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.
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