… even have openings?” Aya asked.

“Come on, just let me do the thing with the sports anime tropes…”

“What’s an anime?

“Nevermind. Anyway! Looks like I’m up next!”

Without any hesitation, Sanae instantly shot at the target, hitting the bottom right corner and blocking a possible win. As she stepped back, it didn’t even take another SECOND for Luna to shoot, barely hitting the bottom left corner… and knocking your card off in the process!

“IMPOSSIBLE!” you gasped. “Seriously, how is that even physically possible!?”

“You utter fool!” Luna laughed. “By using my ability to manipulate sound, I deflected some of the sound waves in the environment to redirect my danmaku, nudging it ever so slightly towards the center! Just enough to not only hit my target… but also remove yours! Our victory is inevitable!”

A pause followed.

“Okay, in all seriousness, that was just a lucky shot. Your turn.”

“Already done,” Aya commented.

“What!?”

“Yeah, while you were giving that monologue I already made my move. Your turn!”

You looked at the board, and sure enough, Aya had already reclaimed the center… but unless the fairies missed again you were completely screwed. All they had to do was hit the top left corner, and there’d be no way to block a win. Unless… you could pull off whatever it was that Luna did. 

“Alright, watch this!” Sunny said. “No fooling around this time, just pure focus!”

We, a group of TWO incident resolvers, ONE youkai, and ONE outsider, are about to LOSE AT TIC-TAC-TOE to the THREE FAIRIES OF LIGHT, you thought. I’m NEVER living this up. Unless Sunny misses… Wait a second.

“Kogasa,” you whispered, “We’re gonna have to force Sunny off-guard… and there’s only one way to do that.”

“If anything goes… wish me luck,” she replied.

There were only seconds to act. Even though the match was first to 3 games, you knew you’d be forever known, both back in the Outside World and in Gensokyo, as one of the only people to ever lose a game of tic-tac-toe even with full focus. It all depends on this… you thought as Kogasa approached Sunny. If there’s one time for fanon to fail me, it HAS to be now.

“ BOO! ”

“ AHHHHHHHH! ”

Just as planned, Sunny was thrown completely off balance, her shot completely missing the tic-tac-toe board and hitting the exact same tree as her first one! As you jumped with excitement, you realized you were starting to get a bit to carried away over a game of tic-tac-toe… and you’d have to deal with the Crimson Slasher if things got too wild. Either way, things were back to even, and you had a decent chance of winning the first game. All Kogasa had to do was nail the same shot the fairies missed, and your reputation would live to see another day.

“You got this!” you shouted. “Don’t fumble the bag! Just focus!”

You didn’t even need to worry, though: without any hesitation, Kogasa fired a shot you knew would land. Sparks flew from her danmaku as it sailed through the air, landing perfectly in the upper-left corner. You had claimed an initial victory.

“Oh, COME ON!” Sunny complained.

“Hey,” you said, “You’ve got four more games left to beat us.”

Five minutes and 2.95 games later, you watched in utter horror as Sunny landed a shot dead center on the board, claiming Game 4 and evening the match score to 2-2. They indeed did have four more games left to beat you after all. Somehow, you’d managed to fumble the bag from 2-0, giving up both Game 3 and Game 4. But in your defense, it felt like something awakened within the fairies after Game 2: their tricks, their aim, everything felt different. More determined. Perhaps, if you’d also been reading a certain boxing manga, you’d say they’d activated the green eyes of determination.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this…” Aya said, “...but if we do not use every single trick in the book this round, we are about to lose. And I know for a FACT that Hatate’s right above us, ready to take a picture right when we lose—if we lose.”

Sure enough, Hatate was right above the clearing near the shrine, camera already in hand. For her to have come over in person was already a rarity: you knew failure was not an option here.

“Alright,” Sunny said, “Ready to finish up this match? Or are you scared we’ll actually beat you?”

“I am saying this with the most honesty I have ever had in my life,” you admitted, “We are terrified of losing to you three because we know that there’s more on the line than those 50 or so cranes. If we do not win this, we will most likely be laughed at for weeks or months to come. So, please… at least make it an honorable loss if it happens. Don’t hold back.”

“Oh, we do NOT intend to! Let’s do this!”

Without skipping a beat, Sunny took the first shot as usual, hitting dead center without even looking. You instantly stepped up, aimed for a second, and with force you never knew you had, shot a card straight to the top left corner… only for it to bounce off, rebounding and landing in Reimu’s donation box. Sunny’s bullet faded out of existence, revealing itself to have been in the top left corner the entire time.

“No! This can’t be!” she gasped. “You used the forbidden art… the Shadow Clone Feint!”

“Indeed I did! You and your team are formidable opponents, Sanae Kochiya, and you are well-versed in the arts of tic-tac-toe… but your journey ends here! With the help of none other than the girl even the vengeful spirits fear, Satori Komeiji, I predicted your teammate’s exact move before you even made it, blocking it and creating a decoy move with my power to manipulate light! Star, show ‘em how it’s done!”

As Star Sapphire stepped up, you knew it would take a miracle to win if all three fairies were at 100%. You felt as if you could see a faint green glow coming from her eyes as she aimed, fired… and got her bullet curved by a sudden gust of wind. Thankfully, you did have someone on your team who could create miracles.

“Two can play at that game,” Sanae declared. You noticed the same faint green glow in her eyes, too. “Check this out!”

Without any hesitation, Sanae flung her arm out, sending a star flying to the right of the target. Using her purification rod, she curved her shot to land at dead center, making things a bit more even.

“Okay, okay…” Luna said, stepping up and sending a simple bullet to the bottom left corner. An orthodox strategy, of course… but one that could be blocked. And sure enough, Aya responded with a perfect block to the center-left space, giving you an opportunity to win.

“You…” Sunny laughed. “...should really stop falling for these traps.”

You watched again, unable to say anything, as Aya’s bullet faded out and revealed itself to be on the TOP center space. As you collapsed to your knees, you realized that as long as Sunny kept up her aim, you’d be on the front page of the Kakashi Spirit News in just seconds. It was over. Or so you thought.

“Xenoa!” Sanae shouted. “Now’s too early to give up!”

You turned to Sanae, who was still filled with determination.

“Wait… you’re saying there’s a strategy? But they’ve adapted to everything we threw at them!”

“Not quite… All I’ll say is, it’s time to fight fire with fire! Show those fairies who’s the real king of plot twists!”

And then it hit you. You had one last trick up your sleeve. Literally.

It was your turn to light the green glow in your eyes as you got up to your feet, entering a state of total focus as you watched Sunny’s movements carefully. And when you saw the familiar bullet fly out, you were ready.

Just as Sunny started prematurely celebrating, turning her back to the board, you fired a singular shot of your own. The angle and speed were perfect. You didn’t even need to look: the sound of bullets clashing and stalling out was enough to tell you that victory was in your hands now.

“I… Impossible!” Sunny gasped. “How did you even calculate that!?”

“Well, this might be cliche…” you replied, “...but all we needed was the power of friendship.”

As you stepped up to the plate with Kogasa, mirroring a previous cheat the fairies had pulled in Game 3 to turn it around, you and Kogasa wound up a curving shot with the intent of sealing the outcome of the game in a single shot. You remembered your journey through Gensokyo and how you’d gained confidence as a person, trusting your abilities and channeling your new skills through the hunt for the cranes. But most of all, you remembered how far you’d come since your days of living your life without any clear goal or purpose in mind. Now, you were a force in your own right.

Flinging your arm out at maximum speed, you launched a singular Queen of Hearts at the board, sparks and a trail of fire flying from the card as it met Kogasa’s own danmaku. The two bullets merged, becoming one projectile aimed expertly at the winning space: center left. As the merged shot hit the target, carrying the hopes of your entire team, the entire board cracked and split as a giant X-shaped shockwave rocked the shrine grounds! At this sheer display of power, the board fell to the ground, split perfectly into three columns. Upon one of them, three bullets from your team were solidly wedged into the board in a perfect row. You had won.

“Good game…” you said, “...no rematch.”

“You know, that was actually really fun!” Sunny commented as the cranes she was holding flew into your pocket, raising the floating number in front of you to 750 cranes. “If you want, we can always play again! It was fun playing an evil genius, like in the stories, always planning three steps ahead of the heroes!”

Exactly three-quarters of the way there, you thought. We got this.

“And it was fun playing the heroes,” you added. “Quite a refreshing break after how we had to get some of the previous cranes!”

“Anyway, we’re off to plan our newest scheme. See ya!”

As the three fairies left, you contemplated where to go next. You knew that you could stay and talk with Reimu or Satori a bit more, possibly even getting them (or their friends) to help, or you could visit a few new locations. After a bit of consideration, you decided to…

Chapter Text

You decided, after a bit of consideration, that it might be best to stay back at Hakurei Shrine and talk to Satori, who you noticed several times in the previous few minutes. If you could figure out if she had seen any cranes nearby, you could figure out if your journey was about to either be much easier or much, much more difficult than expected. As you approached her, you wondered if you may also have to go to some of the other… extremely dangerous locations. And if any cranes were at the Lunar Capital… well, you were screwed.

“Hey, I was wondering if I could ask you about something…” you said. “I have no idea if you know anything about this, but…”

As you explained everything, you wondered why Satori hadn’t already commented on your thoughts already. You figured it was probably for a good reason.

“...and we’ve only got a quarter of the cranes left to find,” you finished. “And in case you need more proof, the others should be nearby.”

“Hm… Yeah, everything seems to line up, I can trust you,” Satori commented. “Although you do seem to know quite a bit about Gensokyo already for an outsider…”

How do I explain this… you thought to yourself.

“...ah, that makes more sense,” she said to herself. “Almost forgot about that series. It’s been a while since that guy visited, come to think of it.”

“Anyway,” you continued, “...I do have a few things we may need help with. For example…”

“‘...What if I had to go to dangerous places?’ Good question there, Xenoa. Thankfully, it doesn’t seem like anyone’s been dumping cranes in Former Hell… although I don’t know about some other places. ”

“HUH!?”

“Oh. Sorry about that.”

“You’re good, I just forgot about…” Your voice trailed off as you tried finding a way to explain yourself.

“Don’t sweat it either, Xenoa… ‘I forgor,’ yeah, happens to me a lot too. Anyway, as I was saying, I’m pretty sure the rest of the cranes are in actually accessible locations… although I’d have to check with Okuu about the reactor. She mentioned something weird burning… although there’s no way, right?”

“I hope…”

“Anyway. You probably know this already, but I have a terrible reputation , to say the least. I wouldn’t know about anywhere else in Gensokyo, although I have been on better terms ever since I helped resolve a few incidents. If you want information on where the rest of the cranes are, you may want to ask someone else… maybe Reimu over there.”

“Thanks for the help! Sounds like a plan!”

As you walked off, you thought about one specific thing Satori had mentioned. The reactor. There was no way Ori had even bothered to put any cranes there… although if news had already spread about the incident, someone could forcibly move some cranes there. Surely the rest of the cranes were in actually easy-to-reach places… but this was Gensokyo, and anything could happen. I should confirm with Reimu , you thought as you approached her.

“Hey, thanks for helping us out earlier!” you said to Reimu. “Although, we were wondering if you’d heard anything about cranes being scattered anywhere else.”

“No problem, by the way, the name’s Reimu- although I have a feeling the others already introduced me beforehand,” she replied. “If I remember correctly… let’s see… excluding the people you told me about, I did hear from another outsider about someone dumping a boatload of cranes in the forest over there.”

“Hm… when did they tell you about that?”

“Actually, not that long ago- an hour at worst, so Marisa probably didn’t recollect this new wave yet.”

“Sounds promising! Thanks, Reimu!”

“No problem, good luck! And please leave a generous donation if you can!”

With all the information you needed, you thought hard about a plan that could get you the rest of the cranes in just one more travel. And after a bit of consideration, you had the perfect idea. Some would probably call it “bat-#### insane.” Others might point out it was, by all mathematical means, the least likely to succeed. But in Gensokyo, as you’d learned, those were always the plans that worked out.

“Hear me out,” you said as you approached Aya, Sanae, and Kogasa. While you were gone, you figured the others had also asked around about the cranes. Notably, Aya was still in the middle of what appeared to be an interview. “We go… to the Moriya Shrine’s nuclear reactor.”

“WHAT!?” Sanae shouted, physically jumping backwards. “Please tell me you’re joking! And how did you- oh, right, the whole ad campaign.”

“Seriously, hear me out,” you repeated as the others turned to listen. “We don’t directly go there. That’ll just be our final destination. Instead, we revisit the forest over to the right, go back to the Human Village over there, take that ropeway back up to the mountain, and from there we can see how to get to the reactor. Reimu got information about another wave of cranes dropped near the Forest of Magic, so we’ll definitely find something!”

“This idea is completely, utterly, and universally insane,” Aya commented, “...and I love it!”

“Seriously!?” Kogasa added. “Wait. Better idea. We’ve already checked the village, right? Why not just fly straight back up to Moriya Shrine after we check the Forest of Magic?”

“Hm… good point. Anyway. Are you completely sure we can actually find cranes if we visit a literal nuclear reactor, Xenoa? Wouldn’t they all just… burn?”

“Not completely sure,” you said, “...but we’re bound to find at least one group along the way that either has cranes or knows where the cranes are, with how much land we cover. Right?”

“Be careful with that statement. Fortune can be cruel,” Sanae warned you. “But… you know what? Things’ll probably work out. Let’s go!”

As usual, you held on to Sanae’s arms as she, Aya, and Kogasa all flew off for your next destination: the Forest of Magic.

“Wait… no, nevermind, I can just use a miracle to protect them,” Sanae said to herself. “Worst case, we get something from Eientei.”

As you approached the Forest of Magic, which really only took one or two minutes by your count, you noticed some sort of barrier around you. And then you remembered: the Forest of Magic had some of the worst air quality known to humanity and beyond. I should really stop forgetting critical things when I need them the most, you thought as you landed.

“Alright, we’re here! The Forest of Magic!” Sanae said. “Home of some of the major players in Gensokyo’s power balance! It’s only been a day and a half, so we shouldn’t be too hard-pressed to find a group with the cranes!”

The forest in front of you didn’t look much different from a normal forest, but you noticed mist covering the entire area. As you walked, you noticed the barrier in front of you redirecting the mist, protecting you from what you knew to be literal poison. You felt a bit bad for having to rely on Sanae’s miracle to keep going, but you were grateful for the help. You both nodded as you turned to face each other.

As you continued walking, you noticed a few possible places to start investigating. To your left, you had just passed what appeared to be a shop with someone standing outside. You also saw someone in a blue dress with a few dolls surrounding them, and you noticed a singular paper crane behind a tree. Investigating any of these, you reasoned, could lead to another location cleared, but you only had time to investigate one of these possible clues. Without much time to decide, you made a quick decision to…

Chapter Text

With only a second to think, you realized that all of these choices, all of these sources, could lead to the cranes either way. And what better way to pick a random choice than… well, the Die of Miracles? As you pulled it out of your pocket, you knew that whatever happened, things were about to get interesting from here.

“ Let’s go gambling! ” you shouted, throwing the die to the ground with full force. Almost instantly, it bounced back to twice its height, landing again on the dirt and rolling out to a nearby patch of grass. When you checked the die, it showed what appeared to be one of Alice’s dolls.

“Okay, that’s a bit direct… but looks like we’ve got a lead!” you commented. “Let’s ask Alice about the cranes!”

“Woah, woah, what about the loose crane?” Aya asked. “Shouldn’t we collect that first?”

“Oh. Right. Someone go ask Alice, I’ll get the crane and be back in a few seconds!”

Sprinting at full speed, you were able to collect the loose crane and get back to Sanae and the others within a few seconds - fast enough, in fact, to return before they could catch up with Alice. The number in front of you went up again, reaching 751 .

“Alright, I’m back!” you said, slightly out of breath. You remembered that it was best to keep your breathing to a minimum, just in case anything happened. But either way, there were more pressing matters at hand, like trying to ask Alice about the cranes.

Kogasa was nowhere to be seen. Meanwhile, Aya was already interviewing Alice about some mysterious topic.

"...and I just wanted to ask a few questions real quick," she said, intruding on Alice’s personal space.

"Umm... sorry, I can't really say much about that specifically..." Alice said, sounding a little uncomfortable.

Sanae noticed that you arrived, took your hand and pulled you along. “Hey! This is the person I was talking about…” the two of you stepped in.

Alice turned away from Aya. “Oh? So you were that outsider that folded the paper cranes."

"Yes. My name is Xenoa." you bowed.

Alice bowed in return. "I've heard from Sanae-san. You're in quite a predicament right?"

“Wait, what about the-” Aya tried to interject, but Sanae completely walked over her;

“Exactly! We're on a bit of a time limit… Xenoa can't stay in Gensokyo for long. They have to collect the thousand cranes they folded before they get kicked out or something… or maybe there’s some ulterior motive behind this journey. Isn't that right?” Sanae turned towards you.

“Yeah. Probably. And these girls are helping me right now because the cranes can grant them a wish alongside me.”

Aya once again tried to interject, but Sanae stepped in before she could even get a word out. “Well, I'm here more so because I thought it would be fun." Sanae said cheerfully. “Sometimes I need some break from shrine priestess work. It can get really boring up in the mountain sometimes!”

Alice's expression shifted to a more pleasant one as she chatted with Sanae. Behind her, you notice some bushes rustling a little. Is that the wind? Looks like something purple’s moving around back there, you thought.

"Anyway!" Sanae suddenly pulled you in. "Xenoa here is curious if you know anything about the cranes…”

As Sanae and Alice started chatting, you noticed Aya moving around, searching for something. You could’ve sworn you saw a glint in her eyes as she took out her camera, aiming at some of Alice’s dolls. This was bad.

Before you could say anything, a bunch of dolls suddenly wrapped around Aya’s arms, freezing it in place! 

Alice slowly turned to Aya. “Please don’t take unsolicited photos, miss Libel Tengu,” she said as the rest of her dolls turned to Aya as well. “Who knows… you may end up making very powerful enemies. ”

More dolls poured from under Alice’s skirt, holding a variety of sharp weapons. You again noticed the bushes behind Alice rustling. What the hell is that!? you thought. Am I seeing things? Or is that… wait… purple…

You then saw a little bit of red appear amidst the purple. The realization hit you, when suddenly-

“ SURPRISE! ”

As Kogasa jumped out of the bushes, sending you flying back in shock, Alice effortlessly stepped backwards and barely brushed against Kogasa’s umbrella. In a single motion, she sent a few dolls flying at you at full speed, carrying enough sharp weapons to seriously injure or kill you!
“XENOA!” someone shouted.

Just as you were about to duck—an extremely terrible move, as you realized later on—someone pulled you to the right at the last moment, sending both of you to the ground! You could feel the wind from the dolls as they barely missed you, sparing you from what was probably a journey-ending injury.

“You alright!?” Sanae asked.

“Yeah, I seem to be fine,” you replied, checking your surroundings. You seemed to be fine, although you and Sanae had both taken heavy damage to your clothes. “Thanks for the save!”

“Don’t mention it, it’s what a friend should do! And… yeah, we might as well stop at Kourindou, because these things are basically just scrap now.”

“Sanae-san! Xenoa! I’m so sorry, I don’t know what happened… I think I just attacked out of instinct…” Alice started. “Are you two okay?”

“Yeah, don’t worry, I’m pretty sure we would’ve done the same if we got scared like that. And speaking of…”

As you looked over, Kogasa was celebrating yet another successful scare, which you knew was a rare occurrence for her in the past few years.

“...Kogasa may have won, but I don’t think she knows what the cost was yet,” Sanae said.

Just as you were about to explain how to safely scare people without putting them in life-threatening situations, you noticed a few flashes of light from the sky. You didn’t even have to look to know that Aya was planning something devious… or using the opportunity to give Kogasa a better reputation for scaring people. At this point, either possibility was reasonable.

“Hey, cut that out…” Sanae called out to Aya.

“Heh, just wanted to scare you for a bit.” Aya laughed. “You know, to lighten the mood. I’d never actually save those!”

“I’m pretty sure we’ve had enough scares for the day…”

“Anyway… seems like your outfits took quite a beating,” Alice commented. “Again, I’m so sorry I tried attacking you, but I may be able to help with the cranes and repair your clothes to pay you back…”

“Really?”

“Of course! It’s the least I can do, and I think I may have a few leads…”

“Thank you so much!”

Alice nodded. “Well then, let’s head to my house. It’s quite close by, it should only take a few minutes!”

“So you’re saying we’re down to three groups left?” you asked. As you walked, you noticed Alice’s dolls already creating replacement fabric patches for you and Sanae.

“Well, one of them is just one person, but as far as I know, yes,” Alice replied. “Your journey has almost reached its goal, but don’t let your guard down yet. From what I gathered, two of those groups are major forces in Gensokyo… and I doubt they’d give the cranes up without a fight.”

“Major forces ,huh…”

The idea of having to fight groups with such power wrapped everyone in a silent tension. Amidst that, Kogasa jumped out at you and the others, but you were thankfully able to dodge in time. She seemed a bit disappointed, but quickly started taking notes.

“Don’t worry about us! We’ve got some of the best incident resolvers on the team!” Aya commented. “Besides, you could say our group consists of major forces too. Sanae is the priestess of Moriya Shrine, and I have bunbunmaru.” 

“That’s right!” Sanae added. “There’s no way we’d lose! I mean what are they gonna do, throw Spell Cards at us? We can dodge anything, me and Aya at least. Even if they use ridiculously hard and frustrating Spell Cards with the intent to make the least sight-readable patterns known to Gensokyo, we can deal with it easily.”

Alice nodded. “Yes. I think you guys should be fine. At the very least, one of the holders is just a person, and they’re not very strong.”

“Hm?” you asked. “Can you tell us a bit more?”

“Sure thing! Around a couple hours after the initial wave of cranes, I was about to start my usual puppet show with my dolls in the village. Apparently the news spread pretty quickly, because I was practically peppered with questions about the cranes! I brushed it off at first, assuming it was nothing much. But eventually, with how much those kids were talking about the cranes, I got curious and started investigating after the show.”

“Okay, okay…”

“After the show, I was looking around the village when I passed by Suzunaan and noticed some of the kids that usually attend my shows talking about the cranes with Kosuzu, a part-time helper at the library. It didn’t take long to figure out she was also collecting the cranes, and doing a pretty good job investigating it too!”

“And so, the next day,” Alice continued, “I returned to Suzunaan to do some digging. Under the guise of borrowing some books—which I did actually end up needing—I started talking to Kosuzu to try and get some information. But for some reason, she pretended to not know anything and deflected any further questions, so I knew I’d hit a dead end.”

“I decided to stick around a bit longer to see if I could get any more clues. Sure enough, within a few minutes, Hieda no Akyuu… yes, the Child of Miare, visited the library, and she started talking about the cranes with Kosuzu. That’s where my investigation ended. I couldn’t stick around any longer, otherwise I would arouse suspicion. I couldn’t confirm if the Child of Miare is involved, because I certainly couldn’t snoop around the Hieda clan’s property without permission.”

“The Hieda clan, huh…” Aya commented. “If they have some of those cranes, we might have a tough time getting them…”

“We should be fine… what’s the worst that could happen?” you asked.

“Well, the last time I tried making an article on the Hieda clan, I was… well, nearly burned alive.” Aya motioned to a part of her right wing, where a good chunk of the feathers were severely damaged. “Turns out they weren’t joking about making yakitori…”

“Oh.”

A silence followed as everyone took their time to process what Aya had just said. If this was the precedent, you’d be in for a seriously tough time.

“ BOO! ”

Kogasa jumped out at everyone, but was met with complete silence. It was just not the right mood. Plus, everyone expected it, so nobody was surprised.

Kogasa deflated a little. Seeing her expression made you feel bad, so you tried cheering her up. “Hey, you actually got me pretty good… although I feel like something was missing.”

“Hm… Oh! Yeah, that was it! So if I just… yeah, the mood!” Kogasa said to herself as she disappeared into the bushes again. Looks like she didn’t need cheering up .

“Hey, we got this!” Sanae suddenly spoke out. “We haven’t failed a single negotiation yet, and besides, the Moriya Shrine has connections everywhere! We’ve defeated a vengeful spirit, we’ve been flung all across Gensokyo, and look at us! Just a quarter of the way remaining in just a day!” she said with a beaming smile. It lifted everyone’s spirits.

“So… what’s the next group?” Sanae asked.

“Well… it’s a bit of a long story. After I finished up my first investigation in the village, I decided to pay a visit to Hakurei Shrine to find a certain thief and get some of my books back… only to find Suika instead, completely drunk as usual. I guess that’s just a typical oni for you… anyway! I decided to wait around for a while, and within a few minutes, the thief showed up and struck up a conversation with Suika. As I sneaked around to catch the thief, I overheard Suika talking about how she was earlier hanging out with another oni, Yuugi, who’d come to the surface to get a break from some sort of ongoing incident in the Old Capital.”

“Someone was messing with the flower viewing event there,” Alice continued. “I actually asked Suika about that later on, because how could there be a flower viewing event in the underground where there weren’t any cherry blossom trees? Apparently, their flower viewing is all about watching ‘stone cherries.’”

Sanae tilted her head. “Stone cherries? What’s that?”

“Hmm… how about I explain it to you the same way Suika did~” Alice puppeted her doll to look like it was a babbling drunk. “The corpses of various animals turn into nutrients for cherry blossom trees on the surface, but the souls of those animals don’t get eaten. Instead, they slowly sink further into the ground, becoming purified, and eventually crystallizing into stone cherries. Those stone cherries sink further until they reach the ceiling of the underworld, before gently falling down like cherry blossom petals-”

Drawn in to Alice’s story, you noticed the tug on your leg a little too late. Before you knew it, you went from walking as usual to milliseconds away from faceplanting on the ground! Thankfully, you caught yourself just in time.

As you looked back at where you tripped, you found a strange-looking mushroom that stood out even in this strange forest. Even in the Forest of Magic, its color and shape stood out from everything else.

"Are you alright?" Sanae asked as she ran up to you, but her voice of concern was beset by the joyful celebration of Kogasa behind you.

"Yes! Finally, I did it again!" she exclaimed. “I better write that down!”

"I'm fine, I just tripped on something. It's not Kogasa's fault," you said as you pointed to the strange mushroom.

Immediately, Sanae's concern faded. "Is that so? Alright then. Just be careful out here, miracles have their limits!”

With that, she immediately started chatting with Alice again about the cranes. You followed silently, leaving Kogasa feeling a little disappointed with herself.

“Anyway. Where were we?” Sanae cheerfully asked.

“Right, the old capital incident!” Alice replied. “So I overheard Suika talking about how everyone in the old capital was perceiving the falling stone cherries differently. As in, to some people the stone cherries looked like snow, to others they looked like actual cherry blossom petals, to others they looked like birds, to others they looked like buzzing mosquitoes, et cetera, et cetera. At first, Yuugi thought everyone was just hallucinating or something, but it quickly became apparent that someone was behind it. Someone with the power to change people’s perception of things, to make it hard for everyone’s minds to identify the stone cherries as stone cherries.”

“I never really thought much of that incident when I first heard it, because this type of stuff is just your average prank. But when I started investigating the cranes, a thought hit me: someone could be disguising their cranes using that very power. In fact, that incident in the old capital could very easily be someone’s way to camouflage the fact that they’re disguising their cranes. Not to mention, if they’re disguising both the stone cherries and the cranes at the same time, anyone trying to take those cranes would find it very difficult to make out the cranes from the stone cherries even if they knew the cranes were being disguised.”

“It was just a hunch on my part, but it was such a perfect plan for hiding cranes that I decided to look into it. So I met up with Suika to ask her for more details about the incident. By that time, the incident was over and they never caught the culprit. They figured out who it was though. To quote Suika, it was obviously Nue, plus an accomplice with the ability to turn things upside down.”

“The amanojaku! SEIJA!” Sanae exclaimed.

Alice nodded.

Sanae’s excitement quickly faded. “T-the amanojaku…” she repeated. “And the Nue, too. At least the Hieda clan can be negotiated with. But them? It’ll be tough…”

The gravity of having to deal with the two most infamous tricksters in Gensokyo became apparent to everyone, and so silence fell. For a while, the only sound was of the leaves rustled by the wind, and everyone’s footfalls digging into the ground.

“ BOO! ”

Kogasa jumped out of the bushes again. Once again, she completely failed to surprise everyone. Her shoulders drooped. “Why is it not working anymore?” she asked. “Wait… oh, that makes sense.”

The atmosphere was terrible. I have to do something about this, you thought.

“S-so, Alice!”

Alice turned to you. “Yes?”

“What about the third lead? You said they’re just one individual, and that it should be easier to take back the cranes from them, right?”

Alice nodded. “Not only that, she’s also quite an idiot.” Alice’s voice gave off a slight tone of resentment. “She’s a wannabe magician living in this forest. My neighbor, if you will. The only part of this forest I dislike. She’ll be easy to deal with, but she’ll be annoying.”

“It seems like you really hate this person…”

“Of course. She always steals my books, and she constantly jumps straight into danger. And I always have to clean up her mess. She constantly gives me headaches… but despite all that, I still think of her as a friend.” Despite her previous words and tone, there was a sparkle in Alice’s eyes.

“Wait… are you talking about Marisa?” you asked.

Alice seemed surprised. “Oh? Yeah. You’ve already met her?”

“Yeah. And we already took her cranes!”

Now Alice seemed confused. “Wait… an hour ago I saw a bunch of cranes tucked away in some trees near her house-” suddenly, a realization stopped Alice. Then she let out a sigh. “That… ugh! She probably lied to you about how many cranes she has.”

Sanae faked a laugh. “Yeah… that does sound like something Marisa-senpai would do. Or perhaps someone gave her a taste of her own medicine…”

“Don’t worry. I’ll help you all recover the remaining cranes from Marisa. It’s high time that idiot gets her due punishment.”

“Thank you so much, Alice!” you said, bowing.

“No worries. She’s had it coming for years by now.”

“But isn’t Marisa-senpai your friend?” Sanae asked.

Alice looked away, slightly embarrassed. “Well… yeah. But still! Casual vengeance is the best way to strengthen a friendship!”

“Casual?” you asked. “I prefer ranked.”

Sanae laughed awkwardly. She felt a little bad for Marisa.

Just seconds later, Alice suddenly stopped.

"Hm? What's wrong?" Sanae asked.

Alice looked around, before continuing to walk. "No, it's nothing."

Sanae and Alice continued chatting away. But as you walked through the forest trail, you felt like something was… off. Alice said her house was nearby, but you’d already been walking for quite a while.

Is the forest making me hallucinate? Is it messing with my sense of time? you thought. You started looking around at all the flora, which started to look the same. The mushrooms were always the same set of colors and the same set of shapes. Same with the trees. In the end, it was a monotonous-looking forest.

Just as you finished that thought, you felt a tug on your leg, almost tripping again! This time you were more prepared, so you easily caught yourself.

"Are you okay?" Sanae asked.

But you did not respond. Your eyes were focused on what you almost tripped on. It was the exact same mushroom from earlier.

“AGAIN!?” you shouted. Something was clearly wrong, and you were starting to understand what it was…

"What's wrong?" Alice asked, turning just in time to see the mushroom. "Oh! That's lucky, those are extremely rare! I don't think I've seen one since I first moved here."

You looked up and made eye contact with Alice. "Alice-san... do you think it's possible to find two of these in a day?"

Alice tilted her head at the strange question. "What? No way!"

"Well... I just saw two, and I almost tripped on both. Either I’m losing it or we’re all losing it!"

As soon as you said that Alice's eyes widened. She then started looking around the forest.

"What's going on?" Sanae asked.

You started looking around as well. You noticed that Kogasa was nowhere to be found, but she’s probably just lurking, waiting to surprise everyone again. The real question was… where did Aya go!?

As you searched the entire forest canopy, you noticed something strange nearby: some of the tree branches there looked like they'd been cut. The trees themselves looked a little familiar, too.

"Hey, Sanae. Alice.”

"Hm?" Sanae ran over to you.

"Yes?" Alice continued looking around using her dolls.

"Does that not look like... where Alice accidentally attacked us?"

Alice immediately turned and went over to where you were. It didn't take long for her dolls to find some small pieces of ripped fabric on the ground. Indeed, they were from your clothes.

Sanae went to Alice's side. "Is that why it's been taking so long for us to get to your house? We've been walking in circles!"

"Circles? No way, I know this forest like the back of my hand. I could've sworn we were looking straight," Alice proclaimed.

You continued looking around for Aya & Kogasa. But as you searched, something else caught your attention: something was missing. It was the mushroom from seconds ago.

I could've sworn it was right there, you thought.

You walked over to where you remember it being. You looked closely at the ground, trying to find that lucky mushroom, to no avail. Eventually, you gave up and stood back up. You turned around to join Sanae and Alice again, but they’d gone missing too!

"...huh? Sanae! Alice!" you called out. There was no response.

You were alone in the forest. Not only that, the flora had somehow changed from how it was before.

“I know I’m being messed with! Show yourself!” you shouted.

An idea popped into your head. You took out the die of fate you threw earlier, and sure enough, it still had the original image. But when you moved the die around, the forest background surrounding the doll changed.

Crap... so that's what the die was really showing? That we'll be trapped in a shifting forest? What kind of four-dimensional chess foreshadowing did Ori give me!?

A light wind blew past you, carrying the smell of tobacco.

"Ara, what do we have here~? An outside world human, face full of regrets?"

You turned towards the voice and saw a woman with short brown hair, wearing circular glasses, smoking a pipe. More noticeable, though, was her very large brown tail flapping back and forth behind her.

A green leaf sat atop her head. A light wind blew again, making her hair flutter, yet the leaf stayed in place.

"W-who are you?" you couldn't help but wonder.

"Ah, that's right. I'm really sorry, I should've introduced myself first before teasing you," she said, her tone slightly sarcastic. "My name is Mamizou, I come from Sado, but I've since moved here to Gensokyo. And as you can tell, I am a tanuki," she bowed with a smirk on her face.

You tried your best to bury your uneasiness. You bowed in return. "My name is-"

"No need." Mamizou cut you off. You looked up, and saw her palm raised towards you. "I already know who you are. Or rather, I came here specifically for you . You're the outsider lad collecting the cranes, yes? What was it again... Xe... Xeno... Xenoa?"

You didn't know how else to respond but to simply nod.

"Haha~ of course, of course." Mamizou looked down at you.

You swallowed your fear. "How'd you know? Who I was... Why did you come for me?"

"Oh? Learning about you was rather easy." Mamizou snapped her fingers, and a bunch of fallen leaves all around you transformed into Tanuki. "I am the leader of the Tanuki here in Gensokyo, so I had some of my underlings follow you around, that's all. As for why I went here for you... well…"

The youkai's eyes stared you down, like a predator watching its prey. A chill ran down your spine.

"...well, I figured you were a threat. You're going to come and take our cranes eventually, so I thought I should come and take you out first. It shouldn't be a problem; the fact that you're an outsider makes this easy. After all, killing an outsider human is fair ga-"

Suddenly, something landed between you and Mamizou, interrupting her speech. When the dust settled, you saw Sanae and Alice and an army of dolls surrounding you. In a phalanx-like formation, they warded off the hundred tanuki around you.

"...me?" Mamizou's eyes narrowed.

Sanae smiled. "That trick was pretty cool, but unfortunately for you, it doesn't work on me. Miracles tend to happen around me, you see. So we were miraculously able to find our way to Xenoa just in time."

As soon as you heard Sanae's voice, a huge pressure left your body. "Thank you, Sanae and Alice!"

Sanae turned to you, with a gleaming smile plastered on her face. "No problem!" she replied. She seemed to enjoy playing the hero… or maybe she just liked helping people out.

"Oh, come on, where’s your sense of humor?" Mamizou asked, slightly disappointed. “No one knows how to take a joke nowadays…”

“I’m pretty sure genuine death threats don’t count as humor,” Alice said. “Or maybe that’s just me.”

“No, you have a point,” you jumped in. “So, let’s cut to the chase… you have the rest of the cranes?”

“Well… not exactly, but I do have some!” Mamizou replied. “You know what? Let’s make this a bit interesting. All of you—minus Aya, if she doesn’t make it back here—against me in one massive 8-card battle. Whoever wins gets the cranes… and if you lose, I’ll just move the goalpost a bit. You get battle experience, and I get… well, a fun battle!”

“How do we even do that? Do we even have 8 Spell Cards to use? Isn’t it cheating if we all shoot down the same Spell Card and get impossible bonuses? How do we even handle tiebreakers if we all have hits left? WHERE DID AYA GO!?”

“That’s up to you guys to find out for yourselves. Now… do you accept my challenge?”

You turned to Alice and Sanae. Surprisingly, Kogasa is also there. Your slight surprise made her smile a little. “Thank you!” she exclaimed.

Kogasa’s smile helped calm you down. Which is good, because this would be your hardest battle by far, and you already knew that Mamizou was a force to be reckoned with.

“Alright. We need a plan. We have enough Spell Cards, right?” you asked.

“Between the four of us? Definitely!” Sanae replied. “If we run out, we can just make stuff up on the go. Now. The problem is, Mamizou may or may not have some of the most ridiculous Spell Cards known to Gensokyo, and legend says she’s only ever lost a battle twice.”

“So… how do we win?”

“Hear me out. If Mamizou’s gonna use deception and mind games to win, our best bet is to just do her thing, but better. Anyone got ideas?”

“Hm… curved lasers! And aimed bullets where if you don’t stand still, the pattern is just straight-up impossible!” Kogasa suggested. “Oh! And don’t forget, just pure random madness that may or may not have no solutions in certain variations!”

“...Who hurt you?”

“Well, you see… Reimu had some choice words about certain Spell Cards after certain incidents, and I just so happened to hear them.”

“Hm… I think I can handle those requests. Everyone, let’s see what Spell Cards we have!”

Sanae, Alice, and Kogasa pooled together their Spell Cards. Among them, you noticed a few devious patterns: an RNG-fest of randomly blown paper ofuda, one of Kogasa’s new creations featuring needles and aimed projectiles like in Conjuring 「Misdirection」, another LITERAL RNG-fest you SOMEHOW found in your pocket, a doll-based attack featuring moving dolls and ridiculous lasers, and a few others you thought would make for good filler. Little by little, you narrowed your list down to 8 Spell Cards, a list handcrafted to cause maximum confusion and maximum suffering.

“Alright… even if Aya still gets lost, we’ve got enough firepower to force a win!”

With a plan in mind, you, Sanae, Alice, and Kogasa all turned to face Mamizou.

“We’ll take you up on your offer,” you said. “But don’t expect us to go easy on you!”

“All the better, then,” Mamizou laughed. “Good luck… you’ll need it! ”

After flipping a coin to decide turn order, you found yourselves with the first Spell Card attack. If there was a time to show your trump cards, this wasn’t it. With only the names and patterns to go by, you figured the best way to start things off was…

Chapter Text

As you’d already done before quite a few times, you took a listen to the voices in your head, only to find… nothing. For the first time, not even the voices in your head could help you make a decision… so you decided to just pick a card at random. But wait… you thought. Yeah… yes! That is DEVIOUS!

“Alright, Kogasa… I say we start off with that Spell Card,” you suggested, pointing at Kogasa’s Spell Card. “What could possibly go wrong?”

“You sure!?” Kogasa asked, visibly worried. “I forgot the patterns, I don’t even think I got it verified, and for all we know this could be a legitimate form of TORTURE! ”

“ All the better. ”

A brief silence followed.

“Okay, okay, I’m just kidding, but still!” you clarified.

“Alright…” Sanae said, a bit concerned. “From there, I guess I can go next, followed by Alice and Xenoa, and we’ll just keep that rotation. We’re doing that ruleset, right?”

“I hope so…” Alice replied. “But if worst comes to worst, I guess we can just improvise. Is everyone ready?”

“Hopefully!” Sanae laughed, turning to Mamizou. “Alright, let’s do this! Get ready for the battle of a lifetime!”

“Nah, I’d win.”

And with that, Kogasa stepped up, prepared to unleash who knows what upon Mamizou… all for a couple of cranes.

“I have NO IDEA WHAT I’M DOING…” Kogasa said, “...but here goes!”

Mamizou and her hundred tanuki prepared to dodge, many turning into leaves and sticks and stones, scattering themselves on the battlefield.

“Wait, I thought this was a-” you started, but it was too late. Kogasa immediately began firing off her preceding nonspell, a pretty simple barrage of several simple patterns. As expected, Mamizou immediately used the opportunity to effortlessly dodge the incoming pattern, even going as far as…

“Okay, that’s just mean…” Kogasa commented as Mamizou began purposely taking riskier paths to graze more bullets in the little time she had before the transition to the main Spell Card. “But anyway! You’re probably gonna shoot this nonspell down in a few seconds, so here goes!”

As Mamizou dealt the final hit with a single ordinary leaf, Kogasa flew to a higher spot in the air, seemingly preparing something.

“ Forbidden Art「Defenestration!」 ” Kogasa shouted as she shot out a wave of slow bullets in various colors.

“Wha… You sure this is supposed to beat me?” Mamizou asked, looking a bit disappointed. As the wave of bullets expanded, they started to form a sort of image that looked all too familiar… and then it hit you.

Oh, boy… you thought. Welp. If she’s doing THAT… we’re probably gonna win in a few seconds.

Taking advantage of the brief period of confusion, Kogasa shot a singular bullet to the ground, sending Mamizou flying upwards and directly into the path of an almost unreadable barrage of extremely fast needles!

“ OKAY! I TAKE THAT BACK, I TAKE THAT BACK! ” Mamizou shouted, barely dodging everything. “Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, how am I supposed to even read this AND aim!? WHO MADE THIS SPELL CARD!?”

You noticed Kogasa slowly and sneakily fading into the bullets without Mamizou noticing, and as the barrage continued, you realized it was probably not a good idea to burn out in the first turn.

After what seemed like a solid minute, the barrage seemed to stop right as you completely lost sight of Kogasa.

“Heh… is that the best you’ve-”

“ BOO! ”

“ AAAAHHHHH! ”

With the tiny bit of lost concentration, Mamizou’s flight slipped, sending her flying straight into the path of what was left of Kogasa’s barrage! You were about to start cheering… right as a few mysterious sticks barely saved Mamizou from taking a hit.

“ WHAT!? ” you shouted.

“Woah, woah, woah, is that even allowed!?” Sanae asked. “I’m 99% sure that’s just straight-up cheating! Wait… hold on… yeah, it is! You used your tanuki, didn’t you?”

“Huh? What are you talking about?” Mamizou laughed.

“Grr…”

Mamizou smirked, “Exactly.” she muttered under her breath.

As Mamizou started her own nonspell, Kogasa landed back on the ground, in the best mood she’d ever been in.

“That… was… AMAZING!” she cheered. “ It actually worked! The spell card finally worked! ”

Kogasa happily glanced over at you, with an expression of gratitude. Why is she looking at me? you thought.

“Nice job!” Alice replied, grabbing everyone’s attention. “But we’ve got to focus. Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.”

“Who says it hasn’t already?” you noted.

Sure enough, by the looks of it, a bunch of the sticks and stones on the ground turned back into Tanuki, and quickly climbed into the trees. Then, they started picking the leaves from every branch, and slowly, the canopy that darkened this part of the forest of magic disappeared, casting away the shade. Mamizou laughed, her glasses glowing from the now falling rays of light. 

And then you noticed leaves falling above you. Hundreds, no, thousands of them! You look up, and notice the Tanuki are throwing them towards you. Not only that, a bunch of the Tanuki visibly transformed into the same kind of leaves they were throwing at you.

Mamizou adjusted her glasses. “Good luck dodging my Tanuki,” she laughed. “If you can see them, that is!”

As she finished her sentence, the patterns seemed to shift into the worst possible form: poorly disguised GAMBLING. The leaves were changing direction at seemingly random times, and without the ability to fly, you were completely stumped!

“I CAN’T EVEN SEE WHAT TO DODGE! HOW IS THIS SIGHTREADABLE!?” you shouted, going completely off instinct and barely avoiding the barrage.

“You see… IT’S NOT!” Sanae replied. “I have no idea what I’m doing!”

If this is her FIRST nonspell… well, we’re cooked, you thought as a leaf phased through your head. Or at least, I am.

By some miracle of sheer luck, you managed to survive and shoot down the nonspell, dreading what could possibly follow it up. You were out of breath, out of ideas, and out of braincells.

“Hehehe… Confusion Sign「Blind Faith!」 ” Mamizou shouted.

“Blind faith!? What the heck does that mean?” you asked.

As you said that, the leaves from Mamizou’s nonspell transformed back into tanuki, covering the area in a thick layer of smoke you could barely see through. You could hear the sound of hundreds of bullets firing, but to your horror, all you could see were nearly-invisible outlines of the patterns!

“Ah. I see now.” you commented. “Blind, as in we literally have no way of seeing how to dodge.”

It was just as bad as you thought. The only thing you could go off of was instinct. There was no established pattern, there was no way of predicting future dodges, and there was no way to even find Mamizou! And just as you were starting to find your flow… your foot slipped.

The world became a blur… but something was wrong. For a split-second, you regained your focus, just in time to find the culprit. All it had taken to send you packing was one tanuki and one very, very slippery leaf.

“YOU ACTUAL-” you shouted, expecting the worst. But to your surprise, you found yourself on your feet and perfectly unharmed. By some miracle, you’d managed to survive your near-death experience!

“-CHEATER!” you finished, right as a stray bullet ripped off an entire part of your left sleeve. Again. It was then that you remembered you were still in a Spell Card battle.

Mamizou smirked. “Hey, accusing your opponent of cheating just because you’re being unlucky won’t help you!” she shouted as she shot more bullets towards you.

You sidestepped another incoming bullet, almost slipping again but catching yourself. Mamizou was definitely cheating… but only when it wouldn’t force a hit! What is this, her idea of HUMOR!? you thought.

“You alright?” Sanae shouted from the distance.

“Probably!”

“We got this! Just don’t get distracted!”

The fog was starting to clear up and the patterns were becoming more visible. But most importantly, you could see Mamizou, and by extension, have a minuscule chance at capturing the Spell Card! It would take a literal miracle and everyone’s efforts, but it was still possible!

As you dodged the now-visible danmaku and focused your fire on Mamizou, as did the others, you noticed a few of the tanuki transforming again. There couldn’t be much time left on the pattern, but you knew Mamizou was planning something. You just couldn’t see what it could possibly be…

Then Mamizou snapped her fingers, and immediately a lot of leaves started falling between you and her. This again!? No. Just no. I’m not even going to try to dodge. I’ll just hit you! you thought.

You fired as many bullets as you could towards Mamizou, but the moment you blinked, she suddenly disappeared.

Huh? Where did she go? You looked all over, trying to reacquire your target, to no avail. She could be anywhere at this point… but then, it hit you.

“You didn’t!” you shouted.

"Yep, I did!" Mamizou laughed.

Crap, what do I do!? Where do I shoot!? I only have a few seconds left! 

As you frantically looked around, a massive gust of wind swept through the forest, peeling away the moisture from the flora and creating a faint mist. It was so overwhelmingly loud and powerful, it disoriented and deafened you. 

But then a voice miraculously pierced through the ringing in your ears:

“XENOA!!” Sanae shouted.

Your eyes shot open.

“GO FOR IT!!” Sanae’s voice helped you focus, and you regained yourself just in time to see all the leaves around you get blown away.

All the leaves, except for one strange-looking leaf; which seemed as if it was just as surprised and disoriented by the sudden gust of wind as you, to the point that it seemingly forgot to get blown away by it.

That’s Mamizou!

You aimed back at her and started pummeling her with bullets. Even without perfect aim, you eventually landed a singular shot: enough to make Mamizou transform back to her normal form. You still knew that anything could happen… but the danmaku just stopped.

“Uh… Wait, I did put in that final phase, right? What did you do!?” Mamizou said with a panicked expression you’d never seen before.

“Looking for someone?” someone said from behind. You and Mamizou turned around to see all of Mamizou’s tanuki, each one of them being held at knife-point by Alice’s dolls.

“Ah, crap…”

With a singular shot, Kogasa captured the Spell Card. The mist on the ground slowly dissipated.

“Alright! I’m probably never gonna mentally recover from this… but we should be winning now!” Kogasa said.

“I’m with you there…” you added. “That was way too ridiculous.”

“Now wait just one second… you guys were CHEATING!” Mamizou shouted. “Sanae used her ability to erase the entire point of that Spell Card!”

“Come on, now, that was a random gust of wind!” Sanae faked an innocent smile.  “Don’t jump to cheating if you’re just getting unlucky…”

“Nothing in this world will convince me that a RANDOM hurricane-force wind just MATERIALIZED here, at THIS TIME OF DAY, in THIS PART of the world, localized ENTIRELY within this part of the forest!”

“Prove it.”

Mamizou tried to retort, but no words came out of her mouth. In the end, she simply let out a sigh of resignation. 

“Exactly.”

Mamizou scoffed. “Cheeky.”

You noticed a mysterious flash from the sky, but paid it no mind.

Mamizou crossed her arms. “Alright then…” She adjusted her glasses. “This danmaku duel has gotten a little out of hand, don't you agree? Since everyone here seems to be intent on making it go out of hand, why don’t we all agree to tone it down a little. A danmaku duel is supposed to be about beauty, after all, yet none of our spell cards have been very beautiful, no?”

Alice shot her a glance. “And we’re just supposed to trust you?”

“Well all games are played with trust that your opponent will respect the game’s rules and the intent of those rules. I’ll be trusting you to lighten your tomfoolery, just as you will have to trust me to tone down my tomfoolery, too.”

Sanae chuckled. “You mean the cheating?”

“You can call it whatever you’d like. In the end, that trust is a vulnerability both of us will have. And if we all just take advantage of that vulnerability the entire time, it won't be pretty.”

Sanae pointed at Mamizou “But you’re the one that started it!”

“So you’d like to continue it?” Mamizou stared at Sanae’s eyes. A light breeze blew through the forest, sweeping away the remaining mist. 

“Look, missy. I get why you're doubting me, but the deal I'm offering you is made purely out of good faith. After all, if I start cheating again, you folks can start cheating again, too. So I don't gain any advantage from this. This is all just for the sake of making this duel more pleasant for everyone.”

Sanae was about to retort, but Alice stepped in and interrupted her. “She's right.” Alice crossed her arms. “This wouldn't be pleasant for any of us. At this point, we might as well not be following the spell card rules at all. Of course it sucks that Mamizou asked for this truce only when we started ‘cheating’, but that doesn't matter right now. What matters is we resolve this conflict cleanly, with no bad blood, like what the spell card system is built for.”

Alice turned to Mamizou and continued. “As for the constant cheating Mamizou has been doing since the very beginning of this duel, I believe we can also trust that she will make up for it after this is done, isn’t that right?” Alice spoke in a somewhat threatening tone.

Mamizou nodded.

Sanae relented. “Fine.” Sanae pouted, grumbling. “But she better actually help us after this.”

Mamizou adjusted her glasses again. “Now then, if you could politely hand over my tanuki, we can get through the next seven Spell Cards peacefully.”

Alice flicked her fingers, and her dolls drew away their blades. The Tanuki flew down to Mamizou's side. "That's what you all get for not being careful." Mamizou told her Tanuki as she pet some of them.

Mamizou then turned her attention back to you "Now... shall we continue?" she said as her Tanuki disappeared into mist.

“Mayhaps…”

Even without the threat of being blinded, deafened, or permanently injured, Mamizou was still throwing out ridiculously hard attacks in their own right.  And to make things a bit tricky, she’d only taken a singular hit from the last three Spell Cards you and the others had thrown. You’d also contributed the only miss from your team, thanks to the level this battle had escalated to.

I don’t know how, but I think we may be PERFECTLY matched, you thought. We’re about to find out how tiebreakers work, aren’t we?

“Okay, I’m up!” you announced. “So… how do I use these again? And how do I even declare a nonspell if it doesn’t have a name?”

“Just… uh…” Kogasa tried replying. “...start shooting while holding it, I guess?”

“I trust you…”

To your surprise, your normal shot was replaced with a different wave of bullets, somehow mixing in several different casino-themed items in the patterns. And… of course, Mamizou used the opportunity to make a complete joke of the nonspell. In the end, you weren’t even halfway through when Mamizou shot down the pattern.

“Uh… that was fast…” you nervously laughed. “Anyway! Fortune Sign「Aw, Dang It!」 ”

“What kind of name is that!?” Mamizou asked.

“Oh… it’s a reference. Anyway!”

When you held out the Spell Card, coins started popping out of it, shooting up in simple patterns. And there wasn't a lot. In fact, there were so few that Mamizou barely had to dodge.

...what is this Spell Card!? Did I get scammed? You thought. Everyone else seemed confused, too. Mamizou, meanwhile, was wearing a carefree smile like usual, even taking the opportunity to smoke a little.

Crap! What do we do now? You thought. We’re actually going to take this the full 8 rounds at this rate!

A coin dinged as it hit the ground, and bounced back up in the air much higher than it normally should have. Then more coins hit the ground all around you. Then you saw Mamizou starting actively dodging.

That's when you noticed it. Hold on... isn't there way more coins than before?

You looked at the coins more closely, and saw that every time they bounced from the ground, they'd multiply. It looks like a coin would sometimes multiply into 5-7 more coins, meanwhile sometimes it would multiply into 2, very rarely, it didn't multiply at all or simply disappeared.

Hundreds of coins dinged as they hit the ground, the individual sounds turning into a noise not unlike rain, except WAY louder. It got to the point that you had to close your ears, and it looks like everyone closed their ears, too. Even Mamizou had to cover her ears, preventing her from shooting back with full force.

With every bounce of a coin, Mamizou lost space. Before long, it became much harder for her to afford making an imperfect dodge. And it only got more unaffordable for her, too. 

And it just kept going. How long does this spell card last?!

Mamizou, who wore a cocky expression in the beginning, was now looking desperate. It seems she’s having the same exact thought you just had.

The coins kept bouncing, they kept multiplying into 5 and 7, and very rarely would they not multiply. It was hard to predict how much the coins would multiply; it seemed completely random.

That made sense, it’s a casino-themed spell card, after all. But you couldn’t shake the feeling that something is wrong. This seems too good… you thought, right as a singular coin barely hit Mamizou.

As you looked over to the others, they all seemed to be intently watching Mamizou’s every movement. She’d already proven her ability to subtly cheat: there was no telling whether she’d do it again. And if she cheated, there was probably no way to gain the lead back.

Just as you were about to change up your aim, a swarm of tanuki appeared out of nowhere, charging straight at Sanae!

“What the-” Sanae shouted. “HEY! Get off of me! That’s- wait, technically not, but STILL!”

You looked back to Mamizou, who seemed to still be dodging for her life. Either Mamizou just planned something beforehand, or she’s the best multitasker in all of Gensokyo… and we’re probably cooked either way, you thought. On the bright side, there’s NO WAY she can keep up with this!

As you continued your Spell Card, you noticed Sanae trying to fight back, but she was being pushed further into the forest by the second. There was nothing you could do. All you could do was just focus on the pattern and try to buy some time… which you were starting to run out of. The coins were starting to split into lower numbers, some of them downright disappearing as they hit the ground. You felt a bit bad for Mamizou, considering what you’d just put her through.

“That… please tell me the card’s almost over…” Mamizou sighed, exhausted from the constant dodging.

“Look, Mamizou… I found this Spell Card in my pocket and I have no idea what’s gonna happen,” you replied. “But what goes around comes back around, I guess…”

“Fair.”

Just as you thought the pattern was going to time out, Sanae came crashing through the trees, still being attacked by a swarm of tanuki! And as if the battle was rigged, the patterns began ramping back up!

“Don’t worry about us! Just focus on your turn!” Sanae shouted, kicking a tanuki into the horizon.

“We should be fine!” Kogasa added. “Mostly!”

As Kogasa and Alice rushed to Sanae’s aid, you turned back to Mamizou, who was back to fighting for her life against a literal storm of gambling incarnate.

“SERIOUSLY!?” Mamizou shouted.

“I’M SO SORRY ABOUT THIS, I DON’T KNOW WHAT’S HAPPENING!” you shouted over the sounds of thousands of coins colliding. “ Wait… ”

You took a look at the Spell Card’s description, trying to find any indicator of a bait-and-switch… but there was nothing. Just a 100-second time limit, a survival requirement, and an odds list for coins. An odds list… you thought. THAT’S IT! It’s Sanae’s ability to create miracles! It must have a passive area! There's no other explanation. The odds list shows that coins splitting into 5 or more is very rare, yet it's been common while Sanae is nearby!

You turned to Sanae. Those Tanuki must have realized it earlier.

You turned back to Mamizou. I'm so sorry Mamizou! We didn't mean to cheat!

Meanwhile Mamizou continued dodging for her life. At this point, the fate of the duel was a matter of which would happen first: Mamizou getting hit, Mamizou realizing what was up, or the Spell Card timing out. There was no room for error now.

But then, with only seconds left on the pattern, Mamizou made a fatal error. She misdodged… straight into a coin.

Everyone watched in shock as the coin struck its target, sending Mamizou just slightly off-rhythm. A flash went off in the sky again as she stumbled ever so slightly, knowing exactly what was about to happen. With a pattern of this level of difficulty, that was all someone needed to go from two lives to none.

The moment the patterns reached Mamizou again, she dodged just an instant too early again, flying straight into another coin. Even with thousands of other coins bouncing around, everyone felt the impact as Mamizou fell to the ground, defeated.

You had won off of pure luck. Literally.

“WE DID IT! WE ACTUALLY BEAT MAMIZOU!” Kogasa cheered. “I have no idea how we did it, but WE DID IT!”

“Nice battling out there!” Aya added, landing back on the ground. “I never knew you had skills like that! Or the means to basically deafen anyone within a fifty-meter range… but moreso the former!”

As Aya joined the celebration, you looked to Mamizou, who was back on her feet like nothing happened.

“Well, you gave me the battle of a lifetime,” Mamizou said. “I really need to derust… but you’ve earned those cranes, fair and square.”

You thought about telling Mamizou that you accidentally cheated with that last spell card, but in the end, you decided not to. “Thanks!” you replied. “This was… certainly the battle of all time.”

Mamizou, as promised, handed over her stash of paper cranes. They all flew into your pocket, raising your total count to 820.

“Good luck, Xenoa. You, Sanae, Alice, Kogasa, Aya, presumably… you’ve got a good shot at this.”

You looked back to the others as Mamizou transformed, vanishing into thin air.

“I still can’t believe we did it…” you remarked. “...but our journey isn’t over yet. We’ve made it this far, so we may as well ride the momentum!”

“Well…” Aya added. “Before we go, we’ve got something… quite important to deal with. The entire reason we’re here.”

You looked at your clothes, which were in even worse shape than before. At this point, it’d be a miracle if Alice could somehow salvage the situation.

“Ah. Right.”

“So… while we’re here, I’ve been wanting to tell you something…” Kogasa mentioned.

With Mamizou’s minor tomfoolery out of the way, you’d made it to Alice’s house without any further inconveniences. The battle had taken everything thirty minutes off schedule, but it was great to be able to rest again. You, Aya, Kogasa, and Sanae were sitting at a table and drinking some tea, while Alice was finding some spare fabric to use.

“Before I met you and joined your adventure… I was absolutely terrible at scaring people,” Kogasa continued. “I mean, 0% success rate terrible. Every time I tried to scare someone, they’d just… laugh. No one ever took me seriously, and every time I tried to keep myself going… I just got pushed down. Over and over and over again.”

“And then… when I met you, you didn’t just write me off as a joke. And against all expectations… I was actually able to scare you! Even when I thought my only success was pure luck, you helped me improve. You helped me keep going. And now? I’m actually starting to get good at this!”

“Thanks, Kogasa! It was nothing, really, just doing what anyone worth their salt should do.”

“No… I should be the one thanking you. Thanks to everything, I’ve had something I never thought I’d have again: hope. And who knows where that might get me?”

“Well, only one way to find out! But for now, we’ve got to focus on our next move. We’ve got two stops left, and a whole lot of planning to do.”

You remembered that when you first met Alice, she’d told you about two remaining groups other than Mamizou: possibly Hieda no Akyuu, who would probably be the easier group to get the cranes from, and the “final boss” of your adventure: Nue and Seija. Those two would be a nightmare to deal with, and not to mention, there could be other sources you’d missed.

After a bit of consideration, you decided to…

Chapter Text

“Hm… we made the plan for a reason, so we may as well go on with it,” you mentioned. “We can always backtrack if we miss something!”

“One small issue there,” Aya replied. “We’re on an invisible clock with a completely unknown amount of time left… and it would be a shame if we missed a singular crane at the end.”

“Ori wouldn’t do that… I think. If she brought me here, it’s for a reason, and I’m 100% confident that this is a fair and winnable challenge!”

Everyone stared at you silently.

“Who’s gonna tell him about human nature?” Aya asked.

“Eh, we’ll be fine…” Sanae commented.

As you wondered what might happen if Ori rigged the challenge to be impossible, you noticed Alice and her dolls sewing together some new outfits. The dolls seemed to be moving on their own, synergizing perfectly with Alice to make quick work of what would otherwise be a multi-day project!

“Wow… how are they doing that?” you asked.

“Oh! The dolls?” Alice replied, turning slightly to face you. “They’re somewhat under my control, but they can do a lot of stuff on their own- for example, sewing together these new outfits. I still have to give instructions, but otherwise, my dolls can basically do their tasks all on their own! They’re my life’s work… and someday, I know I’ll find a way to make them fully autonomous.”

“Amazing…” you said, continuing to watch the dolls at work. 

Meanwhile, Aya spoke as she jotted down notes: "First, we have to confirm whether Akyuu is actually collecting the cranes. For all we know, it's that librarian from Suzunaan that's collecting the cranes. That would make things a lot easier..."

"I doubt that." Alice used one of her dolls to grab the pen right out of Aya's hand, and then wrote with it on Aya's notebook. "From what I've seen, I highly doubt it's Kozusu that's the mastermind of this. Well, Akyuu isn't either. It's more like both of them are collecting the cranes together. And it would only make sense for them to keep it within the Hieda household, as property of the Child of Maire." Alice’s doll let go of the pen. It rolled towards you before Aya grabbed it.

"S-so that means we'll have to negotiate with the most powerful entity in the human village, for the property of their most important figure," you said.

Aya scoffed. "Are you nervous? We're dealing with humans here! All we need to do is spread a bit of fiction around the village and we can puppet them to our liking."

“A bit of fiction… ” you commented. “Yeah, that’s not gonna fly. We’re in a tough spot, but I wouldn’t go as far as spreading outright misinformation.”

“Then how do you suggest we get the cranes from her?” Aya asked.

An awkward silence filled the room, beset by the sound of Alice sowing and her dolls moving around. It looked like there were some more dolls doing chores in the other room, beyond the doorway.

Then Sanae’s voice pulled you back to the conversation. “We’re fine! I’ve met Akyuu before. She’ll probably just see us as friends or something, and she may even want to join us once she finds out how far we’ve gotten! I’m sure it’ll be a breeze!” Sanae added. “Probably.”

“Don’t scare us… that’s my job!” Kogasa said

“A-anyway… Sanae is right! It could end up being a breeze, and she might just give it to us. But we still need to come up with a surefire way of winning a negotiation, just in case it comes to that. Any ideas?”

“Well, I’ve given you mine.” Aya plopped down her notebook and her pen onto the center of her table, then took a sip from her cup of tea.

Sanae took the pen and wrote some ideas. “I could offer free shrine maiden services for the Hieda family… or maybe offer to have Kanako-sama or Suwako-sama visit the mansion to personally bless it or something.”

“Oh!” Kogasa gestured for the pen. Sanae gave it to her. “What if I offer to do this outside world ritual for them… I think it’s called treat or trick?”

Sanae’s eyes lit up. “Trick or treat!? That sounds fun! It’s been so long since I last went trick or treating…”

You thought about telling them that trick or treating probably wouldn’t help with negotiations, but in the end, you decided there was no point. They’re just having fun jotting down ideas in a notebook. Doesn’t hurt anyone.

“What about you, Xenoa?” Sanae asked. Both she and Kogasa stared at you, waiting for a response.

“Hmm…” you searched for an idea. Your eyes drift to the windows lightly rattled by the wind, as you hear the little sounds of dolls sowing and chores being done around the house. Finally, you came up with an idea and started jotting it down the notebook.

“What if we challenge her to a game?”

Your idea piqued everyone’s interest. They all turned to you, waiting for you to explain your plan.

“Sanae. As we’ve seen before, you have the power to create miracles, right? Hear me out. We just do heads or tails… except when I’m about to flip the coin, you can rig it so the coin will land on heads, no matter what! And since it’s a 1 in 2 chance we don’t need the miracle at all, we win either way!”

Everyone seemed to be on board with your plan. If negotiations fail, or if we just don’t have enough to offer in the negotiations, we can always leave it to a coin toss. 

“That idea is well and good…” Aya took back her notebook. “But how are we even going to challenge the Child of Miare in the first place? Let alone convince her to accept the challenge at all.”

“She’s right,” Alice added. “I don’t mean to ruin the mood, but it has to be said; if you folks want to negotiate with Akyuu, you’ll need to be granted an audience with her.”

The entire room fell into silence. You can feel the excitement and positivity melt away.

Kogasa perked up “Oh! What if we go trick or trea-”

“That’s not going to work, Kogasa-san. If my knowledge of that tradition is correct, the best-case scenario for you is they’ll give you candy. It won’t help grant an audience.”

Silence returned.

You desperately tried to maintain what was left of the group’s optimism. “I-I think we’ll be fine. I think. We don’t need to barge into the Hieda mansion, we can just... I don't know... ask Kosuzu? Or maybe we can meet up with Akyuu somehow..."

"How do we do that?" Kogasa asked genuinely.

"We can..." your voice trailed off. You couldn't find an answer.

"Well," Aya flicked her pen before writing, "Akyuu, like everyone in the human village, has her own daily routine. We can just intercept her during a certain point in that, and make it look like a coincidence."

"We will have to figure out what her daily routine is, though”

"That's what you're concerned about?" Aya scoffed. "That won't be a problem. I'll just follow her for a bit and we'll know her routine.”

"But... isn't that stalking?"

“Do you have a better idea?”

Alice chimed in. “I wouldn’t recommend stalking the most important person in the village. If it goes badly, that will really make it hard to negotiate with her. If people see you doing something suspicious, it doesn’t matter what you say, people will run with all sorts of stories about you, and eventually being unable to negotiate with Akyuu will be the least of your problems. You should know that best, yes? ‘A little fiction is all you need to get the human villages to act a certain way.’ you said. So you best not accidentally create fiction that will go against you .”

“Oh don’t worry about me. I can easily control fiction like I easily control the wind,” Aya said energetically. Then, she looked straight into Alice’s eyes and smirked, “And I don’t even need strings to do it.”

Alice scoffed. “Easily? Oh, I’m sure Bunbunmaru is very effective at that. People definitely read it. Personally, I’ve found a lot of value in your newspapers. They’ve been really useful whenever I needed emergency firewood.”

“Say that again and you’ll meet the same fate as my life’s work.”

Noticing the sparks between Aya and Alice, Sanae tried to calm them. “Hey, let's not fight, okay? Alice-san, I’m sorry Aya kept trying to take pictures of you, please don’t be so aggressive with her. Aya-san, please don’t mind what Alice says, I’m sure she’s genuinely trying to offer advice.”

Aya sighed. “Fine. Let me just say… I don’t really care what you say, but I won’t stand people insulting my work.”

Suddenly, Alice stopped sowing. She appeared to freeze for a moment, before suddenly standing up. Then, she started moving her hands and fingers, manipulating her strings.

Aya stood up in response, “H-hey… don’t tell me you’re going to attack me? How petty can you get?!”

“W-what’s wrong?” You asked Alice.

Alice stopped and took a deep breath. She seemed very cheeky before, but now she looked much more annoyed. Genuinely annoyed. “It’s nothing. Just a rat bumbling around the house.”

Alice squeezed her hands into fists, when suddenly, a voice came from the other side of the wall, right next to the doorway. “Ow! Hey, I’m sorry, alright?”

Is that… Marisa? you thought.

Sure enough, the blonde black-white witch appeared beyond the doorway, slowly being led in by ten dolls, all holding various weapons at point-blank.

“Yo~” she said, greeting everyone with a cocky grin. Unsurprisingly, a large sack full of books and various materials hung off her back.

“Do you know the definition of insanity?” Alice asked.

“Of course, who doesn’t?” Marisa laughed. “Doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different outcome!”

“Then why do you keep coming over here to steal whatever you can get your hands on, despite the fact that you have been caught every single time?”

“Stealing? Nah, I’m just borrowing things! And besides, I already returned the stuff I took last week!”

“Last week? Wait… last time you stole was a month ago…”
“Exactly. But yeah, this time I was really just borrowing a few books, I swear!”

Everyone stared at Marisa, unamused.

“Permanently,” she added.

“Speaking of permanent borrowing… ” Alice continued. “...what about the cranes? You made a deal with Xenoa to return all the cranes if they won that challenge, correct?”

“Yeah, I did return all the cranes! Right, Xe-”

“ All of them? Even the ones in your stash?”

As Alice said this, Aya had already taken it upon herself to start snapping photos of the entire conversation, with her notebook and camera in hand. You thought of trying to stop her.

“No, seriously, I did return all of them! I checked the entire stash twice when I gave the cranes to Xenoa!”

“Then why did I see another hundred or so cranes in that so-called ‘stash’ when I was walking around just a few hours ago?”

“...what? Wait. That really wasn’t me!”

Someone revisited her stash!? When she handed the cranes over, that was everything inside the box! Then… you thought. I think I know what’s going on… but I don’t exactly remember what.

“Hm… you seem to be telling the truth. Then who was it?”

Everyone stayed silent for a bit, as they thought about who could have possibly done such a thing.

“Ah! I remember!” Aya jumped in, taking out a photo. “When you were in that battle with Mamizou, I noticed some of her tanuki heading to Marisa’s house and taking paper cranes out of that box!”

“Wait… so I was framed! ” Marisa realized. “See? I’m not hiding anything!”

“Still. Drop that sack,” Alice said.

“What does that have to do with any-”

“As I said. Return my goods. Please and thank you.”

“Fine…” Marisa groaned, letting go of the sack of stolen goods. The dolls immediately went to get the sack and return the items to their proper places. One, however, stayed behind and continued holding her at knife-point.

“Now… may I please leave?” she asked.

“Not quite yet… I have a plan we may need you for. Consider it a bit of karma for your stealing rampage.”

“Finally… it’s rude to threaten people’s lives with weapons of mass destruction, you know.”

Marisa had joined you, Aya, Sanae, and Kogasa at the table, with her own cup of tea and everything. You didn’t see what the plan could possibly be about, but you figured it was probably good.

“Anyway, what’s this mysterious ‘plan’ you need me for?” Marisa asked.

“We… are going to use your father to negotiate with Akyuu!” Alice declared.

Everyone sat in silence for a few seconds, digesting what she had just said. Marisa looked stunned.

“I’m sorry… but how would that even work?” you asked. “Besides… isn’t that way too cruel?”

“Hear me out,” Alice said. “We’ll use your father as a bargaining tool to try and convince Akyuu to hand over her collection of cranes- assuming she has one, of course. From there, we’ll meet with Akyuu, retrieve the cranes, and head on to the final source of cranes that we heard about: the nuclear reactor at Moriya Shrine.”

“Oh, and in case I didn’t make myself clear…” she continued, turning to Aya. Within less than a second, five dolls were holding knives at her. “No unsolicited photos, please.”

“O- okay…” Aya replied weakly, putting away her camera and notebook. The dolls dispersed again, returning to finishing up the clothes.

“Now. Where were we? Ah, the plan. We should have no problem getting through to Akyuu with that.”

At the mention of that, Marisa’s expression changed back to distress. She looked noticeably uncomfortable at the thought of the idea, and you couldn’t help but feel bad for her. Things were falling apart.

“Uh… I have a better idea!” Sanae jumped in, trying to save the situation. “We could use Kanako-sama and Suwako-sama’s influence instead! Akyuu interviewed them before for the Gensokyo Chronicle, so we should be able to reach her pretty easily!”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Marisa replied. “We can go meet that idiot if you want. I’ve been wanting to get back at him anyway. You guys want to negotiate with Akyuu for her cranes right? If you guys can find a way to make that idiot take the loss when all is said and done, I’ll help you out. How about it?”

Everyone went silent again as you considered your options. Trying to backtrack AGAIN to Moriya Shrine to meet Kanako and Suwako would certainly be a safer option, but it was already pretty late in the afternoon. On the other hand, contacting Marisa’s father would be less time-consuming… assuming it all worked out. But at the same time, you didn’t want to force Marisa into a situation she clearly didn’t want to be in.

“Sure. We don’t have any better options… So let's do it.”

Alice’s dolls finished sowing the last bits of damage in your clothes. “It’s decided, then,” Alice announced, as she gave you your clothes back. They’re back in perfect shape, with a few creative decisions made to upgrade them. Looking closely at it, the sowing work is immaculate. Everyone was impressed, meanwhile, Aya took some pictures of it.

As you continue to appreciate Alice’s craftsmanship, you hear her quietly call out to Marisa. “H-hey… Marisa.”

“‘Sup?” Marisa‘s loudness contradicted the quiet guilt in Alice’s voice.

“I'm sorry. I went too far… I think I was just a little ticked off from everything we encountered today, and when I noticed you stealing books after I thought I could finally rest, I think I… took it out on you. I mean I’m still mad at you for trying to steal my stuff again, but I definitely went too far this time. So if you want, we can call off this plan and I’ll figure something else out.”

“What?!” Marisa was suddenly energetic, it startled Alice a little. Marisa spoke without facing Alice, seemingly trying to hide her face; “You’re going to forgive me all of a sudden? You know, it would be nice if you did that all the time. Then I wouldn’t have to do much sneaking around~”

Alice didn’t respond. She was taken aback, yet at the same time, was trying to see through Marisa’s cheer. Marisa continued; “Also, I don’t see how you’d get the impression that I’m against this plan. You really think I would pass up an opportunity to get my revenge on that dumbass?” Marisa turned to Alice, and with a bright, beaming smile, spoke cheerfully; “If anything, I’m excited! I can’t wait!” 

Alice pouted, turning away from Marisa. “At least accept my apology…”

Marisa simply responded to it with a cheeky grin. You couldn’t help but smile seeing Marisa’s brightness. It seems Alice was momentarily taken by that grin, too. She stared at Marisa with a look of awe mixed with slight pity.

“Well then.. everyone!” Marisa’s cheerful call made everyone turn to her. “Are you all done gawking at Alice’s work? We should be going soon, you know.”

You felt like you were starting to understand Marisa a bit more. In this moment, she gave off the presence of a light trying to blow away the darkness by glowing brighter. Everyone in the room couldn’t help but be dazzled a bit.

Sanae nodded in response to Marisa’s call “Yeah, we should get going.” She then walked over to Alice and thanked her. “You really didn’t have to do this, but thank you anyway!”

“No problem! It’s the least I could have done after I senselessly attacked you…”

“You did great with the repairs!” you also said. “With all the information you gave us too… we owe you one.”

“Don’t sweat it~” 

“Now, then…” Sanae commented. “We’ve got a whole lot to do, so… let’s get to it!”

“I suppose so,” you replied, standing up. “Again, thanks for letting us stay, thanks for the tea, and especially thanks for helping us out with the cranes and repairing our outfits!”

“No worries. Good luck with the plan!” Alice and her dolls waved.

With a plan in mind, you and the others left Alice’s house, ready for whatever could happen with negotiations.

“Marisa!” Alice called.

You turned and noticed Marisa didn’t turn to Alice’s call. 

Alice shouted anyway; “I’m sorry about everything!”

Without another word, Marisa looked back and gave a thumbs-up to Alice.

The wind gently caressed the forest canopy, the shadows of the swaying branches and fluttering leaves creating dancing lights on the ground. As gaps in the clouds opened up, rays of light fell between you and Alice, with one shining onto Marisa and making golden hair glow.

After walking for a while, you departed the Forest of Magic, and aside from a few interruptions by fairies, reached your destination unscathed. 

Aya and Kogasa had changed into their respective disguises.

“And here we are… again!” you declared. “Back to the village! You guys remember the plan, right?”

“Of course! It’s time to #### that guy up!” Marisa loudly shouted, with no regard whatsoever to anyone who could have heard her.

“Uh… bad choice of words… but we’ve got this! We’re all supporting you!”

“This is gonna be perfect for tomorrow’s headline…” Aya commented while adjusting her hat.

“Hey. If the whole negotiating thing doesn’t work, I got the perfect backup idea, ” Kogasa added.

As you walked through the village to your destination, you took a moment to take in the surroundings. 

The place was bustling with people crowding around various stands that lined the canal, all calling in the attention of the people. Be it to have a meal, buy a new trending accessory, or even to share a moment with some drunkards, they all seemed so lively to you. Is there a festival or something? You wondered

Weirdly, a bunch of people were looking at your group. Worried that Aya or Kogasa messed up their disguises, you turned, only to see Sanae smiling and waving. Meanwhile, Aya and Kogasa looked completely fine. I should’ve known. Sanae is popular in the village, after all. With her in our group, we’re going to catch people’s attention when there’s crowds as thick as this.  

Still, you couldn’t help but be worried about Kogasa. She seemed restrained enough for now, but since she had a lot of success with scaring people, she was doing it a lot more recently. If she started a commotion, it could complicate the plan.

Along the way, you noticed a couple of kids eating dango in a corner of the road. Their presence shouldn’t have alarmed you, but the conversation they were engaged with definitely did.

“Woah, these dangos are crazy good, Daito!” one of the kids exclaimed, eating the candy from their skewer.

“Hehe… Of course! I bought them, after all!” the kid named Daito replied, scratching his head, with a look of pure glee.

While eating their dango, another kid put a finger on their chin. “Wait… where did you get the money, though?” she asked. Her face was full of confusion.

You noticed that Daito was suddenly taken back. He stuttered for a bit before replying, “U-uh, from my father! Yes! My father gave me the money!”

It didn’t take a genius to see through the lie, as the other kid showed. “If you don’t tell me where you got it, I won’t keep that secret of yours!” she replied, visibly annoyed.

Now completely on the brink of despair, with a face that made some of the girls at your side giggle, Daito gave in. “Anything but that! I will tell you, It was that girl at the bookstore. She told me if I gathered some cranes for her she would give me lots of money!” he explained. His words made you stop in place alongside the rest.

“Hey, do you remember what Alice said…?” Aya asked you.

“Yes… She said Kosuzu might be involved,” you replied.

“Wait… so she’s bribing people to help her search for the cranes!?” Sanae asked. “That seems a bit out of character…”

“Or maybe that kid’s also lying. Maybe he just stole it. You know how kids can be like sometimes.”

“Eh, doesn’t really matter either way. And speaking of dango, we should really get some food!”

“Excellent point.”

As you and the others began searching for a place to get some dinner, you noticed a shop that was completely surrounded by people, some of them looked like guards, but most of them just (presumably) bystanders gawking at the commotion. 

Among the crowd, you saw Kogasa sneaking up on some of the preoccupied villagers. Wait… how did she get there all of a sudden? You thought.

You turned to Aya, and noticed she disappeared too. It looked like she was already taking pictures of the commotion. I guess we’re checking it out now, you thought.

You decided to take a look at the commotion. Marisa & Sanae followed suit. You couldn’t tell what was going on, and it wasn’t like you could fly up to get a better look, either.

“Any idea what’s going on!?” you shouted over the noise.

“No idea!” Sanae replied. “Any idea where Aya or Kogasa are?”

“Nothing here either!”

The fact that Kogasa has gotten much better at sneaking up on people made it harder for you to find her. You believed Kogasa to be trustworthy, but you couldn’t help but worry. After all, it’s her instinct to scare humans. That’s how she eats. This crowd, perfect target for scaring, is more tasty to her than any of the food on any of the stalls.

As you searched the crowd for any sign of the others, for a single moment, you finally caught a glimpse of Kogasa. “She’s there! I see her!” you told Sanae.

Sanae tried to get to you, but a bunch of the villagers seemed to have noticed her and started crowding around her. I guess I’ll just have to grab Kogasa on my own.

When you turned back to Kogasa, she looked like she was just about to scare an unsuspecting bystander.
But then Kogasa was suddenly surprised herself. “EEH?!” she gasped.

Her scream caught a lot of people’s attention, but then everyone’s eyes went to what startled Kogasa: a purple blur, weaving through the crowd. Is that Akyuu? You thought. Just in case, you ran off to follow where the blur went.

Sure enough, as you made it out of the crowd, there she was: Hieda no Akyuu, without any need of interrogation techniques, complicated plans, or anything that you actually spent time planning. You were slightly disappointed, but you knew that this was the perfect opportunity to ask about the cranes!

Without much time before anyone else jumped in, you had to think of a way to start the conversation…

Chapter Text

“If you hand over the cranes, we shall spare you from the trains,” you said, with little regard for conscious thought, social skills, or even basic logic.

“Huh? Could you repeat that?” Akyuu asked as she turned to face you.

“If you hand over the cranes, we-” you began before you realized exactly what you had just done. “...actually, nevermind. Forget I said anything.”

“Are you threatening me? ”

“To be honest? I don’t even know what I meant to say.”

“Me neither…” Akyuu commented, slowly backing away from you and the others. You could tell you had just narrowly escaped certain failure, and you needed to plan your next moves very, very carefully.

As Akyuu went back to walking where she was going, you tried to figure out how to salvage your critical blunder. By some miracle, Akyuu hadn’t heard the core part of your threat, and you still had a chance to ask her about the cranes properly. But you’d also just told Akyuu about your plans to pursue the cranes, which was going to be a serious problem if she was as defensive about her stash as the others said.

Oh, and you knew there was no way to actually get Yukari to back you up.

“What… was that?” Sanae asked.

“Nothing but the fifth-worst blunder of my entire life,” you replied.

“Well… now we’ve gotta turn it into the best comeback instead!” Sanae commented.

“Alright. First things first: finding Marisa and Aya.”

Together with Sanae, you tried to find a hole in the crowd to get through. Unfortunately, it seemed like the villagers had taken notes on Roman military strategies, because there wasn’t a single way to get out.

“Brute force it is, then…” you sighed. With all the strength you had, you tried pushing through the crowd… and, of course, that failed as well.

“Wait… that’s the guy who threatened The Child of Miare!” a voice called out. “Get the guards!”

“Threatened!? You think I can actually send a train flying at Akyuu?”

“You never know!”

“How many people could actually do that here!?”

“Hm… Well… I gotta think about that…”

Seizing the opportunity, you and the others dashed into the crowd within seconds, leaving the mysterious person to their thoughts about flying trains and the horrifying consequences of modern humor.

Nobody would be able to find you now. Squeezing through the flood of people was rather uncomfortable though. But eventually, you managed to get out of there.

“Close call!” Sanae commented. “And on your part… well, I’m glad you made your threat completely empty and ridiculous, because we’d be in a lot more trouble otherwise. ”

“Sorry about the trouble… but now we can find the others in a reasonable space,” you remarked. “Let’s go.”

Coincidentally, you happened across Marisa. The two were talking to each other, and it looked like Akyuu was hurriedly telling her something.

The moment she saw you, she hid behind Marisa and pointed at you. You didn’t hear what she said, but you could figure from the way Marisa reacted.

Marisa was laughing a little. You approached the two of them, and you heard Marisa speaking. “Oh… uhh… I think you’re misunderstanding something, Akyuu.”

“What?”

“You see, I actually came here with Xenoa. Oh, and his name is Xenoa, by the way.” Marisa pointed to you, and you bowed. 

“H-hello, Miss Akyuu.”

Akyuu moved away from Marisa. “I see,” she said.

Marisa continued; “I don’t know what happened, but I don’t think Xenoa meant what she said…”

“Yeah!” Sanae stepped in. “It’s just Outside World humor, don’t worry about it, Akyuu.”

Akyuu bowed. “Good afternoon, Miss Sanae. Umm… if you say so, then I am willing to overlook it.” Akyuu still sounded a little uneasy. “I figured you wouldn’t be able to send a train flying at me or anything… although I’d rather not live with the minuscule possibility of a certain youkai getting bored and… yeah.”

“I don’t know what I was thinking,” you added. “Or if I was even thinking. Sorry about the confusion, what we actually wanted to ask was about the paper cranes flying around here.”

“Paper cranes? What do you mean?” Unlike the others, Akyuu looked at you with suspicion.

You knew that if she wanted to keep the cranes, she’d be on the defensive, so this was to be expected. “This is gonna take a while to explain… but here goes nothing,”

(Girls are explaining. Please wait and have some tea~)

“So what you’re saying is… you think I have a stash of cranes, and you’ll need them for your journey?” Akyuu asked.

“Basically that,” you replied. “And by the way- actually, nevermind.”

You thought about mentioning the ways you’d gotten cranes out of the others, but decided against it. It would’ve gone terribly, given your history with death threats.

“I’m sorry. It seems to be important to you, so I would have loved to help out, but I don’t know anything about these cranes.”

“You don’t have any cranes? At all?”

“Nope.”

Everyone stared at Akyuu, blank expressions on their faces. You contemplated the choices that led you up to this point.

“Alright, fine, I may have a few cranes… or a few dozen… or close to a hundred…” Akyuu admitted. “I understand your position, but I can’t just give them to you. The cranes are Hieda property now, and I can’t give them away for free. But if you were to… say, offer something of equal value, we would be happy to trade with you through the proper channels.”

They were never yours to begin with! You thought, but you immediately tried to diffuse your frustration and made sure not to let it appear on your face. Calm down. Getting angry won’t get us anywhere now. She’s just trying to make it difficult for us, which is fair.

“Something of equal value…” Sanae muttered.

With your track record of getting into ridiculous tic-tac-toe matches, danmaku battles, and other comical hijinks over the cranes, you’d never considered the possibility of a simple trade.

There was silence as you slowly realized that nobody had anything to offer to Akyuu right now. The plan was to get Marisa’s father to foot the bill and you haven’t even met him yet, so a simple trade wasn’t possible at the moment. But there’s no telling whether we will be able to negotiate with Akyuu again, so we have to do something now! You thought.

“If you guys have nothing to offer, I can’t-”

“How about…” you cut Akyuu off “...instead of trading, we bet it on a game?”

“Game?” Akyuu was still looking at you suspiciously.

“Double or nothing,” you suggested. “We play coin toss. If you guess wrong, you give us all of your cranes.”

“Hm… I see. And what will you give me in return if I win?”

“Uhh-”

“It wouldn’t be a fair game if only you could get something out of it, right? I’ll agree if you can offer something in return if I win.”

Aaand we’re back where we started. Crap… what do we offer her!?

The group went silent. Everyone was brainstorming for something to offer, but it’s quite obvious nobody could come up with anything.

“Wait… how much are those worth, anyway? Hmm… they’re just paper cranes, right?” you murmured to yourself. Maybe we could convince her it’s less valuable than she thinks because of that.

“Well, I think-”

“ SURPRISE! ”

In the midst of your negotiations, you and Sanae had completely forgotten about Kogasa! And contrary to popular belief, she was back with an understanding of timing!

“Heh… did it again!” Kogasa cheered, jumping up and down as you got back up from the ground. 

Then, you notice Akyuu stumbling as she tries to get up. You offered your hand, but she disregarded it and eventually stood up on her own. She was a little shaken seeing Kogasa. Or maybe… she’s a little weak or sickly? You thought.

“Sorry about that…” you apologized. “Kogasa here is a-”

“I know. It’s fine, you’re an Obake, right?”

“Yeah! Thank you for being scared!” Kogasa cheerfully said. 

After the surprise of Kogasa’s appearance, everyone got back to thinking about what to offer Akyuu in exchange. 

“So, what were you guys doing?” Kogasa asked. “Our target is Akyuu, right? She’s here!”

“They were trying to figure out a trade for the paper cranes, and Xenoa over there offered a coin toss.” Akyuu replied. “I told them I’d only agree to the game if they can offer me something of equal value to the paper cranes if I win.”

“Equal value? Aren’t the cranes just made out of paper?” Kogasa asked.

“They can make wishes come true, too,” Marisa told Kogasa, then turning to Akyuu. “Akyuu. You’re telling us to come up with something of equal value, but how would you even quantify how valuable the wish is? For all we know, the wish you want fulfilled is priceless.”

“Yeah!” Sanae backed her up. “How can we trust that it will be an even trade if the value of what you’re offering is nebulous?”

Hearing Sanae, a flash of inspiration suddenly came to you. For all your nonexistent social skills, in this moment of the negotiation, you just came up with a way to offer Akyuu nothing but force her to accept it, and move through with the coin toss.

With determination, you stepped up and spoke; “We still trust you, though. But we want you to trust us, too. But since the value of what you’re betting is nebulous, then it would only be fair if our offering is nebulous t-”

Akyuu’s legs suddenly collapsed before you could finish your sentence. “Ah!” Kogasa let out, surprised. Everyone around her was able to catch her before she could fall on the ground. 

“Are you okay?” Marisa asked as she pulled Akyuu up. 

“Y-yeah. I’m fine. I’m just out of breath is all.”

Meanwhile, Kogasa grumbled in the corner, “Now I’m hungry again,” she mumbled to herself. Beyond her, the noise of the crowd continued to wrap them in a festive energy.

“I’m a little tired…” Akyuu said as she clutched her head. “...I think I have to go. The noise is getting to me, and I still have a lot of work to do.”

“Alright.” Sanae spoke softly, “We can continue this la-”

“I probably won’t be leaving the mansion for a while. At least not until this festival is over.”

“I-I see…”

“This festival, huh?” Marisa looked around, her hands intertwined behind her head. “When’s this festival going to end? Actually, what even is this festival about? I assume it just started a few hours ago, but I was genuinely surprised when we entered the village. I’m pretty sure there’s no festival this time of the month.”

Akyuu looked straight at Marisa in surprise.

“You didn’t know?” she asked, her surprised tone almost overriding the tiredness in her voice. Meanwhile, Kogasa looked up with a satisfied expression.

“Hmm… that surprise was delicious~” you could see Kogasa voicelessly mumble to herself in the corner.

“What do you mean?” Marisa asked Akyuu, confused.

“Well… I would have assumed somebody would have told you. Your father started this festival out of his own pocket money. It’s apparently to celebrate the birth of your new sister.”

“ WHAT!? ”

Kogasa’s stomach growled as everyone walked through the festive streets.

“So, if I’m hearing this right… your father basically disowned you, and now you have a sister!?” you asked.

After Akyuu had left, you and the others decided to head over to the Kirisame family’s mansion as originally planned, now that directly winning the coin toss (or even figuring out how much the cranes were worth) was out of the question. The plan was to make the value of the cranes irrelevant, by having enough assets to trade for virtually anything. So in the end, we had to fall back on our original plan of asking Marisa’s father for help somehow, you thought.

As night fell, and the last hint of sunset faded from the sky, the festive atmosphere seemed to only grow brighter. But you and the others weren't as enthusiastic. Especially Kogasa, who looked desperate to scare someone. 

The only exception was Marisa, whose smile seemed to continue to glow. But you heard some murmurs from the crowd you and the others cut through.

“...isn’t that the guy that threatened the child of Miare?” and "Isn't that the disinherited daughter? Figures she’s associated with sketchy types," were the main accusations.

“Rumors spread fast…” you mumbled to yourself, as you instinctively looked up to think about it. But as soon as you did, you noticed what looked like camera flashes in the dark sky. What are those? You thought.

“Well of course they spread fast!” Aya said behind you.

“AAH! A-Aya?”

“Good evening!” Aya winked as she took a photo of you.

“Oh? You’re back already? Here I thought you won’t be returning tonight.” Marisa remarked.

“Don’t be like that! I wouldn’t just abandon my friends, you know,” Aya said.

Sanae grabbed Aya’s shoulder. “That’s right, we’re your friends. So we won’t abandon you, and you won’t abandon us, right?” Sanae cheerfully said with a very scary-looking smile. Aya nodded nervously. “Yeah, yeah.”

Meanwhile, you finally noticed Kogasa staring at you. “Uhh… Kogasa?”

“Thank you, Xenoa!”

“...huh?” 

Kogasa giggled. “The way you were startled by Aya was really nice.”

“Oh. That. You’re welcome… I guess?”

A flash from Aya’s camera startled you a little, which made Kogasa smile ever wider. “So, what are you all planning now?” Aya asked.

“Well, we did meet Akyuu… actually you probably already know that. I bet you were watching from afar, taking pictures.”

Aya simply smiled without responding. You sighed. “Anyway, all we really did was find out that we can’t get those cranes without getting a lot of money. So we’re going to ask for help from Marisa’s father.”

“Is that so? Are you sure you’ll be able to do that?”

“Well… Marisa seems to be pretty confident abou-”

“That’s not what I’m talking about,” Aya clarified “I’m asking if you’ll still be able to ask the Kirisame family for help when there’s all these nasty rumors going around. I doubt an experienced merchant like Marisa’s father would want his reputation muddled.”

You couldn’t say anything in response to that. Aya continued; “You know… some people think you could fling a train at Akyuu. People have been spreading some pretty nasty rumors around.”

“Wait… we’ve actually been hearing some murmurs here and there while we walked, but it wasn’t that ridiculous! Do people actually think I’m that powerful!?”

“Remember, this is Gensokyo. Anything can happen. Thankfully, they’ve left it at ‘Sanae was spotted with that disinherited daughter and some other delinquents’ and not ‘Sanae, Marisa, and Xenoa are conspiring with Yukari Yakumo to assassinate Akyuu early.’ It’s a literal miracle they haven’t reached that far yet… at least from experience.”

You reflected on the various conspiracies you’d heard of back in the Outside World and figured it was best to stop the rumors as fast as possible when you got to it. And it might actually make our current plan impossible, too. What are we even going to do if Marisa’s father refuses to meet us because of these rumors? You agonized.

“Anyway, we’re gonna have to watch our next steps,” Aya noted. “Just because Akyuu’s not great at Spell Card battles doesn’t mean she can’t fight at all. She- or her family, on behalf of her- will be focused on two main points: making sure we can’t negotiate for the cranes, and making sure we can’t afford them, either. That’s the one way she can fight… and the battle’s already underway. I bet Akyuu asked her servants to spread these rumors. ”

“And you know this… how?” you asked.

“Trust me. I’ve done worse. Besides, it’s been like this since forever. It’s the reason for why the Hieda clan was founded in the first place : information. They investigate and learn about the Youkai then spread that information with all the other humans, casting away the unknowns about them, so that humans have a fighting chance . If they want to deal with a Youkai, all they have to do is read the Gensokyo Chronicle. Since everyone relies on them for information, they have a lot of sway over what everyone in the village believes. That’s what they use to fight. ”

“Wait… isn’t half the stuff in there just pure exaggeration?” Marisa asked.

“Doesn’t matter. As long as the general idea is there, they have the advantage. But if I, say, started spreading some misinformation… We could have a much better shot of negotiating with them if worst comes to worst.”

You contemplated Aya’s idea, but you wanted to stay within the bounds of morality before trying anything like that.

“Sorry… I don’t know about that one, chief,” you replied, right as Aya flew off, notebook in hand. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like anyone could stop her.

“Well…” Marisa commented. “I guess morality is a fickle construct.”

You arrived at the Kirisame mansion after the sun had fully set. The clouds opened up, and the full moon became visible for the first time. 

The noise of the festivities only grew louder.

“Alright. Here we are. You remember the plan, right?” Sanae asked.

“Yep. I’ll apologize for pursuing magic and try and join the family again, in exchange for buying out the cranes. Once we get them, we pull the rug and escape!” Marisa replied. 

“And how exactly do you pull the rug?” you asked.

“Trust me. I’ve got the perfect plan. If there’s one person who knows how to get that idiot, it’s me.”

You were somewhat nervous, given that the entire village could probably hear Marisa, but trusted her anyway.

“Anyway! The key to those cranes is right behind this gate! I’ve been waiting for years to do this… it’s time to #!@# THAT IDIOT UP! ” she continued, before practically kicking the gate.

“Did you just…”

“Yep. Trust me on this.” Marisa smiled wide. The lamplight over the gate flickered, its light making Marisa’s golden hair glow. “Open up!” Marisa shouted.

There was no response.

“Hey!” Marisa knocked on the gate again. You waited for a few seconds, expecting absolutely nothing to happen. As I thought… they probably heard the rumors already. There’s no way they’ll talk to us now. You thought.

The front door of the mansion opened, and out came a maid. We’re about to get kicked out, aren’t we? Y ou thought.

The maid reached the gate, and Marisa spoke loudly. “Hey. I’m Marisa Kirisame. You know about me, right? Let us in, we have business to attend to.”

“No.” the maid flatly refused. “My master wouldn’t be pleased with delinquents loitering outside the mansion, so I’m here to get rid of them.”

Yep. We’re getting kicked out. You thought. Wait… now may be a good time to test out that Spell Card… nevermind. Nope.

Marisa stepped forward, taking off her hat, and spoke. “If you’re a maid here, that means you’re technically my servant. So open the gate, and let me in!”

“You are no master of mine.”

Marisa smirked. Now fully under the lamplight, her golden hair shined. It drew everyone’s eyes towards her. “Oh? Well, I-”

“That’s enough!” a deep voice rang out from the doorway, cutting off Marisa’s speech.

Immediately the maid turned around and bowed. Everyone’s eyes were taken off of Marisa, and right onto where the voice came from. There, beyond the double doors, was a venerable-looking man staring daggers at Marisa.

Everyone was silent.

The man, hands behind his back, walked out the doorway, into the lamplight. His golden hair, too, glowed. 

“I don’t know of anyone in my family named Marisa. Who are you?”

Marisa looked completely frozen. 

“I won’t repeat myself again. Who. Are. You?”

As Marisa’s father approached the gate, Marisa slowly started backing away. His shadow cast over her as soon as he reached the gate.

“You dare come here… after running away… after dragging our family name through the mud… after toying with magic endangering those around you… after associating with youkai and CONTINUING TO CAUSE TROUBLE FOR US AND EVERYONE IN THIS VILLAGE!?”

Marisa’s legs shook, looking like they were on the verge of falling out.

A chilly calm returned to her father’s eyes, as he looked around at everyone else, and then back to Marisa. Marisa flinched as soon as his eyes made contact with hers again.

“Sir.” the maid called for his attention.

“What is it, Hana?” his voice suddenly sounded way less aggressive.

“These visitors asked to enter the mansion.”

He turned back to Marisa. Marisa’s mouth shook, and it looked like she tried to respond. But no words came out. Nobody else could say anything either; the presence of Marisa’s father commanded attention. 

“State your purpose, witch.”

All Marisa could do was stand in fear. For the first time since the journey started, you saw genuine fear in her eyes.

“I said. State your purpose! ”

Marisa shook as she tried to push a word out. “F-Father…” she uttered meekly.

This is falling apart! We have to save this somehow, or Marisa’s gonna be scarred for life! AGAIN! We have to say something!

“H-hold on, Mr. Kirisame!” You shouted in a volume higher than you intended. Immediately everyone’s eyes went to you, and you started to shake. Uhh… What should I say!? 

“Mr. Kirisame!” Sanae stepped up. “We actually came here for a very important matter.”

Kogasa nodded vigorously. “Yeah! Marisa-san put in a lot of effort to come here, too! Because it’s a very important matter!” Kogasa added.

“Y-yeah. Also, Marisa is technically not a witch!” you shouted, stepping in. “According to- wait, let me pull it up…”

It was then that you realized the fact that Gensokyo did not have any cell signal. Instead of showing a detailed article about Marisa, your phone showed that all-too-familiar dinosaur game. No internet.

“I swear I have the article somewhere!” you continued. “It’s definitely there on my saved files!”

“They’re right, though! There’s a clear difference between magic and witchcraft!” Sanae also shouted. “Magic is more gene-”

“What business do you have here with me exactly?” Marisa’s father cut to the chase. “Why should I deal with delinquents like you? I believe it to be stupid to believe in baseless rumors, but I also believe it’s stupid to completely ignore them as well. Even if none of the rumors about you girls are true, what could you possibly offer me that would offset the losses I would incur if I associated with you?”

“W-well, because it’s something that w-we think is important to you, you see.” you scrambled to say something. “You see… we-”

“FATHER!” Marisa’s voice suddenly rang out.

You turned to Marisa, and saw her step out of the shadow of her father with renewed confidence. The lamplight above flickered, now lighting both Kirisame.

Marisa smiled wide and brightly, then pointed straight at her father’s face. What the heck is she doing? Has she given up on this plan? You thought.

“I’m sorry!” Marisa said, with a voice blindingly bright. “I’m sorry! For everything! For going into magic… for going so far down that path! I never knew how misguided I was… but I’ve seen the light!” She spoke loudly, sounding less like she’s apologizing and more like she’s making a proclamation.

You, Marisa’s father, and everyone else stood in utter shock- some genuinely, some just acting.

“Now!” Marisa then pointed at herself. “I want to be part of the family again. “I know it’s been years, but I miss being in the family! I’d really like to rejoin… BUT! On the condition that you help buy something for me.”

The festive noise that enveloped the entire village seemed to grow quiet for a moment, as a cold gust of nightly wind wafted through the street, making Marisa’s hair flutter and the lamplight above us flicker. 

“Genuinely though… I’m hoping we can make up for everything I did.” Marisa said in a very very casual tone, the same tone as when she’s talking to Alice.

Hmm… it looks like we’ll have to find a different way to get Akyuu’s cranes, seeing as how Marisa just gave up on getting her father’s resources. I mean, there is NO WAY Marisa said all of that expecting it to work. If her father ACTUALLY buys that, common sense as a concept doesn’t exist anymore. Marisa didn’t even try. You thought. It’s gonna take a miracle for something like that to work.

“Hm… I accept your apology. Welcome back, Marisa!” Marisa’s father replied.

WHAT!?  

Kogasa’s stomach growled. “Oh no… my stomach just emptied again!” she muttered to herself.

Marisa’s father turned to the maid. “Hana, open the gate.”

“What!? W-wait… Master, this must be a mistake!”

Yeah, I agree! You shouted internally.

“I won’t repeat myself again. Open the gate.” Marisa’s father commanded.

The maid bowed. “As you wish.” she said, before taking out a massive set of keys from under her skirt, and then unlocking the gate with one of them.

As soon as the gate opened, father and daughter embraced each other.

“Thank you so much, father!” Marisa said, with a noticeably fake smile in her face. As you looked closer at Marisa’s father, you noticed an equally fake smile on his face.

Looks like the battle of minds has truly begun… you thought. If he’s planning something, we’ll just have to plan ahead. We’ve traveled across most of Gensokyo, faced opponents we never thought we could beat, and become quite close friends throughout this whole journey. If you want to try and one-up us… good luck!

You knew you’d only get one shot at negotiating for buying out the cranes. If there was one time to use your brain, it was now. After very careful consideration, you decided to…

Chapter Text

You reached for the die in your pocket but stopped yourself. If there’s one way we can get this to work… it’s attrition, you thought as you stepped into the mansion for the first time.

As you and the others entered the mansion, you were enveloped by the warm light of the many wax lamps lining the walls. You stopped, briefly caught in surprise and awe. From how the mansion looked outside, it didn't seem to be that grand, even though it was still prettier than most. But inside, it seemed fit for royalty… yet at the same time, quite utilitarian as well.

You turned to your companions, confirming that you weren't the only one taken aback by all this. Marisa grew up here? You thought, unable to help but feel a little jealous.

You looked over at Marisa, and immediately, the hint of jealousy was replaced with guilt. Marisa was smiling away, but it was obvious what she really felt about this place with how quiet she was. I shouldn't have been feeling jealous of Marisa. It would be disrespectful to her, given how much she suffered here. You thought.

Marisa’s father spoke, ordering his maid; "Hana, take Marisa to the bathroom and clean her. Help her dress up afterward. We need to get her in some proper clothes."

The maid bowed. "Yes, master."

Marisa's father then clapped loudly, before turning to you. "I'll be in my office. A maid should come over soon, she'll give you a tour through the mansion. We will talk about what my daughter wants in… an hour. Understood?"

“Okay,” you nodded. 

With that, Marisa’s father walked away, while Marisa disappeared with the maid behind a turn in the hallway.

Now left alone, you felt like a weight had been lifted from your shoulders. For once, you and the others had nothing else to do but wait and look around. After going through some of the most ridiculous things possible for the other cranes, this was a welcome break.

The living room was perfect for waiting and looking around. It was stunning; it looked as if every nook and cranny was strewn with endless ornate decorations. At first glance, the place felt massive, but once you started exploring, it became evident that the room was actually quite small.

It wasn’t a room that sacrificed efficiency for the sake of beauty; it was both efficient and beautiful, unlike what you expected. You’d never seen a living room like it before. Still, the decorations did look exactly like what you envisioned a mansion would have. Most of them, at least.

Those look...weird. you thought as you stared at the ridiculous amount of paintings lining the walls. One depicted a child feeding a leek to a cow. Another depicted a hole on what looked like some veranda, and nothing else. Meanwhile, another depicted a figure atop a roof in the rain, silhouetted by lightning.

All of them were rendered perfectly; looking as photorealistic as paintings can get.

Those don't look like the kind of paintings you'd see in mansions... you thought. You thought for a bit, trying to find the last time you'd seen elaborate paintings like these. It was only then that you realized you’d never been in a mansion before, so you didn’t have a frame of reference.

The realization made you excited, though. I never thought I’d explore a mansion for the first time in Gensokyo of all places… you thought.

Wanting to share the excitement, you approached Sanae, who was also looking at some table decorations at the back of the room. But when you got closer, you saw her looking teary-eyed.

"W-what's wrong!?" you asked.

Sanae turned to you and wiped her tears with a smile. "Nothing... it's just... It's been a long time since I've seen decorations like these. I haven't seen anything like it since I moved to Gensokyo."

That's right...! Sanae hasn't been to the outside world in a long time, you realized. Your excitement dissipated a little, as you tried to comfort Sanae. "Hey, if we get through this, and I'm able to get my wish, I can bring you some pictures of the outside world."

Sanae looked at you. "R-really?"

You smiled. "Yeah. Definitely."

"Why?" Sanae asked, in a completely confused tone.

"What do you mean why? I'm trying to help you. Don't you miss the outside world?"

Sanae's eyes widened. It seemed she had a realization, and then she just started laughing.

"W-what? Why are you laughing? Is there something wrong with me?" you started touching your face.

Sanae's laughter died down. "N-no..."

"Then why did you laugh!?"

"You misunderstood. I was getting teary-eyed because remembering the outside world made me feel so grateful to be here in Gensokyo, and not out there in that concrete dumpster!"

"...oh."

Oh. Oh, no. I’m gonna remember this for years to come at the worst possible moments… NOT AGAIN! You thought. IT’S HAPPENING AGAIN! I’M DOOMED!

“Ah, don’t worry about it…” Sanae commented, going off to look at the other decorations. Unfortunately, you did still worry about it.

Meanwhile, you started looking at the decorations as well, but for a completely different reason: trying your best to forget your blunder. But then, as you stared at a fancy-looking vase, trying to get your head to think about that and nothing but that, you noticed Kogasa making noises behind you.

"Wah!" she went, over and over.

You turned, and saw her in front of an ornate mirror, doing different scary poses, going "Wah!" every time. Sanae eventually turned and began watching Kogasa in amusement, too.

The two of you continued watching Kogasa. There was just something about it that was really entertaining- maybe that you were both... in the moment. So when the maid finally arrived and approached you, you and Sanae were startled a little.

The maid stared at you with completely deadpan eyes.

"Wah~" Kogasa kept making poses in the background.

You and Sanae immediately bowed and apologized to the maid for not noticing her.

"No need to apologize," the maid said in a completely monotone voice. It was difficult to tell how she felt towards either of you: whether she was resentful at having to babysit your group or if she didn’t give a crap. Bella bowed, before continuing. "My name is Bella. I am responsible for arranging and maintaining furniture in this house.”

"Nice to meet you, Bella-san," you replied, bowing back.

"W-Wah!" Kogasa continued making poses in front of the mirror.

Bella turned to Kogasa, with an expression still blank and unchanging as she began approaching her. You had no idea if Bella was going to just greet her or scold her, but either way, you didn't want to make a terrible impression on this mansion so soon.

"M-miss Bella, that is Kogasa! She's our friend," you hurriedly explained. Bella stopped right behind Kogasa and reached out for her shoulder. You continued. "She's a little strange... but-"

Suddenly, Kogasa turned and shouted "WAH!" at Bella, in a scary pose.

Bella didn't react at all. She stared at Kogasa, silently, with a blank expression.

An awkward silence fell in the room.

Crap, you thought, panicking. Is this where it ends? What if Bella thinks we’re trying to attack her? Are youkai even ALLOWED inside? Are we about to get thrown halfway across Gensokyo a SECOND time!? Or am I just overthinking for the- 

"Ah... I-I'm sorry, I didn't know! I thought you were Xenoa or Sanae-san…" Kogasa said as she slowly stepped back.

"Good evening, Kogasa-san. My name is Bella, I am the maid that will be giving you all a small tour this evening." Bella bowed, choosing to completely ignore Kogasa's shenanigans.

"Y-yeah! Thank you, Bella-san!" Sanae said, a hint of nervousness in her voice.

"Yeah. I'm excited! Let's get to it!" you followed.

You, Sanae, Kogasa, and Bella walked through the painting-ridden hallway.

"This is the hallway to the kitchen,” Bella explained. “All in all, there are about 20 rooms in this house, 10 on each floor, with four hallways leading to every room. Master Fulori wanted a big mansion, but he also didn't want it to be bothersome to traverse. So, the mansion was built to feel big without actually being big. These hallways are designed to trick the mind like that, too."

As Bella talked, you would occasionally look back at Sanae and Kogasa. Sanae seemed just as awe-inspired by the paintings as you were. Meanwhile, it seemed like Kogasa was eagerly looking at you and Sanae, not the paintings.

Not only that, every time you made eye contact with Kogasa, she turned away and pretended to be looking at the paintings. I guess I’m gonna get startled soon. you thought. I’ve learned her attack pattern!

"Xenoa-san," Bella called. You immediately turned to her, and she tilted her head "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing," you said. You feigned interest, not wanting to offend the maid. "I was just looking at these paintings. I was wondering why there's so many of them here, and in the living room, too."

"You want to know the story behind that?" Bella asked. Her normally cold eyes were suddenly glittering in delight, which surprised you, given how different it was to your impression of her. You heard Kogasa's stomach grumble a little behind you, suggesting she was a little surprised too.

You feigned a smile, then nodded. The moment Bella saw you nod, she turned back to the painting and began talking like an animal finally let out of its cage.

"You see, all of these paintings were actually made by one villager; Keiko-san. She was struggling many years ago, you see. And when Master Fulori saw that, he decided to fund her entire business by commissioning all of these paintings until she was able to get back on her feet."

After speaking so quickly that you could barely understand what she said, Bella turned, like a golden retriever, then locked eyes with you; expecting a response.

"...h-he's very kind, huh?" you replied; a semi-sarcastic one at that, given how he treated Marisa. Why is this maid so enthusiastic about him? He doesn't seem like a great guy... you thought.

"Of course!" Bella responded, continuing her explanation/ "You see, when I asked him why he helped the painter, he simply told me it was to pay her back for everything she did to him when he was a kid. 'That's how trade works. When we're given something, we give something back.' he reasoned. But I think he was just making excuses. Such a softie he is~"

Kyaa~ Bella went.

A softie...huh? You thought as you recalled his interaction with Marisa earlier. I find that hard to believe.

"Oh! Oh!" Bella suddenly grabbed your hand, pulling you in just as you thought she was done talking. "Do you want to know what Master Fulori said when the painter asked him what she should paint for his commissions?"

You glance back at Sanae and Kogasa. Sanae seemed to be enjoying herself on her own: meanwhile, Kogasa seemed to recoil the moment you looked back. She probably tried to surprise me just now until I looked back...I feel bad, she seems like she really needs to surprise someone right now. If it feels like hunger to her, then right now, she must be thinking of nothing but trying to surprise someone, you thought.

You decided to distract yourself from Kogasa to give her another opportunity, by focusing on Bella's story.

"What did Mr. Kirisame say?" you asked.

Bella's eyes lit up. "You see, Master Fulori responded that she could paint whatever she wanted to paint. So, as you can see, she decided to paint Master Fulori from the different stages of his life that the painter witnessed. She had known about him his entire life, you see. So all of these paintings are actually depictions of her memories of him!"

Yes, Bella-san. I see them clearly. Even that one, with the kid poking a turd with a stick, which I'd rather not see clearly, you thought to yourself. The painting was a bit detailed for your liking. Still, you forced a reply. "S-so, the painter knew Mr. Kirisame..."

Bella nodded enthusiastically. "Yep~! You see... the painter helped feed master Fulori when he was still a child. Back then, the painter was still quite successful, and Fulori was struggling to get by, barely able to scrounge for food."

"Wait...the Kirisame family wasn't always rich?" you asked, looking at yet another painting, this time of a dirty kid eating a raw carrot. That explains that painting…and a few others too. You thought.

Bella nodded. "Well, Master Fulori told me that his family was supposed to be rich. However, during his childhood specifically, they were anything but. His father and mother had to work a lot of side jobs throughout the village just to ensure that they wouldn't get kicked out. Meanwhile, Master Fulori himself barely had food to eat. It was the painter that would always feed him and help out his parents."

"From that all the way to this, huh..." you remarked as you looked around at the grand decorations of this grand mansion. It was genuinely surprising to hear.

When you saw wealth, it was easy to imagine that it ran way back. There were so many rich people who got their wealth from their ancestry, both in the Outside World and here in Gensokyo, that it was always surprising to learn about the few that made their way up there with their own hands.

It made you gain a little respect for Fulori, but you hated that.

Bella continued, unprompted. "Master Fulori did all of this. He was a genius at negotiation. Nowadays, whenever the village has to negotiate with Youkai, people will go to him for advice, you see.. In fact, he makes most of his money through that. Rarely does he trade anymore. But when he does, he makes a lot of money."

So we're up against a genius at negotiation, huh? Great, you thought. 

"So he's more like a consultant now?"

Bella nodded. "He still trades sometimes. It's always a big deal when it happens~" she said proudly.

Eventually, without even noticing it, you and the others arrived in the kitchen. It was only then that Bella seemingly remembered she was supposed to be giving a tour, as she immediately turned expressionless again.

"Everyone, follow me!" she called, opening the door. Her voice was completely monotone.

The moment you and the others entered, Bella spoke again. "Welcome, everyone, to the second-most beautiful kitchen in Gensokyo. And as for the most beautiful one, that would be the Hieda mansion’s." Her monotone voice made her sound almost sarcastic.

Then… that would make the Scarlet Devil Mansion’s kitchen third, You thought. We should probably never tell that to Remilia…

Still, the kitchen looked beautiful. Just like the rest of the mansion so far, it looked Western and was very utilitarian despite looking fancy.

"We maids visit this room a lot, and usually there would be a few cooks here busy preparing food. However, Master Fulori kindly gave the cooks leave for the festival, so it's currently empty." Bella said in a completely even tone, as she went to the kitchen sink.

Then suddenly, to your surprise, her expression completely shifted. She turned to you with excited eyes before asking; "Xenoa-san, do you want to know how Master Fulori helped design this kitchen?"

Here we go again… you thought.

Bella spoke so fast, it took you a moment to parse her words. It took you another moment to figure out a response.

No! you immediately thought. But I have to be polite...to keep up the pretense!

By then, all of Bella’s talking had made you exhausted. I didn't exactly like how cold she is… but I feel like I'd rather have that, you thought. Hmm...I have to figure out how to change the topic. But the problem is...everything in this mansion is probably related to Fulori somehow.

You turned to Sanae and Kogasa. They were looking at the various stoves & kitchen utensils on their own, pretending to be busy. Even Kogasa had stopped trying to surprise you. It seems she didn't want to get caught up with Bella, either, even with her insatiable hunger.

You rushed to figure out a response that was completely unrelated to Fulori. Or, at the very least, something to get Bella off your back.

"I-I...um...well, I'm really grateful for the tour & stuff you've told me...b-but I feel a little guilty...yeah, I feel like we should introduce ourselves & tell you about us in exchange for you having told us so much!" you said.

Bella's expression shifted into a cold one in the blink of an eye. "It is my duty to follow Master Fulori's orders, and his orders are to give the guests a tour of the mansion. That means showing the guests each part of the mansion and telling them some interesting facts about it."

"W-well, yeah you're right... thanks for that; the tour. A-also...um...yeah you're right, but I think Sanae-san and Kogasa-san would want to hear as well! So far it's more like you've just been touring me specifically. I feel bad for them, when it's obvious they want to learn more about the mansion and Marisa's father, too." You said, before turning to Sanae and Kogasa. "Right guys? Right?"

The two of them glanced at you for a moment, before returning to whatever they were looking at. You were on your own.

AT LEAST TRY TO HELP ME OUT, GUYS! You shouted internally.

Then you suddenly felt a hand grab your shoulder from behind, making you turn.

It was Bella. 

And she was smiling.

"You wanna hear more about Master Fulori too though, right~?" she asked, sounding like some kind of monster from a horror film.

Please! Someone save me! You thought.

"Bella!" a soft voice, sounding almost princess-like,  suddenly called out from the hallway. 

Another maid? You guessed. But you couldn't have been more wrong.

The person who appeared on the other side of the doorway was Marisa, wearing a very ornate-looking kimono, appearing like the most beautiful princess imaginable. 

You never imagined the Marisa that you knew would look like this. Her appearance and demeanor completely clashed with the vibe she gave off in your head whenever you imagined her.

So everyone, except for Bella, was shocked. So shocked, in fact, that you couldn’t help but feel bad for Kogasa. She must be really starving right now, you thought.

“Bella. Can you leave us here for a while? I want to talk to my friends for a bit.”

Bella’s eyes narrowed for a moment, staring daggers at Marisa. After a short silence, Bella bowed. “Yes, mistress,” she said, before going out the door.

As soon as the maid exited, Marisa closed the door, before pulling out her magician’s dress.

“My father told me to throw it out, but I convinced him we should just return it to Alice,” she explained. “I got it from her, after all, so it would only be appropriate. Can you guys return it for me?” Marisa said in a very soft and demure voice, winking.

I guess that’s our cover for now, you thought. “Sure,” you replied, accepting the dress. 

“Hey, Marisa,” Sanae spoke up, but Marisa started using her magic to write on the palm of her hand. Be careful. They’re listening, she wrote.

“What is it, Sanae-san?” Marisa asked in the same demure voice. 

“Oh, I was just curious about your father. We were told about him by the maid earlier. He seemed like a nice guy,” Sanae said. 

So you were listening… you could've helped me, you know! You thought.

“Yeah, he’s really kind and generous to everyone!” Marisa replied, but then wrote on her palm; Don’t let him fool you.

“I was a fool to run away... when he was just trying to help me," Marisa continued, but the letters formed by her magic contradicted her mouth. He's the type to create false narratives about himself, and everyone believes him. He lies all the time, so he's good at it, she wrote.

Everyone nodded.

"I-I see... W-well we all made mistakes when we were kids. Right, guys?" Sanae said, trying to sound as positive as she could to raise everyone’s spirits.

You didn't know what to say or do, and you didn't want to risk messing up, so you just nodded along.

Marisa continued. "Father asked me to call all of you, it's time for the meeting."

He's prepared, but I've made preparations, too , she wrote.

"You guys have helped me so much so far, and now that you guys have already gotten me here, I feel bad for asking you yet another favor. But I really need help right now, so… for this meeting, can I ask you guys to help me… one last time?" Marisa said.

Her hands wrote magic in the air. You guys should prepare too. We're just getting started .

Everyone enthusiastically affirmed. "Of course!"

Kogasa seemed confused, but she just went along with everyone. It seemed like she was so hungry, all she could think of right now was how to surprise someone. She looked like she didn't even really listen to what everyone was saying, let alone read what Marisa was writing in the air.

Should we take Kogasa with us? What if she surprises Fulori & that gets used as an excuse to kick us out? you thought. But it'd be terrible to leave her all alone, too…ugh, maybe it's fine. You eventually concluded.

"Alright. Let's not keep Father waiting. Let's go!"

"Yeah!”

Led by Marisa and flanked by maids, you and the others went to Fulori's office. It was on the second floor of the mansion, which looked just as beautiful as the first floor. It looked much more Japanese, though.

Eventually, you reached the door to his office. The door was tucked away at the corner of the ornate hallway, and it looked unexpectedly small. I expected something more grandiose than this… you thought.

The maid unlocked the door and opened it for everyone. And once you stepped inside, what you saw defied your expectations even more than the door.

The room was very small, and completely undecorated at that! It was clean and plain; so much so that it could be described as the definition of "clean and plain."

On the floor, in front of a table tucked in a little corner, sat Marisa's father, his vibrant blonde hair catching everyone's attention. Or perhaps, the lack of decor made it so everyone's eyes naturally had nowhere else to wander.

It was only when the sounds of fireworks echoed from the festival outside that you and the others finally looked away.

But then, he suddenly spoke, his voice snatching back your attention. "Marisa!" he said cheerfully, before standing up and embracing her. Afterward, he looked over to you and the others and smiled.

He seemed like a completely different person. You were taken aback.

"Oh don't be shy, come in!" he said cheerfully.

Alright. It all comes down to this, you thought. Just keep calm and don’t screw up. Simple. Simple!

You, Kogasa, Sanae, and Marisa entered the office. You could feel the difference in the air inside, and you couldn’t figure out why. The emptiness of the room made you feel terribly uneasy. Why is his office like this? You couldn’t help but think, when suddenly the door behind you closed, startling you.

“So, what was it you were trying to buy?” Fulori suddenly asked.

You quickly tried to recover and respond; “W-well… all I can really say is that it’s quite valuable. Not physically, but we’ve tried getting it directly and the current owner was reluctant to give it up,” you replied.

“Ah! I see, I see… One of those situations! Alright. I’ll get it for you.”

You were taken aback. “E-excuse me?”

“If it’s for my daughter, I’ll do anything,” he said, petting Marisa. You could see Marisa wince for a moment, but besides that, she maintained her smile perfectly. Fulori continued; “And you girls helped my daughter, so… whatever you wish for, I shall buy for you no matter what.”

Hm… Am I worrying too much? Should I just say more already, or does he know about the cranes? Is he not even going to try to negotiate with us? You thought. No… I have to stick to my guns. This is definitely a trick of some sort. We’re this close to the thousand cranes, and we can’t risk a single mistake!

“Why?” You asked. There must be a catch! You figured.

“Did I not just tell you? It’s for my daughter! All fathers in this world would do everything for their children, no matter the price.”

He's just gonna repeat that excuse, huh? You thought.

“Speaking of purchasing things, who do I have to buy these… mysterious artifacts from?” 

You weighed the possibilities in your mind. On one hand, Fulori could use the current owner’s identity to his advantage, but… how? You know what? I’m overthinking this. It’s not like I’m trying to buy some sort of notebook that can kill anyone, it’s just a few paper cranes! He doesn’t even sound like he’s trying to negotiate with us at all, I mean we got our objective already; he’s saying he'll buy the cranes for us. But at the same time… 

You could feel Fulori’s eyes digging into yours. Why would he just buy it for us? His reason is obviously just pure lies. I can’t-

“Is something the matter?” Fulori spoke, abruptly interrupting your thoughts, putting you off-balance for a moment. “I’d love to hear more about this mysterious artifact you want. Though I will buy it for you either way so it doesn’t really matter, I’d still like to know what I’m buying first. It’s just a habit of mine, it’s not important.”

“Oh! I-uhh…” You immediately tried to think of something to say.

“Fulori-san!” Sanae suddenly stepped in, her loud voice full of cheer catching everyone’s attention. 

Fireworks continued to rain outside, their sound filling the pause.

Sanae glanced at you for a moment, then continued, “Your mansion is amazing! It’s like… different styles all balled into one!”

You could tell Sanae was trying to give you space to breathe. Thank you, Sanae! you thought, before focusing back on the negotiation. Now… I just KNOW he’s planning something, some way to use the Hieda family! And once Marisa pulls the rug, there’s no telling what could be coming for us from THAT! You’re forcing my hand, Fulori… if you even know how to. I guess I have no choice.

“Well…” you spoke up. Sanae and Fulori turn back to you, making you feel pressured. You steeled your resolve and continued, “ The artifact you wanted to inquire about… I-It’s less one thing… It's a pretty powerful collection of things, and the Hieda family has it right now. On the surface, they don’t seem that valuable, but you’ll probably have a pretty hard time given how much the current owner values them.”

“Don’t worry about that, I’ve dealt with WAY worse! Besides, the Hieda family and I have a long history of collaboration . All I need to know now is how to make sure the Hieda family knows what I’m trying to buy once I start negotiating, and I’m sure they’ll give us a discount. ” Fulori showed a toothy smile.

You can tell how that smile could easily sway people. But remembering what Marisa said, the smile made you uneasy more than anything. Does he know that…? Is it intentional? No… I have to focus! 

“I-If I must be honest, I have no idea if they do know, since it’s only the current Child of Miare who owns them. And as for direct negotiation, good luck with that. We have tried, and we have failed.“

“And you believe I’ll fail too? Did you not come here to ask for help from a merchant?”

“Ah- well…”

“Don’t worry. I understand why you’re feeling nervous about it, given how valuable it seems to be for you. But you don’t have to worry. You can follow my lead, and I can guide you three through the procedures of the negotiation. Speaking of which-” Fulori continued, pulling out a piece of paper seemingly out of nowhere, “-how about we practice? Since I’m going to buy something for you girls, it would be good to go over what the standard procedures are for a deal.”

“Wait… why do you have that contract on your sleeve?” you said, trying to hide your suspicion.

“Oh, I carry these on me all the time. It’s a collaboration contract. It’s just a little ceremonial thing that makes bureaucracy a little easier. Since I work with many people in the village all the time, and it’s often on the spur of the moment, I’ve gotten in the habit of carrying these contracts all the time. Just for convenience’s sake.”

Yeah, right! You thought. He’s definitely going to try to swindle us with that somehow. So then…why would he do something so obvious? Doesn’t he know we would be suspicious of it? Is he actually just…here to help us? There’s no way!

Fulori continued; “I can tell you more about it, and I can explain to you how contracts work as well. I mean, you’re going to need to know about them anyway for tomorrow.”

I… don’t think he’s going to outright lie to us in the explanation itself, because his lies will be revealed the moment we enter negotiations with Akyuu tomorrow. But… Marisa told us earlier that Fulori is a serial liar. That he makes false narratives about himself. You thought. Still…maybe it would be better to hear what he has to say…? It’s not like we have to believe anything he says. We can just pretend. At the very least, we should keep cooperating by agreeing.

You swallowed your fear. “Alright. Thank you for teaching us,” you said. I have to be careful… and focus! You thought.

Fulori smiled, “Don’t worry about it. Now- there are two types of contracts; a written contract, and a verbal contract. Essentially, they’re legally binding agreements between two parties that are witnessed by a third party; so long as both parties agree to the terms, and agree to the credibility of the witness, any contract witnessed by the third party is legally binding.”

A verbal contract is a spoken agreement, I assume, you thought as Fulori gave you the piece of paper he pulled out of his sleeve, “That right there is a written contract; in this case, as I’ve said, it’s a collaboration contract. It’s an agreement that we will be negotiating with the Hieda clan together tomorrow. All you have to do is sign your names on this contract, while a credible witness watches us.” Fulori then whistled; calling for a maid. “Don’t worry, there’s nothing suspicious in that piece of paper~”

That is literally the most suspicious thing he could possibly have said, and I’d be SHOCKED if there are any less than a dozen hidden terms in that thing! You thought. But… there’s no way he wouldn’t know that I’d be suspicious, right? Why would he say that there’s nothing suspicious there? Crap… I feel like I’m playing right into his hands! Or maybe this is just a test to make sure we DON’T fall into any trap?? Either way… I have to read this entire thing.

You read the contents of the paper. After finishing it, you looked up, to see Fulori’s smile again. You looked back down at the paper and read it again. And then again, and then again. To your horror, shock, and confusion, there were no hidden terms. It’s a very short paper, with very straightforward wording. It doesn’t even read like a deal; it actually reads like it’s just for ceremonial purposes.

The paper, to the best of your knowledge, was completely clean!  

What’s going on… is this a trick of some sort? You thought. Is there invisible ink? But wouldn’t that contradict the witness?

“Are you suspicious?” Fulori suddenly spoke.

“Oh- umm…”

“I don’t blame you. I’ve given you girls lots of reasons to distrust me. I can understand why you wouldn’t want to believe me when I said I just want to help my daughter. But genuinely… I want to be a better father. I realized that when my new child was born.” 

The room went quiet. The emptiness of the room continued to warp your sense of scale. Fulori looked at you with a seemingly sincere expression, as the lone lantern outside the window made Fulori’s blonde hair glow.

But I can’t believe him… you thought, I hate that I’m actually considering the possibility that he’s being genuine.

“Sorry.” Fulori looked away, looking like he was about to tear up, “As a merchant, I should offer you real reasons to trust me, not try to pull at your heartstrings like this… so how about… you guys get to add any clause to the paper?”

Your eyes widened. “Huh?”

“Something like… ‘This contract can be annulled by either party at any time in any way.’”

Wait… then why does he want us to sign this contract so badly?

“How about it?”

Your eyes narrowed. You felt your words stuck in your throat, but someone tapped you on the shoulder.

You turned. It was Sanae. “You alright?” she asked.

Seeing her smile eased you a little, “Yeah.”

You then turned back to Fulori, “Why…do you want us to sign this contract so much?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re letting us write on it and everything. You’re doing everything you can to make us trust you enough to sign this contract? D-don’t get me wrong, I don’t suspect you of anything, and I’m really grateful that you’re teaching us all this… but I just can’t help but wonder why you would go so far just to get us for this.”

“Didn’t I tell you my reason already though?” Fulori responded, “I want you girls to sign this contract because it’s a useful little thing to make bureaucracy a little smoother, plus it’s good practice; we will be negotiating with the Hieda clan tomorrow, after all.”

He's really not gonna say anything, huh? You thought. 

Fulori continued, “Besides, it’s fine if you don’t sign it. It would make things a little inconvenient tomorrow, but it’s not the end of the world. But at the very least, I would like you girls to understand how contracts and negotiations work. In fact, that’s most of what I do these days; advise people how to trade.”

…that is what Bella-san said… You thought. There’s no way she lied about that…could he have lied to his maid about that? No way, the village would know if he lied about it. Also, why would he lie about something like that? But Marisa said he–

“Here-” Fulori suddenly spoke, taking you out of your thoughts, offering you a pen, “Write whatever you want on the contract~”

Well… I don’t know. I feel like declining this because of how suspicious it is, but thinking about it, I have to accept. It’s only bad for us if I decline. I mean, I literally get to rewrite the contract however I want! You thought. 

Eventually, you nodded. “Alright,” you said, before taking the pen and writing an extra clause.

This contract can be permanently voided by any person, at any time, in any way, and for any reason, you wrote.

Eventually, the maid arrived.

“Master Fulori.” the maid said as she bowed.

Fulori turned to the maid and then spoke. “Bella, I want you to act as a witness for the signing of this paper.”

“Yes, master,” she said, before raising her hand. “I hereby declare myself as a legal witness to any and all agreements between Fulori-san and Xenoa-san,” she said in her usual monotone voice.

Fulori turned back to you. “Do you agree with her being our third party witness?”

Aha! This must be it. He’s planning on ordering his maid to lie about this contract! You thought, before confidently speaking. “Well, I-”

“Oh!” Fulori suddenly interrupted you, “While we’re at it, we might as well have Sanae-san and Kogasa-san be third party witnesses as well,” he said, looking at them.

What?

Fulori’s eyes dug into yours. Is he…actually just trying to help us? No way. He wants us to sign this contract. There’s something suspicious about this. There must be some kind of wordplay in there-

“Well?” Fulori spoke, interrupting your train of thought, “Do you girls want to be witnesses?”

Sanae and Kogasa turned to you. Again… This can only be good for us. I can’t not accept, you thought, as you nodded at them.

Sanae raised her arm. “I hereby declare myself as a legal witness to any and all agreements between Fulori-san and Xenoa-san!”

The moment Sanae finished, Kogasa very abruptly raised hers and spoke loudly.

“Me too!” she shouted, startling you a little bit. You noticed that made her smile a little. “I also hereby declare myself as a legal witness to any and all agreements between Fulori-san and Xenoa-san!”

Fulori turned back to you. “So… Xenoa-san, do you agree that the three of them will be witnesses?”

With much trepidation, you nodded in agreement. “Yes. I agree that Bella-san, Sanae-san, and Kogasa-san are our third party witnesses.”

“Alright. Now all that’s left is for you to sign it.”

Despite your extreme reservations, knowing there was definitely some sort of trick incoming, you signed the paper and passed it over to the others. To your surprise, they also signed it without any second thoughts. There’s something up with that paper… I just know it! You thought.

“That wasn’t so hard, now, was it?” Fulori commented. “ All you have to do is sign the forms during our negotiation with Akyuu, just like that. Can you do it?”

You nodded. “Yeah. I can do it.”

Wait a second… Something popped up in your head. 

*Clap*

The sound of Fulori clapping startled you a little, interrupting your thought. 

“Great! Now…” he said, turning to Bella. “...your job here is done. You can go now, Bella~”

“Yes, Master.” Bella bowed, then made her leave.

Fulori turned back to you, and noticed your troubled expression. “Yes?’

“Oh… um…”

What was I thinking about again? You thought, before quickly coming up with something to ask.

“ But aren’t you doing the main negotiating and the purchasing? Why am I the one signing the contracts?” you asked. That must be what I was thinking, you thought.

“Yeah. But since, I assume, we’ll be negotiating as a group, it really doesn’t matter. Besides, you’ll be the ones getting these… artifacts… in the end, so you’re technically the final owner.”

“Ah, makes sense.”

“Anyway! It is starting to get late, so I suppose we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to negotiate. If you-”

“WAH!” Kogasa suddenly surprised Fulori.

“Aah!” Fulori reacted. Though it feels like it was a little delayed. Is he acting…? You thought. He must be. I mean he wasn’t this cheerful when we first met him earlier.

“Yes! Finally~!” Kogasa celebrated, her loud cheerful voice melting away the tension that’s been weighing on your shoulders this entire negotiation.

You turned back to Fulori, and he seemed to be smiling, happy to see Kogasa happy, just like everyone else in the room. Whether he’s acting or not, at least he’s not mad at Kogasa for doing that… You thought.

“Ahem, ” Fulori cleared his throat, catching back your attention to him. “As I was saying…” Fulori continued. “Again, thank you for bringing my daughter back. She, more than anything I’ve ever traded, is priceless to me. No amount of cash in this world could repay my debt to you. And just in case, you’re welcome to stay here for the night! Just ask the maids, they’ll show you to your rooms if you need them. ”

“Oh… thanks.” You replied as you went to the door.

This is a trap. This is a trap. If anything I know is true, this is either a trap or a convoluted plan in order to get me to sign off a million dollars or something, You thought. But…at the same time, I feel like I’m way overthinking this. But… that thing that popped into my head earlier…what was it? It wasn’t what I ended up asking, I’m sure of it… agh I can’t risk it! We’re so close to getting all the cranes! 

“Ah- umm…”

“What is it?” Fulori asked with a smile.

“Can we void the contract now?”

“Sure~” Fulori instantly replied. “It’ll be good practice too; to show contracts in effect.”

What…? It’s gonna be that easy? You thought, as Fulori turned to Sanae & Kogasa. “You girls remember the rules for voiding the contract?” He asked them.

The two of them looked at each other and then nodded.

“Do you agree that Xenoa-san can void the contract?”

“...yeah. It said that anyone can void the contract however they want.”

“There you have it~” Fulori cheerfully said, “Just announce that you’re voiding the contract, in any wording you’d like.”

“Okay…” you said, “The collaboration contract we signed is hereby voided.”

Then… what… huh? You stood there, confused. Was he really just teaching us?

“Xenoa!” Sanae called from the doorway.

“Coming!” you replied, as you went to the door.

You turned, and saw Fulori smiling. Marisa, standing beside him, also smiled. “Sweet dreams.” Fulori said.

Marisa seemed like she was struggling to smile even more now. “Marisa!” you called.

“What?”

“Want to help us find our rooms?”

Marisa made eye contact with her father. Fulori smiled. “Go ahead~”

“No.” Marisa turned back to you, “I want to talk to Father for a little bit. You can go ahead, I’ll visit you guys later.”

“...alright.” you said, as you closed the door.

The moment you did that, you felt a huge sense of relief wash over you. Ugh… that was tiring… you thought.

“Hey… are you okay, Xenoa?” Sanae said, looking concerned.

You smiled at Sanae to reassure her; a fake smile, just like the ones Marisa & her father wielded. “I’m fine. Thanks for helping out. It’s just… I was thinking that maybe we’re wrong about Fulori-san…? I mean, he didn’t really achieve anything back there, since the contract was voided. He never even learned from us what he was going to buy. All he did was actually teach us how negotiations work…and he can’t be lying about that because we’d find out the moment we negotiate with Akyuu tomorrow. I can’t help but think that we were the only ones going into that thinking it’s going to be this big battle of wits…when he actually just wanted to talk to us so we could prepare ourselves for our purchase tomorrow.”

Kogasa rubbed her stomach, satisfied, then spoke up. “I… agree with you that Fulori-san seems nice, I mean he went out of his way to act shocked for me, and now I’m full enough that I can actually think properly again. But…we should trust Marisa-san more right? She told us her father is a liar, and a sneak. At the very least we should be careful.”

“...yeah, but what if-”

Sanae suddenly grabbed you and Kogasa’s arms, interrupting you. “How about we relax a little bit for now? We can’t do anything now that the day is over and the meeting is done.” Sanae said, “So we should just go find one of the maids and ask them to lead us to our rooms. Checking out the rooms ought to be fun~”

“Yeah!” you said, as you and the other two started walking down the beautifully ornate hallway. Going into a place with this amount of decorations right after being stuck somewhere with basically none… it felt very relaxing.

As the three of you called for a maid, you thought about what you could do the next day before starting the negotiation. After all, there was no sense in wasting extra time, especially with two major obstacles incoming. You thought about your options, and eventually, you decided that with your small window of time, it would be best to…

Chapter Text

You thought for a while, but with so many different options, you couldn’t quite think of what to do. Everything was viable, and in the end, most of your plans would give around the same advantage. Again, your thoughts drifted to the one thing that had gotten you out of situations like this…

Wait. What am I doing!? You thought. This is one of the most important decisions I have to make! Why am I putting my entire journey at the mercy of a single die!? But then again… that’s what I’ve always been doing, right? I guess it wouldn’t hurt…

With no better ideas, you rolled the Die of Miracles/Fate. But instead of the usual options, the die landed on a picture of Ori herself, looking a little ominous.

“Hm… Well, that’s odd,” you said. Hmm…I don’t really know what this means. I guess I’ll think about this tomorrow, I need to sleep. I’m too sleepy to figure this out. Would’ve been nice if I didn’t get something so cryptic… you thought as you went to sleep.

The meager warmth of morning light spread through your skin as someone opened the window, allowing sunlight to spill into the room. The darkness behind your eyelids grew bright, making you finally open your eyes.

"Xenoa-san, we have to go soon!" someone called out to you.

It was Sanae.

That’s right…I’m in Gensokyo right now-

Then a realization came to you. You stood up in a flash and immediately began searching for the rest of your belongings.

“Ah!” Sanae gasped, jumping back a bit.

“What time is it?” you asked.

“Oh, uh… It’s still pretty early. We’ve been trying to wake you up, but you were out cold! I was just about to use a Spell Card, but… that would’ve been a last reso-”

“Thanks. We have to hurry. We’re running a bit low on time here.”

“But… didn’t Fulori-san say the negotiation was scheduled at noon?”

“Oh, right…” you facepalmed. “We should use our time to prepare, then.” You said as you immediately took off without missing a beat.

“Huh? W-wait up!” Sanae said as she followed, “I-is something wrong, Xenoa? Are you alright? Y-you look a bit stressed…I know! Maybe we should eat first? To keep our brains running on more than smoke and fumes~?” 

“No, I’m okay. I’ll eat while-”

“SURPRISE!”

“AAAH!” You screamed and fell to the ground.

Sanae immediately ran over to you. “Xenoa! Are you okay?”

“YES! Yess! That’s the most reaction I’ve ever gotten!” You Kogasa celebrate while you hold your butt in pain. 

But sitting there, as you waited for the pain to subsite, nothing else to see but Kogasa’s cute smile and laughter, you couldn’t help but smile and laugh too. And it felt as if a weight was taken off your shoulders, even if only for a moment.

Although the moment you started laughing, Sanae started looking a little more concerned.

“Are you alright? How many fingers am I holding up?” Sanae asked, looking concerned for your sanity.

You spoke as your laughter died down. “No, no, I’m fine. I was just, well… I think I really needed that to kill the nerves. Thanks, Kogasa” You said as you took a deep breath. 

“Oh? Why…?” Kogasa asked, tilting her head, “but well…you’re welcome…I guess? I’m glad I could make you happy!” She cheerfully exclaimed.

“Is the upcoming negotiation making you tense?” Sanae asked.

“No. Well, that’s part of it. It’s mostly because of this dream I had. I’ll explain it over breakfast.”

The maid places yet another plate of food on the table, as you explained your predicament to Sanae & Kogasa.

“Last night, I rolled the dice of fate, and the result was this weird image of Ori,” you explained. “I didn’t really know what it meant, so I just decided to go to sleep and think about it later. But for some reason… I saw her again. Long story short, she told us we’ve got about 2 days left to get the rest of the cranes. And after I woke up, I’ve been feeling like there’s this clock constantly ticking inside my head, telling me the time. Said clock is at around 43 hours right now. It’s making me really anxious.”

“So that’s why you were acting strangely earlier. Two days…” Sanae noted. “Well, if we finish up the negotiation by the afternoon, we’ll have a day and a half to deal with… them.”

“Where’s the rest of the cranes again?” Kogasa asked.

“Former Hell.”

Everyone went silent. Getting in would be hard enough; finding the cranes would be even more challenging. Not to mention you still had no plan for beating Nue and Seija. But for now, you had another pressing issue to get to before that.

“So… uh… we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”

No one laughed.

When the three of you finished eating, there were still a few hours left before you were scheduled to meet with Akyuu. The ticking clock in your head made you feel restless.

“Alright… I think I’m gonna go out for a bit- you know, clear the mind, figure out some tactics, all that stuff,” you said as you stood up.

“Can I go with you?” Kogasa asked.

“Hm… I’m going to try and find Aya and see what… misinformation she’s been spreading, but sure. We could also split up for a more thorough investigation, though, and someone could stay behind in case Aya returns early and Marisa-san can't catch her up on what happened.”

“Good point, but… you sure you can do this?” Sanae asked. “You were out cold less than an hour ago, don’t push it too much.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll be fine… hopefully. I’d actually rather clear the nerves outside than sit around here and do nothing. ”

Kogasa suddenly stood up, startling you a little. “I can stay behind, then!” She said..

“Guess I can help look for Aya,” Sanae added. “And if there’s still time, we could investigate more of the festival.”

“It’s decided, then,” you said, turning to Kogasa. “Can you make sure the maids know we’re going outside for a bit?”

“Sure thing!” she replied. “Good luck!”

As you and Sanae stepped outside, a fresh morning breeze billowed in, and you were instantly hit with the festival's still-vibrant atmosphere.

Despite the festival seemingly having lasted late into the night, everyone was still just as lively as ever this morning. Are people just that energetic even with a few hours of sleep…? Or maybe they just didn't sleep at all. You thought.

A few passing heads turned to you and Sanae as the two of you exited the gate. Though it was clear their eyes were solely on Sanae.

“Is that Sanae-sama?”

“Hey, it's Sanae-sama?”

“That forest colored hair…isn't that Sanae-sama?”

“It's Sanae-sama! Sanae-sama from the Moriya Shrine!”

Such murmurs began spreading, as a crowd slowly started gathering around Sanae. 

“Good morning everyone~!” Sanae cheerfully shouted to the crowd, sounding like an idol on stage. “Is everyone having fun?”

“Yeah!” The crowd cheered, like idol fans.

Religious figures are scary… You thought. Well, it'll help her find Aya at least. Looks like she'll have an easier time doing that than me. So, by process of elimination… I should go and ask around about the festival. Might as well get insights about our business partner… But where to start?

“Xenoa-san!” someone called out, taking you out of your train of thought. You turned to see Sanae, surrounded by a crowd of people, calling out to you. “Have fun, okay?”

“Got it!” you replied. You couldn’t help but smile a bit.

As you walked through the village, looking for any signs of Aya or any clues about Fulori, you noticed it was a lot easier to… see things. There were still a lot of people- the festival was still going strong the day before, after all- but at least you could pay attention to the small details in every stall, every tree, every… you couldn’t think of any other objects, but at least you could start making the connections. That is, if you could get a break from the constant ticking sound in your head.

Ugh…here I was thinking that maybe the noise of the crowd could drown out that sound. But I guess that would be cheating. Darn it, Ori! You thought. Maybe thinking about random things would help…

And so, you tried to get your mind to wander as you wandered around the village. Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I’ve wandered around all on my own, you thought. I’ve been accompanied by others for a while now, and we went through all sorts of adventures. We got flung halfway across Gensokyo, nearly provoked Reimu’s wrath, and won Spell Card duels we had no right to even bring to decisions or even draws…

It’s been a very eventful few days. Probably the most eventful and fun time of my life, too. It would be so nice for this to just keep going on… everyone here just seems so much happier and laid back. There’s so many wonderful and exciting things that don’t exist in the outside world.

Tick, tock, tick, tock…

The clock in your head ticked as you took a deep breath. The air is fresh, too. In the outside world, I’d be hard-pressed to find fresh air within a hundred miles of any major city. But… I know I can’t stay here forever. Even if I were to wish to keep staying here… that would mean abandoning everything from the outside. And besides, there’s at least someone out there who’s noticed me missing by now. If only there were a way to just visit after this journey’s over… some way to remain in the outside world, but with a way to come back…

And then, it hit you. You knew exactly what you had to do, and exactly what you were going to wish for. In an instant, your doubts and nerves vanished as you approached the Hieda mansion. Everything depended on these last few choices, but if there was one thing you learned from your time here…

“No matter what stands in our way, we will get those cranes!” you declared.

With newfound clarity, you were able to finish your investigation. From what you found paired with what you already knew from the previous night, Fulori's power became very apparent. The amount of effort you saw in the festival and the mansion established that he had significant leverage in resources alone, and from his knowledge and experience, he seemed like a very formidable ally. That made you feel much more confident with the upcoming negotiation, but it also made you feel a little uneasy.

Based on what Marisa said about him, you know you shouldn't trust him. And if he ever turns out to be an adversary, well, without an extensive knowledge of the law, you wouldn’t be able to beat him on resources or technicals. Also, everything you’d seen hinted that he was going to completely focus on his goal, whatever it was. Distractions would probably be useless, as would be anything not directly related to said goal. A completely focused mentality paired with the skills to back it up would be… hard to go against, should it be used against you.

But at this point, it was difficult to think that he is against you. You find it difficult to doubt him. After all, he hasn't done anything that hinted that he would be taking advantage of you. You thought he would last night, but he ended up genuinely just teaching you the basic rules of negotiation. He seems like he genuinely wants to help.

Of course, that doesn't make him a good person, but maybe you're simply not his target. 

Maybe it's as simple as him believing that genuinely helping us get these cranes is worth it to get Marisa back. I mean, he threw this festival just for his newborn daughter. Well, this showcase of power is also probably politically motivated too, but still… well, that’s enough thinking for now, you thought. I’ll need all my brainpower if we want to get those cranes.

With not much else left to do, you walked back to the Kirisame mansion, with the same ticking sound in your head as always. Seems I have… around 37 hours left, you thought. If the countdown started at midnight… that means it’s 11AM right now. One hour until the negotiation.

After buying a stick of dango, you arrived back at the mansion. And the moment you arrived, to your surprise, you saw Aya; still in her human disguise, walking up to the mansion's front door with one of the maids. She's already here? Why did we even bother looking for her, then? You thought. You took a bite off your dango stick, then immediately went after her.

"Hey, Aya-san! Where the heck were you?" you shouted. The meeting with Fulori last night would have been so much easier if you were there! 

Aya turned to you, and she looked like she was about to respond when the door suddenly flew open, and an oh-so-familiar friend jumped out…

"SURPRISE!"

"AAH!"

The shock of Kogasa’s sudden jumpscare nearly sent Aya to the ground, but she was able to catch herself with a flap of her wings. The maid was a little startled, too.

I wonder if that's the main reason she wanted to stay behind...? You thought. Then Kogasa called out to you;

"Xenoa-san! Thanks for setting that up~!" she said, jumping up and down.

I didn't do anything, though... You said internally as you took another bite off your dango stick.

Then suddenly, a certain authoritative voice emanated from inside the mansion. "What's the commotion?"

The source, Fulori, soon appeared in the open doorway behind Kogasa. Your grip on the stick of Dango weakened to the point it almost fell. Meanwhile, Kogasa’s cheer slowly turned into terror as she slowly turned to face him. Then she immediately started bowing in apology.

Crap...what if we get in trouble because of this? What if he uses this to get something out of us? You thought.

Then, you noticed Marisa standing to his side. She still looked like a demure princess.

She then quietly whispered something to her father. 

Then, Fulori turned back to Kogasa and smiled. "Don't worry. I'm not mad,” he said. “You just enjoy surprising people, yes?"

Kogasa nodded.

Fulori chuckled. "Well, you startled me too. Good job." He said in a kind voice.

"T-thank you..." Kogasa timidly replied.

He's...not doing anything? Was I really just overthinking it? Is he genuinely just going to help us? I mean, it's not like he took advantage of us last night… Well, at the very least, it seems like we didn't make an enemy out of our greatest ally right before the negotiation. You thought, taking a sigh of relief, before taking another bite off your stick of dango.

"Hey there!” Aya suddenly shouted, shattering that line of thought with sheer volume, “your name's Fulori, isn't it?" She asked as she turned back to face Fulori. 

Aya's sudden move surprised you so much that you spit out the dango you were chewing on and made you choke a little. You immediately start coughing. Crap… she could easily make an enemy out of him! You thought. 

Aya was so abruptly loud, everyone’s heads turned to her. Even random passersby stopped to comprehend what had just happened.

Aya smiled- her usual, devious, professional smile- before introducing herself to Fulori.

"My name is Aya Shameimaru, and I’m a reporter and writer for the popular Bunbunmaru newspaper,” she said, instantly taking the initiative with her signature energy. “I won’t need much of your time, I just need to ask a few questions if that’s alright~”

“Ah. Sure thing, and nice to meet you, Aya,” Fulori replied, with his own professional smile; a perfect, almost uncanny smile that gave you chills. “Ask away.”

Aya smiled, "You see, myself, Xenoa-san, and others have been traveling together recently, and we've acquainted ourselves quite a bit with your daughter. I'm sure Xenoa-san and the others have told you about that already, yes?" Aya spoke quickly, almost bombarding Fulori with words. 

“Yes,” Fulori replied, “I’ve heard about everything so far. I’m beyond grateful that Xenoa, Sanae, and the others were able to bring Marisa back to me.”

"Indeed; even though we haven't spent much time together yet, Marisa-san struck our hearts with her wonderful personality, and we became fast friends," Aya said as she glanced at Marisa for a moment. Marisa visibly faked a smile, "And so, we wanted to do everything we can to help her out."

“Thank you, I really apprecia-”

“So!” Aya suddenly cut him off; with her usual tremendous energy, spoke quickly; "I did my best to help with Xenoa-san's negotiation with Akyuu today, which I'm already quite sure you are going to help with, yes? After all, you, being Marisa-san's father, must be exceptionally kind~"

“Oh, thank you, I do try to be-”

"Well of course! We all try our best... I can see where Marisa-san's kindness came from. You know..." Aya spoke faster and faster, to the point that it became more and more difficult to understand what she's saying and what she's getting at, as the topic seemed to go in different seemingly important yet confusing and ultimately pointless directions.

As Aya yapped away, you noticed Marisa tapping her father's shoulder before pointing to you.

Then, you made eye contact with Fulori. He seemed completely calm, like always. Easily keeping up with Aya, even as you were left behind.

"...so," Aya continued, "how do you feel about that?" She asked. After what had seemed like forever, the flow of words coming out of her mouth had finally stopped. Now, she patiently waited for Fulori's response.

But Fulori instead called his maid; "Hana, open the gate for Xenoa-kun."

The maid bowed, and immediately went to open the gate for you.

Then, Fulori finally responded to Aya: "Indeed, the power of the Hieda clan's influence, especially with their control of history, is immense. But as the protectors of our village, I see no problems stemming from that at this time."

The maid blocked your view of Fulori and Aya right as Aya responded. The two of you made eye contact, so you felt obligated to say "Good morning." But when you did, she simply, coldly, ignored you as she pulled a key from under her skirt and opened the gate with it. 

"Thanks," you said as you entered.

She didn't respond. Instead, she just quietly closed the gate again.

Still not very friendly towards us, huh? You thought, as you walked towards the front door, refocusing your attention back to Aya and Fulori's conversation.

And even in conversation, Aya was proving her title of the fastest in Gensokyo; you were astounded at how Fulori could possibly keep up with her barrage of questions and differing points. You’d already given up on trying to comprehend her, but Fulori seemed just as calm and collected as always.

Eventually though, Aya slowed down; like a bird switching to hovering to gently land on a tree.

"...but I did my best to help by spreading rumors of the item Xenoa-san wanted to acquire from Akyuu-san, which I'm sure will help you in your negotiations…but although I would love to just have done that for free given that I'm doing it for a friend, my newspaper’s reputation would likely take a hit if things don't go well, so I'll need a little compensation for that little risk."

Fulori’s eyes narrowed. “...Compensation?” he asked. It was the first time you’d seen him react in such a… real way. There were no lies or cover there- just a genuine, human reaction.

“Oh, don’t worry, I don’t need money or anything physical like that,” Aya clarified. “I just wanted to interview you about the festival, is all. Something to, you know… make up for any possible losses I’ll take. Being an incredibly successful merchant and businessman as a whole, I was hoping you were up for an interview, especially given your accomplishments and skills. I’ve heard a lot about your deals and partnerships with the tengu, among other things.”

After what seemed like another eternity, Aya finally stopped talking.

With how much she was talking beforehand, the moment she stopped, everything felt completely silent in comparison. Even with a full-on festival going on. Aya seemed to have taken complete control of the negotiation, with a deal that Fulori had no reason to refuse. Aya… what did you do? You thought.

“I’d love to be interviewed, especially from someone as high-profile as yourself, but we’re just about to head over to negotiate with the Child of Miare,” Fulori replied, showing a bag full of papers. Even with such a huge disadvantage, he’d never lost his smile or his professional demeanor. “I already prepared the documents, and it would be terribly impolite to show up late…”

The sight of the negotiation documents instantly brought back the nerves you’d worked so hard to kill. Even with your declaration of victory, even with all your preparations, there was no denying it: this was a critical situation, with extremely high stakes.

“Well… How about-”

“Besides… how can I be sure the rumors you spread will actually help us? Even if you’re on our side and doing this out of pure goodwill, I still can’t be sure your tactics won’t backfire. So, instead… I have a different, but not that far-off, idea that I’m sure you’ll agree with, being such a kind and generous person.”

Aya seemed a bit taken aback- the first time you’d seen her like that. She seemed to be in a tough spot, with no way out of a favor.

“...Sure, I’ll hear it.”

“We have no idea what we’re up against, so… how about you help us in our negotiation? Directly help Xenoa here get the rest of these cranes? Then, after everything’s done, I’ll be more than glad to take the interview.”

“...Is that it? Well, I was going to help you anyway, so sure-”

"Great!" Fulori clapped. "Now, Xenoa-san, Kogasa-chan, and Aya-chan, how about we get going?" Fulori asked immediately after.

Still talking normally. Completely unaffected.

By some miracle, he’d managed to keep control of the conversation AND stop the worst-case scenarios you’d imagined. If this was going to be who you were allied with, well… Things could be much easier than expected.

"What about Marisa-san?" Aya asked, trying to regain a grip in the conversation.

"My daughter told me she's staying, isn't that right?" He said, looking over to Marisa. She nodded wordlessly.

Seeing that, everyone else nodded along, too. Then, Fulori whispered something to the maid, and gave Marisa an ominous smile. 

You weren't paying attention to that, though.

"What about Sanae-san? Shouldn't we wait for her?" you asked. It was a genuine concern, that wasn't the real reason why you were asking that. You were still nervous about the upcoming negotiation, so you were trying to delay the inevitable, even if for a bit, even with the clock still ticking in your head.

"Oh? You don't have to worry about that~" Fulori said cheerfully.

"...what? Are you saying we should just leave Sana-"

"No, you misunderstand. Of course, Sanae-san accompanying us is important,” he explained as he walked down to the gate and gestured for his maid to open it for him. "We'll just meet up with her on the way." Fulori announced.

"B-but how? The village is huge, are you sure we won’t miss each other?"

Fulori ignored you and walked out the street. Immediately, a couple of people came up to him, and many more turned to his direction. Quite a few people wanted to meet him, it seemed- a good sign for your chances. Fulori immediately began the usual routine: greeting everyone, thanking them for their support, and so on. But soon, he cut to the chase.

“Does anyone know where Sanae-san is?” he asked.

Within a second, everyone in the crowd’s faces lit up. By the looks of it, Sanae was even more popular than Fulori- you wondered how she was able to handle that on a day-to-day basis.

“Right! Sanae-sama’s over there!” Someone replied, pointing directly to the Hieda mansion. So she's already there… you thought. Where it all goes down!

“I see, thank you. I’d love to stay for longer, but I have some business to attend to, so I’ve got to go!”

As Fulori began walking, the crowd dissipated just as quickly as it had formed.

“Let’s go!” Fulori said, turning to you with a somewhat reassuring smile. You stood there for a bit, trying to comprehend the weight of the incoming negotiation. But suddenly, you felt someone’s hand from behind.

You turned- it was Marisa.

“Go get ‘em,” she said quietly, breaking her princess demeanor just for that one moment.

Marisa’s gone this far for me, you thought. Everyone has. I’m surrounded by some of the strongest people in Gensokyo and holding my own. There’s nothing to be scared of! I’m getting those cranes!

“Alright!” you quietly declared, turning back to join the others. “I won’t fail here!”

As you walked towards the Hieda mansion, you noticed that quite a few people in the crowd were looking at your group. But unlike last time, where everyone was gossiping behind your back- this time, it was like you were in the finals of some major worldwide tournament, and you were the favorite to win the match. And even more strangely, people seemed to be actively rooting for Fulori to take Akyuu- no, the entire HIEDA CLAN down a peg or two.

“Get ‘em, Fulori!” someone cheered.

“Show ‘em what happens when they mess with you!” someone else cheered.

Everyone- even Fulori- seemed to be as bamboozled as you were.

“What… did you do!?” you asked Aya.

“Breaking News: A Secret Feud Between Allies!?” Aya replied, in a dramatic narrator-like voice.

“Ah. I see.”

As you’d feared, Aya’s methods of assistance ended up involving widespread panic and manipulating the public in… devious ways.

“Yep! All I wrote was that the Hieda clan was getting scared with how much influence and power Fulori got from the festival, so they stole the cranes and a bunch of other toys that were meant for the newborn. And just to swing things further, I may have also implied they were reselling the cranes to him for an egregious price!” Aya loudly explained.

“I’m… unsure about the morality behind that…”

“Eh, you gotta do what you gotta do~”

“Whatever you say…”

Fulori glanced at Aya- he was smiling, but he didn't seem super happy about it.

“Ah! Forgot to mention- if you wanna clear things up without making it look like a coverup, they’ll have to give back the cranes at regular price or lower. And since they ’re the accused, they’ll have the pressure of following through- and the burden of criticism if they don’t!”

“A… crude method, but an effective one.” Fulori commented, still forcing a smile. Despite the compliment, it didn't seem like Fulori actually liked it. Aya destroying his family’s relations with the Hieda clan alone is terrible, but he also didn’t even get to have a say in it. He’s definitely being sarcastic…

“Thanks~” Aya replied. You couldn’t tell if she was that oblivious or if this was intentional. But she was probably still salty about her earlier exchange with Fulori, with how easily he handled her tactic, so it likely was intentional. Come to think of it… she seemed louder than usual when she was explaining to me what she did. As if she wanted everyone to hear. As if she wanted Fulori to hear. Is it a message to him about what she is capable of doing to his position in the village? 

You looked over at Aya, and saw her staring at Fulori with a smirk. It’s totally intentional. She wants revenge. Jeez, can you not antagonize our ally, Aya? You shouted internally.

As you approached the Hieda mansion, the crowd grew thicker and thicker- yet the noise seemed to be getting quieter and quieter. As such, despite the huge crowd, you were able to see and hear Sanae, in the middle, surrounded by people, cheerfully blessing everyone.

How do we get to her? You thought, but that worry was immediately allayed when Fulori continued confidently into the crowd, and the crowd parted naturally before him. 

Given the small commotion your group was creating, Sanae eventually noticed you. The moment she did, she smiled brightly and waved.

"Hey guys!" she shouted.

The moment she did, the rest of the crowd surrounding her turned towards you. Having so many eyes directed to your general vicinity scared you a little. Luckily for you, most of them were staring at Fulori. So the social pressure wasn't so bad.

"Fulori-sama and Sanae-sama are meeting!" You heard someone say, among other murmurs. Apparently this is a very hype moment for the villagers.

Then, Sanae suddenly jumped high up, flying above your group, doing a flip while she was at it.

“So cool...!” Everyone muttered as they watched her pass above them.

Then, gently, she hovered down behind you; slowly enough to give everyone time to make a clearing for her to land on. The moment she landed, she immediately turned to your group and theatrically swung her shrine maiden's wand around.

"May you have good luck with your upcoming negotiation… just kidding~" Sanae said, sticking her tongue out.

“So cute...!” Everyone muttered as Sanae posed. You figured she was either joking around or didn’t get the memo about the rumors.

Then, afterwards, Sanae walked towards you. The crowd parted as she did.

She was just about to speak to you when Fulori spoke first; reaching out his hand, as if offering a handshake.

"Good morning, Sanae-sama," he said in a loud enough voice for everyone in the crowd to hear.

Sanae, without thinking about it much, shook his hand and greeted him as everyone cheered. 

This guy takes every opportunity to increase his popularity, huh? You thought.

Sanae, though, quickly moved on from Fulori to speak to you.

"I'm so sorry Xenoa-san…” Sanae clasped her hand in apology, “so many people wanted my blessings, and I couldn't just leave them. So I wasn't able to meet back up with you. Did I miss any planning?" She asked.

"No, no. Don't worry about it," you said as you looked over at Fulori. "We didn't really discuss much.”

“A plan is good, but only to a point. Situations rarely go the way you predict, so it's sometimes better to not plan something out, so as to free your mind from subconsciously following a plan that's potentially been made obsolete,” Fulori noted, before looking around at the crowd that surrounded you and the others. "And our situation has certainly gone in a direction we didn't expect, yes?"

“Well… an understatement, but yes.”

"Well, then-" Fulori said, before turning to the walls of the Hieda clan’s mansion, and clapping loudly, "Let’s get to it, shall we?"

The cheers from when you first walked out came back, just as strong as before… and with the same cheers to “show ‘em what happens when they mess with you” as well. In any other circumstances, knowing the real task was about to begin would’ve fired up your nerves again… but this time was different. With this crowd all around you hyping you up, you felt a fire in your heart instead.

You didn't agree with Aya's actions. Getting everyone to hate the Hieda clan is not something you wanted to do. But you couldn't help but concede that this crowd was helping a lot with your morale. It made you think that maybe what Aya did wasn't a bad idea after all.

And you hated that.

After a bit of walking, you and the others all arrived at the front gate of the Hieda mansion- one that looked much more Japanese than Fulori’s. It was a tall gate, made completely out of wood, strewn with images painted in the traditional Japanese style. Fulori approached the side door, knocked, and waited.

And waited.

Even with (or, possibly, because of) the equivalent of a small parade outside the mansion, no one came out to open the gate. Fulori tried knocking again, and again, but nobody answered.

Eventually, Fulori turned and was about to address the crowd, but Sanae beat him to the punch.

"Everyone, sorry, can you please quiet down?” she asked. “I think people in the mansion can't hear us…”

The crowd gradually went quiet, and Fulori went back and knocked again. Everyone waited… and waited… and waited. The silence threatened to make your nervousness return, but you fought to make sure your determination stayed instead. We WILL defeat Akyuu! We WILL get the cranes! You repeated to yourself.

After the third or fourth eternity of waiting you’d had to go through, the door creaked open, and a maid was on the other side. Unlike the Kirisame mansion's maids, though, this one was wearing a traditional kimono, rather than a western maid outfit. Also unlike the Kirisame mansion's maids, this maid was not stern or emotionless. Though she was smiling for politeness’ sake, it was clear that simply seeing Fulori's face understandably ruined her mood.

"Oh? Good morning, Fulori-san. What is your business here today?" She asked, doing her best to conceal her feelings.

As you thought about why the maid specifically had a problem with Fulori, it suddenly hit you. They must think this entire situation with the crowd and Aya's news headline was Fulori ’s scheme to get even more power! I mean, he already has popular support at the moment, especially with the festival he's throwing at his own monetary expense. It would be the perfect time for him to do this, so the Hieda clan has no choice but to assume that Fulori is likely behind the newspaper dragging their reputation through the mud.

Alright, I take it back. Aya's scheme is absolutely terrible! What if we don't even get permission to have an audience with Akyuu!? You thought. All the while, Aya seemed to be smiling away, looking proud of herself. Argh! I'm such an idiot! If only we looked for her last night, and asked her about the rumors she's been spreading… We could have stopped her! 

"Good morning," Fulori said, wearing the best smile he could. "It's about our request for an audience with the Child of Miare that we filed earlier today. The meeting is to take place in 10 minutes, yes?"

The maid glared at him, clearly thinking about how to respond. 

This is it. The moment of truth, you thought. Will they even let us in?

The maid closed her eyes for a moment, and with a clearly forced smile said, "Come right in, honored guests~"

Phew… that was close, you thought. The maid moved out of the way, letting you, Fulori, and the others in. You could practically feel her glare stabbing you and the others’ backs.

As you finally entered, past the gate, the silent crowd behind you started heckling and growing loud again; cheering you all on, but most painfully-sounding , dunking on Akyuu and the rest of her entire family too. You felt terrible for Akyuu; you didn’t agree with Aya’s measures at all, and now she was probably under immense pressure from made-up rumors. Once you were all past the door, the maid quickly started closing it.

However, right before the maid finished closing the door, her expression suddenly changed. Then, as if a spirit suddenly possessed her, she screamed at the crowd in an almost demonic voice;

" SHUT! UP! "

She then slammed the door shut so loudly, you couldn’t help but flinch. Unfortunately, the crowd did not shut up.

The maid then slowly turned back to your group, forcing a smile, before quietly speaking in her usual voice again; "E-esteemed guests, though normally I would lead you all to the guest room, and I would have loved to, I have pressing matters to attend to right now. I shall call another maid to do the honors. My apologies."

With that, she quickly bowed and swiftly walked away before anyone could respond. Now, you, Fulori, Aya, Sanae, and Kogasa were alone in the front yard. And it was quite the front yard: this mansion was much bigger than Fulori’s, and a big part of that was the garden that surrounds the actual mansion itself.

It looked gorgeous- like the perfect image of Japanese beauty, if not for the noisy crowd just beyond the walls. You thought about exploring, and it seems Kogasa had the same thought, but she acted upon it quicker than you did. As she started walking away, Fulori called to her, stopping her.

"Why?" Kogasa asked, surprised.

Fulori smiled. His smile, this entire time, never wavered. He looked exactly the same.

"We must show respect if we want the upcoming negotiation to go smoothly,” he explained, sounding completely unaffected. “And at this point, the least we can do to show respect is wait for the maid to arrive."

Unfortunately, even though you knew Fulori was right and you needed to wait this out, the crowds didn’t seem to want to show any respect.

And so, there, you and the group waited. And waited.

The ticking clock in your head, and the fact that you were forced to stay still, made you feel anxious. And although the cheering from the crowd did help hype you up, the nerves started returning as well.

As you waited, you decided to use the time to think of a plan, or approach, for the upcoming negotiation with Akyuu. Even if only as a distraction from the constantly-ticking clock in your head. After all, you needed to think about that anyway. So after careful consideration, you figured the best path of approach would be to…

Chapter Text

Tick, tock, tick, tock…

In some attempt to collect your thoughts- or make up for a lack thereof- you threw the Die of Miracles at the ground. It bounced a couple times and landed on an image of… a green mushroom from a certain platforming game.

What… huh… These hints aren’t even helping anymore, Ori… you thought. What does a 1-Up Mushroom have anything to do with… ANYTHING? Are we supposed to KILL AKYUU and revive her? Wait until her next reincarnation?

You knew the die had something to do with what you needed to do… but at the moment, you just figured you’d go with the flow and figure it out later. And with that in mind, you and the others waited.

And waited… and waited… and waited.

According to the clock in your head, it had been half an hour since the first maid said she’d get another maid to lead you in. But for some reason, nobody came. In fact, you hadn’t seen any maids for the past half hour.

Thinking of a plan- based off a 1-UP MUSHROOM alone- went out of the question the minute you rolled the die. No matter how much you’d tried to think or talk about the upcoming negotiation, you couldn’t do anything but wait things out, watching your remaining time melt away.

It was infuriating- torturous, even- but by some miracle, Fulori still kept that same professional smile he’d had all day.

As if it didn’t affect him at all.

Another ten minutes later, a maid finally arrived. Or rather, you saw one.

You weren't completely sure if she was the one that was supposed to lead your group into the mansion. She was walking in a different direction, looking at the ground, and she looked very nervous and shy.

Still, she walked quickly- turning to walk from the veranda, towards your group.

FINALLY! You thought. We can just get this over with!

But then, the moment the little maid turned to you and made eye contact with Fulori for the first time, she seemingly froze in place. Seeing her nervousness; seeing the fact that someone was more nervous than you, somehow eased your own nerves.

Eventually, though, the maid visibly gathered her determination and walked out into the mansion grounds, approaching Fulori.

"W-w-welcome, esteemed guests, I..." the timid maid's stuttering voice trailed off, as if she forgot what she was supposed to say. You could see her start to panic, when Sanae stepped in.

"Good morning~" she said cheerfully. Sanae seemed to brighten her a little bit. She was about to smile, when she suddenly, very visibly stopped herself. Her next expression directed towards you all made it clear; although she was shy, although she was scared, she didn't like your group. Especially not Fulori.

Again, you started feeling extremely guilty. It seems like the others did as well, minus Aya and Fulori: both of them were smiling.

Aya, at least, was just that confident: she’d been doing this song and dance for years, and she probably thought the upcoming win could offset the catastrophic social losses she’d incurred. If it happened, of course. But Fulori… just didn’t seem to care? Not about the chaos, not about the maid’s fear, and somehow, not about Aya’s tactics either.

He was just smiling.

"...I-I'm here t-to lead you all in..." the maid spoke up. But then she perked up, as if only just now remembering something she was supposed to say: "Oh! A-also, a-apologies for making you all wait for so long…” she said, bowing again.

“No need to apologize,” Fulori replied, still keeping his calm. “Negotiations can take a while to set up, and we arrived early anyway.”

The maid nodded in response- it seemed she was too overwhelmed to say anything. Thanking Fulori would be the normal thing to do- but for some reason, she couldn’t.

*Clap-*

Fulori’s clap startled her, taking everyone’s attention. "Well then, we’d better get going, yes? We can't keep the Child of Miare waiting any longer~" he said.

The maid's hands balled into fists. "V-very well, then," she responded, stuttering. You could tell it wasn’t the nerves this time: she was done with you, Fulori, and everyone connected to the rumors, and doing her best to hide it.

With that, she turned and started walking into the mansion. Your group followed suit.

As you walked through the veranda, hurrying to Akyuu's room where the negotiations would take place, you saw plenty of maids doing their usual work. But despite the importance of the negotiation and Fulori’s stature… no one even so much as glanced at your group. Maybe it was the rumors , or just because they were focusing, but something felt off. It feels like they’re deliberately ignoring us.

Meanwhile, the timid maid started yapping away, giving you all a brief introduction to the different rooms you passed by, as per the tradition when bringing in guests. Or, at least, she tried to .

Besides telling you about the mansion, she also kept apologizing, over and over.

“Is something wrong?” you asked.

“I… well, I’m just an intern here. I only started here a month ago- so even I’m still familiarizing myself with the mansion,” she explained.

Still, she was talking so fast that you couldn't make out what she was saying half the time, anyway. In fact, it felt like she was just as clueless as you were. Like she was just doing everything she could to fill up the time it took to get to Akyuu’s office, even with the anxiety. You felt bad for her.

Why would they send an intern to receive us, when Fulori is such an important figure? You wondered. There’s no way it’s a manpower problem…

"Y-you see...all the other maids are busy with cleaning & washing clothes...so I ended up being the only one that was free..."

Oh. I see. They want to disrespect Fulori as much as they could, so they treat us like unimportant guests. Their message is that we’re less important than food or laundry. Makes sense. They believe we disrespected their family, so they’re disrespecting us. Equal trade, you thought. You looked over to Aya, who was taking pictures the whole time. To be honest, it would’ve been great if they sent their disrespect only to Aya, given that the article was her doing, but… not like I can say anything about it now. We still need her on the team- she’s still a friend that I can’t just throw under the bus. I’ll discuss this later.

“Hey, that doesn’t make you any less important!” Sanae mentioned. “You were just in that place at that time, that’s all!”

The maid didn’t respond, but seemed to be cheered up a bit. Looks like this intern likes Sanae despite everything. That makes sense. Feels like everyone in the village likes her, you thought.

Eventually, your group reached Akyuu's room. The little maid stopped for a moment, visibly gathering her strength. Then, she turned to your group.

“P-please wait here. I’ll inform Akyuu-sama of your arrival,” she said.

“Thank you!” Fulori replied.

The timid maid’s fists tightened as she bowed. Then, she entered the room, closing the door behind her. Silence fell.

Despite all the maids currently in this mansion, all doing busywork, it was eerily quiet. The mansion was just that big.

“Is everyone ready?” Fulori spoke. It was so silent, the moment he spoke, it felt like he was the only voice in the world. So it caught everyone’s attention, and everyone turned to him.

“Yeah~!” Sanae replied cheerfully.

“Yeah! Although… I don’t really know what to do…” Kogasa added. “I don’t really have anything to do with the negotiation, which is probably why, hehe~”

Aya nodded wordlessly. 

You were the last to reply. “...Y-yeah, I’m ready,” you said. You felt yourself hesitating a little.

Being in front of Akyuu’s room combined with the eerie quiet gave your mind nothing else to do but think about the upcoming negotiation- especially the fact that it was less than minutes away. The negotiation you’d been planning for. That everything has been building up to.

Tick, tock, tick, tock–

There’s that freaking clock, too! You thought. Whose idea was this!?

Realistically, it shouldn’t have been too nerve-wracking, you knew that. You’d met Akyuu before. She was chill. But still, the fact that everything feels so official made it dawn on you:

This was it. This was your only chance.

Then suddenly, you feel a hand land on your shoulder, startling you a little. You immediately turn, only to see Sanae smiling at you.

“We have your back, Xenoa-san~” she said.

Kogasa, behind her, seemed pleased to have seen you surprised. "Yeah! I-I... don't really know what to do, but I want to help... but since I don't really know how to, I'll do my best to maybe keep you calm somehow, Xenoa-san~" she said.

You smiled. Their presence helped ease your nerves a lot. "Thanks, guys."

"No worries~"

Then, Aya spoke up. "So the plan is, we try to convince Akyuu that the easiest way to restore their reputation is to give us back the cranes." She then turned to Fulori, "Isn't that right, Fulori-san? You have a vested interest in it too, yes?"

Aya seems a little confrontational towards Fulori, but his smile didn't fade. He continued wearing the same expression, the same smile, like nothing had even happened and there wasn’t a journey-deciding negotiation in mere minutes.

"Perhaps- but we don't know,” Fulori said. “Negotiations don't always go according to plan, because you don't completely know what your opponent is like or what they're thinking. You can try to do research, but you'll only fully figure them out on the negotiation table. So the best plan, really, is to not be too attached to the plan. Keep that in mind."

It sounded like genuine advice. Compared to everything Fulori has said to you, that one felt different. It felt completely real- no room for doubts.

Before Aya could reply, the sliding door opened, and the maid timidly returned. "Come in, please," she said.

You and the rest of the group nodded in reply. You swallowed your nerves, then took a deep breath, as the light from Akyuu’s room fell through the half-open door, spilling onto you and the others. You felt its faint warmth.

Tick, tock, tick, tock… went the clock in your head.

It’s taken so much work just to get here. Akyuu had done so much just to prevent us from seeing each other, let alone allow me to get the cranes. She really made this difficult for us, huh? But now…it’s fine. It’s okay now.

We’ve done everything we possibly could. We have Aya, who utilized the Tengu’s monopoly on rumors and information to manipulate the village to our side. We have Fulori, the village’s greatest negotiator on our side too. And we have Sanae, a very influential religious figure capable of creating miracles.

No matter how much Akyuu tries to make it hard for us, no matter what she does during this coming negotiation battle, no matter how powerful she and her family is, I WILL GET THOSE CRANES! You declared internally. Bring it on, Akyuu!

With that, you entered the room. 

But as soon as you took your first step, you saw and heard things that gave you pause. In the middle of the room, Akyuu was sitting on the floor, in front of a small low table, surrounded by hundreds of scrolls scattered seemingly at random.

Her body was too thin, and her skin was a bit pale. She was coughing, and it sounded a little painful, too. From where you saw her, Akyuu looked so small and so weak.

This is the ‘enemy’ I’ve been hyping myself up to beating…? You thought. Immediately, a sense of guilt started wrapping around you.

Then suddenly, the timid maid ran past you, swiftly going to Akyuu’s side. “A-are you okay, Akyuu-sama?” she asked.

Akyuu smiled weakly. “I’m okay…it’s just the usual cold,” she replied.

"Xenoa-san?" Fulori called. Without you realizing it, he was already well into the room. You were only one step in, and Sanae, Kogasa, and Aya were still in the doorway. And, as always, Fulori’s professional smile was still plastered on his face.

After a moment, you nodded and followed him in.

"Sit," Akyuu said as she pointed to the other side of the table from which she sat. The three of you did.

Akyuu looked even more deathly pale now that you sat closer to her. 

"Are you alright, miss Akyuu?" Fulori asked cheerfully, with a hint of concern in his voice. 

Is this man… concerned? I’ve only seen him show a few real expressions so far, but… Is it all an act? What is going through this man’s brain!? You wondered. The possibility lingered, but it just seemed too outlandish.

“No, no, I’m fine, it’s just a common cold,” Akyuu explained. “No need to worry. What are you here for, though?”

“Well, as always, I’m here as a consultant–help them negotiate a trade,” Fulori replied. “Last night, I taught Xenoa-san here the basics of contracts among other formalities. I’ll only be playing a supporting role today, we agreed he’ll be signing all the contracts and other documents today, with these two as legal witnesses, too. Isn’t that right, Sanae-san, Kogasa-san?”

Sanae and Kogasa nodded.

Meanwhile, Akyuu gestured for the timid maid to exit the room.

"B-but, Akyuu-sama… will you be-"

"I'll be fine," Akyuu replied, smiling as brightly as she could.

It barely eased the maid's worries, but in the end, the maid left the room as ordered. It was just Akyuu on the other side of the table now.

Cough, cough... she suddenly went–turning away, as her small, weak body shook with each cough.

Is she going to negotiate with us alone? Against Fulori-san? You wondered in disbelief.

Then, Akyuu lifted her head and made eye contact with you. Her eyes were burning with overwhelming determination.

“So, Xenoa-san, what’s your initial offer?” She asked in an authoritative voice.

You couldn’t respond immediately. Her resolve made yours look like a mere ember by comparison, and you were taken aback.

Tick, tock, tick, tock… went the clock in your head. Then, suddenly…

CLAP!

The sound made everyone’s attention snap to Fulori. “Before we get to that,” Fulori said, “I’d like for you to see this contract first, Akyuu-sama.” 

He then pulled out a piece of paper from his sleeve pocket. It was a contract- or, as far as you could see, ALPHABET SOUP . He placed the contract on the table, sliding it to Akyuu. Her eyes flicked back and forth at incredible speed as she read it. A few seconds later, she responded.

“I see. I accept these conditions,” she said. Then, she pulled out a hanko stamp and stamped it.

She read it that fast?! Well… that makes sense, given her job involves writing a lot and stuff, you thought, glancing around at all the scrolls strewn throughout the room.

Akyuu then slid the contract paper to you. “Xenoa-san,” she called.

Just seeing the piece of paper made you feel like out of your depth, but upon closer inspection, it wasn’t actually that complicated. The kanji wasn’t as difficult as you were expecting, though the formal language being used made you a little slower at reading it, especially compared to Akyuu.

That wasn’t what worried you, though. What if I misread something…? You kept thinking and thinking, and it was stressing you out even more than the ticking clock. Suddenly, you felt a hand touch your shoulder. It was Kogasa.

“Boo!” She quietly mouthed, before smiling.

Seeing that made you smile, too. Thanks, Kogasa! You thought, turning back to the paper, a little more relaxed.

“Xenoa-san.”

Fulori suddenly spoke, taking your attention. “If you want, I could summarize the paper for you. As your consultant, and as the more experienced person in our group, that would be my job.”

I shouldn’t let Fulori make all the decisions for me. He seems genuinely trustworthy, but…it’s probably still risky given what Marisa told us about him. More than any of that, I just feel bad dumping all the work on him when he’s gone out of his way just to help us out, you thought to yourself. Or rather, you told yourself.

The truth was, you just felt better when you were in control. You felt less anxious when you were the one doing things, even though the resulting need to perform still made you feel a bit anxious.

“Didn’t we agree last night that I would work on the contracts?” you asked. “Let me handle this, Fulori-san.”

“Specifically, we agreed that you would sign all the contracts,” he specified, “but yes, do as you will.”

You nodded and started reading. From what you could tell, the contract officiated whatever was negotiated at the office, and made any deal legally binding, unable to be taken back in any way unless another deal about it was formed.

It announced that Fulori, as your consultant, would be giving suggestions and such to you in the form of written contracts, which both parties must always be presented with. It also stated that everyone except for Xenoa, Fulori, and Akyuu would be legal witnesses to all the proceedings and deals made in this room.

As it turned out, this was just a normal contract- no dirty tricks, just to start off the negotiation. There was no reason to not sign it- specifically, no reason for you to not sign it. But something felt off…

“Akyuu-san… why would you sign this?” you asked. “Isn’t this super disadvantageous to you? If I’m reading this correctly, then all the legal witnesses this contract defines are on Fulori ’s side. That means we could-”

“It’s fine. I don’t mind,” she replied. It sounded genuine, and she looked as determined as ever.

Okay… she must be planning something. How else can she feel completely safe with all these powerful people I've gathered against her? You thought. Or could she be bluffing? No… there’s no reason to bluff here. Aya isn’t even here, so Akyuu can’t do anything about her!

"Akyuu," you said.

"Yes?"

"Why do you not want to give us these cranes?"

Akyuu didn't immediately respond, and you continued. "You know, these paper cranes, they're just worthless pieces of paper. It's not like they're made of anything valuable. So why?"

You were genuinely curious. Why was Akyuu doing so much to hide them?

"Can I respond to your question with my own question?"

You didn’t expect that, but you nodded anyway.

"If those paper cranes are so worthless, then why did you do so much, and bring all these people, just to get them from me?"

Oh… you thought. Crap.

"The fact that you're going so far out of your way to get them is proof enough of how valuable they are,” she continued.

“Wha- Well, you make a fair point, but…” you began, scrambling to find a point. “...you see, value can mean a lot of different things to different people. Is this value you think we find in the cranes enough to add monetary value to them? They’re just paper, after all.”

“If they really were just paper, though… why not just fold some paper cranes yourself? Why go through all the effort for these ones specifically?”

Shoot… I don’t have a way out of this! You thought. Does she already know what getting the cranes does? If so, what else does she know? And how are we gonna stack up to the power of getting AN ENTIRE WISH!? Or, if it comes to that, A WISH FOR EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN OUR GROUP AT THE END? Not like I can actually ask that right now, because that would be tantamount to resigning… if Akyuu knows about the wish, she’d want us to reveal our cards early so we’ll get highballed! And if I resign to her points, she’ll just do the same thing! So… how can I prove the actual value of the cranes? What is my line of attack here?

Akyuu sighed, then spoke: “Xenoa-san.”

That pulled you out of your thoughts. “Y-yes?”

“Let’s stop with the pretenses. These paper cranes, once collected, have the power to grant wishes. We both know that.”

SHE KNOWS! And she didn’t break her own line of attack! You cursed internally, as you scrambled to respond: "Y-yes…w-well…b-but... you know, those cranes, right, those cranes themselves are useless on their own. They can only grant a wish once you've collected all of them. So they are worthless in your-"

"How are you sure of that?"

"...what?"

"How are you so sure that me having those cranes makes them useless? How are you so sure that I won't be able to collect all of them myself?”

"Because it's unlikely! Look, we have most of the cranes right now, and-"

"Unlikely, but not certain, yes? Or are you 100% certain you can get my cranes from me? Are you 100% certain I can’t get your cranes?"

Akyuu stared you down, and you were taken aback for a moment. Can she…? There's no way, I mean, I have really powerful allies…there's no way she can get my cranes, right? You thought. And besides, all the cranes we’ve had just disappeared into my pocket!

Tick, tock, tick, tock…

Well, she's the head of a powerful family, but–

“Look-” Akyuu cut in, “I can only possibly consider giving you my cranes if you can give me something of equal value to fulfilling any wishes. Meaning, it's impossible for you. I won't give you my cranes. That's the end of it. This negotiation is over, and it ends with us not coming to any agreement about the cranes. Instead…”

Akyuu looked over at Fulori. It's clear she intended to negotiate with him a way to settle the perceived feud between their families. That was probably the main reason she decided to agree to this negotiation in the first place, besides honoring the request of someone with Fulori's stature. 

Although this negotiation was centered around the cranes, that's the part she was least interested in negotiating with. So now, she turned to Fulori–her actual target. But then, you cut in.

“Wait. No matter how valuable the wish is, there has to be something that can match them. What about…”

You reached into your pockets, and found absolutely nothing. Oh, right… I’m broke, you thought.

“W-well, I’m a bit short on cash at the moment, but is an IO-” you started.

“Nope.”

“What about if I were to give you some of our-”

“And what difference would that make?”

“Don’t ask me what I was thinking, sorry… Maybe 1 ro-”

“Not even gonna consider it.”

We’re at a dead end here… what could she possibly want!? You thought. And Fulori… he hasn’t stepped in y-

“Hold on,” Fulori interrupted.

And speak of the devil, you thought.

Akyuu spoke: “You know I’m going to say no to anything you guys offer me, so… what are you trying to do here?”

“I’d like to propose my own offer, actually. But first…”

Fulori pulled out a contract- it seemed he had already prepared it- and handed it to you. It was just a completely normal contract, saying that you’d be paying the final price, ONLY the final price, and no more than the final price. And if you weren’t able to pay or did not wish to, Fulori will pay for the purchase in your stead, using the Kirisame household’s assets.

Phew… no tricks here, I can just offload it to him… IF he can even afford it after what Marisa’s doing right now! You thought, signing the contract without a second thought. So he is on my side… at least for now… at least from what I can tell.

“Alright,” Fulori continued. “With that signed… I’d like to slightly raise our offer to 3 million yen. ” He said as he pulled out another contract.

Your jaw dropped.

Akyuu stopped for a moment. She seemed to be thinking things over- maybe because she couldn’t afford it, but that seemed unlikely. So she’s probably thinking about something else… but what could it possibly-

  “I already said I won’t accept any offers for the cranes. What are you getting at here?” Akyuu asked.

Fulori maintained his smile. “What do you mean? I’m negotiating in Xenoa’s stead, and he’s signing every contract, like we agreed on last night. Isn’t that right?”

“Yeah,” you replied. Why’d he have to specify again, though…? Hold on…why–

*Clap–*

“Also–” Fulori continued as he clapped, “...I’d like to at least calm down the crowd outside by making some kind of deal for the return of the cranes. This tengu over here acted on her own and spread those rumors on her own. I'm just trying to resolve the situation our two families found themselves in, while at the same time helping Xenoa-kun get the cranes. Two birds, one stone.”

“I already said no. Even what you’re offering here does not match the value of a wish–”

“ Potential wish,” Fulori cut in. “Akyuu-sama, I honestly don’t understand why you’re doing this just for the potential of a wish. Surely you won’t sacrifice the Hieda household and legacy just for that?”

Akyuu didn’t respond. She kept her poker face, but she was clearly deep in thought.

In the silence, you were finally given the time to breathe and the time to think. And there was one thing bothering you for a while now, and you didn’t know exactly why.

Why did Fulori keep mentioning our meeting last night? He’s mentioned it three times now, you thought. There’s no way he’s NOT planning something!

“Hey, Xenoa.” Sanae whispered to you.

“What is it?” you whispered back.

“...That’s kind of expensive, isn’t it? The offer Fulori made.”

“Yeah. But he’s paying for it, right?”

“...For free?”

“Well…”

Sanae looked troubled as she spoke: “I don’t know. I’m not the Hakurei shrine maiden, but my intuition is telling me something is off…”

You recalled the contracts you’d signed so far. In particular, the latest one. In that, there was a particular clause: “If the client is unable to afford payment, the Kirisame household’s assets will be used to pay for the client’s purchase in their stead.”

Pay for the client’s purchase in their stead… What does that mean? You wondered.

“Fulori-san,” you called.

Fulori slowly turned to you. “What is it?”

“About that contract I signed, what does ‘the Kirisame household’s assets will be used to pay for the client’s purchase’ mean exactly?”

Fulori’s eyes narrowed. Chills crawled down your back.

“You want clarification?” he asked. “I thought it was pretty clear, but I guess not. So let me clarify… ‘The Kirisame household’s assets will be used to pay for the client’s purchase’ means the client borrows from the Kirisame household, because the wording specifies that the client buys something using the Kirisame household’s money. ”

Your eyes widened. “So… I’ll be in your debt?”

“Yes. What else could it mean…?”

“No…” you uttered, as the implications of it started to dawn on you. “You can’t just do that!” You suddenly shouted. Everyone turned to you.

“What’s wrong?” both Sanae and Kogasa asked.

“I see what your plan is! You’re trying to get us into a debt cycle and pay you back with a million favors!” you shouted.

They turned to Fulori, who was still smiling. That same exact smile he’d been wearing for the entire day. As if he was completely unaffected. As if he didn’t care at all.

“Xenoa-san…” he said as he turned to you, “you signed the contract, didn’t you? You read it fully, there was no trickery in the wording. You agreed to this. Isn’t that right, legal witnesses?”

Everyone stayed silent.

“B-but…” Sanae spoke up, “If Xenoa truly understood what the contract meant, then he would not have signed it. You know he’s not experienced at this, that’s why he hired you in the first place! You’re supposed to clarify these things to him before he signs it!”

“First off, Sanae-sama, you cannot void a contract just by saying ‘whoopsie, I misread it’ or ‘sorry, I’m inexperienced, can I take it back?’ Secondly, it’s not my fault that Xenoa became careless just because I'm here. Lastly, Xenoa has to sign all these contracts, right? Isn’t that what we agreed to last night?”

“Huh…?”

“We agreed last night that Xenoa will sign every contract we offer in this negotiation.”

“What?”

Fulori’s smile widened slightly. “Last night we held a meeting, correct? I taught Xenoa some basics about negotiations by teaching him the two types of contract–the written contract and the verbal contract. Sanae-sama, Kogasa-san, you two were legal witnesses to both, right? You saw us sign that contract of cooperation, but you also witnessed us agree that Xenoa will sign all of these contracts.”

Kogasa spoke up, “I-I don’t really understand what’s going on but… I don’t remember that happening…”

“You do,” Fulori replied, cutting Sanae off before she could respond. “I asked you all multiple times ever since we entered this room. When Akyuu-sama asked why I’m with you… and when the first introductory contract was put on the table… and after I showed my offer for the cranes… I said multiple times that we agreed that Xenoa will sign all the contracts, and you all nodded along.”

Everyone went silent.

Fulori continued in a booming voice. “Or are you once again saying that you forgot? Even though you are the legal witnesses for this negotiation, even though that is your duty? Are you going to tell me that it is my fault that you weren’t doing your job?”

Nobody could reply. He’s… HE’S RIGHT! We’re screwed! You thought.

“Well, i-if that’s correct, and I go into debt, then what? I-I’m not exactly from here you know. I can get away–”

“Well, ideally we’ll have you work your way out of your debt for us. But if you run away, then the debt…” Fulori said, eyeing Sanae, Kogasa, and Aya, “...goes to your closest associates, evenly of course. My daughter will… unfortunately, have to carry the debt too. But of course, I’ll help her with it.”

So no matter what I do, we’re all dead! If I abandon ship, Fulori gets a massive boost in influence, essentially free favors, from Moriya Shrine and the tengu! Not only that, he’ll be able to chain Marisa to his household using that debt, too! But if I don’t run away… well, I’ll be stuck here, working off my debt as a slave to his household for the rest of my life! And he'll probably use me as a bargaining chip against Sanae and Marisa all the time, so he'll end up getting free favors and chaining Marisa anyway…! You realized.

You looked at Sanae, and saw her eyes filled with terror. I don't want to be a slave… but I can’t put Sanae deep into debt! I can’t throw Marisa back to the house she hated so much!

“Akyuu, will you just let this happen?” you pleaded, turning back to her. “We’re getting scammed in front of your very eyes! This is a crime!”

Akyuu’s expression did not change. She turned to Fulori, and then spoke: “You’re right, Fulori-san. If I recall correctly–and as the Child of Miare, I do remember correctly–Fulori did clarify the agreement Fulori and Xenoa made last night multiple times, and the legal witnesses of it did nod in agreement that such an agreement did happen.”

“What…!? Why are you siding with…” Your voice trailed off. That’s right…I’m her enemy right now… You realized.

*Clap–*

“Now, let's get back to topic, shall we?” Fulori said as he pulled yet another contract and placed it on the table. “Akyuu-sama. How about… 5 million yen? Will you sell the cranes for this much? ”

That’s an ABSURD amount! There’s no way I can- wait. I’m actually still okay right now. The deal has to go through first. So Akyuu has to agree to sell the cranes, which is NEVER GONNA-

“On second thought… I’m actually considering selling the cranes at a certain price.” Akyuu replied.

WHAT!? You thought, nearly jumping out of your chair. Why!? Why now!?

Akyuu turned to you, and stared deep into your eyes. “So, Xenoa-san. Are you willing to buy my cranes?”

Willing…? Oh…oh, I get it. The only way for us to escape Fulori’s debt trap is if the contract is voided. There’s three ways that can happen: If Akyuu doesn’t sell, if I waste the wish to void it… or if I don’t buy! She’s trying to get me to give up on the cranes! You realized.

Tick, tock, tick, tock–

But…I’m so close…! And I don’t have enough time to get Akyuu’s cranes with alternate methods and go take Seija and Nue’s cranes! You thought. But that’s the only way to spare me from debt…to spare us all from debt! What is wrong with you, Fulori!?

Akyuu spoke: “Unfortunately, Fulori-san, this isn’t it. This is not enough. ”

“That won’t be a problem…” Fulori replied, still wearing that same smile.

Oh, no, you thought. We are so finished…

“...I’ll throw in an extra million yen, for good measure,” he continued.

It’s actually over. Even if I get the wish and come back, six million yen… getting that past customs aside, that’s… wait, was the exchange rate again? You thought. How screwed are we, actually?

“Sorry… still not it. Remember, we’re STILL talking about a potential wish.”

“Another million, then?”

“Closer, but still… you’re making a lowball offer here.”

“Hm… a wish… let’s go with a clean twenty million yen.”

…was it 140 or 150- WHAT!? You thought. And we have to pay all of this off!? Does this man even understand what he’s doing? No, he probably DOES, he just doesn’t care!

“I’ll consider it, but I was thinking something more. Thirty million is barely the minimum.”

“Alright, how about thirty-five million yen?”

“I could go with 50 million- a bit cleaner, easier to gather on your end and easier to log on ours.”

How much money do those two have to throw around? You thought. This can’t be happening… this is the worst possible case we could’ve found ourselves in! Is this what that legally distinct mushroom was supposed to mean? That we’d be spiraling the price infinitely high, like how you can get infinite 1UPs with a singular shell!? It’s like both of them are doing everything in their power to screw us over!

As you started panicking, you noticed Aya slowly beginning to move her chair backwards, her head ever so slightly turned towards the door you’d entered from.

AND NOW AYA’S TRYING TO BAIL ON US!? You thought. How much worse could this possibly get!?

“ 100 million ,” Akyuu said.

“Excuse me?” you interrupted.

“One. Hundred. Million.”

For once, Fulori didn’t immediately hike the price again. In fact, his smile wasn’t as wide as it was just seconds before.

“Akyuu-sama. I would pay any price for these cranes… but this is just going to look terrible for both of us and our families,” he replied. “How about we lower it a little? Keep it at 50 million, maximum.”

He's…stepping back…? He's stepping back! You celebrated a little, before reality hit you again. But it's still 50 million! How the hell am I going to pay for that? 

“ 150 million .”

Fulori's eyes narrowed. “Akyuu-sama. 50 million is already quite a lot-”

“Are you not willing to buy these cranes?” Akyuu cut him off.

And shockingly—inconceivably, even—Fulori’s smile disappeared.

“W-well, like I have said before, there is no lack of will on our end. I'm just worried about your family’s reputation. If not for this tengu, I certainly would have paid a higher price. However, don't you believe we must be a little more pragmatic here given our situation?”

“I don't care.” Akyuu replied.

“What? What do you-”

“I don’t care happens to the Hieda clan or the rest of the village. My price is final .”

“B-but… Akyuu-sama, I don't understand. At your offer, your family ’s reputation gets dragged through the dirt, my family ’s finances take an inconceivable blow, creating a power vacuum in all of Gensokyo, the effects of which are already -”

“ My price is final . That's what I mean. Do you understand?”

Fulori went silent. He looked entirely bewildered. Meanwhile, Akyuu’s eyes continued to burn with a quiet determination.

We’re dead. Even FULORI , a PROFESSIONAL, has NO IDEA how to get Akyuu to set a REASONABLE PRICE! You thought. I know she’s trying to get us to give up, but… what Fulori said! Why in the world would she risk a CENTURIES -long legacy for ONE wish? This is beyond logic! This is ridiculous!

As you looked to Fulori, you realized he was thinking exactly what you were thinking .

Oh no, you thought.

You looked at Sanae and Kogasa. Sanae seemed to be completely stressed out; visibly thinking about what she'd tell Kanako and Suwako if this trade went through. Kogasa seemed entirely confused, but she could tell things were getting alarmingly concerning.

You felt completely and utterly guilty. You were grateful for their help, and you were ready to share the wish with them. But you never wanted to give them this heavy and permanent burden, too.

I have to do something about this…! There’s DEFINITELY something I missed! You thought to yourself.

You looked back at Akyuu. The two of you made eye contact, and the intensity of her determination almost crushed you. But you didn’t back down.

And, analyzing the soul behind those eyes, you thought back to all your knowledge about the Touhou series; anything you could think of. You didn't know much about Akyuu, let alone any characters from the spinoffs. But what you did know… the only thing you’d ever heard about her, mentioned on a single comment in a single forum as a meme…

THAT’S IT! You thought.

“Akyuu!” you suddenly said. Everyone in the room turned to face you.

“Yes?”

“You… You want the cranes so badly because you don’t want to lose everything, all the friends you’ve made in this life, and your whole world right now, right?”

Akyuu froze, and her expression changed- ever so subtly, but still enough for you to know you’d just made a brilliant move.

The entire room fell silent, waiting for Akyuu’s next move. A million thoughts seemed to be racing through her head, all at the same time. It might have just been a recurring joke you’d heard about, but that one fact was enough to possibly save your—and your friends’—lives.

It took a long time for Akyuu to process your words, but finally, she spoke up.

“I… well… it’s exactly as you said. As the Child of Miare, even though I do reincarnate every time I die… by the time I come back, I’ve basically lost everything from my previous incarnation. Most of the memories, most of the friends I’ve made… every time I come back, all of it’s just… gone.”

Akyuu’s eyes drifted onto the desk. Her voice was entirely monotone. “There’s never been any getting out of it… and because of it, I’ve never been able to live normally. Most of my time has been spent writing the Chronicle in here, and before I know it, it’s over. No real chance to experience the rest of Gensokyo, barely able to do so health-wise anyway… well, at this point I’ve gotten used to it. But once I heard of the cranes? I think you already know. They’re my last chance to keep everything I told you about. I know I have my duty to do. I know that if you aren’t lying, that chance is already gone. But I… well, I have to at least put out my best.”

Akyuu’s eyes snapped back to yours. “That’s it.”

The room went silent for a moment. Yes, you figured out Akyuu’s motivation. But it was clear that that was only half the battle.

Now what do I do? You asked yourself. Do I have to convince her out of this? Where do I even begin with getting her to accept… well, never being able to live normally!?

Then Fulori spoke, sounding somewhat confused: “And… how does this have to do with offering a good portion of the currency circulating in Gensokyo for these cranes? Why… would you sacrifice your family’s reputation just for that?”

WHAAAAAAA!?!??!?!?!? You internally screamed. WERE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ANYTHING THAT SHE SAID!??!?!?!??!? Or do you GENUINELY NOT GET IT!? THIS MEANS EVERYTHING TO HER!!!!!!!

“I just told you. I told you exactly why I’m willing to do this.”

“But- I’ve already also warned you- you and your family stand to lose almost everything from this!”

“ 151 million yen. Take it or leave it. ” 

Fulori just froze, completely bewildered for reasons you couldn’t comprehend. FULORI!!!!!!!!!! ARE YOU ACTUALLY THIS DENSE!? You thought. If so… then it’s just the rest of us, and we still have no idea how to convince Akyuu!

"Akyuu-san." Sanae interrupted the silence.

Akyuu turned to her. "What is it?"

“I understand.”

“...?”

“Looking for a miracle… I get it. Umm…” She scratched her head shyly, looking down before continuing: “...like Xenoa-san, I was from the outside world. Out there, I was always alone. I… was always looked at like I was weird, because I could see all sorts of things people don’t. I was somewhat fine with it- I had friends and everything, but… I didn’t feel at home. Then suddenly, Kanako-sama and Suwako-sama appeared before me. The gods gave me a home. Eventually, I went here to Gensokyo with them, and I felt more at home than I ever did.”

Saane looked back up, then made eye contact with Akyuu. “I guess what I’m saying is…miracles happen. You never know how…you never know when…it isn’t always obvious. It doesn’t have to be the cranes. You don’t have to take away other people’s opportunities for it. Someday…who knows? Maybe you’ll live a longer, healthier life than your predecessors.”

“So…” Akyuu said, “You’re telling me to just leave it up to fate?”

Silence returned. Sanae struggled to respond. And then-

“U-umm…” Kogasa’s voice suddenly rang out; surprising everyone, “...I-I’m not a human…so I don’t really understand it much but…a-a while ago, before I met Xenoa-san, I had a lot of trouble. I’m a karakasa obake, you see. I survive by surprising people. That’s what I eat. When I can’t do it, I starve…and I would die. For a long time, I really struggled with that…I couldn’t surprise anyone, everyone just kept saying that I was cute or whatever…” Kogasa’s voice trailed off. Then suddenly, she spoke up; “S-so, what I’m saying is… I-I think I know what you’re going through. Being afraid of ceasing to exist… it’s scary. A-and also! I-I know what it’s like to be…basically abandoned. And no longer having the people that knew you… that raised you and made you who you are…”

Akyuu, still looking emotionless, narrowed her eyes. “What are you getting at?”

“W-well…” Kogasa’s eyes darted around the room. She didn’t know what to say next.

Akyuu’s eyes turned to you. She’s anticipating that you’ll say something too.

Yet she wasn’t saying anything. She wasn’t shooting it down.

You spoke up: “Akyuu-san.”

“Yes?”

"I'm getting those cranes."

Akyuu did not react.

"Those cranes… I didn't really know why I folded them. I thought they weren’t going to do anything,” you continued. “I guess, I just really wanted to go somewhere other than where I was. Even now… I still carry that wish. I want to be able to go here in Gensokyo...or rather, escape the outside world anytime I want. I know I've got unfinished business back there, and I’m not gonna try and dodge that. But as long as I have that escape, as long as I know I have somewhere to go, or even the possibility of having it, I'll chase that dream with all I've got. It doesn't matter if I fail here, and I don't have any time left. Even if this isn't how I earn that escape, I will get those cranes! ”

Silence fell. You swallowed your nerves. But despite your fear about how Akyuu would respond, you smiled. You did everything you could’ve done. If you failed now, you'd know that at least you tried your best.

Being able to get that stuff off your chest was nice, too. It was a selfish thing, but you were grateful.

Eventually, Akyuu smiled; it was a bittersweet smile.

Then, she rose. Her balance was wobbly. Sanae stood and offered to help, but Akyuu simply gestured for her to sit down.

"I'm okay," she said, her voice endlessly soft. Sanae nodded and sat down.

Akyuu then looked around. "All these scrolls strewn around the room...this has always been my life, you know?" she commented.

You remain quiet. Everyone knew to let Akyuu speak. Everyone, except Fulori. He just seemed confused.

Akyuu continued. "I've always done my duties… whether in this life, or in my previous lives. I know it's important. I don't get to experience the world, but the knowledge of those who do, I help spread to the future. I’m… not a person. I don't really get to be. I'm humanity's observer and messenger for itself. I get that. I know it better than anyone else."

Akyuu slowly crouched down and picked up one of the scrolls. "But I can't help but be curious, you know? I only get to read about distant lands, of growing old with a lover, of raising a family, of living a full life with friends. I want to experience them too."

Her tone didn’t change. Instead, she spoke with practiced ease; as if she'd already said this to others, and said this to herself, a thousand times.

She turned to you. "Xenoa-kun?"

"O-oh...yes?"

Akyuu smiled, "You said you didn't know why you folded all those cranes, right?"

You nodded. Where is she going with this? You wondered.

"Well, let me give you a centuries-old piece of wisdom that might tell you why. You see, throughout the centuries, besides writing records, I've also been searching. Searching for a way to live longer, to no avail. Even though I knew and know it’s impossible. Even though I know I can’t alter the contract my ancestors made with the Yama. I searched because I didn't want to believe that there's no way. That, Xenoa-kun, is the same reason why you folded those cranes. Because you want to do everything you can for your wish. So you can live without regrets. "

You nodded quietly. …H-have we convinced her? You wondered.

Then Akyuu sat down again. She coughed; a very painful sounding cough. Then, she spoke again, but in a weakened yet venerable voice: "I always wished...all my ancestors wished for someone some day in the future to fulfill that wish, you know? I know that's what you're feeling right now, Xenoa-kun. So, with that, I have a much more reasonable offer for you."

You leaned in, hoping- as unlikely that it would be- that she’d get you, Sanae, Kogasa, and Aya out of this disaster.

" 0 yen. "

Your jaw almost dropped.

Fulori's jaw did drop. He was utterly bewildered.

"My wish won't come true, even with the cranes," Akyuu smiled. She took a deep, calm breath, her smile never wavering. "The yama won't let me break our contract. I knew that from the beginning. I guess… I was just being an idiot. From the beginning, instead of trying to pry away your opportunity from you, I should have played my designated role; as a background observer, a messenger to the future."

"H-Hold on!" Fulori suddenly spoke up, startling you all. All, except for Akyuu. “You’re just going to give us the cranes for free!? What happened to the millions-”

“ Fulori-san, isn’t this what you wanted?” Akyuu calmly, yet coldly retorted.

Fulori, still completely flabbergasted, froze. It was clear; he blundered. The Fulori Kirisame had just blundered on such an obvious thing.

“Earlier, you were talking about how you were concerned about the reputation of my family and yours among the population, yes? That, because of Aya-san’s newspapers, the villagers believe we took your baby’s toy cranes and are trying to resell them to you at a high price, yes? You’re here to get the cranes at the lowest price, for the benefit of our reputation, yes?”

A bead of sweat ran down Fulori’s face. His smile never wavered, but you could tell he was nervous now.

Akyuu, her eyes pinning Fulori down, spoke: “Why are you so concerned about the millions I asked for earlier?”

Fulori clapped. “W-well, you see, it was simply so sudden…! I did not understand how your offer could transition from millions to nil in an instant. Isn’t it normal, good even, for a negotiation consultant to be wary and cautious about things such as that?”

He… he’s hopeless. I don’t even think he knows what emotions are, you thought to yourself.

Akyuu sighed. “You know what? Let’s just get rid of the pretenses. Fulori, I know what you’re doing.”

“Whatever do you mea-”

*Clap*

Akyuu clapped, cutting him off. “You kept talking about how Aya-san’s fake news bothered you so much, but in reality, you were taking advantage of the situation to further destroy the Hieda clan’s reputation. You wanted to offer high prices for the cranes, not just to bankrupt Xenoa, but also to outrage people. You wanted to use this opportunity to lower our family’s standing, and make your family the dominant one in the village.”

Fulori’s mouth hung.

Akyuu continued: “That’s treason , you know. The Hieda clan is the core of this village. To threaten it is to threaten the village.”

It sounded somewhat hypocritical coming from Akyuu, who earlier was fine with sacrificing her clan. But she seemed to be back to her normal role: the head of the Hieda.

Fulori could not speak. After all, any reply short of a perfect one could spell doom for him and his family.

Akyuu turned to Aya.

“Akyuu-sama, w-well, you see, I am very sorry for what my newspaper has done, but I assure you, I didn’t mean to cause any harm!” Aya spoke quickly, attempting to overwhelm her, “I-I really like writing newspapers, you know, and although on slow days I do tend to embellish some facts a little, on fast days like today, with the whole village festival and Fulori-san’s new child, and Xenoa-kun’s cranes situation, I have no reason to! I can simply enjoy collecting stories and writing about them, and that was the primary reason why I tagged along, you see. However! T-that’s when Fulori-san came in! Y-you see, I was tricked just like him, you know! We all met up together last night a-and Fulori-san told us to do certain things to get the cranes, and one of those things is the spreading of those rumors! I was only doing it because I believed it would be best for everyone…he told me he could convince you to sell the cranes at a low price, and then do something after to repair the reputation of both families and make them even stronger! T-to be honest I should’ve known, I should’ve known I was getting tricked, but at the time, I really wanted to help Xenoa-kun so…I followed Fulori-san’s instructions. I am very sorry for that!”

Aya bowed, and silence followed.

Most of her claims were bold-faced lies, of course. Everyone could tell that. It looked like Aya was betting that you and the others wouldn’t call her out for those lies, since they pinned everything on Fulori.

Kogasa tilted her head and muttered to herself, “ Wait a second… wasn’t-”

Wait… We forgot about- you thought.

“-nevermind, I must’ve remembered wrong,” she continued.

“Fulori Kirisame,” Akyuu said, turning back to him. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“I never told her to use her newspaper like that!” Fulori replied, “That entire operation was her idea, I just helped them figure out how to negotiate with you, nothing else! And if you want more evidence, I would’ve told Xenoa about the whole thing- just ask them.”

“Xenoa?”

“I pretty much knew this was gonna happen,” you replied. It was technically the truth- you did have suspicions about Aya from the start, but you hadn’t been explicitly told this would happen, and especially not from Fulori.

Akyuu turned back to Fulori. He froze, back to wearing that same signature smile, but there was no hiding it. Inside, he was fuming .

Aya was smiling too. Or rather, she specifically smiled the moment Fulori’s eyes glanced over to her.

And unlike Fulori’s it was a genuine, delighted smile. Looks like Aya still wanted revenge for being outdone by Fulori earlier, huh…she’s scary sometimes… You thought to yourself.

Then Akyuu continued: “So, in summary, you orchestrated a smear campaign to get a better deal, tried to destroy my entire family, threatened to topple Gensokyo’s entire economy, and tried to force your way to influence through some of Gensokyo’s biggest powers by putting Xenoa here in your debt for as long as possible. You said you were just here as their consultant, right?”

“…What’re you doing?”

“Then I see no reason for your continued presence in this room. Xenoa is the only one who needs to sign on the deal.”

“Wait, wait, wait. What just cause do you have to do that?”

“You’ve done nothing but mess with Xenoa-(suffix) since we started negotiations. In other words, you’ve served as the polar opposite of a consultant. Thus, your presence is no longer welcome.”

“That act states that you need an objective reason to remove someone from negotiations. How can you define ‘messing with’ someone? What objective proof do you have?”

“What proof don’t I have?”

“A-and in addition, it’s been Japanese law since before Gensokyo was sealed off that unfair trade practices, which you are accusing me of, need to-”

“ Don’t even try citing those laws. I was there when they were written. ”

Again, Fulori froze. He had no response, and no way of delaying the inevitable. Everyone could see through that same old smile of his- he knew he was done for.

“Now, then… I’ll have to politely ask you to leave. Wait in the living room until we’re done, please.”

“...as you wish, Akyuu-sama.”

Still hiding his obvious frustration, Fulori got up and left the room, not saying a single word. If Marisa’s doing what I think she is… I just hope we survive when he finds out, you thought.

“Now, then… let’s get back to what we all came here for.”

After a brief discussion, you still couldn’t believe your eyes when you officially signed the deal, transferring ownership of all of Akyuu’s cranes to you for no price .

“You… sure about this!?” you asked.

“Completely,” Akyuu replied. “If I can’t fulfill my wish, I can at least help someone else fulfill theirs. Now, I should probably show you where I’ve been keeping the cranes.”

Akyuu stood up, but unlike before, she was slow.

You noticed what was going on, and immediately helped her. Her skin was light, both in color and in weight.

“T-thank you, Xenoa-kun. But I can do it.”

Sanae stood up after you, then shouted: “Umm… m-maids!”

You immediately heard hurried footfalls rumble outside. Then the door opened, and a few maids rushed in.

“It’s fine. I’m okay,” Akyuu said, gesturing for the maids to stay back, “I’m used to it. Come, follow me.” She stood back up, and started walking out of the room.

The glow of sunset fell onto the veranda, and you felt the evening cold as you walked back into fresh air. We’ve been in there for THAT LONG!? You realized.

As you, Sanae, Aya, and Kogasa followed Akyuu, you started feeling guilty for what was about to happen. I know I need those cranes, but… I’m basically taking away Akyuu’s hope! Her last chance out of her cycle! You thought.

After a bit, you arrived at what looks like just a random wall. Akyuu turned to you. “This is the entrance to a secret room. Only the Heida family members are allowed in, not even our most trusted servants.”

The maids' eyes widened. I guess she wasn’t supposed to tell us that. You thought.

Akyuu reached for a certain part of the wooden beams framing the paper wall, then pressed it, revealing a button.

Clack.

You heard a sound coming from the other side of the wall. Akyuu pushed, revealing a dark stairway.

“Everyone. Come with me.” Akyuu said.

The maids’ eyes widened even more. “A-Akyuu-sama!”

Akyuu turned. “What?”

“A-apologies… but could I please request Akyuu-sama…to refrain from bringing any guests into that room?”

Akyuu’s eyes narrowed. “As head of this household, I am giving them permission to enter this room. We’re going in.”

The maid’s hands balled into fists. “Please…Akyuu-sama. It is very important.”

Crows cawed in the distance, as the sun fell deeper into the horizon, making the sun that fell through the windows grow even redder.

Akyuu sighed. “Alright. How about this: I’ll bring only one person with me. Specifically, Xenoa, given that he’s the one I’m giving the cranes to.”

“B-but…” the maid’s voice trailed off.

Akyuu did not budge.

The maid took a deep breath, and sighed. “A-as you wish, my lady.”

Akyuu seems pretty headstrong, huh… but I guess if you’re that sickly, you need to be strong in will, you thought, as the maids gave Akyuu a small wax lamp.

Her will was much stronger than yours. A thousand times over.

“Xenoa-kun!” Akyuu called, “Come,” she said, as she walked down the dark staircase.

You nodded and followed suit.

Then, the servants closed the door behind you, wrapping you in darkness. Only the warm light emanating from Akyuu let your eyes see. Besides darkness, silence filled the staircase.

It felt as if you’d been transported to a different world. You could hear each and every one of yours and Akyuu’s breaths, each and every one of yours and Akyuu’s footfalls.

The air was still, and the smell of the lamp Akyuu carried was strong.

As you continued walking down the steps, you heard Akyuu’s breaths starting to quiver. The shadows from the dancing flame in the lamp Akyuu held started to wobble.

Then-

Akyuu’s foot landed wrong, and you immediately reached out; catching her before she could fall. She was ridiculously light.

“Thank you…” Akyuu said as she pulled herself up.

“Akyuu, are you alright?” you asked, still doubting whether you were actually doing the right

“I’m fine, no need to worry…”

“It’s alright, I’ll help you d-”

“No. I’m okay. I can do it,” Akyuu insisted.

She is that headstrong, after all… you thought, as you let go of her arm. With that, she continued as if nothing happened. But you couldn't shake the lightness of Akyuu's body, and the stuff she said earlier during the negotiation: about being an observer, only being an observer, and not being allowed to be human. It made you feel bad for what was going to happen.

Should it… really be just me and the others that get the wish? You thought, starting to doubt yourself. Akyuu’s situation is so much worse than I could possibly comprehend, she deserves it way more than I do. So many other people deserve it more than I do!

“You don’t need to pity me,” Akyuu suddenly said. Her quiet voice echoed down the stairwell.

You were stunned for a moment. It was as if she read your mind. But it made sense for someone who had practically lived for a thousand years to be able to do that.

Your eyes drifted away to the earthen walls the two of you passed. “It’s… just that I don’t feel like my wish is as worthy as yours is,” you quietly replied. “My wish… is to be able to have that escape to Gensokyo, as a way to get away from the Outside World- to come and go as I want, and spend some of my days here. Meanwhile, you… your wish is to have more days at all . It just feels like my wish, compared to yours, is so selfish…”

Your voice trailed off. Should that even be my wish? There’s a lot more important things I could wish for…

“Don’t doubt yourself. My wish is just as selfish.”

“B-but, you…”

“ I'll be fine.” Akyuu interrupted you. “My memories are passed down to the next generation, and in that sense, I am immortal. My body not being able to last very long, me not being able to spend much time with my friends; all of that is a suitable payment for such immortality. Cheating that contract would be the more selfish thing. ”

You couldn’t come up with a response to that.

Akyuu continued: “So my wish is really no different from your wish. In the same way that you want to spend more time being present in Gensokyo , I want to spend more time in the Gensokyo of the present .

Wishes are selfish in nature. Especially the path towards acquiring it; whether it's through magical means like these cranes, or through more traditional means like working hard to achieve your goals.

So don't back out now. Not when you're so close.”

You nodded. “Yeah. You're right.”

Eventually, you and Akyuu arrived at the end of the stairwell, into a small room filled with various treasures- each one of them centuries-old, no doubt. But in the center of the room was an ornate chest that looked much more decadent than the rest.

It looked pretty tightly shut, too. There was a strange-looking lock on it, which didn’t seem to have a keyhole.

Akyuu went over and touched the lock. All of a sudden, without a key, without even the slightest movement, the chest was unlocked.

“So, this is it…” she said. “This is where we keep the entirety of the original Gensokyo Chronicle… and the cranes.”

“Wait… the original? ” you asked.

“Yes- the one from all those centuries ago , the compilation of all the work of my previous incarnations . The one I consult when I’m working on my part of the chronicle is just a copy- in fact, there’s hundreds of them in circulation, probably. But this… this is the true original. The most valuable treasure in my entire family’s history.”

“Wow…”

“And even besides its history, the Chronicle has been this entire village’s primary way of knowing how to deal with youkai for centuries. We had to keep it safe. So ever since the Chronicle was put in here, there’s been a seal that only lets the children of Miare open it. Times have changed since then, but… yeah.”

Then, Akyuu rummaged through the chest, barely caring about the Chronicle’s structural integrity, which shocked you. Hidden underneath the Gensokyo Chronicle- underneath her family's most valuable treasure- was Akyuu's batch of cranes.

She took them out, handling them with care, before presenting them to you. 

"Here," she said quietly, sounding emotionless.

You were a little stunned. Even though the batch of cranes was right in front of you, even though all you needed to do was grab it, you still couldn't move. It was more difficult than anything you've gone through so far; taking these cranes away from Akyuu.

Taking away a sick person’s lifeline.

Is this what that 1-UP on the dice meant!? Because I’m taking away her extra life!? You wondered.

"Xenoa-san," Akyuu said. Hearing your voice momentarily pulled you out of your spiral. You looked up and saw her bittersweet smile. She was tearing up.

"Don't worry. I'll be fine," she said.

Akyuu choked up, her voice started shaking, and tears began glowing, as she continued: "Grab your wish, and achieve your dreams!"

That last sentence sounded like it's something she always told herself, and less directed at you.

Even though she’d just told you to take the cranes, hearing that made it even more difficult. You knew this was what Akyuu wanted. You knew she’d insist you take them, even if she had to throw them into your hands. You knew you’d worked so hard, and had no time left. But still, it was so hard.

Tick, tock, tick, tock…

“Wait!” you suddenly said. “Everyone with me at the end gets to have a wish, so what if you join us? If you’re there when we get the last cranes-”

“You know I’m too sickly to do that, right? Just… please, take them.”

That stopped you. You realized how disrespectful you were being; how you were forcing her to beg for you to take those cranes over and over, all because of your emotions. None of it was logical on your part. You weren't really trying to find a way. You were just desperately trying to deny the truth, not unlike Akyuu when she was collecting the cranes. Because it was painful for you to have to do this.

But you knew you had to accept reality. Just like Akyuu did.

“Akyuu… thank you,” you said, extending your hand to take the cranes.

All 115 of them flew into your pocket, and the still-inexplicable number in front of you increased to 866 .

You had to force yourself to take them away from Akyuu, even if it was painful. Just like she had to force herself to give them away to you, even if it was painful.

As the cranes finished flying into your pocket, you and Akyuu both stood in silence. You knew there was no going back from this. But deep down, you and Akyuu both knew it needed to be done.

Then, Akyuu pulled herself together and wiped away her tears.

“I… I promise I’ll find a way to repay you for this,” you said. “Thank you so, so much. I’ll forever be in your debt.”

“There’s no need for that. The cranes are free. After all, they’re just pieces of paper, right?” Akyuu said, laughing through the tears, trying her best to smile.

You hugged her, doing your best to comfort her. “Yeah.”

Akyuu hugged you back, letting out all her emotions. You quietly accept it all.

The two of you climbed back up the stairwell and regrouped with everyone else.  By this point, it was already well into the evening.

You wanted to stay a little longer. You wanted to do more for Akyuu. However, you have 30 hours left. You can feel it.

You can feel it ticking away.

Tick, tock, tick, tock…

You needed to get Seija and Nue’s cranes as soon as possible.

The fact that Akyuu had sacrificed her hope just for yours made that even more important. You can’t let it go to waste.

“Xenoa-kun, is there something wrong?” Kogasa asked, appearing out of nowhere

“AAH!” You shouted, jumping back- surprised to see her face so close to yours.

Kogasa giggled. “Thanks for the food, but… Xenoa-kun, you look…a little rough?”

“Huh? What do you mean? I’m okay!” You said. You had to reassure everyone. Otherwise, they’d force you to rest, and you’ll have even less time to get the remaining cranes.

“Xenoa-kun,” Sanae called.

You turned to her. “Yeah? Oh, by the way, Sanae, will you help us get to the underground? That’s where Seija and Nue are, right? The Moriya has some connections with people down there, right?”

Sanae nodded. “Yeah. But first things first, what do we do about Marisa?”

Your eyes widened. That’s right! We still have Marisa and Fulori to deal with! Marisa is still stuck in the mansion, along with most of our belongings, and we’ve antagonized Fulori, too… what do we do? He’s an opportunistic bastard…he might try to take advantage of Marisa’s situation to mess with us and grab victory from the jaws of defeat. Given how skilled and experienced he is, given that he apparently clawed his way out of poverty when he was young, he could still have a backup plan left. We still have to-

“Xenoa-kun!” Kogasa called.

Her voice shocked you out of your thoughts.

“Xenoa-kun, relax!”

You nodded, then took a few deep breaths.

Tick, tock, tick, tock…

You tried to ignore that clock.

“Okay… we’ll figure that out,” you said.

“Xenoa-san.” Akyuu called. You turned to her, and she continued: “It looks like you still have some business to deal with.”

“Y-yeah…”

“I’ll try to help as best I can. For now though, all I can do is give you 3 of my most trusted bodyguards to accompany you back to Fulori’s mansion. Hopefully that should help you safely recover all of your belongings and your friend without incident.”

Now you’re further in debt to Akyuu. “Y-you don’t have to-”

“No,” Akyuu replied, stubborn as always. “You will accept my help. Got it?”

You smiled. “Okay. I promise, I’ll achieve my wish.”

“You better.”

And so you and your group left; to meet up with Fulori in the living room, to go back to Fulori’s mansion. 

But just before you left, Akyuu called out: “Hey Xenoa-san!”

You turned to her. “What is it?”

“One last thing…” Akyuu said as she walked towards you. Her footsteps were light and frail, yet steady and determined. Then, she started giggling as she said, “Now that I gave you the cranes, I’m spared from the trains, right?”

You couldn’t help but start giggling too. “That’s such a terrible joke!”

The two of you laughed as you left.

As you continued walking back, Fulori didn’t say a word- even with the crowd still cheering for him. It was pretty obvious how he was feeling, given what had just happened. And having to go back to the mansion together with Fulori made it so awkward, you, Sanae, and Kogasa were just as silent as him.

The crowd wasn’t, though.

“Way to go, Fulori-san!”

“ Good job, Fulori-san!”

“Keep it up, Fulori-san!”

“The Hieda ain’t gonna keep messing with people now!”

“ Keep showing them what you get for trying to exploit people, Fulori-san! ”

Everyone kept cheering.

Looks like everyone just assumed Fulori ‘won’ the negotiation… You thought to yourself. It made the silence absolutely torturous.

On the other hand, Aya was cheerfully, happily taking pictures of the festival as you walked by. In fact, she seemed to be cheering WITH the crowd. Aya just exposed Fulori as a literal psychopath… this may be a bit too much emotional damage! You thought. Not like there’s any stopping her now…

After a few minutes, you reached the mansion again. You were terrified at what Marisa could’ve possibly been doing while you were gone. For all you knew, the mansion could be completely wrecked by now, but there was nothing you could do. Whatever happened when either Fulori or Marisa opened the door, that would be that.

Fulori stopped in front of the gate, and looked up at the front door. This moment felt like the perfect time to say something, but everyone was afraid to say anything, and Fulori was silent.

“ Open the gate, ” Fulori ordered the maid. Suddenly hearing his voice after that long silence startled everyone a little, sending chills down your spine.

"Yes, Fulori-sama," The maid replied, taking a key from under her skirt and opening the gate with it.

Then, everyone went in. Fulori walked in first the moment his maid started pushing it open. Without waiting for his maid, he went ahead and opened the front door himself; pulling a key from inside his pocket to open it. But when he did, he seemed surprised for a moment.

He'd been keeping up his professional facade all this time despite how clearly angry he was. But it was only in this moment that you noticed real emotion from him.

Namely, he seemed surprised. Because the door was already unlocked.

He opened the door wide, and…

Well… I should’ve seen this coming, you thought.

The decadent yet pragmatic living room, the one that was technically small yet felt big, was in complete and utter disarray. Every piece of furniture was haphazardly thrown to the floor, and all the valuables were completely missing. In fact, even the gold linings in many of the tables and picture frames looked like they were stripped away.

But most shocking were the two maids lying on the floor, completely knocked out, their dresses in tatters. Not to mention, they looked like they were holding some talismans and such.

"What… the hell happened?" Fulori uttered under his breath. It was the first time you've heard Fulori say something unintentionally.

" I HAPPENED !" A voice rang out from above.

Immediately, everyone looked up. Not just you, Fulori, and your group. Everyone, even the bystanders. And everybody saw Marisa; her golden hair shining in front of the darkness of the sky, making her look like a star. Her smirk was brightest of all, overpowering the light of every other star twinkling in the sky.

She was holding a massive sack twice as big as her. Presumably, it contained everything she stole.

"Did you really think keeping my friends at arms’ reach during your little negotiation was going to make me hesitate from doing anything while you're gone?" Marisa shouted from above. "Did you really think that was enough blackmail to stop me?"

Fulori's mouth hung open, yet no words could escape.

"So you know what? I'll just say it to you straight: I HATE YOU SO MUCH I WOULD HAVE TAKEN REVENGE EVEN IF IT'S AT THE COST OF MY FRIENDS!" Marisa shouted.

"Wha-” you reacted. But before you could respond, she continued- dramatically pointing at Fulori.

“ YOU’RE A BRICK! YOU’RE PATHETIC! YOU’RE A LOSER! YOU’RE A PATHOLOGICAL LIAR! YOU’RE A PSYCOPATH! ALL YOU KNOW ARE THE THINGS YOU BUY, YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ELSE! YOU DON’T KNOW HOW PEOPLE ACTUALLY WORK! Oh, you think you’re some big shot, but I don’t think there’s any denying it now! YOU ARE, AND HAVE ALWAYS BEEN, A HOPELESS CLOWN! HAHAHAHA!!!!!!!! ”

The laugh that echoed was a witch’s laugh. “Now, how does it feel to have everything taken away from you? HOW DOES IT FEEL!? ”

Everyone was silent. The passersby were completely stilled; their eyes darting back and forth between Marisa and Fulori.

And Fulori’s fists shook. Finally, a roar came out of his mouth. “GUARDS, CATCH THAT THIEF!”

Everyone was taken aback, including all the bystanders. It seems it was also everyone else’s first time seeing Fulori get so emotional. So it took a while for people to finally start moving and call the guards.

Suddenly, you felt someone grab your arm and yank you up to the sky. You panicked for a moment, then you realized that it was Sanae, helping you up.

Aya and Kogasa flew up too, escaping Fulori’s grasp.

“What about our belongings?” you asked.

Sanae turned back to you. “Marisa probably has them. Right, Marisa?”

You turned to Marisa and saw her wink at you all, casting magic to make a star pop out the moment she winked. It made you smile a little.

The villagers below rushed to get to the nearest guards, and said guards then rushed to get to the nearest guards capable of flying. Most people in the village couldn’t do that, after all.

Marisa continued shouting down: “And…! Since you don’t seem to understand EMOTIONS in the slightest, how about I tell you how I felt when you disowned me? Yeah, I ran away. Yeah, I wanted to pursue magic. SO WHAT? You’re my father…you ‘people’ were my family, damn it! You could have supported me…! Or at least, you could have been mad, or something!”

Marisa’s voice shook. You couldn’t quite tell from the angle whether she was crying or not. “But you didn’t. You just threw me away! The moment you realized I can’t be used for your bullshit family politics, all your care, and all your scolding went away! When I ran away…you didn’t even try to follow me, or ask where I went, or tell me to change my name, or anything! You just disowned me…and that’s it! You didn’t even come to see me. I only learned when I visited the village one day, hahaha…!”

Marisa smiled. She chuckled a little, amid deep breaths created by both fury and fatigue. “And then you dare call me again…and act all chummy with me again…and try to convince me to stay with you again…! Just because you found a use for me…hahaha…! It’s like you completely forgot everything that happened between us hahahaha!”

Marisa then looked back at Fulori, and with a brightly shining smile and eyes burning in infinite determination, she shouted: “…well, F*CK YOU! You disinherited me, so guess what? I’M DISINHERITING YOU! That’s right! GET OUTTA HERE! ”

You and the other spotted flying village guards in the distance; quickly flying towards you.

“S-Sanae, why aren’t we going yet!?” you asked.

“Marisa! Let’s go!” Sanae called.

Marisa continued shouting: “Not just you, Fulori…” Marisa spread her arms wide, “ALL OF YOU! Every time I come to this STUPID village, all of you go ‘disinherited daughter’ this, ‘disinherited daughter’ that. Like it’s my name or something, haha~!”

Marisa then raised her hand and cast a spell, creating a blinding light all around herself. You couldn’t see her, you couldn’t see anything, in fact.

It was so bright, it lit up the entire village from end to end.

All the villagers you could see suddenly stopped and looked at Marisa. Certainly, every villager in the entire village probably stopped and looked at Marisa.

Marisa grinned; her classic, brash, daring grin. And in a booming voice, she spoke: “Well, tonight is the night you'll all remember! The name of the infamous star that pulled off one of the greatest heists in history!”

Marisa struck a theatrical pose, lit up by her spell, amid the dark night sky, like a star brighter than any other. “Listen up! My name is Marisa: the greatest, ordinary human magician! IT IS I WHO STOLE YOUR ATTENTION TONIGHT! MUAHAHAHA!” Marisa laughed a witch's laugh.

Then the bright light she cast waned, letting back the darkness of the night, allowing you to see her again. She turned to you and the others, and adjusted her grip on the massive sack over her shoulders.

“Okay. Let’s dip!” she suddenly said, before immediately flying past you and the others.

“W-wai-” you began, right as you were suddenly yanked away. Sanae, Aya, and Kogasa flew after Marisa, while village guards chased behind you.

Suddenly, huge patterns of star-shaped danmaku exploded from Marisa’s silhouette, raining down on the pursuers, dotting the sky, catching the eyes of all the villagers below as you and the others flew by them.

It was too difficult to dodge for the pursuers. By the time you passed the walls of the village, you had lost all of them.

The moment all of you reached the forest of magic, Marisa threw her hands in the air and cheered. “Success!”

Everyone pumped their fists in the air too, and you sighed in relief. Yet, it didn’t rid you of your anxiety.

Tick, tock, tick, tock…

You knew you only had about 27 hours left- and whatever was coming up next, it was going to be as bad if not worse than this. But at the same time, you needed to rest enough to stand a chance against them .

This was going to be an especially critical decision. After a long time thinking, you finally decided to…

Chapter Text

Tick, tock, tick, tock…

You knew that it was already getting late into the night, and you knew you had about 27 hours left- meaning you had only one active day of time to get to Seija and Nue, as well as secure all the cranes. But at the same time, you knew that you’d collapse if you didn’t do anything. This was one of the toughest decisions you’d faced. Even as you and the others landed at Marisa’s house, you still wavered between your options.

“Alright, here we are!” Marisa said, hopping down her broom. She put the sack down. “Your belongings are all here. You’re welcome~”

“Thanks!” Sanae said, rummaging through it with everyone else. Meanwhile, Aya watched, taking pictures. Marisa lunged into the sack herself, pulling out an bottle.

“Hey, check out what I ‘borrowed’ back at Fulori’s! Looks like aged wine of some kind. Perfect for our celebration!”

Everyone brightened up, crowding around the bottle. Everyone, except you.

The entire time, your hands were placed on your chin, mind wandering elsewhere. The ticking clock in your head made it so. …and if we go directly, it’s going to take up a bit of energy, but we can at least get somewhere before we find a place to stay… and speaking of…

“...Xenoa?”

“O-oh…what is it? Sorry- I was just considering our options,” you explained. “I think we might have to go now, if we want to stand a chance. We don’t have too much time to get there, let alone beat those two…”

“You sure? You really don’t want to stay behind, celebrate a little, and get refreshed for what’s ahead?”

“We can’t.”

Tick, tock, tick, tock…

The clock rang in your head. Everyone went silent.

“Xenoa, are you okay?” Sanae asked, her voice made quiet by worry.

“I get it,” Marisa said, cutting through the silence. Everyone turned to her. “Sometimes… you can’t get something without pushing yourself.”

Sanae stepped forward. “B-but…”

Marisa suddenly thrusted her fist to you, then revealed a toothy smile. “Go get ‘em.”

You couldn’t help but smile too. “Thanks, Marisa.”

Sanae closed her eyes and sighed. “Alright. We’ll go soon, then. Will you come with us though, Marisa-san?”

“Nope~” Marisa replied, playfully putting her tongue out.”

“So that’s why you’re fine with us not resting. You get to rest either way!”

“Hehehe~”

You walked over to Marisa, then bowed. “Thank you so much for helping us, Marisa-san! You even…you even confronted your father just for us and everything!”

Marisa chuckled again. “Don’t worry about it. Didn’t I just tell you? There are certain things you can’t get without pushing yourself. That applies physically, and emotionally. In my case, what I wanted was revenge~”

Marisa smirked, playfully showing her thin biceps.

Soon, you and the others flew out. Your next task: find Nue and Seija in the underground.

It was cold, flying through the night. It was uncomfortable, but it helped you stay awake.

"You okay back there?" Sanae asked.

You tightened your grip. "Y-yeah... Just a little embarassing, getting carried on your back like this..."

Sanae adjusted her grip on your legs. "Well if that's all, then we're okay~!" she said, "Get ready, though. We're about to reach the entrance to the underground.

"The entrance?"

*Come to think of it...I never asked how we're gonna get to the underground.* You furrowed your brows, sifting through your knowledge of Touhou. *That's right...we go through-*

"There it is!" Sanae said, pointing down. You carefully take a peek. There, jutting through the side of the Youkai mountain, was what looked like a gash through the forest; a hole that, quite literally, led to hell.

You immediately looked back up again. You were very high up, after all. It almost made you dizzy, but you were getting used to it.

It helped that the sounds of Aya's camera shutters kept reminding you of your embarrassing position; she kept taking pictures of you. "A-Aya-san..."

"Oh? Don't worry, I'm not gonna use this for anything. Promise."

Your brows furrowed. You 100% doubted her.

Aya continued: "I had a lot of fun. To be honest, I was just hanging around you since it seemed like the best way of getting scoops for this incident. But I ended up having a lot of fun. So..."

The way you acted with Fulori and Akyuu suggested otherwise. But… you thought. You now only 90% doubted her.

Eventually, you and the others reached the mouth of the hole.

You were all still high up above it, but even here, you could *feel* the wind gushing up from it, taking away the chill of the night, replacing it with unnatural warmth.

Warmth from hell.

"Here we are," Sanae said. "The Fantastic Blowhole."

Kogasa looked around, inspecting the place. The hole itself looked terrifying, and she was taking notes. "Maybe my umbrella mouth can mimic that..." she muttered to herself.

Meanwhile, Aya's eyes widened. "Sanae-san, why are we using this entrance and not your shrine's?"

The Moriya Shrine has its own entrance to the underground...? You thought. Wait, right. I remember.

"Well...this is closer. Plus, we're gonna be asking around the Old Capital, right? Our entrance goes straight to the Nuclear Furnace in the Hell of Blazing Fires, a level below the Old Capital. This is a more direct route," Sanae said as she slowly descended down.

Aya's shoulders drooped a little. "Alright..."

Was she expecting a scoop about the Moriya Shrine? you wondered. You now 95% doubted her words earlier.

"Anyways," Sanae said, turning to you, "Xenoa-san, are you ready?"

You looked at the Fantastic Blowhole again. Should you reach into hell just for a wish?

Tick, tock, tick, tock...

You nodded. "I'm ready. Let's get going. We don't have much time."

"Aye-aye!" Kogasa said. So did Aya.

Sanae turned back to the hole. "Alright, let's go!"

The moment you entered, all light disappeared. Wrapped in darkness, you could only feel your surroundings.

Perhaps it was because of that, that the entire group was relatively quiet for the journey.

That is, until Sanae spoke up.

“You know… it feels weird now that we’re really at the end of our journey,” she noted. “Just a few days ago, there were cranes everywhere, and now… they’re all in here. Every last one we still need to get.”

It was true: in stark contrast to when you first arrived, there weren’t any flying cranes to get anymore. This really was it.

“Speaking of the cranes, we should probably start coming up with a plan on how we could defeat Nue and Seija,” you replied. “What… what can those two even do?”

Everything went silent again for a moment.

“Anything, really. Remember what Mamizou did during that battle? I’ve only heard about how much trouble they can cause, but we’re going to have to identify things that are literally unidentifiable.”

“Ah. Right.”

“And if we have to deal with the Miracle Mallet… we may need more than one try to beat those two.”

“The Miracle Mallet?”

“...I don’t want to think about those two could use it for. If they have it, I’m getting Reimu to help us, because there is no hope for us otherwise.” Sanae’s tone suddenly became more serious. “And even for her, I heard the Mallet was able to take over her weapon- there’s really not much we can do.”

Again, silence filled the surroundings for a moment.

“...not like Seija and Nue could ever get their hands on it again, right?” Aya asked.

“Right…” Sanae replied, “it looks like we can't really plan for them. They're like, the most unpredictable youkai joining forces…”

“Well, there's no point in worrying. We'll figure something out,” you declared. “Ori definitely made sure this was possible.”

After falling for what felt like forever, you finally found the ground, reaching the so-called 'deep road to hell', a cave that supposedly leads to the Old Capital.

That's what Sanae and Aya said, at least. You couldn't see anything, so all you could do is continue hanging on to Sanae, and continue fighting to keep your eyes open, even when surrounded by complete darkness.

Kogasa startling you from the dark over and over did help quite a bit, though. The two of you giggled after each attempt. It was fun, even if you couldn't see her adorable face.

However, slowly, you were starting to see her face again. There was light; emanating from somewhere you didn't know, allowing your eyes to see, even if only a little bit.

You would soon find out where it came from, though.

After weaving through the caves for a while, you eventually found its exit: glowing, a literal light at the end of the tunnel. It captured your eyes, making you and Kogasa turn away from each other.

And when you exited, the beauty of the former underworld of pain and suffering made your jaw drop with its beauty.

Twinkling lights, looking like stars, flooded a massive cavern below, making what would have been a dark underground as beautiful as it could possibly be.

Meanwhile, thousands of stone cherries gently fell from the ceiling, covering the air, looking just like real cherry blossoms.

Everyone's breaths were taken away.

"Geez… it never gets old!" Sanae said, "I love hell!"

It was a truly weird sentence, and what was even weirder was that you couldn't help but agree.

"Anyway!" Aya flew in front of you all, her black feathered wings silhouetted by the endless flood of lights. "How are we going to handle this? How do we find Seija and Nue?"

Tick, tock, tick, tock…

Aya's words, ringing out amid the clock ticking in your head, pulled you back to reality.

Sanae replied to Aya, "Well, we ask around, yes?"

Aya smiled, nodded. "True, that is the most obvious thing to do right now. But think about it… is that actually a good idea?"

"Oh! Oh! I know!" Kogasa suddenly spoke out, raising her hand, startling you a little, "It's because… it ruins our element of surprise!"

Aya snapped her fingers. "That's right! If we just start asking around, and rumors about us spread, then they'll know that we're here. They can make countermeasures, or worse yet, run away. Then we won't know where they are."

You all nodded along. Aya was completely right. "So we should do this stealthily, right?"

"That, too. We can ask people who we trust. But I had a different plan in mind."

"Which is?"

"We spread a completely different type of rumor, one that will bring Seija and Nue to us instead."

Of course she wanted to spread fake news again… you thought, Still, it's a sound plan. It's a sound plan, but...

Tick, tock, tick, tock…

…I’m not gonna like it.

"Alright," you nodded. "But we should also still look around. Who knows if they’re gonna come to us in time?"

"Sounds good!" Aya replied.

You nodded tentatively. Sounds kind of dangerous to leave her to make fake news again...I think she's learned her lesson from almost getting taken advantage of by Fulori.

"Alright! Let's do that thing!" Kogasa shouted, "The thing where we place our hands atop each other!"

"Oh! Right!" Sanae replied, stretching her hand forward. Aya followed suit, placing her hand above Sanae's. Then, Kogasa slammed her hand on Aya's, startling you a little.

Finally, you placed your hand above theirs. The lights from the Old Capital below shone through the gaps between your fingers.

You placed your trust in them. They trusted you too.

"Alright everyone," Sanae said, "Three, two, one..."

"Fight!" everyone shouted.

Kogasa and Aya flew away, leaving you and Sanae to figure out what to do.

You decided to stick with her. After all, staying alone in a place full of oni and vengeful spirits was practically suicide without flight- even with your danmaku.

"I know some people here. We can trust them," Sanae said, as the two of you descended into the vibrant lights.

You jumped off Sanae’s back as she landed on the street. Finally, you could move on your own. "Alright. Let's go!"

And so the two of you started asking around, weaving through the busy streets. There weren't particularly that many people here, though. What made it busy was the rowdiness.

The city's population seemed to consist almost entirely of Oni. Brawls, drinking parties, and brawls in the middle of drinking parties littered the streets. You couldn't image how chaotic it was inside the buildings, especially in the hundreds of bars that seemed to line every street.

It was loud. Really, really loud. It made it hard to think, and you felt a little delirious.

Besides that, a certain warmth was also in the air.

"This place is also famous for their hot springs," Sanae said. "I think we should check them out. There's a good chance that Seija and Nue probably stayed in one of the hot springs. Plus, me, Kanako-sama, and Suwako-sama occasionally go here for vacation. So the workers know me, and I know them. We can trust them."

You nod. All you could do was nod.

You could barely keep yourself walking straight. In fact, you could barely keep yourself seeing straight. Cranes were appearing where stone cherries should’ve been, stone cherries were appearing where dust should’ve been- it was like your grip on reality was fading.

"Do you see what I'm seeing, Sanae?" you asked. “There’s all sorts of things where they shouldn’t be…”

She shook her head. "A-are you okay, Xenoa-kun?"

"Yes! I'm fine!" you replied, "A-anyway… if I'm the only one seeing them, then that means I'm being targeted... Crap, they might already be onto us."

Sanae nodded. "Well... we'll keep that in mind, then. I'll protect you, don't worry."

You and Sanae started asking around different hot spring places. None of them had seen Seija or Nue enter their premises.

In general, everyone just talked about the incident that happened here recently; when everyone started seeing random things in place of the falling stone cherries.

Everything they said all blended together. In general, you found it difficult to really process what they were saying.

And every time you two visited yet another hot spring resort, it became even more difficult to just listen to anything.

"Xenoa-kun?"

"Y-yes?" you turned to Sanae, your half-lidded eyes fought to stay open.

"Are you okay? If you need rest, just tell me. These hot spring hotels are a perfect place for tha-"

"No."

Tick, tock, tick, tock…

"I can't rest… we don't have time...!"

Sanae's brows furrowed. "Okay. Something feels off, so… just tell me if you need to rest, okay?"

You nodded, trying to act energetic.

Then-

"Xenoa-kun? Xenoa-kun?"

Sanae's muffled voice called. You struggled to open your eyes- but eventually, they did flutter open. And you saw a wooden ceiling, the type of ceiling you'd see in this underworld's hot spring hotels.

Then, you turned to your side. Sanae was there, sitting next to your futon, looking at you. Her eyes widened. "Thank goodness! You're awake!"

"...huh? What happened?"

Tick, tock, tick, tock…

It had been 18 hours since your last memory. 8 hours left.

You immediately sat up. "W-what's going on!?"

"Xenoa-kun! Relax! You can't strain yourself!"

"B-but-"

"Relax! You literally passed out!"

Your mouth hung. You understood the moment you felt that clock tell you the time. In fact, the moment you realized you passed out, you immediately realized why you were seeing things.

You were hallucinating.

It had nothing to do with Seija or Nue,

Already, you were grieving the hours you lost. You didn't believe it at first, but it was hard to deny. Why...I'm such an idiot! I was clearly too tired! I should've just rested! You thought to yourself. I'M SUCH AN IDIOT! AAARGH!

No…no calm down! There's no way to undo my losses. I need to think about the cranes! 10 hours is still quite a bit. Ori gave us a way, you thought. Now. We just have to-

Then, your vision started blurring. Your heart started feeling like it would burst out of your chest, pumping a low drum inside your ears. It started getting difficult to breathe.

"Xenoa-kun!" Sanae suddenly hugged you.

The warmth took you out of your stressful thoughts, back to reality.

Sanae continued, "Calm down, please! Take deep breaths... You… you look like you're about to get a heart attack!"

You did as you were told. Your heart started to calm down.

A heart attack: that could've killed you. The terror washed over your body. But, miraculously, it seemed to have subsided.

"Thank you, Sanae.”

Sanae drew away. "Are you sure?"

You took a deep breath. "Yes."

Sanae, too, took a deep breath. "Okay. Good."

As you regained your composure, you noticed a mysterious piece of paper right next to the door. You were pretty sure neither of you had placed it there- not like you could’ve done so anyway, being unconscious and all.

“Did anyone send you a letter of some sorts while I was out?” you asked Sanae.

“No? Weird… Let me see.”

Sanae picked up the piece of paper and began reading to herself. You watched as her expression gradually grew more and more concerned the more she read.

“Sanae? You okay?”

“Xenoa… we’re in trouble. They… they’ve taken Aya and Kogasa hostage.”

You instantly froze in horror. Whatever you were expecting, this was worse. And from Sanae’s expression, you could tell she was serious.

“No… let me see,” you said as she handed you the paper.

It was exactly as she’d claimed. And with only a bit of time left, you had one- maybe, two chances at confronting Seija and Nue. Whatever was about to happen, it would be the hardest challenge you’d faced.

This was not a confrontation you could afford to take lightly- but you knew what to do. Above all, you needed to…