Monday, January 25, 2010

One Random Sukima 30

Morning in Gensokyo. 3 days have passed since that terrible battle at the Moriya Shrine. The shrine grounds have finally been restored, saplings replacing the trees that once stood tall on the shrine; Suwako has been blessing them regularly to speed up their growth. Though still mad, Sanae now acknowledges the goddesses, occasionally tossing a quick smile their way and answering with a quick “hmm” at them. Slowly, everything seems to be settling down and returning to normal... or at least as normal as life in Gensokyo gets. However, this is not the case for Ail. For the past 3 days and nights nobody has seen or heard from him, save for Kyo, Maribel and Byakuren, who have received visits from Budou, telling them Ail is alright, although unknown to her, his heart and mind aren’t healing at all. Ail is spending his days locked up inside his house, not even going to Eirin’s clinic for the follow-up check-ups for that arm of his, which is still encased safely inside the large cast. Though he smiles at Budou and tells her that he is well, inside he can’t feel any type of emotion in his heart, and his mind only makes things worse as any sign of recovery to his heart immediately triggers the painful memory of Sanae’s hate-filled glare after she looked into Kanako’s mirror. Those names... whenever they course through his mind, he grips his hair and tires to pull his own head apart, thankfully failing every time. On the night of that third day, Budou approaches Ail as he reads a small brown book while sitting on the living room’s couch, then says “papa, can I go with Chen to the village tomorrow?” Ail forces a smile and says “well of course. Don’t mind me, I’ll be here all day so I’ll be ok.” Budou pouts and looks to the floor, fidgeting with her hands and saying “why don’t you come with us? Everyone is worried about you. Even large brother.” Ail sweats after hearing Budou’s offer to go out, feeling fear coursing through his entire body, but he hides these feelings and forces another smile at Budou, then says “n-no, I think I better stay. B-besides, I might slow you two down.” Budou lowers her wings in disappointment, then sighs and says “ok papa. Well, are you sure you’re going to be ok on your own? We might be gone for long.” Ail fakes yet another smile and says “Don’t you worry about me, I can manage on my own. You just go and enjoy yourselves as much as you want.” Budou smiles and lightly hugs Ail and say “thanks papa. I better go sleep then. *yawn* I’m feeling a little tired. Good night.” Ail pats her head and gives her a light kiss on the head and says “good night.” Budou flies to the ceiling, kicking off the fluffy sandals she’s wearing, then clings upside down, covering herself with her wings and quickly falling asleep after a big yawn. Ail continues reading the small book in his hand and shortly after, decides to go to sleep as well.

On the morning of the fourth day, there is a knock on the door of Ail’s house and Chen’s call “Budou, are you there? It’s me, Chen!”. Budou immediately says “coming~!” and quickly opens the door after swooping down from the ceiling. Giggling, Chen and Budou greet with a hug and a few quick jumps, then Budou whispers “so how did you convince lady nine-tails to let you come?” Chen proudly sticks out her chest and says “we of the feline family never give up. If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again!” Budou looks at Chen with a suspicious look and a smirk, then asks “you told her you’d escape and never return, didn’t you?” Chen giggles and quickly replies “yup. So, are we going to the village now?” Budou smiles and nods, then says “oh, just a second.” She heads to the storage room, where Ail rummages through a few books, then says “papa, we’re heading out now. Are you sure you don’t want to come?” Ail fakes a smile and says “I’m sorry, but I’m looking for something important, so I’ll be here all day. You two have fun, you hear?” Budou gives Ail a light hug and says “alright. See you later papa!” Ail listens as the girls excitedly giggle and run outside, talking about the fun they are about to have at the village. After the door slams shut Ail shouts “don’t forget to look the door~! ...Budou?” He continues to rummage through books after shrugging, muttering to himself while doing so, then hears the door opening again. While still looking through the books he shouts “Budou, is that you?” From outside, just before the door closes, an arm covered by a sleeve in white and blue pulls the door close. There is only silence inside the house afterward, then a few birds fly away from a nearby tree after there’s a loud bang from inside the house, and Ail’s voice growling “stupid book!” Meanwhile, at the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu is helping Rika train, the hard way, after Rika accidentally tripped on her own foot, landed inside the broom closet, knocked down all the brooms and mops, and sent a broom flying to the kitchen, knocking down countless pots and pans, waking up her mistress long before her usual waking hours. Rika, who’s face if full of burn marks, as well as her tattered clothes, holds her thunder sword in hand, staring bravely into the eyes of Reimu, who simply smirks and casually says “you’re never going to get close to me like that.” Rika growls and stares with determination, then disappears. Reimu yawns loud wide and tosses a large amulet on the ground to her left, shocking Rika as soon as she reappears, ready to attack. Rika’s body sizzles as grey steam clouds rise to the atmosphere, then she coughs and says “alright, I give up. I’ll skip training for the next 3 days and keep everyone around here quiet while you sleep.” With a triumphant smile, Reimu helps Rika up and says “well then, I expect long sleeps all through these morn...” Reimu suddenly narrows her eyes and turns her head toward the Forest of Magic, then smirks. Worried, Rika asks “my lady, what is it?” Reimu sighs and says “the last one has finally revealed herself.” Rika excitedly gasps and says “alright! Let’s go and hunt her down, miss Reimu!” Reimu raises her hand and says “that won’t be necessary.” Disappointed, Rika slumps and says “aww! And I really wanted to help my lady Reimu too!” Reimu chuckles, pats Rika’s head, then says “come on, let’s prepare some tea and take a soak in the hot springs.” Rika’s face turns bright red as she holds her cheeks and with great excitement she shouts “right away, my lady!!”

At the Human Village, Chen and Budou spend some time at the village’s market, browsing around and buying a few things for themselves, like sweets for Chen and grapes for Budou, fried tofu for Ran, and a Nitori-brand solar-powered toaster for Ail. After some joyful browsing and shopping, they decide to go and visit Kyo and Maribel’s houses. The cast-free Kyo is outside his house, doing some morning stretching along with Medicine, while Luna watches from the house’s porch and shouting instructions at them. They ignore her and continue their routine, and from the distance Budou shouts “miss Luna, miss Medicine, large brother~!” Kyo grinds his teeth and through them he says “I’m going on a diet!” After Luna and Medicine greet the two girls, Budou notices Kyo and asks “large brother, are you alright?” Kyo is sitting on the ground, desperately doing sit-ups and repeating to himself “not large, not large, not large.” Luna smiles at Budou and says “don’t mind him. He’s just being paranoid.” Somehow, Kyo now stands at Luna’s left and with an angry smile he says “well, why don’t I call you ‘lady pooch’ and see how you like it!?” Kyo receives a well-placed and well-earned elbow to his gut, making him groan in pain, however he hides this by staring seriously to his left. Chen asks “mister Kyo, are you alright?” Out of breath, Kyo replies “yeah... just stretching.” Medicine looks toward the roof of their neighbors and spots a shadow with nine tails, staring back at her with a glint on her eyes, sending chills down the doll’s entire body. Medicine trembles as she points at the shadow and asks “w-what is that?” When Chen and the others turn to look, the shadow disappears. Kyo narrows his eyes and asks “Chen, where’s Ran?” Chen sighs and says “she almost didn’t let me come, but she should be at home right now.” Kyo smirks and says “I see.” At the other side of the neighbors’ house, Ran hangs on to the edge of the roof, hoping not to fall down too hard, while the family stares at her curiously from inside the house. Kyo accompanies Chen and Budou as they head to Maribel and Renko’s. While on the way, Kyo asks “so how’s Ail? Is he doing alright?” Budou sighs and says “he doesn’t want to come out anymore. All he’s doing is looking through books.” Kyo thinks and says “hmm... that sounds familiar.” At the SDM’s library, Patchouli sneezes into her cup of tea, spilling it all over herself. Koakuma smiles while sweating and says “oh my. I’ll got some towels and your thermometer.” Koakuma slowly flies away, happily humming to herself, but Patchouli startles her by quickly shouting “mukyu~!! Not the thermometer!” Back at the village, as soon as Kyo, Chen and Budou arrive to the girls’ house, Maribel, bearing her cat ears and tail, comes out of the house with a watering can, and Mima hovering behind her with many hearts popping from around her head. Immediately spotting the small party, Maribel smiles and waves at them, welcoming them to her finished house and shouting “what a nice surprise! Please, please, come inside!”.

Inside the house, Renko sits half-awake under the kotatsu. Her hair is a complete mess and she continues to mumble incoherently. Maribel giggles and says “don’t mind her. She spent all night studying one of miss Patchouli’s books.” Budou smiles and says “as expected from bookworm 2! Never stop studying!” Renko manages to smile and mumble “tha~ thanks... Budou... zzz” After serving them tea, Kyo says “well, I’m here to install that window bench you wanted.” The hearts around Mima suddenly increase after Maribel claps softly, waves her tail, wiggles her cat ears and excitedly says “yay~! Thank you so much! Umm...” Maribel stares at Budou and Chen, hesitant to ask about Ail, but Budou notices and sadly says “papa didn’t want to come. He’s looking for something, but I think that’s just an excuse. He seems so sad lately. He smiles at me a lot, but it’s not like before.” Mima snaps out of her trip and says “huh? What was that? Sad? He seems to be very happy right now.” Kyo suspiciously asks “and how do you know?” Mima lifts her finger while saying “remember, I made a small connection to his mind. I WAS going to close it, but he says that would be a bad idea so...” Excitedly, Budou bangs her hands on the table and asks “is papa really happy!?” Mima stares a little surprised at Budou, but smiles again and says “why of course. It’s just like when he was with that green maiden before.” Budou exclaims “Chen! Mama and papa are back together!” Chen smiles back and says “maybe we should go check!” Budou grabs Chen’s hands and while jumping and laughing she says “yes, let’s go now and check!” Before they leave, Phredia pops out from under Budou’s hair and stares at the two jumping girls from a safe distance, or at least she thought she was safe. Budou suddenly flaps her wings and knocks Phredia toward Mima’s head, knocking the spirit’s head off and sending it on a roll outside, making the villagers yelp in surprise as she smiles and shouts “wait! Ouch! Get out of the way! Can’t you see I’m on a roll!?” Mima’s body goes right through the house’s wall and quickly chases after the rolling head, making more villagers scream in horror. From inside, even Renko wakes up and places her full attention at Mima’s fun-filled roll. Kyo sweats and says “if you need me, I’ll be working on that window bench.” After leaving Maribel’s house Budou and Chen fly as fast as they can just above the trees of the Forest of Magic, hoping to reach Ail’s home quickly. They are joined by Tokiko, who happens to be flying by and asks “what with all the rush?” Budou exclaims “Tokiko! It’s my papa! He and mama are back together!” Chen drools while staring at Tokiko with her wide and hungry cat-eyes and slurps before saying in an unsettling tone of voice “we... we’re going to check it out. Um, wanna join in?” Tokiko sweats, sensing danger coming from Chen, and says “err, no, I think I better head back home now. Um... see you around Budou... err, Chen.” Sweating, Tokiko flies away as fast as her wings can take her. Budou looks at Chen, who has just recovered her normal face and asks “eh? She looked so nervous. What do you suppose happened?” Chen drools a little, but smiles and quickly says “maybe she needed to use the bathroom.” Immediately after landing in front of the house, Budou stops, drops Ail’s gift, and takes two steps away, then Phredia hurries out of hiding and gets in front of her. Chen lands in front of Budou and Phredia and excitedly rushes to the house, quickly reaching for the doorknob and shouting “come on Budou! Let’s go inside!” Budou jumps on Chen, shouting “NO~! Don’t touch that!!” For that instance when she reaches for the doorknob, she notices a purple flame surrounding the entire house and reaching for her. Budou manages to pull Chen away in time while Phredia protects them from the purple flames as they get away. Breathing rapidly Chen asks “what is THAT!?” Budou trembles and says “we need big sis and gramma! Mama and papa are in danger! Let’s go!” Budou quickly flaps her wings and lifts to the air, followed quickly by Phredia, then Chen, who shouts “wait, Budou! What’s going on?” After the girls leave, Ran reveals herself in front of the door and stares at the house. She lets out a sigh of relief, then says “I better let Reimu know.”

At the Moriya Shrine, Suwako is already working on blessing the new trees, having already managed to make them grow to young trees already. Kanako walks out of the shrine with a mug on her hands, looking somberly with a bed-head as Suwako sits like a frog next to one of the young trees and continues to chant in front of it. To a human, it would seem like she’s doing nothing, but Kanako can see a yellow aura that comes from Suwako and surrounds the tree, helping it grow. Kanako somberly approaches Suwako and sounding a little groggy she asks “have you seen Sanae this morning?” Suwako stops her chanting and slowly opens her eyes, then after standing up straight she says “well this is odd. You’re actually awake so early? Good morning!” Kanako quietly stares back with a sleepy face, making Suwako laugh and says “sorry, sorry, hahah. She’s in her room right now. Why?” Kanako places her left hand on the left side of her head and says “had this terrible dream just now.” Pyonta moves it’s eyes to look behind, then Suwako turns her head toward the shrine’s gate. Kanako asks “something wrong?” Suwako whispers “Budou?” Kanako stares at Suwako curiously, then quickly turns her head above the shrine’s gate, watching as the two small silhouettes in the sky grow closer, revealing Budou, Phredia and Chen hurrying to the shrine looking frightened and in need of help. Budou spots the goddesses and shouts “gramma~ Big sister~!” Both goddesses’ faces turn blue when seeing Budou and Chen so unsettled. They think that the worst has happened to Ail, and as soon as the two girls and the fairy land, Kanako and Suwako rush to them and worriedly Kanako asks “Budou, Chen, what’s wrong? Why those faces!?” Budou whimpers for a moment, then takes a deep breath and says “papa and mama are in danger!” Suwako immediately turns to Kanako and asks “Kanako, what did you dream about?” Kanako trembles a bit before gulping and saying “we found Ail, Budou and Sanae lying dead inside his house.” Budou says “huh!? But I’m here! Look, there’s this big purple fire covering the house. It tired to eat Chen!” Chen nods and says “it’s true! I saw it!” Phredia excitedly flies in circles, edging everyone to hurry up and head to Ail’s home. Suwako says “wait, but Sanae’s in her room, I saw her entering it earlier!” Budou looks to the shrine, then smiles, gasps and shouts “MAMA~!!” She rushes to the surprised Sanae, who is only able to ask “Budou?” before she’s hug-tackled to the floor inside the shrine. Sanae giggles and hugs Budou back, saying “Budou, I haven’t seen you in 4 days! Where have you been? Ho..how is Ail?” Budou gasps and says “wait, but if mama is here...?” Chen quickly says “Mima said you were with him!” As Sanae gets back up, Phredia flies to Budou and shakes her little head left and right, then Budou thinks for a moment, saying “hmm, not exactly. Now that I remember it, she said that he was as happy as when he was with mama before.” Sanae asks “alright, what’s going on? What happened now?” Kanako fully wakes up and shouts “Sanae, get your charms and amulets. We’re going to Ail’s house. Chen, Budou, you go to the...” Budou quickly flaps her wings and shouts “NO WAY! I’m helping papa this time!” Chen walks next to Budou and Sanae and says “and we’re not taking ‘no’ for an answer.” Suwako smiles and sighs in defeat, then says “you two lead the way then.” Kanako says “this could get dangerous.” Sanae walks out of the house, holding some charms on her hands and placing them inside her sleeves and says “these two will be fine. Now let’s go!” As they fly by the Youkai Forest, Sanae recognizes the spot where she was sitting when the incident with the mirror happened. She says “just a second!” then lands near the log she was sitting on before and looks around, saying to herself “let’s see... I threw it over here.” She gets surprised when she turns around and finds Kogasa holding Sanae’s gohei and smiling with her tongue sticking out and saying “are you looking for this, nee-san?”

Ran arrives to the Hakurei Shrine and finds Reimu and Rika having a peaceful soak inside the hot springs. Ran approaches them and says “of all the lazy- Reimu, there’s an incident. We need you!” After taking a small sip from a tiny cup Reimu casually says “if you’re referring to Ail’s house, you’ll be glad to know it’s already being taken care of.” Ran asks “wait, if you already know, why are you...?” Ran looks further in to the hot spring and spots Yukari, Youmu, and an unsettled Yuyuko, who says “I don’t care, Yukari. I want to save him!” Yukari smiles and calmly says “ara~ Just enjoy the soak. You’ll see, this will all be solved before we are done here.” Shocked, Ran says “lady Yukari! So THIS is where you’ve been!” Yukari flaps her hand toward Ran and says “don’t be a worry-wart and come join us!” Ran looks away and says “n-no thanks! If any of you haven’t noticed, there’s a friend in need of help!” Yukari and Reimu look at each other, then nod. In a serious tone of voice, Reimu says “as much as we may want to help, if we interfere with him, the yama will have all our heads.” Ran sighs and asks “then what are we supposed to do about this?” Yukari says “come on in, Ran. Relax. I promise you, and you too Yuyuko, that this incident will be resolved.” Ran sighs in defeat and asks “then what about Chen?” Reimu exclaims “so Chen’s with them? Perfect!” Yukari adds “she’ll be perfect!” Ran loses her patience and waves a fist at them while shouting “FINE! You can all stay in there if you want, I’m GOING to help them and keep Chen safe!” Just as she storms away, Yukari opens a gap right under her foot, making Ran fall into the hot spring water. Ran lifts herself from under the water and after spitting out water she angrily shouts “HEY! I have my clothes on! What’s the big idea!?” Yuyuko places a hand on Ran’s shoulders and points to her own clothes, hanging from a branch as they slowly dry up, then says “It’s no use. I already tried.” Ran sighs again and says “fine... I guess I’ll hang these up to dry.” Yukari smiles and says “that’s a good girl. Now you two just relax and enjoy the soak. Everything will be alright.” Youmu and Rika sit next to each other, both with their cheeks bright red and smiling as they sink deeper into the water. Meanwhile, at Marisa’s house, Yuki laughs maniacally as she shoots beams of fire all over Marisa’s new basement, lighting up 6 torches and illuminating the otherwise dark room. Marisa and Mai get up from the ground as soon as Yuki is done, Marisa says “you didn’t have to go that crazy, ze.” Yuki smiles and says “well, I haven’t had a good fight in a while, so I kinda needed to do that.” Annoyed, Mai says “if you want a fight, I can arrange one for you!” Yuki smiles and rests her head on her arms as she stretches them behind herself, then says “it’s ok. I’m good now. But Marisa, what’s with all these magic symbols, equations and calculations?” Marisa smiles nervously and says “oh, that? I didn’t want this place to look too boring.” Mai looks suspiciously at Marisa and says “hmm... and what about that drawing of a door. Looks like some kind of portal opening to me.” Marisa nervously pulls out two thick stacks of money and says “well, here’s what I promised you! Thanks for ALL your help. I can take it from here. Don’t be strangers!” As she says this, she pushes the two witches out of the house, and before they can even say “bye” Marisa’s already closing her door. Yuki stares at Mai and says “well... what should we buy with this?” Mai looks suspiciously at Marisa’s house, then says “something strange about that girl...” Yuki smiles and smacks Mai’s back and says “aww, she just wants some alone time! Come on, let’s go home. Yumeko is probably missing us.” As they fly away, Mai says “well, I think I’ll go on a vacation away from you.” Yuki playfully asks “can I come?” Mai replies “no, no. That would defeat the purpose.”

Chen and Budou are the first to land next to Ail’s house, followed promptly by Kanako, Suwako and Sanae. Budou points to the house and says “see? Purple flames!” Kanako opens her mouth as her face turns purple, while Suwako’s face turns as pale as a ghost’s. Sanae can only see a small purple aura, so she says “is this it? We can take it out easily!” Sanae approaches the house and pulls out a few charms, unaware that the purple flames stretch out a long arm that rushes toward her. Suwako throws an iron ring toward it, making it disappear, then shout “Place three on the door!” Sanae grabs three pink charms and tosses them with great skill at the door, two of them sticking on horizontally, while the one above lands vertically. Kanako begins a chant, then Suwako jumps to her right, shapes both hands into a triangle, and as soon as Kanako finishes her chant, a white blob jumps to the sky, then lands on Suwako’s hands, then a white beam with thin green beams twirling around it rush from Suwako’s hands as she blows air through the triangle shape she made with her hands. The beam strikes hard against the door, striking right in between the horizontal and vertical charms, destroying the purple flame almost instantly. Kanako takes a deep breath and says “get ready everyone. I feel a great force inside.” Sanae bravely nods and Suwako says “Chen, Budou, you stay close to us, and if it seems we’re going to lose, you get help, understand!?” Budou and Chen obediently nod, then follow after the three goddesses as they approach the door.

Inside the house, though the curtains are wide open, and the sun outside shines bright, everything looks dim. Something is blocking the light from entering the house, giving the inside an eerie atmosphere. Kanako is the first to enter and immediately says “I want you all on high alert. Any movement and you SHOOT! I don’t care what it is, you SHOOT!” From the dark corridor, a woman with Sanae’s voice says “oh, that won’t be necessary. You’ll only find peace and quiet in here.” The last shadow reveals herself, surprising the goddesses and the two girls. Phredia flies above Budou and places a shielding spell on her and Chen, while Budou stares at the shadow and the real Sanae, and asks “m-mama? Two mama Sannys?” Sanae’s shadow looks exactly like Sanae; same shoes, same clothes, same eyes, same hair-length and color; the only difference that Budou and Chen can see is the wicked look in S-Sanae’s smiling face. Kanako, Suwako and Sanae can see a purple aura that surrounds the shadow, but only Suwako notices some instances when her aura turns blood-red. Suwako trembles as she points at the shadow and says “so you’re the one. You’re the one that made Ail get so out of control!” Kanako gasps and immediately prepares a green orb for the shadow, shouting “do you have any idea the mess you made!?” S-Sanae giggles and says “why of course! Thank you for noticing!” The real Sanae’s face twists as her own rage rises, gripping her gohei so tight, it looks as though it could snap at any moment. Suwako calmly asks “where is Ail?” S-Sanae says “ah, Ail. What a marvelous creature he is. After I was born I followed him around wherever he went, causing all small incidents around him to scale to the point of catastrophe. Oh, that’s my little gift, by the way.” Sanae scoffs and says “figures! Now be a good girl and die!” Sanae unleashes 3 red stars toward her shadow, who simply smiles wickedly as the stars get closer to her, then they vanish long before they can reach her. She laughs and says “allow me to explain the reason of your failure. You see, unlike that frog’s own shadow, I posses the powers and lifespan of a god! Although, I didn’t know this until only yesterday.” Suwako, Kanako and Sanae stare at each other for a moment, then S-Sanae continues “you see, for every catastrophe I caused around him, I felt nourished, empowered... oh, what a wonderful feeling. Sure, when I helped you turn him into a dog, that backtracked me a little. He was too relaxed and at peace. I had to make do with his friends. Oh, but Kanako, that mirror idea of ours was simply... inspiring!” Kanako opens her eyes wide in surprise, then S-Sanae continues “it was I who sent you those beautiful thoughts of your precious Sanae leaving you! It was I who gave you the push you needed when you were about to chicken out, and it was I who took advantage of little Sanae’s own rage to empower myself... and ‘help’ Ail battle you. Mind you... I didn’t do all that on my own. The spells must have been a bonus from himself.” Kanako loses her control and unleashes various orbs straight at the shadow, but all her attacks vanish in mid-air, long before reaching the shadow. S-Sanae laughs and says “oh that’s right. You all lost a very valuable source of faith!” S-Sanae pushes back the darkness from the living room and reveals Ail sitting on the couch with his body fully healed, and a smile on his face as he stares vacantly at the wall in front of him. Sanae exclaims “AIL! What have you done to him!?” Budou shouts “PAPA~!” and runs to him, but the moment he sees her he shouts “what the!? A monster in my house!?” Sanae grabs Budou just as Ail’s massive beams are inches away from reaching her. Ail calms down and says “ah... it’s gone. I’ll fix those holes later. Now, where were we?” S-Sanae laughs hard, as if something very funny had just happened, then Sanae glares back at her shadow and says “that wasn’t funny!”

S-Sanae stares back with a crazed expression and says “you can’t reach him. You see, I discovered how faith is so important to a god, so I came to him, he gave me a hug before I could even play the role I had prepared for him, and after that... I gave him what he needed.” Suwako frowns and whisper “Kanako, keep her distracted.” Kanako nods and says “hey shadow! What are you getting at with this story? Do you really want us to kill you so badly?” S-Sanae cackles, and in a crazed tone of voice she says “KILL ME!? You FOOL! Right now, all of that boy’s faith is pouring down on me! There’s no way you pathetic excuse for gods can even touch me!” Chen asks “what all this talk about faith?” S-Sanae immediately recomposes herself and says “ah, so glad you asked. See, for a god to live, he or she needs faith from others. Meaning, someone has to believe in us, or we’ll weaken and eventually die. But this young male specimen... he’s amazing! The amount of faith that pours from him is enough to keep 100 gods alive for a millennia and then some! And he’s sending all his faith to ME! You can’t hope to touch me Kanako Yasaka and Suwako Mo... Where’s the frog!?”

Inside the fabricated world, Ail sits on the couch next to Sanae and Budou, and on the two chairs in front, are Kanako and Suwako. All they do is sit and smile at each other, and occasionally the fake Sanae would say “let’s stay like this forever!” then kiss Ail’s cheek. To him, when the real Budou tries to reach him, she looks like a horrible monster with decaying skin and dirty sharp teeth. He uses and excessive amount of power to destroy it, and after it’s gone, he notices the holes he made on the wall and says “I’ll fix those holes later. Now where were we?” The fake Sanae wraps her hands around Ail as he sits back down and says “let’s stay like this forever.” The figure of the fake Suwako suddenly disappears, unsettling Ail, then he asks “where did lady Moriya go?” He looks to his feet and sees Pyonta staring back at him. He asks “her hat?” and just like that, the real Suwako pops from under the floor and shouts “Ail!” After she lands she desperately grabs his shoulders and continues “Ail, you have to listen to me! You are under a spell, you have to fight it! This Sanae, this Budou, all fakes!” Ail looks back with empty eyes and sounding tired he says “I know.” Suwako gasps and stares back with fright. Ail continues “I knew from the moment I touched her that wasn’t Sanae, but her shadow.” Suwako continues to stare awestruck and asks “then why aren’t you fighting back!?” Ail stands up, shattering the fabricated world, and sounding tired he replies “I just don’t care. Everywhere I go I cause trouble, even without that shadow’s help. It’s better if I just stay here... besides...” He slowly walks over to S-Sanae, then looks at the small group and says “she gave me a world where I belong.” Suwako furiously shouts back “you think a fake world inside your own home is a place to belong!? Ail, I thought you were smarter than this!!” Ail looks back at the small group with an exhausted expression and asks “lady Yasaka, will you use your mirror on me one last time?” Kanako stares back confused and says “wh-what are you saying? S-stop playing games Ail. Let’s beat her and...” Ail looks back with his exhausted eyes and says “what are you afraid of? I got nothing to hide. Go ahead.” S-Sanae crosses her arms over her chest and with a triumphant smirk on her face she says “she’s probably so weakened her mirror isn’t working anymore.” Kanako hesitates some more, but just to shut that shadow up, she decides to try the mirror. She points it at Ail, who nods back at her, giving her permission to look, then Sanae and Kanako look as Ail’s reflection slowly fades away and is replaced by a grey curtain of waves. Kanako and Sanae gasp, then Kanako says “but... how can this be?” Ail shakes his tired head and says “ever since that day I haven’t been able to feel anything... and so, I’ve come to realize what a lie I’ve been living. There’s nothing for me anywhere, so why am I alive?” Budou jumps from where she stands and tackles Ail to the ground. She sits on his chest, and with tears in her eyes and sobbing uncontrollably she says “papa, how can you say that!? Are you saying I am a lie also? *sob*” Ail looks away, trying to avoid Budou’s violet eyes, so Chen shouts “mister Ail, how can you say that to someone who loves you!?” Ail stops struggling against Budou, and just stares to the side. Chen continues “lady Ran would NEVER say such things. Those are words for COAWRDS! You just gave in like that and never even though of Budou, did you!? Why, if miss Ran were here she’d have a thing or two to say!” Kanako notices how the grey waves slowly take a blue tone and slowly continue to turn blue. Chen continues, furiously saying “you even went to another world to look for Budou, all because you love her too! How can you just push her aside and call your life a lie like that!? A life you share with Budou and all your friends!” Suwako adds “friends who love and care a lot about you!”

Kanako notices how the curtain slowly rises and whisper “keep going, keep going.” S-Sanae says “these two little girls are trouble.” She waves her hands and two pair or orange hands come from underground and grab Chen and Budou. Budou yelps and cries “papa! Papa, help me!” Phredia desperately flies toward Budou and tries to pull her free from the hands before she is dragged inside a swirling orange vortex that opens on the floor, then Suwako jumps in and grabs hold of both Budou and Phredia while Sanae holds Chen, shouting “Ail, we need your help!” Kanako drops her mirror and pulls on Suwako and Sanae while shouting “Ail, stop her. If you don’t she’s going to take them away forever!” S-Sanae smiles wickedly and says “beg all you want. As long as his faith is mine, there is nothing you can do.” Ail gets up and stands next to the shadow, and while staring with exhaustion at his friends he says “Lady Yasaka, lady Moriya, Budou, Sanae, Phredia... and even you, Chen. You are all very special friends. I wish I could always protect you, but it turns out I’m the cause of so much trouble... however...” S-Sanae stares with surprise and fright at Ail as he places a hand on her shoulder and says “that doesn’t mean I’m just gonna let my friends down! No, that means I have to fight HARDER for them! To protect them whenever MORE trouble arises! Even if it is my fault!” S-Sanae screams in agony as the hand Ail placed on her shoulder burns her skin, quickly turning her to black dust. While this happens, Kanako manages to pull everyone free from the orange hands and the vortex with such force, she falls to the ground along with them. When they get up, the curtain in Kanako’s mirror is gone, and quick images of all of Ail’s friends appear in the mirror, from Reimu Hakurei, to Medicine Melancholy, and more. S-Sanae screams as loud as she can “no~! What about all that faith you placed on me!!?” Ail shouts back “you were so concerned on your OWN faith you didn’t notice I STILL had faith on lady Yasaka and lady Moriya! Now away with you!” S-Sanae screams again, then vanishes into thin air, only her clothes remain on the floor. Ail drops to the floor on his knees and breathes heavily. Budou runs to him but he immediately shout “WAIT! Not yet!” He lifts his head and notices the concerned look on the goddesses’ and Phredia’s faces, then says “you understand what happened.” Sanae, Budou and Chen stare back at the others, then Sanae asks “what happened?” Suwako takes a deep breath and says “she’s trying a possession.” Kanako adds “she’s going to try and take his body, along with all his faith, his memories and his heart. A desperate move for pathetic gods that can’t accept their own fate.” Budou breathes heavily to calm herself down and stop trembling, then asks “what do we do?” Ail gets up and says “I have the outmost faith in all of you. I trust you. And I trust you won’t hold back.” Budou asks “what does he mean?” Suwako says “he’s fighting her for us. There’s no other way. We have to weaken his body in order to get her out.”

Budou starts to cry, saying “I don’t want to hurt papa!” Sanae kneels down next to her and says “not one of us does, but if we want to save him...” Suwako pats the back of Budou’s head and says “we have to do it.” Chen clenches her little fists and says “come one, Budou! He can take ANYTHING we can dish out! Remember how he’s beaten all those monsters, and how he’s survived all his battles against that scary maiden!” Phredia flies close to Budou’s face, then points at Ail, using her magic to reveal S-Sanae as she tries to take over his body with a wicked smile on her face. Budou’s eyes glow for a moment, and with determination in her eyes, she says “that bad lady copied mama’s look and hurt papa! I’ll make her PAY!” Without waiting for another moment, she inhales deeply, then screeches loud, making Ail and S-Sanae inside him cover their ears. Ail shouts back “DON’T STOP! HIT ME HARD!!!” While Budou has her distracted, Chen pulls out a spell card and shouts “Flight Sign ? Flight of Idaten!” Chen glows red, then starts flying around at incredible speeds, tackling Ail’s body while leaving behind red and blue circles of danmaku petals that spread widely around, and combining with the sonic waves if Budou’s screech, all the spreading bullets head straight at Ail, all exploding violently. Ail kneels on the ground once more, breathing heavily as he tries to get up again. Budou and Chen stop their attack, then Ail shouts “why have you stopped attacking!? She’s trying to fight back! She wants to use my powers against you! Stop hesitating! ATTACK!” Chen regroups with Budou, and at the same time the two girls use their danmaku to continue the attack. Meanwhile Sanae, Kanako and Suwako hold hands, forming the shape of a triangle between them, and under them, a large magical circle in red, blue and green. Ail raises his arm, but struggles with himself to pull it back down, shouting “I will NOT let you harm them!” A blue orb forms on Ail’s hand and it absorbs some of Budou’s zigzagging lasers, and some of Chen’s danmaku orbs. S-Sanae’s wicked smile and voice comes through Ail and says “no matter how much these twerps try, it will never be enough! *GASP!* What? NO!” A large white beam pierces through the roof of Ail’s house and surrounds him. S-Sanae shouts desperately as she is slowly extracted from Ail’s body, while Ail feels as though his insides are being pulled out. Sanae shouts “Phredia, she needs a holy barrier!” Phredia places a holy barrier around Budou and Chen, confusing them as she does, then Sanae shouts “when that shadow is out, grab Ail and get him out of there!” Suwako adds “you have to do this when we tell you, or we could lose him as well!” Kanako shouts “please, save him! I still haven’t apologized properly!” Ail stops breathing the moment the shadow is fully extracted from his body. Budou panics, but that’s when Sanae shouts “NOW! Budou, Chen, NOW!” As if already knowing what to do, Chen and Budou run fast toward Ail and jump inside the beam then tackle him out of it at the same time. Ail reacts and holds on to both, then pushes himself with his energy, successfully escaping the beam with both girls in his arms after some effort. S-Sanae writhes in pain while inside the beam, and just like that, the beam and the shadow thin down and rapidly rise to the sky, exploding like a bright star in the night, then rapidly, the explosion stops and vanishes.

It’s late noon at Ail’s house. By now, the hole in the roof made by the goddesses’ beam has been patched. Ail and Sanae are sitting on the couch, with Budou sleeping on Ail’s lap, while Chen sleeps on Sanae’s. Phredia stands on Pyonta and while the hat stares cross-eyed at the fairy, Suwako stares with worry at Ail. Kanako can’t take anymore of the awkward silence there’s been the entire day and says “Ail, for what it’s worth... I am very sorry for all I caused. I...” For the first time in days, Ail smiles because he feels like it, then says “I never thought I could win against you two, you know. Call me a fool or whatever you want, but I never stopped having faith in you, even when I was that angry. I really thought you were going to kill me there.” Kanako’s eyes are filled with great surprise and she quickly lowers her head and says “I’m so sorry!” and Suwako adds “I’m really sorry too! I should have put more effort from my part and stop all that from ever happening.” Ail calmly says “well, I guess it’s ok now... but we did say some things... some truths. *Sigh* I don’t know how, but I guess we’ll have to work on these matters. I would truly hate to lose your friendship.” Sanae sweats and nervously says “err, look, we should go and tell Reimu about that last shadow.” From outside a familiar voice calls “no need! ...Can we come in!?” They all recognize Reimu’s voice, and Ail quickly shouts “of course, of course! Come on in!” Reimu enters through the door with a smile on her face, saying “well I’m glad to see that everything’s worked out in the end.” From behind Reimu comes Byakuren, who waves with a smile and says “glad to see you all back on good terms.” From behind them comes Kyo with a bottle of Sake and shouts “FINALLY! Took you guys long enough!” From behind them comes Mima, who’s holding cat-Maribel on her hands and shouting “the last party of autumn!” Renko quietly enters afterward, then comes Ran, looking around frantically, asking “where’s Chen!? Is she alright? Did she get in trouble!? Where is she!?” She spots Chen sleeping on Sanae’s lap, then looks at Sanae as she quietly shushes her with a smile, then whispers “the two little heroes are asleep.” Yuyuko, Youmu, Rika and Yukari pop all their heads from inside one of Yukari’s gaps, then Yuyuko asks “so they really helped that much?” Ail brushes Budou’s head with his fingers as he looks at her, then at Chen, and says “you can say that... they were like a bright light in a dark cave.” Reimu walks closer to him and smiles as she says “so this shadow incident is finally over. About time too!” In the kitchen, Mima drops Maribel on the ground and grabs Kyo’s sake bottle, saying “allow me, hunk!” She pop-opens the bottle and in comes Luna with fire in her eyes and shouting “Kyo, what the HELL are you doing with this woman!?” Kyo shouts back “we’re just going to have a few drinks! What’s wrong with that!?” Suika enters the door and shouts “PARTY~~!” then starts swinging her gourd around by its string and shortly after there is a loud crashing sound that wakes both Chen and Budou. Ail, Sanae and Ran surround Suika with murderous smiles, and all scold her at the same time. Reimu sits next to Budou and Chen, then Rika walks to her mistress and says “my lady Reimu, here’s your drink.” Reimu bows and says “thanks. Get something for these two, will you?” Rika bows and says “I’ll prepare a special grape juice mix for them.” Budou’s mouth waters and says “YAY~ Grape juice!” Chen yawns and says “Ran-sama~ I’m hungry!” Ran shouts “I’ll prepare something DELICIOUS!!!” The goddesses jump from their seats, then Kanako shouts “bring out the drinks cuz’ here come the GODS!” Suwako excitedly flies around and shouts “someone come play danmaku with me!” Budou and Chen start jumping on the couch, giggling and laughing, while Reimu tries to enjoy her drink, then from under the floor, breaking open the wood flooring, come Yuugi, followed by Parsee, Orin and Koishi. From inside Ail’s room come Momiji and Aya, who shouts “who DARES have a drinking contest with me!?”

Ail escapes from the noise in his own house and stares at the bright yellow star in the sky through some tree branches. Reimu follows shortly after and says “it’s been a loud one, hasn’t it? Shadows, death... New friends.” Ail sighs and says “and all because I opened the wrong gap at the wrong time.” Reimu asks “do you still want me to seal your powers away?” Ail thinks for a moment, then closes his eyes and says “not yet. There’s a lot more I need to do before all that, I’m sure of it.” Reimu sigh and says “what about Sanae and the goddesses... and Budou?” Ail looks to the star again and says “Budou has grown a lot, and she has proven she can take care of herself. Besides, I’ll be back... it’s not like I’m going forever. As for Sanae, Kanako and Suwako... They’ll understand.” Reimu smiles and says “you know you’ll be missed.” Ail sighs and says “if I don’t do this, I’ll never know the truth. I can’t back away from this decision now.” Reimu replies with a serious face “just don’t forget you have many friends here, Ail. They are all willing to help if they can.” From behind, Sanae asks “what are you two talking about now?” Ail says “the shadows may be gone, but why do I still feel so heavy... so unsettled.” Sanae wants to wrap her arm around his neck, however she is not sure of his reaction now, so she just holds her hands together under her waist and says “a lot of things happened. You can’t expect to get over them so quickly.” Ail smiles at Sanae and says “maybe you’re right.” There’s another loud crash, followed by a danmaku explosion from the house. Ail’s eyes hide under a black shadow as he hesitantly turns around and finds two oversized oni with his roof on their heads, and a frog goddess firing heaving danmaku at a corpse-carrying nekomata, who shoots back with intensity, and a subconscious satori. Ail twitches, then Sanae says “you... could stay with us until we fix that roof.” Ail slumps and says “Reimu, I TRULLY understand why you hate parties at your shrine.” Reimu sweats as she smiles and flaps her hand in the air, saying “oh cheer up! At least the roof is still in one-“ The oni strike each other’s backs and laugh, the vibration of the impact rips the roof in half, then Ail sighs and says “Sanae, I’d be honored if you had me as a guest in your shrine.” Sanae smiles and nods, then giggles nervously and says “I’ll... inform lady Moriya and lady Yasaka, then. They’ll love having Budou and you over after all this time.” From inside, Budou shouts “come and catch me~!” then Chen shouts back “I can catch you with my legs tied up!” Another loud crash unsettles Ail some more, then Reimu smiles nervously and says “well, at least they haven’t knocked out the lights.” The entire house suddenly goes dark, then Budou and Chen start to cry, then Ail says “well... better get the girls.” Sanae adds “it’s gonna be a long one.” Reimu adds “I’ll stop talking now.” They walk back inside the house, and just before they enter, Remilia and Sakuya arrive, Remilia immediately saying “such a small house! Sakuya, get some lights at least, geez!” Sakuya replies “right away, my lady.” and just like that, all the lights go back on. There is yet another loud crash, then Ail shouts “dammit Nazrin, where are you!? That was my last dumpling, you little thief!” Byakuren shouts “I’m so sorry about her, Ail.” Outside, Nazrin runs on all 4 legs with a dumpling in her mouth, and high above in the sky, Rumia’s familiar black blob flies aimlessly around as she asks “is that so~?”, then a large washtub falls on her head, knocking her out of her own darkness and crashing against he trees below.

The end.......?
Characters, spell cards and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Ail, Kyo, Budou, Phredia & Luna were created by Willie G.R.
Rika was created by Snapshot2010

JAN 25 2010
written by
Willie G.R.

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