Paradise Sukima 17

At the SDM, things have finally settled down after Sakuya takes her mistress safely back inside, away from Ail. Koakuma, who is being forced to take care of the unexpected guests, along with Meiling, has a sad and tired look as she sighs and thinks “after all my careful planning, the chief maid caught me, Patchouli-sama. And for some reason, she seems stronger than before. I’m scared.” Sakuya is a little farther away from the gate, kneeling down in order to address to Budou properly. She stares into the bat youkai’s eyes and asks “then he suddenly opened a gap and sent you here?” Budou nods and angrily says “I guess that thing has some of papa’s abilities.” Sakuya rubs her chin while thinking, then says “I guess it can’t be helped.” She stands back up and looks back to address to Koakuma and Meiling, and says “listen up! I’m going to the Hakurei Shrine and ask Reimu for help. In the meantime, take good care of our guests, but please, keep them out of the mansion.” Budou flaps her wings once, angrily staring at Sakuya, then says “wait, what’s that for? I’ll have you know we are all well-behaved and wouldn’t...” Sakuya turns around with a stern look, making Budou quiet down, then slowly gets closer to the small youkai’s ear and whispers “Ail’s blood seems to be irresistible for my lady, and if he goes inside he’ll be putting himself, and probably all of you in danger. Stay outside for your own safety.” Budou calms down, understanding that Sakuya meant no harm, so she blushes in embarrassment from her outburst, nods, then says “I... understand. Sorry I yelled, miss.” Sakuya smiles, pats Budou’s head, then says “stay here for now. From what my lady says, I don’t think it’s prudent to take you with me to the shrine. I’ll try to return as soon as I can.” With that, Sakuya elegantly bows to Budou, who mimics Sakuya’s bow with respect, then disappears in the blink of an eye. Meiling and Koakuma sigh with relief, then Meiling loudly says “well, you heard her! You can stay around here, but please, stay outside the mansion!” The second Meiling says this, she notices Koishi walking straight into the gardens, brazenly ignoring Meiling and smiling back at her as she walks further inside. Meiling frowns and chases after Koishi while shouting “hey! Stay outside! Didn’t you hear me!? I said OUTSIDE!” Koakuma tries to grab Meiling, panic filling her eyes, and when she turns around, she has Budou, Lily White, and Ail, all staring back at her. She loses her color and starts to tremble, but manages to smile and nervously say “er, why don’t you head down to the lake? The water should be nice and cool.” Budou stares back at Koakuma with her innocent expression, the same expression Sanae and the goddesses miss. She blinks, smiles, then nods and says “alright! Maybe we’ll find smart sis Cirno there!” Lily exclaims “Cirno! Let’s go!” Budou and Lily rush ahead, while Ail stares at the nervous Koakuma for a little while longer, then suddenly rushes off, running like a dog on all 4 legs. Koakuma relaxes and sighs, then says to herself “so annoying, lady Patchouli. But seriously, all he needs is a tail, some fur, maybe a pair of ears, and he’d make a cute dog.”

Meanwhile, Rika arrives to the Hakurei Shrine and finds it surprisingly empty. No Aya, no Suika, no Mima, not even her mistress Reimu. She lands and immediately calls “miss Reimu~! I’m home~!” There is no reply and Rika says to herself “th-that’s odd”, then takes a deep breath and calls “miss Reimu, is anybody here!?” Anxiety fills her heart, thinking something must have happened to Reimu while she was away, so she rushes to the side-entrance and pulls on the sliding door, loudly calling “miss Reimu, please answer... me?” The moment she opens the doors, a mountain of scrolls, lose papers, and some books, all fall right on top of her, burying her underneath a large pile, where her screams are muffled. From inside, Reimu asks “Rika? Is that you!?” Rika pops her head from underneath the mountain of papers and scroll with a happy smile, and loudly says “my lady~! You’re alright!!!” From inside, Reimu shouts “RIKA~! You’re back! Wait, let me help you!” Rika hears steps coming from inside the shrine, and when she finally sees her mistress, she notices the exhausted look on her face as she pulls her out of the paper mountain. Without realizing it, they hug each other with big smiles on their faces, Rika involuntarily flapping her wings very rapidly. When they let go, Rika looks at Reimu with concern and asks “my lady, what’s wrong!? You look exhausted! Here, let me take care of you!” Before Rika can grab hold of Reimu, the shrine maiden is already zipping back to her room, rapidly saying “I can’t, I can’t! Not now, not now!!” Rika watches how Reimu gets desperate at the thought of stopping, then she also gets desperate and asks “my lady, what is it? What’s going on here? What’s with all these papers and scrolls!?” Reimu reaches her room and sits on the only spot in the room that’s not covered with papers and says “it’s no use! I can’t close that gate Marisa opened, but it’s ok! The reports from Kyo and Luna tell me she’s doing that herself. I can count on her, she’ll close it!” Rika watches as Reimu grabs the first scroll she spots and starts to hurriedly read through it, then asks “then why so stressed, what’s the matter?” Reimu suddenly lifts her sight to Rika, showing even more despair in her eyes, then says “I-I’m sure Patchouli told you, that someone helped Marisa open that gate, right!?” Rika nods, then Reimu continues “well, only Marisa knows how to close this, since most was made by herself, with her own two hands, haha! Well, the thing is, if I can find who powered up those runes and things, they can help me get Ail back to us, and since HE was the one that opened the gate itself, he should be able to help us close it off... That is, if Marisa can’t find a way. But it’s getting late, I don’t have time. ARGH! If I could just find out who the hell powered up those things!!!” Rika rushes to Reimu and jumps on her, giving her a hug-tackle, immediately noticing how violently Reimu is trembling. She tightens her grip and says “my lady, you need to rest! If you don’t rest, you won’t be able to think straight!” Reimu stops struggling against Rika, then says “rest... yeah. Th-that sounds great! Just a break, maybe a 5 minute nap and...” There is a loud explosion that rocks the shrine itself, then Reimu starts to cry out “rest and relaxation go bye bye~!” Rika and Reimu run outside the shrine and head to the gate in front, immediately spotting some smoke coming from Entei, at the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. Reimu is about to set off, however, Rika grabs her and pulls her back to the ground and says “my lady Reimu, you will go and take a nap! I’ll got check that out, alright?” Reimu takes a few breaths, then asks “what? Why can’t I...?” Rika strictly says “miss Reimu Hakurei, you go and take a good rest, maybe eat something, and I will not accept a ‘no’, is that clear!?” Reimu stands straight, salutes Rika, then says “yes ma’am! Rest, food, sleep, EAT!” Rika strictly says “good. Now MARCH back to that shrine and take a break!” Reimu obediently walks to the shrine, repeating “rest, food, eat, sleep”, while Rika takes off toward the Bamboo Forest. While she flies toward the forest, she fidgets with her hands and says to herself “oh my, Rika. You just gave an order to miss Reimu. Uuu~, I hope she’s not mad.”

At the shores of the Misty Lake, Ail flies just above the water, while Lily looks around, calling “Cirno~! It’s spring~! Come play!” Budou stays on the shore, leaving her pink socks right beside herself, sinking her feet in the water while sighing contently, then says to herself “I know I can take them all back home, but Lily’s acting strange, Koishi’s no help, and papa’s shell won’t really listen unless he’s forced to. Ah well, I might as well just... eh? A seashell in a lake?” To her right, Budou finds a large pink seashell, so out of curiosity, she gets her feet out of the water and approaches the item. She looks into its opening and exclaims “ooh~. Just like the pictures in the internet. Wait... there was that thing... umm.” Budou looks to the sky, trying to remember what she read, then snaps her fingers and gasps with excitement, then says “that’s right, if I press it against my ear, I can hear the ocean!” She slowly lifts the shell, but before she can press it against her ears, a small stream of water comes out of the opening in the shell, getting her face a little wet. She rubs off the water and casually says “hmm, seems it had some water in it. Oh well, let’s hear that ocean.” She quickly presses the shell on to her ear, but she hears nothing. She pulls it away and says “maybe it’s broken?”, then suddenly a huge stream of water comes out of the shell, getting Budou soaking wet, then whispers “I know where you live~!” Budou stares at the seashell with fright, then throws it in the air and runs away, screaming “WAAAH~~!! Koakuma! Miss Koakuma help~! It’s a seashell with issues!” Right after Budou leaves, Ail jumps from behind a bush, then casually walks toward the seashell and promptly picks it up. He sniffs the backside of the shell, then places it on his ears, closes his eyes, then smiles. Moments later, Budou comes pulling on Koakuma’s hand pointing to the shore of the lake and saying “it’s over here. It said some nasty things and got me all wet, then told me it knows where I live!” Koakuma nervously says “maybe y-you just imagined it!” When they arrive to the spot, Budou looks around, unable to find the seashell, then Budou says “wait, it was here, I swear!” Koakuma stares at Budou with wonder, then says “look, I believe you. In fact, it could have been one of lady Patchouli’s experiments. Anyway, you are soaking wet, so why don’t we go inside for a moment so I can get you something dry?” Budou stares suspiciously at Koakuma and says “you want to play a mean prank on me, don’t you?” Koakuma twitches, her eyes turn round and white, then she sweats and says “s-smart little bat, aren’t you?” Both girls look toward the water in fright as bubbles start coming from below, violently popping when reaching the surface. Under the water, the seashell expels various bubbles that get bigger the longer this happens, then suddenly stops and a brown fish comes swimming from inside the shell. Back at the shore, Koakuma and Budou hug each other with fright as the bubbles get more and more violent, then stop. Koakuma and Budou look at each other, and with a curious look, they get closer to the water and look down. Something large comes out of the water, making a loud splash, making Budou scream and fly away as fast as she can, and Koakuma faint while foaming at the mouth. In the water, Ail stares curiously as Budou flies away, then turns his attention to the fainted devil next to the water. He jumps out of the water and sits next to Koakuma, then stares at her. He shakes her by her shoulders, and when she doesn’t wake up, he sits like a dog next to her and looks around, as if guarding her until she wakes up.

Meanwhile, Rika lands in the middle of the Bamboo Forest, having noticed a small glint in the area. She looks around and calls “is anybody out there!?”, and when there’s no reply, she says to herself “hmm, it seems I may have been wrong. I guess I should head to Entei now.” Before she takes the first step toward her destination, there is a loud rustle, so Rika stops in place and holds her sword by its hilt, waiting for something to happen. It’s quiet, but Rika can feel a cold chill in the air, and an uneasy feeling in her heart. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, then from her right, Hatate jumps right out of the bamboo, screaming out loud with a terrorized look on her face, quickly followed by a large bird with a thin long beak with a yellow colored band on the tip, three colored stem-like feathers on the head, and the rest of its body seems to be covered with yellow hair. Hatate spots Rika and shouts “save me!!”, then jumps behind her. Rika takes another deep breath and sheathes her sword again, opening her eyes, staring peacefully at the enraged bird, who scratches the ground under its sharp claws, ready to charge. Rika slowly approaches the bird, flapping her wings gently, and in a sweet tone of voice she says “there, there, it’s alright. Please, tell me why are you chasing this girl, little friend?” At first, the bird squawks and backs away from Rika, showing her a tiny pair of featherless wings, but Rika’s voice soothes the creature, calming it down and allowing her to pet his head. She smiles and giggles, then says “there, you see? There’s no reason to get aggressive. Now, why were you chasing her in the first place?” The bird softly nips Rika’s cheeks, making a “buck” sound, as if it were talking to her. Rika suddenly says “I see”, then looks at Hatate, and says “miss tengu, did you stake this bird’s carrot?” At first, Hatate gets nervous and stutters, thinking of running away again, however when she looks into Rika’s eyes, she feels great peace inside of her, and without hesitation, she pulls a large carrot right out of her pocket and sadly says “I’m sorry, I’m just famished.” The bird quickly reaches for its carrot, and the moment it takes it Hatate flinches, then it goes away after rubbing its cheek against Rika’s face. Hatate starts to cry “so hungry dammit all. First those stupid goddesses trap me, then I end up in this place, and now I’ll STARVE to death!” Hatate stops crying when Rika presents her with an apple, and some cookies wrapped in a sheet. She looks up to Rika’s smile and asks “fo-for... me?” Rika giggles and says “it was my lunch, but it seems you need it more than I do.” Hatate desperately grabs the apple and starts to munch contently, thanking Rika over and over, even though her mouth is full. She chokes on the cookies, coughing lightly, though still gobbling the cookies down, so Rika serves her some iced green tea, which she slurps down in just a second. After Hatate is done eating, she looks at Rika’s smiling face and blushes, then feeling a bit embarrassed, she says “I’m sorry I gobbled up your lunch like that. But I am, like, ever so grateful. Those stupid goddesses from the mountain only fed me once! I’m practically skin and bones!” Rika gasps with concern and says “no, no, it’s my pleasure. I’m glad to help, but what do you mean by that?” Hatate sighs and says “I used my spirit photography to find out who helped that black and white witch from the forest to, like, power up this crazy experiment of hers.” Rika gasps and thinks “she knows!? My lady Reimu, this is GREAT news!” Hatate continues “but before I could tell the Hakurei maiden, those goddesses, like, kidnapped me and had me trapped for days! Lucky this portal thingy freed me, though I’m kinda lost here.” Rika smiles and says “how fortunate. My name is Rika Onkamikami, and I’m miss Reimu’s maid!” Hatate smiles and gasps excitedly, then says “then you can really help me now! My name is Hatate Himekaidou! Look!” Hatate immediately shows Rika the pictures of the goddesses powering up the magical circles, then says “and while I was trapped, I managed to dig in deeper. It appears they knew what was going to happen too!” Rika holds her head, feeling a little angry, making her head spin in place for a moment, then she looks at Hatate, smiles, then says “well, miss Hatate, I have something to do over here, so why don’t you join me, and when we’re done, we’ll go back to miss Reimu, so you can tell her about this?” Hatate smiles and says “sure thing! Helping you is, like, a great way to repay your kindness!” Rika giggles, stands up, helps Hatate up, then says “then please, follow me. This shouldn’t take long. I know these people. They are very nice.” As they walk toward Entei, Hatate gasps and says “excellent, I get to take some great pictures!”

They promptly arrive to Entei and find Tewi just outside the mansion, looking for something on the ground. Rika peeks through the gates, while Hatate stays behind her, then calls “hello~ Miss Tewi, is that you?” Tewi raises her ears, then her head, then says “I know that voice. Miss Rika, is that you!?” When she gets up, she turns around and finds Rika standing with a smile next to the gate. Tewi smiles and walks to her, then asks “well, miss Rika, what bring you here? Perhaps some bulky crybaby of a man cut his finger with his own sword?” At Kyo’s house, Kyo sits on the table, reading the Bunbunmaru Newspaper, when he suddenly lifts his head and says “for some reason, I want to kick a certain rabbit’s butt.” Back at Entei, Rika chuckles and says “no, no, none of that. Me and Hatate here are investigating some explosions that came earlier from here. Do you know anything about that?” Tewi smiles, then suddenly hugs Rika, making her sword turn colorful and the diamond glow blue, then says “I like you, so I’ll tell you. You see...” Before she can explain, Eirin comes from her clinic and says “oh, miss Rika, what seems to be the matter?” From behind Eirin, Reisen pops a curious head, then stares at Rika’s eyes and suddenly starts to shiver. Rika stares back curiously as Hatate asks “what’s wrong with THAT sexy bunny?” From the mansion, Kaguya walks out, commenting “oh, miss Rika’s here. I haven’t seen her in a... What the!?” Rika smiles and waves, but before she can greet Kaguya, the moon princess growls and points at Rika, then says “YOU~! You’re one of them, aren’t you!? The Onkamikami! Those gods that serve other gods! Your family didn’t like me being princess. They said I was too ‘high and mighty!’ that’s a serious lack of respect and act of treason, you know!” Rika looks at Kaguya with concern and confusion, and after hearing her out she gasps and covers her mouth with her right hand and says “oh my, I’m sorry miss Kaguya, but...” Kaguya interrupts her by abruptly saying “I bet you want me to THINK you are my friend, but oh no, I’m too smart for you! EIRIN! Do NOT let her near me! Inaba, Inaba! You two stay away from her!” Before Rika or Tewi can protest, Eirin points at Rika with her arrow, and with a cold voice she says “I’m sorry miss Rika, but I’m going to have to ask you to leave!” Tewi looks at Rika with great concern, but all she can do silently shrug with a sad face and head back to the mansion, where Reisen quickly follows to, followed by Eirin, who continues to point with her arrow at Rika. When the doors to the mansion shut closed, Rika’s lips wriggle along with her eyes. She slumps and starts to whimper, then Hatate places a friendly hand on Rika’s shoulder and says “don’t cry. I’m still your friend. So, like, don’t listen to those weirdoes.” Rika looks at Hatate, then hugs her and starts to cry and says “bu-bu... they were my friends. They were so nice! *sob* That hurt!” Hatate sighs and pats Rika’s back, saying “that’s it, let it all out, sis.” At first, the diamond on Rika’s sword glows blue, but it slowly turns pink, while Hatate continues to comfort Rika.

At the Misty Lake’s shore, Budou sits under the sun, almost falling asleep while she waits for her clothes to dry up while still wearing them. On the water, Lily, Cirno and Daiyousei fly around in circles, having a great time, apparent from the happy look on their faces. Koishi sits farther way in plain view of Meiling and Koakuma, as if helping them watch the others, and Ail continues to swim, occasionally disappearing for some time, then suddenly reappearing out of nowhere. A shadow watches all from the distance, snickering while waiting. It notices when Koishi seems to fall asleep while on watch, then says “it’s time.” Lily, Cirno and Daiyousei fly in circles once more, then stop while inches above the lake water and giggle. A snake-like shadow rushes to the fairies, then Kali takes her human-like form and before the fairies can react, she strikes Lily on the head with the back of her hand, sending her flying straight at Budou, who wakes up the moment Lily crashes on to her. Budou manages to get up and exclaims “watch it! Wait, Lily, what happened!?” Immediately she notices Kali threatening Cirno and Daiyousei, and Ail is missing again. She shouts “Koishi, get miss Meiling!” Koishi wakes up and when she looks back, Meiling and Koakuma are gone. Koishi gasps and rushes to the gates, saying to herself “great time to go gardening!” Budou approaches she shore and shouts “hey, you jerk! Why don’t you go jump back under a rock!” Kali hisses, her eyes glow bright red, then she rushes to Budou, ignoring the fleeing fairies, then says “make me, you little twerp!” Lily gets back up, frowning at Kali and preparing a powerful attack. The moment she releases her danmaku, it turns to dust in the air and the little fairy falls on her face back to the ground. Budou watches this, then turns around to Kali, her eyes turning aquamarine as she angrily says “oh, now you’ve done it, shady!” Budou flaps her wings and takes flight, then immediately unleashes 5 homing lasers, accompanied by light-blue orbs that head straight to the shadow. Kali smiles and dodges all the attacks by simply flying away from Budou’s range, then hisses and smiles, then says “my turn, kid!” She prepares a large orb that Budou foolishly thinks is not that fast, however when Kali unleashes her attack, it’s already striking Budou before she can even blink. Budou falls back to the ground on her back and slides away from the shore. When she gets back up, Kali is right on top of her, smiling and saying “this lake now belongs to me. If you insist on fighting, then I’ll just have to kill you.” Budou tries to get up, so Kali grabs the neck of her shadow, strangling the little bat with a smile. Budou struggles to escape, but she quickly finds herself out of energy, her wings slowly dropping down along with her limbs. Her consciousness drifts into darkness, and all she can hear is Kali’s evil cackling, and then a light shines so bright, it makes Kali scream in pain and release the bat youkai. Budou coughs as her air returns to her, and when she looks at the light that’s causing Kali so much pain, she gasps and exclaims “no, it can’t be!” She narrows her eyes, focusing on the light, then gasps again, opening her eyes up and letting a tear escape her as she whispers “Phredia...” The tiny elf fairy emanates a powerful light the burns Kali’s eyes, and at the same time, she unleashes a hell of multi-colored petal bullets, blasting Kali out of the sky and letting her fall to the water. After waiting for a moment, Phredia expels some air, the light around her dims, then she smiles as she slowly flies back to Budou. The little youkai starts to cry, her eyes turn violet again, then she says “but... you were gone! Phredia, is that really you!?” Phredia gets closer to Budou and kisses her forehead, then nods. Budou start to sob, grabs the fairy and gives her a tight hug, saying “I thought you were gone! I thought you were gone forever!” Phredia escapes Budou’s grasp and flies up to the sky, and before Budou can ask, Kali flies out of the water, screaming in rage. She takes a few deep breaths, then shouts “Kimi is gone, now this lake belongs to ME! I’m not gonna let some weak little fairy beat me like that!” A thin hand with thin and long fingers grabs Kali by the back of her head, then tosses her away to the trees, and a raspy and sinister voice says “then I guess the lake now belongs to me!” Budou’s eyes turn aquamarine once more as she stares at the mysterious creature, and in an angry tone of voice she says “vampire!” The creature wears no clothes, his skin seems like it’s made of a shiny brown armor, hairless with pointy ears, orange vampire eyes, abnormally large fangs, and large metal-like wings. He stares at Budou, then smile and says “the tiny bat that plays vampire hunter. I’m going to enjoy killing you.”

The vampire hisses and lunges straight to Budou, who bravely stands firm on her feet and readies herself to attack, however Ail comes from under the water and grabs the vampire by his leg, then pulls him away from Budou. He stares with fury at the vampire as it recovers in mid-air and starts to hover in place, then he looks at Budou with a serious and determined look, then nods at Phredia. Meiling, Koakuma and Koishi come running from the mansion straight to where Budou is, and when they spot the vampire, Koakuma stops next to Budou, and with a frightful voice she ask “what should we do?” Meiling glares at the creature and says “keep them safe. Time for me to put my training to action.” Meiling rushes toward the shore, but Phredia flies in front of her, then raises her hand, creating a transparent wall with orange flames inside. Meiling shouts “let me through! I have to beat that thing!” Phredia points at her own two eyes, then points at the vampire. Meiling growls, but Koishi calms her down by saying “she means for us to watch.” Koishi points at the water, and there, standing right on the lake water, looking angrily toward the deformed creature, is Ail. Meiling asks “but what can he do? He can’t use his powers like that!” Phredia lets out a whisper to get Meiling’s attention, then points to her eyes again, then back at the vampire. Inside the barrier, Ail starts to run around on the water, his feet splashing at every step. The vampire screeches and shouts “I don’t know who the hell do you think you are, human, but challenging a vampire without weapons is suicidal! And I’ll be more than delighted to show you... WHY!!!” The vampire seems to power himself up, a strange sickly green aura surrounding him. Ail continues to run toward him, and at the very last step, he jumps up and a staff made entirely out of light appears on his right hand, materializing along with the blessed bracelet on his wrist. From outside, Budou gasps and whispers “papa? I-is he... back too?” Ail swings the weapon with great force, taking advantage of the vampire’s surprise, striking him on the neck, the shoulder, and the back. The vampire recovers again, then swings his claws with rage, trailing red bands along them, the bands turning into tiny red danmaku orbs that strike Ail on his abdomen. Ail falls on the water, but quickly comes back up and stands on his feet on the water, then runs after the fleeing vampire. From outside, Budou shouts “fight, you cowardly monster!” The vampire quickly finds out the wall made by Phredia prevents him from going too far from the spectators sights, no matter how far or how high he flies. He roars in anger and says “I’ll be DAMNED the day I flee form a mere HUMAN!” He swoops down toward Ail and tackles him hard, sending him skidding on the water, but Ail flips his legs and skates the water until he’s back up straight, however she takes the momentum and continues to skate with speed toward the creature, summoning the light staff at the last moment and striking its abdomen, then its head, sending him plunging to the water. Meiling exclaims “it’s over!” Koishi replies “not by a long-shot!” The vampire rises from the water, screeching with rage, then straightens his wings, making them look like blades as he swoops down to Ail, threatening to cut him with them. Ail manages to move so the vampire only tackles him again, however when he recovers this time, he stands in place and stares at the creature. The vampire laughs and says “that’s right. Give up and let me finish you quickly.” To everyone’s surprise, a pair of vampire wings grow out of Ail’s back, ripping a hole on the back of the pink shirt Sanae has made him wear all this time, then flies up to meet the with the creature. Budou gasps and says “va... vampire? Papa is a vampire!?” She growls and shouts “NO! This can’t be!” Koishi embraces Budou, forcing her to sit down, then whispers “watch closer, Budou. This is something else. Just watch and you’ll understand.” Budou manages to calm down and turns her sight to the battle, though still feeling a little angry. The vampire hisses and shouts “how dare you mock vampires with those things!? I’ll make you pay dearly!” The vampire roars as he launches straight at Ail, who veers to the left and uses the magical claw on his left hand to grab one of the vampire’s wings and rip it off, sending the monstrous creature straight down to the water. He rushes down to meet the monster, and right after he lands on the water, he takes the shape of a wolf tengu, looking like a brown male version of Momiji. The staff on his right hand turns to a large sword, just like Momiji’s, and just as the vampire is in range, Ail swings the blade of light and cuts off the creature’s left shoulder, making it scream in pain, and before the monster plunges into the water again, the bracelet on Ail’s wrist glows blue, and somehow summons Cirno to Ail, instinctively freezing the water just as the vampire touches it, freezing half of him in place. Ail’s light blade turns to a smaller blade like Youmu’s, then Ail swings it rapidly, leaving trails of light in its path. The vampire’s body turns to violet flames, and before he turns to ashes, his voice echoes “I was... invincible.”

Ail slowly turns back to his regular shape, and both the golden bracelet and weapon of light disappear as he walks toward Budou with a frightened and concerned face. Koishi holds Budou, who trembles in fear of Ail, thinking “what is this!? What going on with papa? Is that really him!? Did we pick the wrong person? Someone please tell me, what’s going on!” Ail reaches the shore just as Phredia calls off her wall of light, then continues to walk straight at Budou, Phredia taking a seat on his left shoulder. Koishi whispers “he’s here, Budou. Look, he’s worried about you. Come on, stand up.” Budou trembles violently and is unable to look up to Ail, so he kneels down and tries to look into her eyes. She turns her face away with a sudden whimper, scaring Ail and surprising Phredia. Koakuma sighs, then says out loud “little girl, look at him. Just look at him and let him know you are ok.” Budou trembles and whimpers as she slowly turns her face back to Ail. At first, her fear grows inside her heart, but when she looks at Phredia’s tender smile, sitting there on Ail’s shoulder, the fear slowly subdues, then she stares back at Ail with curiosity. Regaining her voice, she asks “papa, is that really you?” Phredia jumps out of Ail’s shoulder and flies to Budou’s face, then gives her a kiss on the nose and quickly flies back inside the little bat’s heart. At first, Budou is very surprised, but she suddenly understands what’s happening, then places a hand on her chest and whispers “thank you, Phredia. I understand.” Budou looks at Ail, then says “I’ll get mama and Hakurei sis. We’ll meet you there.” Ail blows a puff of air, bows to Budou, then runs toward the water, grabs Lily White from Meiling’s arms, then flies away. Meiling exclaims “wait, what’s going on!? That fairy needs help!” Budou raises her tiny hand to Meiling, then says “that’s what he’s doing. Miss Meiling, please tell miss Sakuya we’ll be just fine.” Koakuma asks “wait, what’s going on!? Are you leaving, just like that?” Budou looks at Koishi, nods, then asks “c-can you come with me? I’m a little bit scared to go alone.” Koishi smiles and nods, then says “I certainly want to see where this is going!” Meiling looks confused and worried, so in order to calm her down, Budou says “don’t worry, miss Meiling. I’m going straight to mama Sanny. Thank you for taking care of us today, miss Meiling, miss Koakuma.” With that, Budou and Koishi take flight, then head straight toward the Moriya Shrine. After they leave, Koakuma comments “what a day.” Meiling sighs and says “well, I hope things settle down around here.” From the mansion, Remilia shouts “is he gone!?”

Back at Entei, Eirin walks out of the mansion and looks around for any signs of Rika. When she scans the whole area, she sighs and says out loud “she’s gone, my princess. I’m going back to the lab.” From inside, Kaguya replies “alright~! I’m going to paint today, so please don’t bother me! Now, Inaba, hold still while I paint a beautiful landscape!” From the room, Reisen can be heard crying “but I don’t want a landscape on my back!” Eirin sighs in defeat, then says “Tewi, could you come and help me a moment? I promise, no experiments today. I’m not in the mood.” Tewi stares suspiciously at Eirin, then points at her and says “fine, but the first glint I see and I’m outta there.” The moment Eirin enters her clinic, she hears a man’s voice, saying “well, it’s not so bad. And she did take me out of that bottle.” Eirin whispers to Tewi “there’s someone here.” Tewi raises her ear, then they hear Rika replying “well, as long as you’re happy, then it’s alright!” Eirin pulls out her bow and arrows and says “seems we’ll have to do this by force after all. *sigh* I was hoping it didn’t have to be this way, but...” Tewi grumbles “sure, just cuz the princess said so.” Eirin taps Tewi’s head, and when Tewi looks up to protest, she notices the sad, hesitant expression in Eirin’s face. Slowly, they both head toward the back of the clinic, where the voices are coming from. Rika saying “I’ll bring you some of my hot-pot next time. I guarantee you’ll love it.”, then the man’s voice replying “please, you’re gonna spoil me, miss.” Hatate adds “this is so amazing!”, her voice accompanied by many clicks and flashes. In one sudden move, Eirin kicks the door hard, forgetting it opens the other way and groans in pain. Tewi sweats and says “err, let me.” Tewi pulls open the door and finds Rika and Hatate sitting on the ground in front of the creature Eirin stole from Makai a while ago. The creature has grown a pair of arms now, and is the size of a human child. He blinks his large eye and says “well, miss Eirin, little Tewi, what’s the matter?” Tewi shrugs and points at Eirin behind her, who’s rolling on the ground and holding on to her leg, crying “ooh, my ankle! How the hell did this happen?” Rika springs to her feet, gasping in horror, saying “miss Eirin, please hold on!” Rika rushes to Eirin and helps her up, then takes her to one of the beds, whispering “shh, it’s alright, it’s ok. I’ll take care of that!” Moments later, Eirin sits on the bed with an angry and disappointed expression, while Rika finishes bandaging her foot, saying “there you go, miss Eirin. Good as new.” Eirin sighs, the anger leaving her face, but the disappointment still there, then says “thanks. That medicine should have me cured by tonight.” Rika smiles and giggles as she gets up, Tewi and Hatate standing next to the green creature, all looking at Eirin with a bit of concern. Eirin extends her arm and grabs Rika’s with force, then says “I’m sorry about earlier. But when my princess orders something, I have to obey, so... please don’t take it personal. I know what a good girl you really are.” Rika’s wings involuntarily flap as she closes her eyes and smiles angelically, her sword’s diamond glowing bright blue as she says “miss Eirin, thank you so much. It gives me great relief to hear you say that.” When she opens her eyes again, she notices everyone, even the creature, bleeding though their noses. She gasps and exclaims “oh my! What happened?” Tewi looks annoyed and says “n-nothing at all.” Hatate adds “it’s just the heat, heh heh.” The creature whispers to Tewi “that was just dangerous.” Tewi whispers back “more than last time.” Eirin wipes the blood off from under her nose and says “well, unless the princess changes her mind, I’m going to have to ask you to leave. Please, miss Rika, don’t make me force you.” Rika thinks for a moment, doing her best to ignore the sharp pain in her heart after hearing that, then she snaps her fingers and gasps with excitement, then says “what if I can show miss Kaguya I’m not like my ancestors?” Eirin looks to the window, admiring the afternoon, then says “I didn’t see you. I’ll be working here, so I might not be able to hear my princess’ call. Please, just don’t push it.” Rika smiles again, gives Eirin a light hug while her wings flaps rapidly, then excitedly rushes to the door and says “thank you. Don’t you worry, miss Kaguya is not a bad person. She’ll understand I’m her friend!” Hatate immediately rushes after Rika, who asks “miss Hatate, wouldn’t you rather stay here?” Hatate stares at Rika with a courageous and determined look and says “and leave my sister alone out there, like, not knowing what will happen? No way! I’m coming with you!” Rika giggles, then the door closes right after they leave, then Tewi approaches Eirin and asks “who are you, and what have you done to Eirin?” The lunarian looks at Tewi and pats her head, then says “I think the princess needs friends like her. Wouldn’t you agree?” Tewi smirks, then says “you’re always thinking about these things, aren’t you?” Eirin smiles, emanating a dangerous aura, then says “that’s none of your business.”

Inside the mansion, Kaguya dunks a small painting brush inside a can of green paint, and without cleaning off even a tiny bit of excess paint, she immediately places it on her canvas, making Reisen shudder and cry out “so cold!” Kaguya angrily says “don’t move! My, what a terrible canvas you are!” Reisen lies on her belly, wearing only her underwear while Kaguya uses her body as a canvas for a disaster she calls a painting. Reisen whimpers, then says “just hurry up, so I can wash this stuff up!” Kaguya stares at Reisen for a second, then says “you would wash off this masterpiece!?” Reisen cries “I want to see!” Kaguya sticks out her tongue and winks at Reisen, saying “I’m not done yet.” While Kaguya continues to paint her disastrous masterpiece, Rika walks to her side with her hands behind her back and quietly observes Kaguya’s painting. Hatate makes a little noise with her camera clicking away, but this doesn’t seem to bother Kaguya at all, as she continues to paint away. Rika places her hand on her mouth and giggles, then says my, what a lovely painting, miss Kaguya.” Kaguya expands her chest, and with a boastful face and voice, she says “well thank you. You won’t find higher quality than... wait a minute, Eirin and Tewi are out, so...” Kaguya slowly turns her face toward the smiling Rika and stares for a moment, a clock seemingly ticking away while the current events sink into the moon princess’ mind. Suddenly, Kaguya’s face fills with terror and anger, then she finally shouts “WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE!?!” Rika winces and says “I’m sorry miss Kaguya, but I can’t accept what you told me before!” Kaguya scoffs, then says “just like all you family! You are too good to accept anything I say or do! And for what!? Because you claimed I had ‘superiority complex’! You people just don’t understand me. Always looking at the little picture! Bah! Inaba, get this fiend out of my sight!!” Reisen stands up with a look of both contempt and deep sadness, then points a glowing finger at Rika and says “please get away from here.” Rika looks straight into Reisen’s eyes, and suddenly, the world around her starts to sway and twirl, making her feel a bit sick, however, she continues to stare at Reisen with understanding. Reisen starts to whimper and shake, the glow in her finger dimming down, so Rika takes the chance, and with a soothing voice she asks “what’s the matter, miss Reisen.? Do you hate me too?” Reisen twitches when she hears Rika say that, then closes her eyes and says “n-no! I don’t! I couldn’t. Y-you left because you had to help them. But I was so scared! I didn’t want you to leave, but you still left!” Inside Reisen’s mind, she sees a woman like Rika, though with larger wings, remaining faceless to Reisen, yet giving her a sense of safety. Suddenly, there is an explosion and many screams, then this person nods, then rushes away toward the explosions and noises. Reisen screams “no. Please, don’t go!” In reality, Reisen is on the floor, holding her head while curling up into a ball, whimpering and shaking violently, whispering “don’t go! Please, don’t leave. I’m so scared!” Rika’s sword softly growls, though only Rika can hear it, then she goes into her Soraogan mode and slowly walks to Reisen, whispering “I’m here, little moon rabbit. Don’t be scared. Nothing’s going to happen.” When Rika touches Reisen’s shoulder, the moon rabbit twitches, but then allows Rika to get closer. Rika softly says “a little birdie tells me you met one of my brethren. You know she had to go, right? She had to do what she did because there was no other choice.” Reisen slowly relaxes and nods, then Rika whispers “come on. Let’s get up, miss Reisen. You need to get cleaned up.” Reisen buries her face on Rika’s chest and repeats “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” Rika brushes Reisen’s hair as gently as she can and whispers “it’s alright, miss Reisen.” The diamond on Rika’s sword glows an intense bright blue for some time, Kaguya watching with contempt from a distance.

After calming Reisen down and convincing her to take a bath, Rika now stands in the living room, where Kaguya glares at her from a comfortable-looking pillow she’s kneeling on. Hatate is rummaging all over the mansion, exclaiming with admiration at almost everything she sees. Kaguya glares straight at Rika and says “congratulations! You set all my servants against me. I swear, if this were the moon, I’d have you beheaded for treason!” Rika kneels to the ground and bows down all the way until her forehead touches the ground, then says “miss Kaguya, I swear, that is all in the past. Please, understand I’m not your enemy. I want to be your friend, like before. Like when I first entered this world, remember?” Kaguya crosses her arms and looks away, then says “th-that’s because I didn’t know who you really were!” Rika raises her body, but keeps looking to the ground and with a cracking voice she says “neither did I.” Kaguya notices this and feels a small tug in her heart, however she ignores it and continues to glare at Rika. The shrine maid raises her head, wiping a small tear form her eye, then says “I see. So we can no longer be friends. I am so very sorry you feel this way about me, miss Kaguya. If you ever change your mind, you can find me at the Hakurei shrine. I’ll always accept your friendship, should you ever offer it to me.” With a heavy heart, she stands up and prepares to leave, but before she does, she snaps her fingers and pulls out her Saboten Stock. She pushes a button and out comes a bracelet, a small, milky-colored mineral, and a metallic hammer that looks as though it could break in one use. Kaguya asks “what are you doing?” Rika places the mineral next to the bracelet and aims the hammer’s head between the two items and says “this is a gift, from me to you...” The hammers starts to glow, then the two items start to glow as well and seem to merge to make one bracelet. When the process is complete, Rika takes the bracelet which has the stone embedded into a crescent moon shape on it, and presents it to Kaguya and says “I want you to know I feel no ill will towards you, and if you ever change your mind about me, please, don’t hesitate to call for me!” Kaguya looks at the item with disdain and hesitantly accepts it, and the moment her hand touches the item, she feels a surge of power coming from within herself, then asks “wha..? What is this!?” Rika smiles at Kaguya and says “I synthesized this bracelet with one of my favorite stones, a moonstone. I knew it would help you somehow, so... Please, accept this as a gift from your friend, even... even if you don’t think of me as a friend. Maybe that old Rika’s gift to you, yes?” At first, Kaguya stares angrily toward Rika, making her feel a little uneasy, thinking Kaguya would attack her now, but instead, Kaguya jumps on her and tackles her to the ground. With authority in her voice, yet with a seemingly kind look, Kaguya says “you really are an idiot! Even after I treated you like an enemy, you still call me a friend! What an idiot! Regardless of what you may think, I DO have a heart, so I’ll accept this gift from you... a-as a peace offering... a-and, um... I accept your friendship. But don’t think too much into this! I just think you look so pitiable!” Rika smiles back at Kaguya while the diamond in her sword glows blue, then smiles and says “I can live with that, miss Kaguya.” Kaguya gets off Rika, and as they both stand, Kaguya says “you may address to me as Kaguya, but only because I want you to see how kind I really am!” Rika’s smile widens, then she bows and says “as you with mi- I mean, Kaguya.”

By the time Rika and Hatate leave Entei, the sky is golden, signaling the sun’s ready to set to the west. After waving at her Entei friends, Rika and Hatate start to have some casual conversation, giggling along the way back to the Hakurei shrine. From below, something seems to follow them with great speed, but neither girl notices anything strange. For a while they continue to talk and giggle, then suddenly Rika turns to her Soraogan mode and unsheathes her sword, startling Hatate as she seemingly slashes straight at her face. Hatate slowly opens her eyes, trembling with fear, then she notices Rika hovering in front of her, staring with courage and concern toward the west. When she takes a better look, she realizes Rika is glaring at the two goddesses that trapped her before. In a fright, Hatate rushes to Rika and hugs her back tight, saying with fright “it’s them! The crazy goddesses that kidnapped me and, like, treated me really harsh!” Kanako sighs and says “well, it seems we now have two witnesses to take care of.” Suwako shakes her head lightly and says “we might have some trouble with this traitor, Kanako.” Rika stares at both goddesses with great confusion, narrowing her eyes as she stares into their eyes. Meanwhile, somewhere in the forest of Magic, Marisa aims her Hakkero and shouts “MASTER SPARK~!” A tiny beam flies 6 feet away from Marisa, but fizzles to nothing in an instant. Mima groans with rage and says “Marisa, you need to focus! That seal has weakened enough for you to at least use the first level of that spell! What’s the matter!?” Marisa angrily says “they knew, Mima-sama! They knew all of this would happen, but all they care about is progress; about their goals to bring in modern life! This was supposed to be something special, and they knew it was a blunder, but they didn’t say a word!” Wriggle clings on to a tree, sucking honey that’s been slathered on to its bark along with some other insects. She stops and looks at Marisa, then says “but getting angry at them won’t solve a thing, miss Marisa”, then continues to suck on the honey. Marisa is about to snap at the bug youkai, but stops and thinks hard before answering. She takes a deep breath and sighs loudly, then says “you... you’re right.” Mima approaches Marisa, smiles and says “look, let’s have something to eat and continue training you in the morning. Is that ok?” Marisa closes her eyes and slumps, then nods and says “I’ll get us a fire going”, but before she tends to the fire, she stares at her Hakkero with a sad face, then sighs and places it under her hat on her head. There is an unsettling loud clanging sound, then Marisa looks with fright at Wriggle, then Mima, both of them looking back with fright. Marisa asks “wait, nobody got hit?” Mima and Wriggle shrug, then continue on what they were doing. A few feet away, behind some bushes, Yuki lies on the ground on her stomach with a large bump on her head, her eyes round and white as she smiles, along with a small spirit leaving her through that smile. A golden washtub lies to her right, a large dent on the very center of it, taking the shape of Yuki’s head.

To be continued...

Characters, Spell Cards and Scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Ail, Kyo, Budou, Phredia, Kimi and Kali were created by Willie G.R.
Rika Onkamikami was created by Snapshot 2010

APR 29 2010
Written by
Willie G.R.

A/N:
I REALLY must thank you for your reviews, even though they are few. They really help me with my writing; makes me want to write more. Thank you for showing your support, and please, keep showing your support. Keep leaving reviews/comments.
Now THIS is a packed chapter. And I actually managed to write it real quickly, since I was so inspired, added to the fact that the reviews I received raised my spirit, as well as helped with my inspiration. Oh well, until next chapter. This one might REALLY take me some time, as it has some details I can’t seem to visualize well. Anyway, see you next chapter if the spirits will allow.

Paradise Sukima 16

At the SDM, while the incident at the village is being resolved, Patchouli sneaks into the kitchen, eager to try her experiment on Remilia’s food. While she applies a suspicious black powder, looking as casual and uninterested as ever, Patchouli is approached by one of the fairy maids who asks “lady Patchouli, what is that?” Patchouli casually says “it’s nothing, really. Just something for Remi to try out.” Patchouli places the silver cover on the serving tray and says “you may take this now.” The fairy maid smiles, bows, and after a quick giggle, she takes the tray away on to an elegant push-cart. At the dining room, Remilia, still wearing her extravagant clothes, impatiently awaits for her meal along with Flandre. Remilia lightly punches the table and says “ugh, where’s our MEAL?! That white-blooded maid better not be trying anything!” Flandre sighs and sadly says “onee-sama, how long are you going to pick on that girl. I already told you, she’s very nice. She doesn’t want to—“ Before she can finish, the fairy maid enter the room, happily humming as she pushes the cart next to the table. Remilia angrily asks “finally! Where’s the chief maid!? Wasn’t she supposed to cook!?” The fairy maid smiles and says “we made this meal for miss Remilia and miss Flandre, while miss Rika cures miss Koakuma.” Flandre’s eyes spin in places and moans “uuu~ so many misses.” Remilia ignores Flandre and stares with disdain at the meal the fairy maids made. Flandre immediately recovers from her daze and begins to devour her meal, contently squealing as she enjoys. Remilia stares at Flandre and thinks “well, seems it’s good enough. Fine, I’ll try it too.” Flandre notices Remilia staring at her, and with concern and a face full of bits of food she asks “what is it, onee-sama?” Remilia picks up her fork and calmly says “nothing. Err, just enjoy your meal.” Flandre shrugs and continues her meal, while Remilia hesitantly sinks her fork into the mashed meat with blood sauce, then slowly places the food into her mouth. At first, she clenches here eyes shut, thinking the meal will be horrible, however, after chewing a second time, she realizes the meal tastes divine and lets out a loud, content hum, immediately scooping a second portion. For a while, Remilia and Flandre continue to enjoy their meals, Flandre finishing before Remilia, letting out a small burp while rubbing her belly. Shortly after, Remilia pushes her plate away, still with some food in it, and with a content and satisfied look on her face, she says “oh, that was divine! So tasty. As if Sakuya herself made the meal!” Patchouli watches in secret from behind the door, anxiety filling her face as she thinks “nothing’s happening. This was a total waste of time and materials after all.” Remilia suddenly gasps, then Patchouli smiles and thinks “oh, here it comes.” Flandre looks at Remilia with concern while cleaning her face with a napkin, and asks “onee-sama, what’s wrong?” Remilia’s eyes expand, her iris grow, her pupils shrink, and very suddenly, Remilia jumps off her seat, letting her hat drop to the ground, and starts flying in circles in the air above the table, squealing and screaming with excitement, like a child who’s just been given the gift of her dreams. At first, Flandre stares at her sister with great concern, but she suddenly joins in, squealing and screaming with excitement, flapping her wings rapidly while flying above the dinner table. Patchouli watches with outmost attention and says to herself “that’s odd. I didn’t put any on Flandre’s plate.” For a while, she watches as the two vampires fly around, squealing and screaming excitedly, then decides to go back to the library. Once inside, she finds Rika accommodating Koakuma on a small bed and asks “well, what do we have here? Where did this come from?” Rika smiles sheepishly and says “she needed somewhere to rest, and I didn’t want to move her too much, so I made her a small bed here. She should be fine after resting.” Patchouli shrugs, then sits in front of her desk. Curiously, Rika approaches Patchouli and asks “and how was the experiment?” Patchouli almost lets out a smile after Rika asks, and manages to calmly says “it certainly was interesting.” She looks into her book, called “Modern Medicine” and says “it seems powdered laxative has different effects on vampires than it does on humans.” Rika opens her mouth wide, her eyes hide under shadow and her wings involuntarily flap very rapidly, then she exclaims “you gave laxative to miss Remilia!?” Patchouli keeps her calm face as she nods, then Rika darts out of the room, shouting “FAIRY MAIDS ASSEMBLE! Emergency maneuver #53! Move, move!!” Patchouli sighs, burying her face into her book once more, then Rika turns around, grabs her by the shoulder, and as she pulls her with her, she exclaims “I’ll need your help!” All Patchouli can do now is let out a quick “mukyu-“ as Rika pulls her away from her desk.

Meanwhile, at the Moriya Shrine, Suwako lifts the stone under which Hatate is trapped, revealing various charms underneath it that prevent the tengu from flying away. She tosses a few apples and a sweet potato and says “here. Now you can’t say we were mean to you.” Hatate looks up and shouts “OH YEAH!? Well how about letting me OUT!?” Suwako clicks her tongue and waves her finger, then says “no way. You’ll go blab about us to Reimu. We’re not letting you out until you swear to us you won’t say a word.” Hatate angrily shakes her fist in the air and shouts “BITE ME~!” Suwako shrugs and lets go of the stone, sealing the crow tengu once more, then says to herself “you’d think she would be a little more grateful we freed her form that tiny box.” When she looks in front of herself, she finds Ail staring at her with a blank smile. She gets a little nervous and say “err, you won’t talk, right?” Ail blinks twice, then sniffs around Suwako’s feet. The goddess sighs in relief and says “thank goodness he’s subconscious. Ugh, I can imagine it now, giving me a lecture, and telling me about what’s right and...” Suwako realizes Ail is sitting on her shoulders, looking toward Sanae and Kanako, while pointing at Budou and Koishi. Budou wears Koishi’s clothes, While Koishi wears Budou’s, and both seem to stare at Sanae, while hiding behind some bushes. Budou whispers “remember, it has to be squished grapes with cherry paste, got it?” Koishi smiles and says “watch and learn, my friend.” She focuses her sight on Sanae, who is trying to help Kanako back on her feet, using her powers over the subconscious to force Sanae into baking that pie Budou wants so badly. At first, Sanae ignores her thoughts and concentrates on helping the moaning goddess back to her feet. Kanako is almost to her knees when Sanae gasps and lets her go, letting her fall on her face to the ground once more, then flies away in a hurry, saying “I want to bake a pie for Budou!! Lady Yasaka, you are fine, right? Please get up peel some grapes for me. Thanks!” Kanako groans as she angrily gets back up and manages to sit on her knees. She looks up to the sky, then says to herself “uu- I better do as she says.” The goddess struggles to get up, her legs feeling like gelatin, pain coursing through her entire body, but even so, the fear of Sanae getting her again gives her the strength she needs to get up and peel those grapes. From behind the bushes, Koishi and Budou giggle, celebrating their victory, while from farther away, Suwako and Ail, who is still on her shoulder, watch and chuckle. Suwako looks to the sky toward where Sanae left to, and says “boy, that little scamp has changed so drastically. Wouldn’t you agree, Ail?” Suddenly, a sad little music box tune starts to play, and when Suwako looks to her shoulder Ail is already gone. Her face turns blue and she starts to tremble, looking all around for Sanae, and then, a shadow looms from behind, and when Suwako turns around, her “auu” scream echoes all the way down to the Youkai Forest.

At the Human Village, Kyo’s house is the center of a great party, celebrating Alice, Hourai and Parsee’s victory over the crazed Maribel. Inside the house, Renko sits on the couch, bandages covering half of her head and face and her left shoulder, and Maribel sits beside her with a cup of sake on her hand, looking sad and almost ready to cry, saying “I’m so sorry, Renko. I swear, I didn’t know.” Renko sighs, sick of hearing Maribel’s incessant apologies, and managing to stay calm she says “it’s ok, Mary, I understand.” In the kitchen, Alice, Shanghai, Hourai, Luna and Yuugi sit around the round dinner table, the two little girls sitting on the table itself in front of Alice, all looking serious while Luna writes on a piece of paper. Luna raises her sight and read “alright, this is what I wrote for Reimu. *ahem* Regarding the incident in the village, it seems that same magical shockwave that’s been causing chaos all over Gensokyo is the main cause once again. Somehow, it made Maribel’s mind unstable and triggered within her, the ability to create dangerous storms and trap people inside mountains made of glass. Outside interference blew the incident out of proportion, making Maribel’s unstable self even more powerful. In the end, thanks to the combined effort of the yama and her shinigami, Alice, Hourai and Parsee, along with outside help from many friends, the incident was resolved, and everything returned to normal promptly.” Luna glances all around the table, waiting to see if there was any complains, and that’s when she notices Parsee standing next to Yuugi, glaring at her with contempt. Luna scowls and asks “yes? Is something wrong?” Parsee stares back, her ears flip, then she says “why must you be the one to write that? Why can’t I write it!?” Yuugi head-locks Parsee, covering her mouth while she smiles at the angry Luna, then nervously says “ignore her. She’s just being jealous.” Luna glares back at Parsee for a while, but then sighs and says “fine, fine! I’ll take this to Reimu, fist thing in the morning.” All the girls nod at the same time, even Parsee, who is still in Yuugi’s grasp. Meanwhile, Kyo is drunk, and dancing alongside some other drunk male villagers, all dancing their way outside. On the house’s porch, Byakuren, Shou, Medicine and Yuyuko sit with teacups on their hands, all staring with whimsical smiles to the sky, until Kyo and the others come out dancing drunk. Shou and Medicine stare with worry, while Byakuren and Yuyuko keep their whimsical smiles and simply say “oh my” at the same time. Medicine comments “ugh, he’s drunk again”, while Shou nods in agreement. Youmu and Nue come out of the house with trays of snacks, Nue occasionally taking a cookie or cake from the tray and eating it in one bite, while just outside the house, Minamitsu and Ichirin are having a competition to see whether Unzan’s fists, or Minamitsu’s anchors can cause the most damage. Nazrin lies on her back on the roof to the two floor house, looking up to the golden afternoon while drifting to sleep, thinking “just another day.”

That night, at the Moriya Shrine, while Lily, Ail, Koishi in Budou’s clothes, and Budou on Koishi’s clothes, enjoy a large piece of pie, Marisa, Mima and Wriggle quietly approach the donation box in the front of the shrine. Mima and Wriggle stay behind, while Marisa approaches the donation box, drops a few coins, quietly rings the bells and softly claps as if in prayer, then says “gods of this shrine, listen to my prayer. Please, aid me in my quest, so come here before I blab about your misdeeds!” As if forcefully summoned, Suwako and Kanako pop right above Marisa, and fall on the ground on top of her. The goddesses look around with confusion, and when they realize Marisa is groaning under then, they jump off and notice Mima and Wriggle waving at them from a distance. Marisa trembles and groans while standing up, and with a forced smile on her face, she says “sorry if I sound pushy, but I need your help.” The goddesses look at each other, then back at Marisa, and suddenly they are surrounded by a dome made of light. Suwako frowns and says “we told you, didn’t we!” Kanako says “we were NEVER involved with your little plan, regardless of what could happen.” Outside, Mima and Wriggle look at each other, then Mima asks “can you hear what they are saying?” Wriggle shrugs and tries to speak, but Mystia flies around, loudly singing “CHIN CHIN! CHIN CHIN~!” Mima’s face turns blue, while Wriggle shakes an angry fist to the air and shouts “I’M A GIRL, DAMMIT!” Inside the dome, Marisa yells “I know that! I’m not here to say anything! I need your help so I can fix this mess!” Kanako frowns and loudly replies “with that attitude, all you’re going to get is another blunder!” Suwako adds “it’s not our fault you couldn’t read that book anyway, so why should we help out now!?” Marisa gasps and stares back at the two goddesses with surprise and fury. Her body trembles as her rage escalates, fire burning in her eyes, instinctively pulling her Hakkero from under her hat. She points it at the two goddesses and shouts “you knew!! You knew about this!! Why didn’t you tell me!? I wanted to help Reimu, not cause this mess!! Why the hell didn’t you tell me!?” Kanako smirks and with a wicked and ominous look on her face, she says “of course we knew. But if we told you, you would have never opened that place for us.” Marisa’s rage escalates more, her hand trembling violently while pointing with her Hakkero. Suwako smiles and casually says “you see, inside that dragon paradise there are these magical minerals then never run out. We need to collect a good chunk of that for us to give to the kappa, and that way, they can help Gensokyo evolve into what it should be.” Kanako says “all we need is an excuse to leave the shrine, or a moment when Sanae isn’t here, go there, pick up the minerals, and give them to the kappa. Gensokyo will become a modern paradise for all in just days!” Marisa hyperventilates, her rage making her skin turn red, and with hatred in her voice she shouts “MASTER SPARK~~!!!” A tiny spark is all that comes out of her Hakkero, and that’s when she remembers the seal inside of her. Kanako and Suwako smirk, then Kanako says “that was... pathetic.” Suwako scoffs, then says “look, we didn’t want this to happen either, but what’s done is done. Now is the time to look forward. Just give us a few days to get the minerals, then you can do whatever it is you want to make that maiden happy again, alright?” Kanako adds “but please, if you’re going to try something like that again, make sure you have your heart in the right place, ok?” With that, the two goddesses walk away back to the shrine, leaving Marisa with a bitter feeling inside of her. Mima and Wriggle look back to her with concern as she turns around with her head hanging low, and her eyes hidden under her hat. As she walks past them, Wriggle asks “miss witch, what’s the matter?” Marisa continues to walk away, keeping her thoughts all to herself, rage and confusion coursing through her mind.

Meanwhile, at the SDM, Rika sits on one of the dining room chairs, holding on to Remilia, who fell asleep while clinging on to her. Next to her are Meiling, who holds on to Flandre while she sleeps with a content face, and observing them unblinking, is Patchouli, scribbling notes on to a little red book with blank pages. Rika sighs and says “miss Patchouli, that was just too irresponsible. Laxatives can be poisonous to vampires!” Patchouli stops scribbling for a moment, staring back with an uncaring face, and casually says “it’s alright. I removed the poisonous properties. Regardless of what you may think, I do care for Remi.”, then continues scribbling. Meiling yawns and says “well, at least she stopped from trying to eat the fairy maid’s wings.”, then looks at Rika and asks “how are you holding up?” Rika stands up, lifting her arms up to show how well Remilia is hanging on to her, and with a tired smile she says “well, I’m a little tired, but it’s ok.” Remilia starts to moan and rub her face on Rika’s belly, making the maid blush beet red and sit down. Remilia stretches her wings, yawns and lets go of Rika to stretch her arms, and when she opens her eyes, Rika smiles at her and says “good evening, miss Scarlet.” After blinking twice, Remilia’s sight slowly recovers, then she realizes she’s sitting on Rika’s lap. At first, it seems she’s quite calm about it, but she suddenly jumps to the ceiling, screaming in rage and releasing danmaku orbs all over the room, shouting “what the hell is the meaning of this~!!?” Rika, Meiling, and Patchouli take Flandre under the table while she continues to sleep as though nothing is going on, Meiling screaming “my lady, please calm down!” Patchouli looks at Rika and calmly says “well, it appears she’s completely unharmed.” Remilia grabs the large table, lifts it to the air with no effort, then tosses it aside and screams once more. Remilia points at Rika and says “you tried to KILL me! And you!!!” Remilia turns her attention to Meiling and Patchouli, and in a dangerous tone of voice she says “you’ve all betrayed me! You were plotting to kill me and FLAN, weren’t you!?” Before Meiling explain, Remilia says “no matter. Nothing a little disciplinary action can fix!” Remilia summons an energy orb and raises it above her head, energizing it with both hands until it becomes 10 times her own body size. She releases the slow orb toward her servants, however Rika rushes in front of the energy, and using her family sword, she cuts it various times, turning it to dust. Remilia screams in rage, however, something about Rika’s voice makes her stop as she says “miss Scarlet, that’s enough. They were trying to stop me, but I beat them all in a fair fight! If you’re going to punish someone, it’ll have to be me!” Patchouli and Meiling open their mouths, but Rika looks back to them with her usual smile, then winks. Remilia smirks, pulling out a spell card from under her capelet and says “so, you finally show me your true colors. I can’t kill you, so I’ll just beat you until you are inches away from death, and then I’ll tell Reimu how you, yourself, confessed to the attempt on my life... and so... Scarlet Sign, Scarlet Meis-“ Before Remilia finishes her declarations, Meiling and the awakened Flandre stand in front of Rika with defying faces. Koakuma flies out of nowhere and stands next to Rika, using her wings and hands to cover the maid, and Patchouli sighs and lightly face palms, then points her finger, readying a water spell, straight at Remilia. The vampire mistress can’t believe her eyes, and with rage in her voice she says “so you rather betray me to save this white-blooded assassin!?” Koakuma is the first to say “Rika onee-chan is not an assassin! She’s good, even to demons like me!” Meiling nervously says “my lady, she’s not bad at all. Just give her the chance!” Flandre angrily says “she played with me and still took care of the mansion! Stop picking on her already!” Patchouli calmly says “I’m sorry, Remi, but I think it’s unfair you treat her like that, after all she’s done for you.” Remilia scoffs and asks “for me!? What has she done for me!?” From the doorway to the corridor that leads to the foyer, Sakuya says “well, she’s prepared all your meals, you tea, fixed the mansion, dealt with the fairy maids, and nursed me back to health faster than the alien doctor predicted.” Remilia gasps in excitement and surprise after seeing Sakuya standing in her white sleeping robes, looking as healthy as ever, ignoring the angry scowl Sakuya is giving her. Remilia asks “wait a minute? She’s been nursing you!? But... I thought?” Sakuya sighs and angrily says “she’s still here because she wants to make sure I can keep on my feet longer than 3 hours.” Remilia slowly descends, looking confused and a little scared, saying “but, but... Beings like her despise beings like us.” Koakuma says “no, she’s different! She could have killed me, but she cured me, and thanks to her medicine I feel much better!” Flandre adds “not only she’s been playing with me! She’s fixed my flying machine. She even made two smaller ones so you and I can play around the house!” Meiling adds “she’s been helping me train a lot. She’s even helped me with my speed, my lady.” Patchouli adds “AND she’s been working her butt off so that you could continue the lifestyle you’re so accustomed to.” Rika blushes, and sounding a bit bashful she says “aw, it was nothing, really. I’m just glad to know I was able to help so much.” Remilia notices the happy faces of her servants and her sister, as well as the condition in which her mansion is. As clean as if it were Sakuya herself doing the cleaning. She remembers all her mealtimes and teatimes served right on time, even though Rika doesn’t possess time manipulation abilities. She even remembers various occasion when Rika appeared when called, sometimes even as fast as Sakuya. Remilia takes a look at Sakuya, all her bandages gone, her skin color back to normal, and her eyes full of life once more. She clenches her fists tight, her eyes hiding under a dark shadow, then walks toward Sakuya. She stops when in front of her maid and says “Sakuya, I am very happy to see that you are well once more. Everyone else... please don’t bother me. I need to be alone.” Remilia walks to the corridor, and in the blink of the eyes, she’s gone. Flandre excitedly rushes to Sakuya and exclaims “Sakuya~! You’re all better!” While the others head toward the chief maid, Rika continues to stare toward the corridor, thinking about Remilia’s face.

Two days have passed and the incidents in Gensokyo have settled down. At the Myouren temple, Yuyuko and Byakuren share whimsical smiles while saying their goodbyes, and Shou and Nue bow to Youmu, who bows back and says “thank you for everything.” Yuyuko smiles whimsically at Byakuren and says “thank you for your hospitality. I still can’t believe we stayed two whole days here.” Byakuren returns the whimsical smile and says “please, do come again. And miss Youmu, could you come here for a minute?” Youmu looks curiously toward Byakuren, and the moment she gets close enough, Byakuren grabs her and wraps her arms tightly around her, saying “I want you to know I am beyond grateful for freeing me. I was too frightened to get out on my own so... thank you so very much.” At first, Youmu feels embarrassed, but slowly, she relaxes, feeling as though she’s being hugged by her own mother. When Byakuren lets her go, they all can see the pink on Youmu’s cheeks. Nue is about to comment on it, however Yuyuko’s glare makes her think otherwise. After that, they all wave at each other, and Youmu and Yuyuko fly off, back home to the Netherworld. Meanwhile, at the void between paradises, Ail recovers the painful memory, as to why he left Gensokyo in search for his place in life. Ail turns dark blue as he says “and then, I managed to regain my senses, just in time too. Kanako launched a pretty heavy attack and Sanae was right there, right where the attack was aimed, so I used the last of my energy to protect her. Broke my arm in the process... and when that happened.” The guardian dragon sighs and says “it’s only natural, that after all these events, you felt fear and uncertainty. The pain you were feeling at that moment did not help, as it made you feel as though everyone and everything became a threat.” Ail sighs and says “not only that. That’s the first time I fully realized how dangerous I truly was. All the messes, the trouble, the dangers I put all those I care about through. And between you and me, I still don’t know what the heck’s a lecher.” The guardian dragon ponders, scratching his humanoid-dragon chin, then says “perhaps it would be best if you asked Sanae about that.” Ail asks “is that so~!?” The guardian dragon panics and says “great, NOW you’ve done it!” Ail quickly asks “what. What did I do now?” From the gate comes a small whelp-sized black dragon with golden hair on her neck, and three horns, two above her ears, one on her nose, and the right one is red. She walks to Ail with an angry look, then bites him hard, chewing him like bubblegum, and after blowing him like a balloon, she takes him out of her mouth and pokes him with her little claw, making him pop violently. After she’s done, she blows a small black cloud from her nose and says “stop stealing my lines, you idiot!” Ail groans as each of his pieces come together to remake him, then painfully asks “ow. Who was that?” The guardian dragon says “that was Muria. She’s a little pest that eats geckos and anything else that has meat on it. She is also very good at handling the darkness.” Ail can see stars circle over his head while thinking “heh, sounds like Rumia.” A large orb of light enters the room and pops in front of the guardian dragon. He hums and says “it seems your dragon friend got herself into some trouble. I am going to need your help here.” Ail nervously asks “w-won’t I get in trouble?” The guardian dragon smiles and says “these order come from the yama himself. Come, let’s quickly go.” Ail casually says “ok” then rushes outside. He is blinded for a second as he exits the gate, and when he opens his eyes again, he notices he’s inside a white dragon. Panicking, he shouts “oh... oh no! What happened? Where am I? What am I?” The guardian dragon’s voice says “relax, little human. It seems you got into my body. Give me a second, I’ll get you out.” Before long, Ail’s spirit pops right out of the guardian dragon’s head, then sighs with relief, however, the guardian dragon looks at him with concern and asks “you learned something, didn’t you?” Ail turns lilac, then giggles, while the dragon guardian lightly face palms and shakes his head.

At the SDM, Rika enters the main hall, where Remilia has been spending most of her time for the past days, wearing a less extravagant white dress. She serves the tea, just like Remilia herself likes it; just as if Sakuya herself was serving her. Rika notices there are no more angry glares, no more sudden screaming, no more verbal attacks, however she also notices sadness in the mistress’ eyes. A sadness she hides deep within herself. Rika smiles and bows while saying “please, enjoy you tea, my Lady Scarlet.” Remilia stares at the door, and in a cold tone of voice she asks “why?” Rika stares back with a bit of concern, then Remilia jumps off her chair and lifts her wings, then continues “why don’t you hate me? Why aren’t you angry!? I shunned you, called you names, branded you a monster, an assassin, yet you smile like nothing’s happened! That BOTHERS ME! Hate me! Be angry!” Rika stares with a bit of surprise for a moment, then places her hand on her chest, smiles, and says “miss Scarlet, when I was younger, even though I was surrounded by people that loved me and cared for me, taught me to be who I am, I still didn’t have anybody I could call a friend, because they were always so busy, and I was ‘weird’ to the others of my age. That robbed me from my happiness, even though I tried my best not to show it. However, that gave me the resolve I needed, the strength to promise to myself to make others happy, no matter what, because everyone deserves to be happy.” Remilia’s wings drop, the fire in her eyes seems to dim, then she sits down while staring at Rika with concern and pity. Rika smiles and bows down, then says “that’s why I worked twice as hard for you, miss Scarlet. I wanted you to see I’m not that monster you thought I was.” Rika giggles, and before she leaves the room she whispers “and it seems I did just that.” Remilia ignores that last comment, and with a lost expression in her face, she picks her teacup and stares into it for a while. Later, at the library, Rika enters with a tray full of snacks for Patchouli and Koakuma, when a large spiked log flies straight toward her. Koakuma shouts “onee-chan! Look out!” Rika jumps in front of the little cart, raises her hand, and from her palm a large blue magical seal forms up, and around it, five smaller magical circles form up almost instantly, then a powerful stream of water pours form the magical circle, veering the log away from Rika and the food tray. After dusting her hands and sighing with accomplishment, Rika notices Patchouli staring at her with shock and surprise in her usual dull and expressionless eyes. Concerned, Rika asks “lady Patchouli, are you alright!?” Patchouli stares with her mouth wide open for a moment, then recovers her usual uninterested face and asks “how did you do that?” Rika asks “do what? That water spell?” Before Rika realizes it, Patchouli is face-to-face, staring straight into her eyes. Rika gets nervous and asks “wh-what is it? Is something wrong?” Patchouli blinks twice, allowing Rika to step back, then says “I’m going to be straight with you. I want you to stay with us. Your knowledge and abilities with magic would be a great asset. Not to mention, having a little demon and a little angel will be very useful for future experiments... So, will you stay?” Rika covers her mouth as she lets out a quick giggle, then says “I could never do that to miss Reimu, lady Patchouli. I’m sorry, but I’ll have to decline your most generous offer.” Patchouli lets out a disappointed “mukyu~”, then turns around and walks to her desk. Rika calls for her and says “um, that is... Here...” Rika pulls out her Saboten Stock, the tiny box that contains so many of her possessions, then pulls out a thick book on magic and hands it to Patchouli, saying “this is what I used to learn about advanced magic, and about seals.” Patchouli stares at Rika and blinks twice, then smiles and says “this should help me. Thank you very much. I will return this as soon as I am done reading it... Oh, that’s right.” Patchouli flies to one of the bookshelves on the farthest wall on the third floor of the library and quickly rummages around, pulling out an old book with a thick green cover, then immediately flies back to Rika, handing the book to her and saying “you said you wanted to learn about dark magic too, right? This book should help you.” At first, Rika and Patchouli merely look at each other, but suddenly both start to smile and laugh, and just like that, Rika’s sword turns to its colorful state and the diamond on the hilt starts to glow blue. Rika can hear a quick roar coming from the sword when this happens, then it turns back to normal. Rika looks at Patchouli and says “well, that was interesting.” Patchouli simply continues to smile, then says “please remember, you are welcome here at any time.” Rika smiles, bows, then says “thank you, lady Patchouli.” Patchouli smiles and says “my friends call me Patchy.”

At the dragon’s paradise, Kimi flies around, minding her own business as she heads toward the mineral mountains, when from above the clouds, the black and red shadow dragon swoops down, missing a claw strike by inches. Kimi stares back with fury and asks “what the hell’s the matter with you? Didn’t you learn your lesson the last time?” The shadow dragon’s eyes glow blood red for a second, then she says “you are going to pay DEARLY for messing with me, tiny!” Kimi smirks, letting a glint escape her right eye, then she says “alright, I got time to teach you another lesson. Just don’t blink this time, or you might miss out on it.” Meanwhile, Ail floats on the guardian dragon’s back while he races to catch up to Kimi, when suddenly, the guardian dragon says “that’s it. You have remembered everything. And no, that is not a fabrication.” Ail sighs and says “I was... hoping it was.” The dragon guardian turns his neck to the little pink spirit and says “go ahead. Tell me about it. You’ll feel better.” Ail sighs and says “a lot of things happened, you know... after my battle with those goddesses. Thanks to Shadow Suwako... who is apparently called Spee now, and Girlie, Shinki’s Shadow, I learned that the very same spirit that had possessed me and Tenshi, was causing all the dangerous incidents that seemed to be happening all around me. So, after a lot of preparations, I went to hell.” The guardian dragon twitches at the mentioning of that place, but Ail continues, regardless of noticing this. “I had to go deep inside, using a blessed cloak so I wouldn’t fry, a special mask to conceal my identity, and a sword that melted after a few seconds of me touching its hilt.” The dragon keeps quiet, so Ail continues “I managed to do cut its tail and escape before the yamas could find me, and then... Well, that’s when I left Gensokyo, in search for a place to belong. What a foolish mistake that was.” The dragon calmly says “remember, you had to go through those trials, Ail. You know that, so stop talking like you are so sad about it.” Ail sighs and says “I’m a little sad because of what I saw, for leaving Budou behind, for not listening to Sanae and my friends...” Ail turns grey, then says “the world out there is horrible for people like me. Magic and faith mean nothing, and all is ruled by pieces of paper with numbers on them. If you don’t have money out there, you might as well not exist at all.” The dragon takes a deep breath, seemingly growling, then says “don’t think on it too much, or you’ll stain your spirit.” Ail takes a deep breath, taking a humanoid shape that sits with his legs crossed on the dragon’s back, then says “you’re right. Well, the thing is, I had to get jobs in order to live there, and I was doing ok, until one day, there was this eclipse. My powers went berserk; I couldn’t control my magic or my gaps. Some people started ‘oohing’ and ‘ahhing’ and that’s when they started to get hurt. After about 5 minutes of this, I managed to gain control again, even though that eclipse wasn’t over, and then I realized the damaged I had caused. Everything happened so fast after that, and I became a most-wanted felon for harming those people with, what they called, my special effects.” The dragon laughs and asks “so to them, magic does not exist? That’s just sad.” Ail nods and continues “well, before I lost all my memories... before I sealed my memories, I ran from those cops and that hunter, called Guzman. I thought of going back into Gensokyo, so I opened a gap back home... but that’s when I got shot, and Guzman and some other officers almost entered the gap. Somehow...” The dragon stays quiet, watching as Ail’s color changes from grey to dark grey, then back to grey, then white. Ail continues “somehow, I managed to close that gap, open up another to the void, and there... In there, I decided, for the safety of my friends and all Gensokyo, to seal away all my memories from my time there, in case I ever got captured, or tried something as stupid as that again.” The dragon lightly shakes his head and says “longing for home is not stupidity, Ail.” Ail quickly replies “opening gaps when surrounded by hostiles is.” The dragon tilts his head momentarily, then softly says “hum well... experience, I guess.” Both Ail and the dragon laugh, then Ail says “but now... after remembering all of this, I understand one thing.” The dragon turns his neck to look at Ail and asks “and what’s that?” Ail quickly replies “everything happens for a reason. Even my forceful re-entrance to Gensokyo, and my being separated from my body like this.” The dragon smile and says “and now, all that’s left is for you to return home for good. But for now... it seems we’re almost there, so get ready, and remember your lines.” Ali chuckles and says “I won’t forget.”

Meanwhile, Kimi glares at the shadow dragon with a small cut on her snout, while the shadow dragon is full of cuts and burn marks all over her red underbelly. The shadow dragon furiously says “when I kill you, I’ll let the ground creatures devour your pathetic body!” Kimi smirks and says “that’s a great idea. It’s better than disintegrating you in mid-air.” The shadow dragon roars with rage, while Kimi simply prepares to intercept an attack. The shadow dragon spins like a drill as she flies straight toward Kimi, smiling and saying “try and deflect this one, stringy.” Kimi smiles and stays in place, and just before the shadow dragon hits, her scales turn to diamonds, and the drill attack harms the shadow dragon from the recoil damage, chipping off a piece of her horn. While the shadow dragon roars in pain holding on to her horn, Kimi tackles her hard, sending red beams that trail behind her and immediately home in on their target, sending the shadow dragon falling head-first to the ground below, where her body impacts with a large boom and dust lifts all around. Kimi smiles wide, revealing her sharp teeth while staring with hungry eyes at her fallen opponent. She’s ready to dive down and claim her tasty-looking prize, but suddenly, the guardian dragon appears in front of her like a flash of light, blocking her way. Desperately hungry, Kimi drools as she shouts “get out of my way! I won! I deserve my prize!” The guardian dragon firmly replies “that’s now how things work here!” Kimi is ready to tackle the guardian dragon, but the second she charges her attack, she feels something holding her by the back of her neck, and before she tries to attack whatever it is, Ail says “I have been given permission to enter you mind and kick your consciousness right out of there if you try to attack, so be a good dragon and calm down.” Kimi’s face fills with panic, but even so, she doesn’t believe him and says “y-you’re lying! Y-you can’t do that!” The guardian dragon smiles and says “oh, he got the order from the yama himself, I’m afraid. So, you either calm down and leave this girl alone, or wander around as a spirit for a while.” Kimi raises her claws above her head, staring back with widened round eyes and nervously says “I’m a good girl!!” Ail and the dragon guardian stare at each other, then smile wide. Ail flies away from Kimi, and when he lands on the dragon guardian’s back, which is 10 times Kimi’s own size, the dragon guardian says “come, let’s go eat minerals from the mountain. I promise, they are quite tasty.” As they fly away to the mountains, Kimi whispers “they’re not as tasty-looking as you, that’s for sure.” The dragon guardian curiously asks “what did you say?” Kimi’s scales around her cheeks turn pink as she nervously says “er, um, that is... I’m a good girl, for sure.” Meanwhile, on the ground, the shadow dragon stares up to Kimi in a daze, then says to herself “aww, screw it. How can such a tiny thing have so much power anyway?” From behind her, Muria asks “what was that, Kiki?” The shadow dragon sweats as her eyes hide under shadow, then she nervously says “er, nothing! Nothing at all!”

Meanwhile, at the SDM, Rika stands just outside the gates with a wide smile on her face as she stares back to her friends, all staring back with sad smiles. Even Sakuya, who is back on her feet and ready to tackle her duties once more, sniffles while staring back at Rika. The shrine maid looks back at all and says “please, don’t be sad. You know you are all welcome at the shrine at any time, and if you need me for anything, you can come and ask me for help... err, of course, that is if it doesn’t inconvenience my lady Reimu.” Flandre lets out a sob, then runs to Rika and says “I’ll miss you so much! I loved playing hide-and-seek with you!” Rika sweats as she hugs the little vampire, and says “it’s alright. You still have your friends and miss Sakuya.” Meiling approaches Rika, and as soon as Flandre jumps to her, she extends her free hand to Rika and says “thank you for all those training sessions. I hope we can have another match sometime, and if not, a good picnic doesn’t sound too bad, right?” Rika chuckles nervously, then says “either sounds fine, just please, try not to kick so hard next time.” Meiling giggles and bows, then Patchouli and a sad-looking Koakuma approach Rika, then Patchouli says “thank you very much for your services. Even though I returned before the agreed time, you still helped us out a lot, just like Reimu said you would.” Rika bows and says “I’m just glad I was able to help so much, lady, um, I mean, Patchy.” Koakuma jumps on Rika and gives her a tight hug, saying “I’m sorry I called you an assassin, Rika onee-chan. Promise to visit sometime!” Rika gently pats Koakuma’s head and with a smile on her face, she says “of course, miss Koakuma. You can count on that.” The 4 girls back away, then Koakuma, Patchouli and Flandre head back inside the mansion, while Meiling takes her post back on the gate. Sakuya approaches Rika, elegantly bows to her, then says “thank you so much for all your help, miss Rika. I am sure lady Remilia is very grateful too. She’s just...” Rika giggles and says “prideful, right?” Sakuya covers her mouth and giggles, then says “you beat me to it.” The two maids look at each other, then shakes hands, Sakuya saying “well, I’m sure you miss Reimu a lot, so...” Before they finish their hand-shake, Remilia walks out of the mansion and heads toward Rika and Sakuya, wearing her normal pink dress. When she reaches them, she looks up to Rika and says “miss Rika, thank you for all your services, and... um...” Remilia looks away, extending her hand to Rika, then says “I’m sorry.” At first, Rika stares at Remilia for a moment, then accepts her hand-shake and says “you are most welcome, miss Scarlet!” After shaking her hand, Rika’s sword turns to its colorful state, and the diamond glows blue for a while, and after it stops, Remilia looks to Rika with a most serious expression, then Rika elegantly bows and says “then I take my leave, miss Scarlet.” Remilia gets angry and roughly says “stop that lady and miss Scarlet thing! That’s miss Remilia, lady Remilia, or just Remilia! So stop with that Scarlet thing, it’s creepy!” At first, Rika stares back a little frightened, but then she smiles, then starts to giggle, then says “understood, miss Remilia!” She takes to the air and flies away, but before clearing the trees, she gasps and says “oh, I almost forgot! I left you a gift, miss Remilia! I synthesized a few of your dresses with minerals that will deflect sunlight, so you won’t have to rely solely on your parasol!” Rika tilts her head right, giggles, waves her fingers, then hurriedly flies back to the Hakurei shrine.

Meanwhile, at the Moriya Shrine. Hatate is starting to lose her mind, speaking incoherently to herself while typing into her camera, laughing maniacally while looking into pictures of Kanako and Suwako powering up Marisa’s magical circles. Her eyes seem to have rings around them as she smiles wide and says “this is it! The big scoop of a lifetime! Yes, yes! I must tell... this BUG!” she drops on the ground and stares at a dead beetle, then shows it the pictures and says “look, look. Those goddesses are helping the witch, like, all secretly and eerily!” The seemingly dead bug starts to shiver with fear, as Hatate gets the camera closer, but she stops when she hears some footsteps just above her. She screams “PLEASE! Get me out of here! HELP~! HELP ME~!” She can hear Budou, angrily saying “hey, mister subconscious. Leave that rock alone!” Koishi adds “but it’s fun to push rocks. You should try it.” Budou angrily replies “don’t encourage him.” Hatate panics and flaps her arms, shouting “ENCOURAGE HIM! PUSH THAT THING!!!” Above, Lily flies to Ail, looking a little tired and pale, and weakly saying “good morning.” Budou sighs and says “it’s already lunch time... Hey miss Lily, are you alright?” Lily smiles weakly, nods, then yawns. Budou looks seriously at Ail and says “hey, shell of papa. Maybe you should tell her to go sleep. Spring is almost over.” Ail stares back with a smile on his face, then nods. He points his open palm toward Koishi, but nothing happens. Underneath, Hatate drops to the ground and starts crying, saying “this is so unfair! All I did was help out to get a subscription to my newspaper, and who knows... eh?” To her left, a purple oval with many eyes staring back at her opens up like a zipper. She gets closer to investigate it, then is suddenly sucked in. In an instant, she’s out from underneath the rock, and instead is surrounded by tall bamboo shoots. She looks around, unable to get her bearings, then shouts out loud “now where the hell AM I~~!!?” Meanwhile, back at the Moriya Shrine grounds, Budou impatiently taps her foot, looking angrily toward Ail, then says “well? Are you going to do something!?” Ail stares at his hands, then points his left hand upward. A large black gap opens up and sucks in Ail and the 3 girls, then immediately closes up. Immediately, they all find themselves in front of Remilia and Sakuya, who have just finished saying their goodbyes to Rika. Remilia covers her drooling mouth when she looks at Ail, then says “Sa-Sakuya! His blood! Get him away!” Sakuya grabs Remilia as Budou asks “where are we? The Scarlet Mansion!?” Sakuya passes by Meiling, who stares at Ail and the girls, then says “Meiling, keep them out of the mansion while I return!” Meiling salutes and says “it will be done!” Before Sakuya continues her way, a large silver washtub falls right on top of Meiling’s head, knocking her out immediately, and when she looks up to the tree branches above, she sees Koakuma covering her mouth and happily giggling. Sakuya frowns and shouts “alright then, YOU can help her!” Koakuma’s face changes, fright and concern filling her eyes as she says “wah!? That’s not fair!”

At the Dragon yama’s courtroom, the polished floors are all full of burn marks and scratches, the elegant desk lies in ruins, the dragon yama himself lies on his back with dizzy, spinning eyes, moaning and drooling, while his shinigami remains in her human form, swinging her scythe around in a rage. Above the room, a giant blue image of Shikieiki angrily says “and furthermore! For the intrusion into this territory, and the interference with an already dangerous incident, as punishment, your shinigami will remain in her human form until next spring of YOUR world, and this message and report is now being played for the higher spirits. So, dragon yama, and dragon shinigami, have a nice day, and if you try to interfere with my jurisdiction again, I will take disciplinary actions. Thank you and have a good day.” The message stops, Shikieiki’s image disappears, then turns back into a blue scroll. Enraged, the dragon shinigami shouts “this is all YOUR fault!!” The dragon yama continues to lie on the floor next to his destroyed desk, moaning while his eyes spin in place, and after some time, he manages to say “th-that girl... is a menace!”

To be continued...

Characters, Spell Cards and Scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Ail, Budou, Kyo, Luna and Kimi were created by Willie G.R.
Muria was derived from Rumia, and Kiki was derived from Agava/Kali.
Rika Onkamikami was created by Snapshot2010

APR 27 2010
Written by
Willie G.R.

A/N:
Well, this is embarrassing! I wanted to add a small-time incident, but it ended up being a VERY peaceful chapter. Oh well, the incident/s will have to wait until next chapter, huh?
Thank you for showing your support! Yes, those reviews lift my spirits and help me write even more enthusiastically. Remember that helpful reviews help me, and other writers improve as well. Anyway, see you next chapter, if the spirits will allow it.

Paradise Sukima 15

Morning at the SDM. Rika walks out of Sakuya’s room with a smile on her while saying “well, you should be up and around very soon, miss Sakuya. Just make sure to rest up, and try not to overexert yourself.” From inside the room, Sakuya softly replies “thank you so much for all your help. I’ll call if I need anything.” Rika smiles back and says “please do.”, then gently closes the door. As she walks down the corridor, she sighs contently and says to herself “she should be up and at them in just two days.” She rubs her chin and looks to the ceiling, then curiously says “strange that miss Remilia hasn’t visited her while she’s awake. Maybe I should get her now... but no, she would just get angry. She does like her sleep.” From behind, Remilia sounds threatening as she asks “what was that? Are you plotting on taking me down, white-blood?” Rika turns around and finds Koakuma standing in a seductive pose next to Remilia. The mistress herself wears an extravagant white outfit, meant to intimidate Rika. Her usual small puffy hat is replaced by a white, oversized triangular hat that’s the same width as her body, adorned with a red ribbon that seems to split the hat into 4 segments, and ends tied into a bow to her right, and her light-blue hair is lose, making herself look more fearsome as she smiles down on Rika. Over her shoulders, she wears a white capelet with red borderlines, a neckerchief over a large red ribbon she ties into a bow right over her abdomen, her dress is white with red borderlines on the bottom of the skirt and short puffy sleeves with a small red ribbon at the border of the sleeves, and finally, she wraps her forearms with a pair of detached sleeves and adorns each wrist with a thin red bracelet that seems to float around her wrists without actually touching them. Remilia smiles wide, baring her fangs for Rika to see clearly, and notices how the maid seems a little intimidated by her sudden change of appearance, and while feeling high and mighty she says “well, it seems you are slacking off, miss maid. I’m going to have to take some disciplinary action!” Rika manages to recover from the shock of seeing Remilia in such extravagant clothing, and stands firmly in place while confidently saying “I was just on my way to address the maids, my lady.” Koakuma chuckles, then Remilia smiles and says “taking such a defying tone of voice to address me. I’m going to have to teach you some manners!” Rika scowls and says “please, forgive my rudeness, my lady Remilia.” Remilia grabs Koakuma and lifts her above her head and says “it’s too late for begging! Koakuma, teach her a lesson!” Before Koakuma can complain, Remilia tosses her like a log straight at Rika’s face. Koakuma screams as she flies straight to Rika, and just before crashing on to her, Rika side-steps in the blink of an eye, letting Koakuma fly past her and crash head-first against a column on the archway behind them. Concerned, Rika turns around and calls “miss Koakuma, are you alright!?” Koakuma groans, but doesn’t answer as her body hangs limp against the column where her head it stuck in. Rika turns around and says “miss Remilia, that is no way to treat—“ Remilia clenches her teeth and speaks louder than Rika, interrupting her speech while saying herself “look what you made me do!! Clean up this mess and FIX that wall.” Rika covers her mouth to keep herself from scolding Remilia, and when the mistress turns her back, she simply bows and says “as you wish, my lady.” Remilia heads back to her room, while Rika tends to Koakuma, gently placing her hand on the little demon’s back, making her twitch her wings for a moment, but calming her down by gently saying “it’s alright, I’m here. Don’t move, so I can get you out of there.”

At the Human Village, Kyo and Luna walk out of their house just as the sun rises, each holding a cup of coffee on their hands. The morning is eerily quiet, thought he sun looks beautiful against the blue morning sky, which takes any suspicions away from their thoughts. Medicine walks out of the house with Su-San flying just above her shoulder, and after yawning and rubbing her eyes, she smacks her lips and says “good morning, you guys.” Kyo and Luna immediately greet back as Medicine looks to the sky, then looking around with suspicion, she asks “say... don’t you think it’s a little too quiet? And what’s the deal with that glass thingy over there?” Kyo and Luna both stop drinking from their cups, then look worriedly toward Medicine and Kyo asks “what are you talking about!?” Before Medicine speaks, Renko comes running from behind Kyo’s house, desperately calling out to Kyo and Luna. She finally reaches the porch where Kyo, Luna and Medicine are, then bends down while catching her breath and says “Mary! Mary!! We have to save Mary!!” Luna despairs and hurriedly asks “Renko, girl, what’s the matter!? Calm down!” Renko raises her body, revealing a large cut on her left shoulder, and blood trailing all over the left side of her face. Kyo opens his eyes wide, Luna and Medicine gasps in horror at the sight, and Su-San covers her little face with her tiny hands. Kyo shouts “who the HELL did that!?” Medicine yells “don’t shout at her, you idiot!” Luna throws her coffee cup away and punches both on the head, effectively calming them down, and after taking a deep breath herself, she says “Kyo, Medicine, get me the first aid. Renko, let’s go inside.” Renko forcefully pulls her hand away before Luna touches her and desperately says “you don’t understand! We have to wake Mary up! We have to save her!” Dark clouds form just over the village, revealing the large crystal mountain to the north exit, and in the air echoes the malevolent laughter of a woman. Kyo, Luna and Medicine all look at the clouds as they take a human shape, then Renko says “listen. Yesterday, Mary started suffering from a very sudden headache, so we went to the Entei doctor for some medicine. After she drank the medicine, she said she felt sleepy and went to sleep. This morning, when I went to wake her up, she-she started attacking me with these blue bolts... and now she’s waking around, laughing like that and trapping others inside those glass mountains!” Kyo gasps and in surprise he asks “what!? You mean those clouds and that...?” Before Kyo can finish his question, a large creature hooded in black, holding a gigantic scythe, with a long dragon snout escaping the hood and thin purple claws for hands, appears right in front of the black clouds as they slowly form a large cloud version of Maribel with blue glowing eyes. The shinigami of the yama of the beasts opens her left claw and reveals a large red origami bird that flaps its wings as soon as the air touches it, then after a wicked laugh, the hooded shinigami leaves. The origami bird turns to fire and merges with the cloud, making Maribel scream out loud as her eyes turn red, then there’s a thunder and lightning strike and from the flash, Maribel appears in front of Kyo and Luna’s house, staring back at them with glowing purple eyes. Her usual poofy white hat is missing, and instead of her usual purple dress, she wears a blue gown with long white sleeves that reach the ground, even after she raises her hands, and tied around her waist is a single, thin red ribbon, tied into a knot. Before Kyo and the others can react, Maribel raises her hand, and in an instant, all of them are trapped inside a small crystal mound in suspended animation. Kyo is able to keep conscious long enough to hear Maribel say in a wicked and twisted grown-up tone of voice “and now, this place belongs to me!” She cackles as she disappears and turns back into a cloud, then starts covering the entire village up.

Meanwhile, at Alice’s house, Shanghai and Hourai burst out of the door and to the sky, quickly followed by Alice, then Shanghai hurriedly says “look, look! The village!” Alice covers her mouth as she gasps in amazement, watching as the village slowly becomes a bed of crystal spikes covered by a familiar dark cloud. Hourai flies close to Alice and says “it’s time, mama!” Alice feels a cold chill enter her heart as she looks to the village, then says “come on, girls! Let’s get ready before we leave.” Alice, Shanghai and Hourai rush back inside the house, where Alice picks up her spell cards, Shanghai and Hourai arm themselves with tiny spears and shields, then rush back outside, where they bump into Parsee and Yuugi. They easily knock Parsee down along with them, but Yuugi stays standing with a curious look on her face as she says “ah, look at that. Just like that lazy girl said.” Alice rubs her head as she slowly gets up on her knees and asks “whoa, what happened? Who are you two?” Alice takes a better look of the towering oni and the green eyed girl sitting up next to her and her girls, then says “you guys are from the underground, aren’t you? Parsee Mizuhashi and Yuugi Hoshiguma, right?” Parsee rubs her head and flicks her ears as she stares back at Alice and says “you know us already just like that!? I’m so jealous of you!” Yuugi helps Alice up, then Parsee, who says “next time, pick ME up first!”, then grabs both tiny girls from the ground and says “you must be Alice, the doll maker, magician and master puppeteer, right?” Alice looks away and says “well, um, yeah, that’s me. You may also call me the 7-colored magician.” Yuugi places Hourai on her shoulder and laughs as she says “yup, it’s you we’re looking for after all! So modest too!”, then grabs Alice with her free arm and crushes her with a one-handed hug. Parsee stares with contempt at them, then says “you never treat me like that!” Alice suddenly shouts “alright, alright, that’s enough! Why are you two here!?” Parsee answer before Yuugi “we came here because the big-breasted, lazy girl with pink hair asked us to help you!” Yuugi stare curiously at Parsee, then shrugs and adds “we are here to help you deal with the village.” Yuugi points toward the direction of the village, then adds “you wouldn’t’ believe that girl. She asked us for help before, but she didn’t even tell us what she needed help with.” Parsee snickers and says “see, just because she has a big chest doesn’t make her perfect!” Alice stares back at the two girls with suspicion, but she quickly realizes how relaxed Shanghai and Hourai are around Yuugi, and even Parsee, so she sighs as she lifts both hands beside her body and says “fine, fine. You can come with us, but please, try not to get in the way, alright?” Yuugi flips her thumb up, while Parsee shivers and her eyes glow green as she stares back at Alice, then says “fine, whatever. But why must you be the leader!?” Alice replies in a matter-of-factly tone “because I’m a natural born leader. Right Shanghai, Hourai?” From Yuugi’s shoulder, Shanghai raises her arm and exclaims “yeah!”, while Hourai floats around Alice’s face, then smiles and says “I love my mama!”

At the SDM’s library, Patchouli sits on her desk, looking seemingly uninterested toward the wounded Koakuma on the seat next to her, who has a large gash on her neck, done by a solid board inside the column she got her neck stuck in. The pain from the wound keeps the little devil from speaking or moving, and all she can do now is move her eyes around and think. Rika walks toward the desk with a first aid kit on her hands and with a smile she says “phew, those fairy maids are so rowdy, but they sure can do their job... with a little help, of course.” Sounding casual, Patchouli asks “so they fixed the damage?” Rika smiles widens and says “oh yes. They even prepared the mistress’ meal without my help this time.” Patchouli smirks and says “hmm, I see. This should be perfect for my experiment.” Rika opens the first aid kit and asks “what experiment, lady Patchouli?” Patchouli gets up from the seat, looking as expressionless as ever, then says “I’ll be back in a bit.” Rika stares at Patchouli with curiosity and worry, then the magician smiles and says “relax. You won’t have to clean anything.”, then walks away. Now Koakuma sits alone and defenseless against Rika, who she believes is going to try and assassinate her now that they are alone. Fear takes her as Rika slowly gets closer with strange medicines in colors she believe mean poison, sharp-looking metallic items that shine, even though there is no light inside the dark library, and a simple-looking roll of bandages. Koakuma stares with fear taking over her body, a cold chill making her already numb limbs feel like lead, and when Rika gets closer, she clenches her eyes shut and thinks “no! Lady Patchouli, how could you!? All these poisons and holy items. She’s not going to seal me! She’s going to destroy me! Someone help me!” She feels how Rika’s hands and fingers creep around her neck and starts to cry. Rika notices this and backs away, asking “oh dear, miss Koakuma, does it hurt that much!?” Koakuma opens her eyes and notices her vision isn’t fading, and the pain around her neck has lessened. She looks to Rika’s concerned face and thinks “what? I’m not dead? And what’s this? This girl looks genuinely concerned about me. No, this has to be a lie; an illusion. Why would a holy being care about a demon like me?” Rika’s expression changes to that of understanding and caring, and after taking a deep breath, she sighs, tilts her head slightly to the right and says “miss Koakuma, I’m not an assassin of any kind, and I most certainly not here to assassinate you. Why can’t you understand that?” Koakuma’s tears suddenly stop as she places all her attention on Rika’s eyes and says “this... warm feeling. Demons shouldn’t feel this, but... Miss Rika, you...” Rika approaches Koakuma, and using her apron, she cleans her face from the dried tears and smiles. She picks up a blue medicine and applies it to a cotton ball she holds with metal forceps, and as she gently cures the wound she says “to a demon like you I must seem like a monster that’s come to purify you. It’s not my intention, miss Koakuma. I must say, even with your pranks, I feel no ill toward you. In fact, you can say I like that about you.” Rika reaches for the red medicine next and applies it to a clean cotton ball she hold with the same forceps, and while applying the medicine she says “my, this wound was particularly bad, to leave a demon like you in this state. If you were human, you would probably be dead by now.” Rika switches to the bandages, and gently wraps them around Koakuma’s neck, cutting off the excess after finishing, and in an instant, Koakuma manages to move her arms and lightly wrap them around Rika’s waist. Rika understand what it means, and while she gently combs Koakuma’s hair with her fingers, she softly says “you’re welcome, miss Koakuma.” Unnoticed by Rika or Koakuma, Rika’s sword turns to its colorful state, and the diamond on the hilt glows pink, then the sword turns back to normal as soon as the glowing stops. Patchouli watches from behind a bookshelf, thinking “well, it seems she’s befriended her. Still, a little angel and a little demon. Perhaps I could convince miss Rika to stay here for good. This would prove useful for my experiments.”

At the entrance to the Human Village, Alice, Shanghai, Hourai, Yuugi and Parsee all look around for a way inside the village. It looks as though it’s going to rain, however, only thunder and lightning fall from the ominous clouds on the sky, and if any one of them tries to get too close to the crystals covering the entrance, a thick curtain of blue lighting strikes hard and pushes the would-be intruder away. Alice drops on her seat to the ground and sighs, then looks at the sky and asks “any idea how to get in there?” Yuugi is about to suggest she throws them all over the mountains, but before she can mouth her suggestion, Shikieiki’s voice comes from behind them loud and clear as she says “perhaps we can assist you!” Alice springs to her feet, while Shanghai and Hourai position themselves beside her, and Parsee and Yuugi lean against a tree, Yuugi smiling and saying “well, it’s the yama herself. This must be big.” Alice approaches Shikieiki and asks “were we too late?” Shikieiki stares seriously back at the group and says “I’m afraid there’s been some outside interference, so Komachi and I will be taking care of that, while you take the girl down.” Parsee’s eyes glow green as she stares at Komachi, but sounding quite casual she asks “and how are we supposed to get in there in the first place?” Shikieiki approaches Alice, then turns her attention to Hourai, and says “she will sing.” Hourai blushes, while everyone else, except Parsee, look with surprise at the embarrassed little girl. Hourai covers her red cheeks with her hands and says “oh, but that’s so embarrassing.” Alice looks confused toward Shikieiki, who continues to smile as she says “but you want to help your mother with her task, right? You just have to sing, and you’ll be helping her a lot!” Hourai gasps and exclaims “yes, I want to help mama!”, then quickly flies toward the village entrance, followed by Alice and Shanghai, while Yuugi, Parsee, Komachi and Shikieiki watch from a little farther behind. Hourai feels a bit nervous, all her friends, her sister and her mother watching her, but she takes a deep, calming breath, then lets her voice lose with a beautiful song, making Parsee’s eyes glow green, twice as bright as usual, and Mystia herself pops her head from behind a tree and clenches her fists with envy. When Hourai finishes singing, the clouds disperse and the crystal mountain blocking the entrance turns to dust. Alice stares at Hourai with great surprise, making Hourai blush even more, saying “d-don’t look at me like that, mama.” Shanghai asks “whoa! Since when could you do THAT!?” Shikieiki loudly says “cut the chatter and move. It’s going to close up again!” Yuugi carries Parsee with one hand as Parsee stares at Hourai with great envy, and runs after Komachi and Shikieiki, who follow after Alice, and her two girls. As soon as they enter, the crystal mountain reforms and the dark clouds take over their abandoned post. Alice grabs Hourai and gives her a big kiss on the cheek, saying “that’s my little girl!” Shanghai grabs Hourai and give her a big hug and says “sis has talent! We should get a stage!” Yuugi smiles and says “maybe we can have her as an opening act for a big music festival!” Parsee stares with contempt while twitching her ears and whispering “such a beautiful voice. It just so unfair.” Hourai lowers her head and blushes in embarrassment, bashfully saying “um, um... th-thanks.” Alice smiles and says “well, that’s enough of that. We have to find Maribel and wake her up.” When Alice looks back, she realizes Shikieiki and Komachi are gone. Shanghai looks around and says “they are gone, mama.” Alice sighs and calmly looks around and says “let’s just focus on our own task.” Yuugi winks, flips her thump up and says “well said, boss.”

At the Moriya Shrine, Budou convinces Koishi to have a friendly battle with her, while Ail and Lily watch from the shrine’s roof, Ail sitting like a dog, while Lily sits on his shoulders, cheering “go Budou! Go Koishi! It’s spring!” After declaring spring, danmaku flies all around her, striking Ail and herself with a few blasts, but neither one seems to be bothered by that. Up above the shrine, Koishi smirks and says “remember, if I win, you’re switching clothes with me!” Budou smirks back with a confident look and replies “and if I win, you’re going to ‘convince’ mama Sanny into making me that...”, she starts to drool as she says “delicious, squished grapes and cherry paste pie~! Yum~!” After slurping and smacking her lips, she and Koishi ready for battle, and the moment Lily says “GO~!”, Budou zips past Koishi, leaving a trail of blue lasers behind her. Koishi smiles confidently, then skillfully dodges up, down, left, then right, then turns around to face Budou, failing to avoid two lasers coming from above, and getting hit on the head and shoulder. Budou giggles and says “two hits already.” Koishi flaps her hat in the air to prevent it from burning, then smiles confidently while staring at Budou, then starts shooting a curtain of heart-shaped bullets that surround Budou before she can even move away. The little fruit bat focuses, and dodges all the groups of slow-moving hearts by moving slowly and steady. She’s in the clear and gets confident, making an abrupt movement to the right and getting blasted on the belly by the heart right in front of her. Koishi holds her sides as she laughs heartily, and after recovering she says “now that’s a new way of losing!” Budou flaps her hands close to her belly, relieving the stinging sensation of the blast, then growls and glares at Koishi and says “I haven’t lost yet!” Koishi knows what’s coming, so she readies herself defensively and says “come and get me!” For a moment, they just stare at each other, but in an instant, they lunge toward each other, danmaku trailing behind each. They are mere inches away from colliding, but neither is backing down, and from the front of the shrine, Sanae hears their screams after various explosions, and sounding annoyed and tired, she shouts “Koishi~! Budou~! Don’t make a hole on the roof again!” From her left, Kanako comments “she used to be so quiet and reserved.” Sanae sighs, then a sad tune, like one from a music box starts to play. Kanako’s face turns blue, her eyes expand, her pupils shrink, and she tries to turn around and run away as soon as possible, but Sanae already has a good grip on her shoulder. She grabs the goddess’ arm and pulls it back with force while saying “she’s had to grow up so much, and all on her own. Feeling she’s lost so much.” Sanae presses Kanako’s back against herself, then suddenly squeezes her abdomen with both hands, sighs, then says “I know she loves me, but I can never fill that void Ail and Phredia’s sudden departure left inside of her. Oh, lady Yasaka, why are these things happening?” Kanako lies on her stomach, while Sanae sits on her back, crosses the goddess’ legs, then pulls them upward, making the goddess cry out in pain. Sanae releases her legs, goes for her chin, then starts pulling backward while saying “he looked so scared when you broke his arm. He wouldn’t even let me get close.” Kanako feels relief when Sanae releases her and gets off her, however the sad little tune continues, and to her dismay, Sanae lifts her up above her head and spins in place, angrily saying “all because I, a human god, got filled with doubts!” Sanae stops spinning and tosses Kanako on to the ground, making a loud cracking sound as her face lands on the stone walkway, cracking the floor itself. Sanae sighs, dusts her hands and says “but it’s not your fault... You just thought you were watching out for me in the end.” The tune stops playing, and Kanako can only hear how her own body screams out in pain, groaning softly while trying to say something to Sanae. The wind priestess snaps out of her thoughts and looks at Kanako, shrieks, then exclaims “lady Kanako, what happened to you!? ... Lady Kanako!?”

Inside the Human Village, all the houses have been replaced by mountains made of glass, all in different shapes and sizes, all holding within them the villagers themselves, frozen in place, some with a disturbing look of terror in their eyes. Shanghai and Hourai tremble as they hold on to Alice’s neck, trying their best to bury their faces behind Alice’s hair, while Alice continues walking forward, hoping to find Maribel sooner than later, however, the more they walk, the longer their path gets. Yuugi, who is looking around quite casually, says “we’ve been walking in circles. Look over there. It’s the first humans we found trapped.” Parsee looks to the sky and says “ugh, we fell under the spell. Why did I fall under such a pathetic spell!?” Alice stops, making the others stop as well, then gently grabs Hourai, and while placing her in front of herself and looking into her eyes, she says “sing! Hourai, you need to sing.” Hourai blushes as she slowly nods, then flies a few feet away from Alice and immediately starts to sing a beautiful song, using higher notes than the song before. Her voice echoes all over the village, creating a ripple in the air as the power in her song clashes against the dark magic in the air, and after the ripples get violent, there is a cracking sound, like that of a cracking egg, then Alice can see as far as Keine’s school. Yuugi and Parsee are about to follow Alice, but the magician turns around and says “Yuugi, Parsee. You need to free the people over the school. Think you can do that?” Yuugi salutes Alice and smiles while saying “on it, boss!” Parsee bites down on her scarf and says “why is she giving orders like that? What, just because she has sexy light-green eyes? I’m so jealous!” Yuugi continues to smile as she grabs hold of Parsee, and rushes away toward the school. Alice looks towards the direction to Kyo’s house, however, she can’t see father ahead due to the dark magic spell. She looks to Shanghai and Hourai and says “I’m going to need both your help.” Shanghai raises her lance and says “mama can always count on me!” Hourai continues to blush and says “anything for mama.” Alice smiles as she walks by, grabs Hourai, then places her on her shoulder as they continue their way.

Outside the village exit closest to Kyo’s house, Youmu, Byakuren, Nue and Yuyuko stand by, preparing a powerful spell to break through the crystal mountain blocking the entrance. Yuyuko and Byakuren stand inside a large pink magical circle that turns gradient purple and pink when Byakuren opens her scroll and begins to chant. Yuyuko breaks her concentration for a moment, then addresses to Youmu with a serious tone of voice as she says “Youmu, Nue, remember that you are there to assist. Do not interfere.” Youmu and Nue nod at the same time, then Yuyuko says “get ready. Once we open that up, it’ll close back up quickly.” Youmu grabs Nue by her waist and prepares to dash at Yuyuko’s signal. Yuyuko closes her eyes to concentrate, then suddenly Byakuren raises her voice and a gradient pink and purple beam trails from the floor toward the crystal mountain, and the second it crashes against it, Yuyuko shouts “NOW!” Youmu sprints with Nue on her arms, and in just 2 seconds, she’s inside the village. The glass regenerates itself, and Byakuren and Yuyuko watch with a little worry in their eyes as strange red clouds form above the village’s center. Meanwhile, inside the village, Parsee fills the glass on the crystal mountains with her jealousy energy, making the ones trapped inside jealous of them for being free, then Yuugi punches the glass, and with the help of the villagers’ will to break free, the mountains crumble to nothing, then the villagers run free toward the school, where Keine uses ever ounce of power and concentration in her to keep the school safe. Parsee watches with contempt as the villagers run safely into the school and says “it’s so unfair! I want to go there too!” Yuugi punches another one of the mountains, freeing 5 more villagers, and says “not until after we are done helping here.” Red clouds form right above them, and a black bolt of lightning strikes between the two girls, sending them flying in separate directions. In the center of the lightning strike stands a giant figure hooded in black, holding a large scythe on its purple claws, and even though the weapon is twice as large, the figure raises it without effort and aims to strike the school. Yuugi shouts “you coward! Pick on someone your own size!” The giant figure stops, then turns its hooded face to Yuugi and mockingly asks “you mean, someone like you!?” From behind, Shikieiki’s voice says “no! Someone like me!” The hooded figure turns around to face Shikieiki and Komachi, and in a commanding tone, Shikieiki says “you are not in your world. Either take a proper form, or be sent back to your own world by force.” The hooded figure grows softly, then starts to glow and shrink, and when the glowing stops, a woman with long purple hair and red eyes reveals herself from under the black hood. Parsee’s eyes glow intensely when she takes a look at the torso of the woman, realizing she also has an ample bosom, like Komachi’s. She bites down on her thumb, her face turning red with rage, then through her teeth she says “that is just so damned unfair! She thinks she better than me, doesn’t she!? Why are those shinigami so big!? Stupid meat bags!” The dragon shinigami approaches Shikieiki, then rests her large scythe on the ground, and with a smirk on her face she says “I am here to inform you that a certain human from this world interfered with the fate of one from our own world.” Shikieiki raises her voice and asks “what did you do!?”, but the dragon shinigami ignores her and continues “judgment was spared, but if he ever tries something like that again, my lord WILL pass his judgment on him!” Shikieiki loudly asks “where’s the report, then!?” The shinigami half-smiles and says “it’s inside the mistress of this LOVELY crystal graveyard.” Shikieiki loses her patience and readies herself to attack, but Komachi holds her shoulder and says “you let me handle this, Eiki-sama. You go and help that girl.” Shikieiki nods, then points at Yuugi and Parsee, and without saying another word, all three fly toward Kyo’s house. Komachi walks around the dragon shinigami, smiling as she says “now you gone and done it. Upsetting Shikieiki-sama like that. Now I’ll have to teach you some proper manners.” The dragon shinigami walks around, keeping away from Komachi while she smiles and says “and you plan to teach me said manners with such a weak scythe like yours? That edge only tells me how weak you really are. You don’t even take your job seriously, do you?” Komachi stops and smirks, holding her scythe defensively as she says “sure, let’s go with that.” The dragon shinigami smiles back, then quickly rushes straight toward Komachi.

On the other side of the village, Alice, Shanghai and Hourai find themselves struggling to keep the dark magic away. Even with Hourai’s magical songs, the darkness keeps getting thicker and harder to deal with. Hourai runs out of breath and falls to the ground, though Alice manages to catch her in time, then says “it’s alright. You rest now.” Shanghai growl in anger and shouts “stupid dark magic! Take THAT!” She raises her little lance and manages to merge her magic with it, then cuts a large opening with a small swing. Amazed, Shanghai asks “whoa. Did I do that!?” Alice shouts “it’s her! Come on!” She grabs hold of Shanghai and Hourai and runs straight toward Maribel, who sits in front of Kyo’s house, on a throne made from the same glass as the mountains around the village. When Alice and the girls clear the thick dark magic, Maribel, with a sinister adult voice says “welcome, miss 7-colored magician. Have you come to entertain me?” Alice takes a few breathes, then shouts “Maribel, you have to wake up!” Shanghai adds “if you wake up, we can help you properly.” Hourai adds “it’s morning. You shouldn’t be sleeping!” Maribel smiles disturbingly wicked as her eyes glow crystal blue, and in a flash Alice finds her legs and half her torso trapped inside the same crystal that surrounds the village. Shanghai and Hourai cry, calling out to Alice, but Alice says “be brave! Shanghai, protect your sister! Hourai, SING!” Shanghai gets in between Hourai and Maribel, while Hourai nervously looks around, claps her hands together, then starts to sing angelically, the waves of her magical song making Maribel cover her ears and groan while still sitting on her throne. The spell on Maribel is about to break, but Alice’s screams of pain distract both little girls, stopping before being able to defeat Maribel. Shanghai asks “mama, what’s wrong!?” Hourai shouts “MAMA! Someone save mama!!” Alice’s legs and half of torso slowly and painfully turn into glass, making Alice cry with empty eyes as she tries to fight the pain, breathing through her mouth while trying to pull herself free, feeling as though the inside of her body is being pierced by needles and knives. Shanghai readies her lance and lunges straight at Maribel, aiming for her heart, while shouting “you won’t hurt mama!!” Maribel quickly flies out of her throne at the last moment, letting Shanghai crash on to the throne and breaking it to pieces on impact, then points her arm at the tiny girl while preparing a blue bolt of lightning on her hand. Alice desperately calls for Shanghai, and before Maribel releases her attack, Youmu comes from the other side of the battlefield, cutting through the dark magic with ease, then Nue flies just above Maribel and unleashes massive red orbs, all falling scattered, confusing Maribel and getting herself hit countless times. Maribel screams enraged, then expands her hands and fingers and unleashes and attack of blue blots and black spikes, striking Youmu and Nue, knocking them out after a while. Maribel turns around to look at Alice, then smiles and says “now, to finish my lovely sculpture.” She points her hands at Alice, her eyes glow crystal blue, then Alice continues to scream in pain as the rest of her body gets turned into glass. Shanghai gets back up, just as Hourai starts shooting her danmaku at Maribel, and joins in with her sister, however Maribel deflects all the shots with ease using her own magic and continues to torture Alice, while turning her to glass. From behind, Youmu shouts “Life-Cutting Sword, Meditation Slash!” Youmu strikes Maribel hard on the side with a sword made of green light, knocking her to the ground and saving Alice from fully becoming a crystal sculpture. From behind Alice, Shikieiki jumps out of the dark magic, accompanied by Yuugi and Parsee, then immediately places a hand on Alice’s crystallized shoulder, turning her back to normal in a few seconds, then says “sorry I’m late, but it seems you’ll be needing my help after all.” After taking enough deep breaths, Alice asks “how do we stop her?” Maribel gets off the ground and flies straight to Youmu, tackling her against Kyo’s crystallized house and knocking her out, then turns to face Yuugi and Hourai, who stand defensively in front of Shikieiki, Alice and Shanghai. Shikieiki shouts “I’ll remove the curse. The moment I do, you hit her will all you got, understand!?” Alice nods, then Shikieiki joins Yuugi and Hourai, who are keeping Maribel entertained with hit-and-run tactics. Maribel manages to grab Yuugi by surprise, then tosses her straight to Hourai. Yuugi manages to embrace Hourai so as not to hurt her when they land on the ground, but in doing so she gets struck by a small glass stone Maribel summons just as they slide on the ground, leaving the oni in a daze. Shikieiki flies in place, staring at Maribel for a moment, thinking “it should be in her chest, or her head...” Maribel unleashes a hell of lightning bolts on to Shikieiki, who continues to stare, seemingly unaffected by Maribel’s attack. Shikieiki suddenly smiles and exclaims “ah-ha! Got it!”, spotting the red origami bird inside Maribel’s neck. She points her sword at Maribel, making her stop her attack completely, then shifts her hand into a ghostly state, then removes the origami bird. The moment she does, Maribel slowly descends, and while she does, Shikieiki shouts “WAKE HER UP, NOW!” Hourai stands on Yuugi’s shoulder and begins to sing, while Shanghai draws a star with the magic in her lance, then sends it straight at Maribel. Maribel holds her head, groaning as if in pain, then Shanghai’s magical star strikes her on the side, sending her to the ground, where Nue unleashes various fake seals that effectively keeps her on the ground. Alice rushes close to Maribel, raises a spell card, then shouts “Magic Sign, Artful Sacrifice!” Alice tosses three dolls on to Maribel, all exploding hard upon impact, managing to burn off Nue’s seals, and when the smoke clears, Maribel lies on the ground, seemingly knocked out. Alice gasps and asks “oh no, did we kill her?” Maribel suddenly wakes up, unleashing a powerful energy surge that sends everyone flying back with great force, even managing to make the yama flinch for a moment. Maribel laughs as she gets back up on her feet, looking a Shikieiki and saying “you tried... but they weren’t strong enough. I have great power within me, even if you did take out that boost.” Shikieiki closes her eyes and says “then I’m sorry, miss Maribel, but you give me no other choice. I will have to...” From below Shikieiki, Parsee shouts “I can’t take it anymore! Why do you have such great power, huh!? You think you’re so great, don’t you!? I’m so jealous!” Maribel turns her attention to Parsee, looking at her with confusion, then says “who cares if you’re jealous! I’m still better than you!” Parsee growls while clenching her teeth, then unleashes all her stored jealousy on to Maribel and shouts “now let’s see how you like THAT!” Maribel closes her eyes for a moment, seemingly unaffected by Parsee’s jealousy, but suddenly opens her eyes, looks at Parsee with contempt, then says “oh yeah!? Well I’m jealous of how COOL your clothes look!” Parsee immediately replies “well I’m jealous of your cute face!” Maribel quickly replies “and I’m jealous of how perky your breasts are!” Parsee gasps in shock, then shouts “and I am SO JELOUS that you are actually jealous of me!” Maribel replies “well I’m jealous of you green eyes and your cute pointy ears!!!” Parsee’s eyes glow green, but before she can speak, Maribel says “and you know what!? I’m jealous of how GREAT you think you all are, all looking at me with your waking eyes! RAH! I wanna wake up!” By now, everyone is standing on their feet, looking strangely toward the debating girls, then Maribel turns around with glowing blue eyes, and points at Hourai and says “YOU THERE! SING!” Hourai stares with confusion back at Alice, so Alice approaches the little girl, grabs her in her arms, then gets close to Maribel and whispers “go ahead, Hourai. Sing for miss Maribel.” Hourai looks up to Alice’s face, then back at Maribel’s eyes, takes a deep breath, then sings. At first, Maribel’s eyes start to twitch, and it appears as though she’s going to attack again, however she drops to her knees, holds on to her head, then glows with a blue light, while Hourai continues to sing. Shikieiki smiles, certain that the incident is finally solved, so she takes the chance and flies away to meet with Komachi. Maribel finally stops glowing, revealing her usual self, with her purple dress and poofy white hat on her curvy blond hair. Hourai stops singing as Maribel looks around with confusion, then asks “whe-where am I?” All the crystal mountains turn to dust, the dark magic vanishes, and the dark clouds disperse to reveal a beautiful sunny day. Yuugi suddenly cheers and exclaims “Parsee, you did it!” Parsee blushes while staring back at Yuugi with jealous green eyes, and when Yuugi grabs her to give her a hug, she manages to ask “then why is she getting all the attention!? Aren’t I the heroine or something!?” Yuugi rubs her head and says “ah, don’t you ever change, you jealous bridge princess, you!”

In front of Keine’s school, Komachi and the dragon shinigami continue their battle. Komachi twirls away from the dragon’s scythe, then kicks the back of the dragon’s head with a smile, then back-flips away, does a backward star, then stands defensively. Although the dragon is winded, full of cuts, bruises, and her black hooded robe is in tatters, Komachi looks fresh, and ready for more. She smiles to the dragon and asks “are you sure you want to continue?” The dragon shinigami stands proudly, raising the scythe’s blade just above her head, and says “what a disgrace! To be so humiliated by a WEAK shinigami that doesn’t even do her job right! Even her own weapon shows her lethargy. How is it even possible that I am losing to YOU!?” Komachi holds her scythe defensively while she smiles and says “I already told you. You upset Eiki-sama, and I intend to teach you some manners!” When she finishes her sentence, the crystal mountains turn to dust, the dark magic around them vanishes, and the dark cloud disappear. Komachi stands straight and smiles, then says “look at that. Even with your interference, they managed to wake that poor girl up.” The dragon shinigami growls with rage, then rushes straight toward Komachi with her weapon raised. At the last moment, Komachi flips out of the way of the weapon, waits for the second attack, a slash to the face, to bend backward to avoid being hit, then she lift her leg, kicks the dragon under her chin, back-flips on to her two feet, flips and strikes the dragon on the ribs with the blunt end of her scythe, and before the dragon can get up from the ground, Komachi has her blade on the dragon’s throat. She smiles wide to the fallen shinigami and says “once Shiki-sama gets here, you can apologize properly.” From behind, Shikieiki says “that won’t be necessary.” Komachi flies away toward Shikieiki’s voice, then says “well, at least I taught her about manners!” The dragon shinigami manages to stand up, using her scythe as support, then glares toward Shikieiki and Komachi. Shikieiki says “I got the report, thank you very much. And for all the trouble you caused, I believe you got just punishment. However, if you think I’ll let you off that easy, you are very mistaken. You know the rules, yet you clearly broke them, all out of spite towards me. So I’ll be sending you back home with a little something for you to remember me by, and for your boss to never forget HIS place!” The dragon shinigami trembles as Shikieiki’s shadow gets closer to her, feeling great fear, uncertain of what kind of punishment the yama of paradise has in store for her.

At the void between the two paradises, Ail and the guardian dragon are having a conversation about Ail’s recently recovered memories. The dragon guardian, in his humanoid dragon shape, looks at Ail and asks “so you actually had a second battle with Remilia?” Ail, in his humanoid form, sitting with his legs crossed, nods and says “well, I believed she let me win the first time, so in order to restore her pride and my own, I challenged her a second time. I must say, I am glad Nitori returned my boots before that, or I would have lost.” The dragon laughs along with Ail, then sounding curious, he asks “and what about that celestial you were talking to me about? The one you and Maribel had to subdue?” Ail chuckles and says “oh, right. That. That happened long before I even went into Makai, but that’s the first time I met miss Tenshi... though.” Curiously, the dragon asks “yes, what is it?” Ail laughs, then says “well, she was possessed by the same red spirit that had possessed me before, and while in that state, she wrote her name on a few walls. I swear, I though her name was actually Tenko Hinanai.” The dragon stares at Ail for a moment, then suddenly starts to laugh heartily, asking “Ten-Tenko Hinanai! HAHA! Bwahaha! Now THAT is a strange name!” Ail laughs as well, then says “she got mad when I called her Tenko, but really, I thought that’s how it was spelled... HAHAHA Tenko Hinanai.” Both Ail and the dragon continue to laugh heartily at the thought of the name. Up on heaven, Tenshi and Iku are having a casual conversation, when Tenshi suddenly twitches, then shouts “s-... Someone is calling me TENKO~~!!! I am Tenshi, TENSHI~!” Iku stares back at Tenshi with curiosity, then casually says “so... your Tenko senses are tingling.” Iku covers her mouth while letting out a weak laugh, and Tenshi raises her arms in order to attack her, however a large golden washtub falls right on her head, knocking her down with a loud clang. Iku stares down at Tenshi with concern, then asks “miss Tenshi, are you alright?” Tenshi manages to raise a trembling arm with a thumbs up, then another washtub falls on her head, making her groan and pass out right where she lies. Iku shrugs, continues walking, then says “must be divine intervention.”

To be continued...

Characters, Spell Cards and Scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Ail, Kyo, Budou and Luna were created by Willie G.R.
Rika Onkamikami was created by Snapshot 2010

APR 22 2010
Written by
Willie G.R.

A/N:
Uuu~ that was fun! Especially the end. Gosh, I love messing with those goddesses, but that’s because I have faith in them and their ability to survive Sanae’s depression. I wanted to add more things here too, but it’s ok because I can easily put them all on the next chapter. I must say that is was fun adding Remilia’s “Curiosities of Lotus Asia” outfit to my fic. It should prove fun to use it more often. Well, hope you enjoyed, and see you next chapter, if the spirits will allow it.