Flashback of the Ages 2

It’s a beautiful, hot summer morning at the Tengu’s Mountain, and Momiji is getting ready for her morning shift. She stretches her arms, then her legs, then her waist, then finally grabs her sword and shield from the ground. She brandishes her sword, then realizes the two little tengu, Aya and Hatate, are standing dangerously close to her, staring at her as she warms up. Momiji stops her sword just before it touches Hatate, even with her heart racing after the unwelcome surprise. She sighs, taking one deep breath of air afterward, then exclaims “you two shouldn’t be here! Get back inside the houses!” Hatate pouts and says “aww! But it’s so boring in there!” Aya looks up at Momiji with glassy, sad puppy eyes, then asks “can we stay around here? All the other adults are busy, and they won’t let us play on our own!” Momiji places her hand with the sword hilt on her head and lightly growls, then says “alright, you may stay. But if there is any danger, I want you two to run into the caves, or fly as fast as you can back to your houses. Did I make myself clear?” The two little crow tengu salute Momiji, saying “yes ma’am” at the same time, while Aya loses control and her wings spring out on their own, striking Hatate on her cheek. Aya gasps and starts to whimper while apologizing, while Hatate sniffles, then shouts “you did that on purpose, you idiot!” Aya cries “no~ I’m sorry~” Momiji sighs and thinks “this is going to be a long shift.” Just after she finishes saying that, a small, dark-red drill lands right on top of Momiji’s head, knocking her to the ground, then jumps to the ground to her left. When it stops spinning, she sees a small girl with short aquamarine hair tied into a tiny ponytail on the back of her head, and a ribbon almost as big as herself on her head. From the bushes, a woman calls “Hina~ Stop already! We need to get down!” Little Hina waves at the three tengu, winking and sticking out her tongue at them, then says “see you laters!” She points her finger at Hatate and sends a cloud of curses at her, then giggles and jumps off the ledge, floating back down softly thanks to her skirt. Hatate screams “I’ve been cursed!” Grown-up Nitori, whose hair has grown longer, and now ties it on a ponytail that pops out of the small gap behind her hat, jumps out of the bushes and gives Hatate a golden horseshoe and says “for luck.” She rushes to the edge of the mountain, and just before flying down with her rocket backpack, she turns around and shouts “sorry for all the trouble! I’ll get her, so don’t you worry!” She jumps down and screams “NO~! I forgot to refuel this. AIEEE!” After the splash, Momiji, Aya and Hatate look down, then Momiji sighs and repeats “a long, long shift!” Hatate slips and falls down, screaming “CURSES~!”

An hour later, down at the Youkai Forest, Nitori follows a trail of cursed youkai and fairies, all doing their best to hide from countless unfortunate events that keep befalling them. Some even shiver and mumble incoherently, while others cry in fear, and others speak rapid nonsense while trembling in place, or running in circles. Nitori sighs and says “oh my, she’s really having fun now. Oh dear, I hope I can catch her before she really causes trouble.” On the river, not far from where she is, there is a big explosion that sends water flying all over the sky, then rapidly back down, making a quick rainbow. Nitori’s lips wriggles as she stares toward the river and says to herself “I REALLY hope that wasn’t her!” Nitori runs fast, and reaches the river’s shore quickly. To her dismay, she finds Hina standing on the very edge of the shore, holding one of Nitori’s large laser guns, and with a smile on her face, little Hina asks “what does this thing do?” She pulls on the trigger and a swirly yellow beam, surrounded by a blue beam, shoots straight toward the mountain, and the moment it makes contact, it explodes violently. Hina giggles as she admires the fireworks and exclaims with glee “ooh~ It goes BOOM!” Nitori frowns and sweats, then says “Hina, please give that back. It’s too dangerous for you!” Hina pulls on her lower eyelid and sticks out her tongue, then mockingly says “come and get me, stupid onee-chan!” Suddenly, little Hina gasps and tries to jump in the river, but 3 metallic arms with gloved hands rapidly grab her by her little waist and her tiny legs, making her drop the weapon and say “Awww, I wanted to play some more!” She sticks her tongue out toward Nitori, making a rude sound, then says “you meanie onee-chan!” Nitori swipes the sweat off her forehead with a sigh, then asks herself “why didn’t I think of using these sooner? Huh? What’s that?” From the mountain come three faint screams that get closer and louder rapidly. Nitori places a hand on her ear to try and make out the sound, then very suddenly, a large white blur crashes against her and knocks her to the ground, freeing Hina in the process, who cheers and says “yay, I get to play some more!” Two more white blurs crash nearby. One of them is Aya, who lands on a soft bush, and the other is Hatate, who lands hard, face-first on to the water, making a loud smacking sound. Hina winces and says “ooh~ Belly flop. That’s very unfortunate.” Hatate slowly sinks into the water, then suddenly bursts out, shouting “help! I can’t swim!” Aya springs off from the bush and shouts “Momiji! Hatate’s drowning!” Without even looking, Momiji jumps off then dazed, knocked out Nitori, rushes to the river, and jumps in to look for Hatate. Meanwhile, Hina pulls Hatate out of the water to the shore, and while the tengu catches her breath, and Aya rushes to help them, Hina says “I’ll absorb all that bad luck inside of you, but you two will have to play with me! Deal?” Aya and Hatate stare a little Hina with angry face, while she draws out and absorbs the bad luck from Hatate. The two tengu look at each other, then back at Hina again, raise their arms in the air and shout “YAY! Let’s GO!” Moments later, Momiji splashes out of the water, gasping for air and crying “I couldn’t find her! I’m so sorry Hatate!” Nitori walks closer to her and asks “what’s the matter?” Momiji cries “Hatate fell in the water. She called for help... but... but... I was too slow!” Nitori helps the crying wolf tengu up on her feet and points toward the forest’s exit, then asks “you mean the one with the violet tokin, or the one with the red one?” Momiji stares as the three girls merrily skip away, and like an erupting volcano, her anger rises all the way to her head, steam whistles as it blows out her nose and ears, then the shouts “you little monsters! Come back here this instant!” Aya, Hina and Hatate look back, pulls their lower eyelids, stick out their tongues, then Hina shouts “come and get us!”, then the three girls run away and hide under some bushes. From the distance, a rough voice calls “MOMIJI~ Why aren’t you at your post!” Momiji face palms while Nitori stares at her nervously, then says “ugh. Forget the shift. This is going to be a very long day.” She looks at Nitori and says “you go ahead. I’ll catch up later!” Nitori nods, then she and Momiji run to completely opposite directions.

At the forest’s exit, a woman and a small girl walk toward the Human Village. The woman is Minoriko Aki, whose hair has grown long and her chest he expanded considerably. Next to her is Shizuha, who is now a little girl, yet looks exactly the same, if it weren’t for her height. She stares angrily at her sister’s chest and grumbles “always. That’s not fair. Goddess of plenty. Stupid, stupid, stupid.” Minoriko can hear her complains, and simply smiles with pride and says “goddess of plenty indeed! Look at me, I’m BEAUTIFUL!” Shizuha grumbles and says “I heard you the first hundred time! In any case, why the hell are we going to the village? It isn’t autumn yet.” Minoriko’s eyes glint, accompanying the mischievous, wide crescent smile on her face, and says “isn’t it obvious? We are going there so that the humans can admire me in all my glory! Never again will they question me as the goddess of plentiful harvest!” Shizuha pouts and looks away, then says to herself “you just want to show off”, then asks “and why are you bringing ME along?” Minoriko smiles tenderly and says “well I can’t leave my little nee-san on her own. Besides, when they see you with me, you are likely to get some attention too.” Shizuha pouts and looks away, then silently grumbles “you just want to show off!” Farther behind them, Hina hides behind some bushes, smiling with mischief at the sisters of autumn. She makes a loud “cooing” sound, signaling the two tengu on the trees ahead to strike. The sisters walk by a narrow road, where two trees are coincidentally positioned between it. From the left tree, Hatate jumps out, screaming and shooting miniature danmaku bullets, while Aya jumps out from the right tree, shouting “ayayaya”, and trying to take some photos, unaware that her thumb is on the lens.” Hatate’s danmaku explodes right in front of Shizuha, making her jump back with a quick yelp. Minoriko stands firmly in place and extends her arms, grabbing Hatate and Aya by their necks, then asks “what the hell is your problem, you scruffy birds?” Aya immediately complains and says “HEY~ I preen myself every morning and before bed.” Before Minoriko can speak again, a small red drill flies in the sky and dives straight on to the back of her head, making her drop the tengu to rub herself. Hina stops spinning, while standing a few feet in front of the sister, and with a wicked smile on her face she says in sing-song “you can’t catch us!” Shizuha’s eyes get watery, sobs and says “sis, I’m scared.” Minoriko smiles with confidence after standing back up, and takes one step forward, then the ground underneath them explodes violently and sends them forcefully flying toward the village. Hina stares at the smoke with a serious and determined face and say “tch! It’s you!” At the village’s entrance, the adults who are supposed to be kids play around, some smacking themselves against various objects, unable to measure their own size, while the kids that are supposed to be adults are constantly scolding their grown-up children. Everything gets quiet very suddenly, and everyone raises their ears, as a pair of screams get closer. Very suddenly, the grown-up Minoriko falls from the sky and lands flat on the ground on her face, while Shizuha crashes next to her on her seat, bounces, then crashes again, rolling away a little farther. Minoriko trembles as she slowly gets up and says “urgh. Thank goodness I landed on something soft... but it still hurts.” Shizuha finally stops rolling and quickly tries to get up, calling “sis! Are you o-“, but the moment she moves her left leg, she feels sharp pain under her knee. She stops and sits down, holds her leg, and bends her body to see a large scratch on her knee, which is bleeding a bit. She continues to hold her leg, her lips start to wriggle, she starts to sniffle and sob, her eyes turn watery, and tears start to fall down her cheeks, then she suddenly starts bawling. Minoriko manages to get up and call “Shizuha, what happened? KYAH!”, but a mob of villagers run over her to rush to Shizuha, all awing and cooing at her to make her stop crying. Minoriko stands up again, trembling as the pain on her body courses through her, then she shouts “HEY! Why did you run all over me like that, you idiots?” A grown up man says “she’s hurt, and she’s crying!” A little girl says “how could you do that to her? She’s your own daughter!”, then many others, at the same time, say “and she’s so cute!” Minoriko scowls and points at herself with her thumb, then says “hey, I’m sexy, and you ran all over me! Doesn’t that count for anything?” One of the boys gets closer to her and stares, drools, then says “yeah, you are pretty and all...”, then he looks to Shizuha and says “but she’s smaller, she’s cute, and you are big and strong.” The boy rushes to the mob that surrounds Shizuha, then Minoriko drops on her seat on the ground and says to herself “geez, no respect whatsoever.”

Back at the path that leads to the village, Hatate has been squeezed between two narrow trees, and is struggling to get out, and Aya dangles upside-down, tied by some thorny vines that hang from the left-side tree. The two little tengu can only watch as little Hina takes on the still-unknown enemy. There is another explosion and Hina lands on the road on her feet after flying a bit, glaring forward and saying “you can’t win now. I’m full of energy, vigor, spirit, and more importantly...” Hatate asks “guts?” Hina glares at Hatate and smiles with a glint in her eyes, then says “no~ I’m full of BRAND NEW CURSES!” She fires another cloud of curses toward Hatate, then glares back at her target, and says “so there’s no way you can win THIS time... Little Rabid Karate Night Sparrow!” A miniature bird with fluffy hair, instead of feathers, walks right out of the dust cloud on the road, then peeps angrily, while angrily flapping his little, furry, flightless wings. Little Hina smirks and says “complaining will get you nowhere. We are now even I power!” The little baby sparrow peeps rapidly, then Hina gasps and says “I’ll show you, you mean little chick!” Hatate and Aya look at each other right after Hina’s words, but keep quiet, understanding their frustration from those harsh words. Hina smiles wickedly as she unleashes a string of curses straight at the little RKNS, but the bird doesn’t even look at her. The curses are a mere inch away from touching the bird’s wing, and he suddenly jumps, grabs the string with his tiny claws, and as soon as he touches the ground again, he jumps straight to Hina with speed, then wraps her ankles with her own misfortune, knocking her to the ground, then he quickly jumps on her back, and somehow manages to tie her hands behind her back as well, all before Hina herself realizes what happened. Hina finally takes notice of her captivity, then says “aww~ No fair!”, just as Nitori finally catches up to them and exclaims “finally, I got you!” All three girls whine and Hina adds “I wanted to play more.” The RKNS looks at the girls and their sad little faces, then clenches his claws, vaporizing Hina’s curse string, then jumps high up with great skill, and frees Aya, then lands on Hatate’s head, and manages to kick the right tree and somehow push it away, freeing her as well. The three girls stare at the bird with great confusion, and just as Nitori is about to grab hold of them, the RKNS runs to her, jumps up her skirt, and makes her yelp and stumble around, saying “hahaha, s-stop! HAHAHA, cut it out! That tickles!” While Nitori continues to stumble and laugh, the RKNS stands beside the three girls and peeps his proposition. The three girls nod and Hina says “fine, but if you wanna sleep with me, you’re gonna have to behave! Understand?” The RKNS stares into her eyes, then jumps on her shoulder, and all four run away from Nitori, giggling as they head toward the village, Hatate saying “hey, take off these cu- KYAH~!” There is a loud thud, and the sound of scraping on the ground, then Hina sighs and says “so unfortunate.”

Back at the Human Village, at the house of Maribel and Renko, a little girl calls “Mary, hurry up! We need to get to the school now!” Another little girl replies “but I can’t reach my toothbrush, Renko!” Inside the house, little Renko uses one of Patchouli’s heart charms to tie her short hair into a side-ponytail, then jumps up to their couch and says to herself “geez, that girl”, then calls “then fly already!” Maribel replies “ah, that’s right. Thanks Renko!” Renko says to herself “at least I’m not with my mom. She’d make me wear those pigtails again.” A small cat-girl with long blonde hair that reaches down to her back, and a golden-colored tail walks toward Renko, then smiles and says “nya, I’m ready now.” Renko sighs and says “geez, you almost look like a full cat-girl, you know that? It’s a little weird.” Maribel giggles and says “I know. But it’s ok. I look cute.” Renko face palms, then jumps down from the couch and says “whatever, let’s just go. Big-sister Mokou’s probably getting worried by now.” From the door, a woman says “oh yes, she is!” Renko and Maribel gasp as they look toward the open front door, then exclaim “Mokou!” Mokou stands on the doorway, her long hair reaching to her ankles, Her chest grown very little, and her face showing concern through her calm and wise eyes. She kneels down to greet the two little girls and says “for a moment there, I thought you weren’t coming.” Maribel giggles and smiles sheepishly, while Renko says “someone forgot she could fly and stalled us.” Maribel lightly bonks her own head with her little fist while chuckling, then says “I’m sorry.” Mokou picks up the two girls and stands up, then says “come on. Keine’s getting lonely already.” Renko concernedly asks “don’t you mean ‘worried’?” Mokou manages to close the door with her foot and takes flight afterward, then sighs and says “you could say it’s a little bit of both. She’s so vulnerable in her current state. I want to protect her... but I can only do so much.” Maribel giggles and says “ok, then! Let’s stay over until this spell wears off!” Renko asks “are you sure about that?” Mokou adds “it would help, but what about you? Wouldn’t that be a bother?” Maribel clenches her little hands, and with determination in her face, she says “of course I’m sure. She’s our friend, and she needs us!” Mokou and Renko smile as Maribel says these words, then Mokou softly lands next to the school and says “here we are. Let’s go in and tell Keine the good news.” She places the two little girls on the ground, and they immediately run toward the school’s entrance. Inside, a small Keine sobs in a corner of the classroom. Her hair, silver in color with blue highlights, now only reaches her shoulders. When the doors open, she turns her attention to it, and from the doorway, Maribel and Renko call “Keine~ we came to play!” Little Keine springs to her feet, and with a smile on her tear-filled face, she giggles as she runs to the door and says “Maribel, Renko~, at last, you’re here!” As soon as she’s in reach, little Keine jumps and lands on her friends, all three giggling as they roll around on the floor. Mokou stands tall as she smiles and thinks “it is my turn to take care, and protect Keine. Please, allow the strength and the will to do so to the best of my abilities.”

At Kyo’s house, the unbelievable silence is broken rather quickly, by a woman’s voice that calls “Kyo~ It’s time you wake up!” From the second floor, a child angrily replies “oi! It’s too hot today! Let me sleep some more!” The woman replies “it’s almost noon! Wake up, or I’m coming up there!” A girl adds “remember what happened last time!” Inside the house, on the first floor’s living room, there is a small girl sitting on the couch. It’s Luna, and her silver hair is as short as Youmu’s, though she still has her red highlights, and instead of two black pins, she can only wear one. She’s also missing her swords, since they didn’t shrink along with her and her clothes. She gasps for air and shouts “Kyo, if you don’t come down here, I’m coming to get you myself!” On the kitchen are Medicine and Su-San, and both have grown up. Medicine’s hair has grown down to the middle of her back, and surprisingly, she has a perfect womanly figure, evident even over the apron she’s wearing. Su-San looks similar to Medicine, but she is still the size of a doll. Kyo finally walks down the stairs and with an annoyed look on his eyes, he says “jeez, what nuisances you are!” His hair looks naturally combed, his body looks shaggy, but he still has that confident look in his eyes. He looks at Medicine and asks “are you sure you’re a doll youkai? I mean, you grew up and all that. Dolls don’t grow up.” A vein pulsates on Medicine’s forehead as she raises a trembling fist, then says “that’s got NOTHING to do with it, mister! And if you repeat that again, I’m going to spank you!” Kyo rests his head on his forearms behind it as he looks at Medicine with uncaring, unthreatened eyes, the scoffs and says “whatever... Come on, Luna. Let’s head to the school.” Luna smiles, her face brightening up as she looks at Kyo, then says “ok! But first we should eat lunch. I don’t wanna be a bother for miss Mokou again.” Kyo scoffs again and asks “lunch? What about breakfast?” Medicine stands beside him, and with a wide smile on her face, she hands him a plate of food and says “well, good little children that wake up early get to eat breakfast.” Panic fills Kyo’s face as he accepts the plate, then asks “w-wait. You cooked this?” Medicine calmly sighs and says “well of course. I told you, I have my poison under control now. Come to think of it...” She walks to Luna and hands over the second plate, then continues “come to think of it, now I know why I kept getting so tired before, I was always using my full power for everything.” Luna grabs her fork and eats her food so fast, by the time Medicine finishes speaking, she’s already done eating and taking her plate to the sink, where Su-San is cleaning the dishes and pans used to cook. Medicine blinks twice, then says “young lady, try and be a little more lady-like.” Luna giggles and says “just like a real mom. Thanks.”

At Keine’s school, Mokou sits on Keine’s desk, while she watches over the three girls playing around the classroom. The student’s desks have been moved to the side, so there is room for them to play around. She hears a knock on the door and stands up to attend to it, then says “I’ll go check who’s at the door. Be on your best behavior.” The three girls reply “alright!” at the same time, then Mokou smiles and walks to the door. Moments later, Kyo and Luna arrive to the building, and hear a lot of giggles and laughs coming from inside. Luna looks at Kyo and asks “hey, do you think it’s a little too loud in there?” Kyo nods and says “let’s go in anyway.” They unwisely ignore the strange gut-feeling they have, and walk into to building. Inside, they find Hina, standing on the teacher’s desk, staring at Mokou, who’s hanging upside-down, tied from her ankle, all the way down to her mouth, swaying left and right while glaring back at Hina. On the floor are Maribel and Renko, playing jumping jacks with Hatate, and Aya and Keine jumping all over the place, thrashing about, trashing ornaments and potted plants. Kyo and Luna look at each other, then smile and Luna shouts “who wants to visit the Hakurei shrine!” All the girls stop and stare at the visitors, then they all reply “I DO~” at the same time, while raising their hands. There is a peep coming from Hina, and when Kyo looks, he can see the baby RKNS perching on her shoulder. He says “no wonder you managed to trap Mokou.” The RKNS flaps his featherless wings contently, then Hina follows after Kyo and Luna, then says “remember, I am the leader, so I get to decide what prank we play there, is that clear?” Kyo shrugs and says “whatever”, while Luna glares at Hina, then says “I’ll be watching you, miss leader. Kyo is MINE!” Kyo blushes and tires to complain, but Hina smirks and speaks before he can, saying “alright, but if you try anything funny, we’ll have to compete, and the winner gets to keep the pet!” Luna presses her face against Hina’s then says “you’re on!” Luna grabs Kyo’s arms and pulls him as she says “well, come on, let’s go then!” Kyo tries to pull himself free while angrily saying “hey, I am NOBODY’S pet!” Luna pulls Kyo closer to her, while Hina watches them with a mischievous smile on her face, then she looks at the baby RKNS on her shoulder and says “this is going to be a fun night after all!” The RKNS ruffles his furry body, then Hina starts to follow the group to Reimu’s shrine. Mokou struggles to break free, muffling as she tries to tell the kids to stop and untie her, but to no avail.

At the Misty Lake’s shore, on the Scarlet Devil Mansion’s island, Cirno holds little Letty by her hands as she stands on Cirno’s feet, and Cirno walks her around, making her giggle out loud. Over the lake’s water there are various floating ice orbs, some floating on top of the water, other floating in the air. Daiyousei flies from the inside, going right through the ice wall of one of the air orbs, then looks back at it and says “this is just amazing. It’s bigger than my own house inside!” Cirno smiles as she lifts Letty on to her shoulders, then says “really? Well, I guess my theory was right.” Daiyousei turns around to face Cirno with a curious look on her face, and asks “what do you mean? Cirno, what’s going on with you? You are so different now.” Cirno smiles as she hides her eyes under her hair and says “by mixing the ice with my new-found power, and remembering the logics of space and time, I am able to create things unimaginable. I did have to push it a little bit... you know, borders and limits had to be bent, but that’s the result right there.” Letty looks up at Cirno with a curious face, while strands of Daiyousei’s hair stand up, her mind boggled by Cirno’s explanation, and even she’s so confused, she smiles as she asks “you made all that up, didn’t you?” Cirno giggles loudly and says “c-can’t fool you, can I, Dai-chan. Just think of it as really special magic.” Daiyousei looks into Cirno’s eyes and sees some sadness in them, and Cirno, quickly realizing Daiyousei’s notice, smiles widely and says “hey, take Letty into the playground for a while. I need to check on something over at the other side.” Daiyousei smiles, forgetting what she saw in Cirno’s eyes, then flies toward the girls, grabs little Letty, then says “I’ll take good care of her.” Cirno smiles, pat’s Letty’s head, saying “be good”, then looks at Daiyousei with a wise look on her eyes, smiles, then says “thank you very much. If you need me, you know what to do.” Daiyousei rummages through her pockets and pulls out a small, non-melting ice figure of Cirno that looks as she is now, then says “I don’t think there should be trouble, but thanks.” Cirno smiles, then flaps her large icicle wings and flies away, while Daiyousei flaps her large gold and translucent turn-color wings, and she and Letty enter one of the ice orbs that floats on the water, going through the ice as if it weren’t even there. As Cirno flies toward her destination, she thinks “how come I understand all of this? How am I able to make these things now? My powers, my mind... magic... It’s all so amazing!”

At the other side of the island, little Kimi lies on the ground, tied up by her legs and hands. She looks just like little Meiling, only her hair is short but bushy, and her beret is so big, it keeps falling off her. Kali has grown up, and the only difference that can be noticed, is the bump on her chest, and her height. Kali smirks as she stares at Kimi, then says “just pledge your loyalty to me and I’ll let you go.” Kimi wriggles and hops on the ground as she angrily replies “when this spell wears off, I’m going to punch you, bite your head, and if I feel MERCIFUL, I’ll only beak ONE of your legs!” Kali shakes her finger at Kimi, clicking her tongue while doing so, then says “wrong answer. Fine. I’ll just kill you right now, before you get strong again...” Kali mercilessly shoots shadow thorn danmaku bullets straight at Kimi, who manages to jump on her feet and summon an energy field that protects her from Kali’s relentless attacks. Kali’s red eyes open widely and says “so, your powers are still stronger than mine. No big deal. Your powers may be stronger, but that body of yours is still weaker than mine! Now DIE!” Kali reaches for Kimi’s neck, while Kimi bravely glares back at the grown-up shadow youkai and thinks “dammit, I can’t defend myself like this.” Kali’s hands are just about to wrap themselves around Kimi’s neck, when she suddenly stops. Kimi watches with a smile as Kali’s body turns to ice, right before her eyes, then says “ha, ha~ Serves you right, you weakling!” From behind her, sounding disappointed and scared while scolding Kimi, Cirno says “miss Kimi, that’s not nice, even if she is an enemy, show some respect.” Kimi smiles confidently and says “yeah, yeah. I’ll be sure to apologize later... maybe.” Cirno sighs and asks “why didn’t you use it? I told you I’d come help you.” Cirno unties Kimi, then the little dragon youkai rummages through her clothes and pulls out the small ice figure of Cirno and looks at it with grimace, then says “I don’t like it. Besides, I’m not just some weakling!” Cirno sighs with frustrations, then kneels down next to Kimi and places her hand on the ice figure, changing its shape to large star with magic. Kimi gasps, unable to hide her childish excitement, then exclaims “now THIS I like! Thanks.” She blushes after realizing she lost her cool, then says “d-don’t think we’re friends because of this! I just like stars, is all!” Cirno giggles as she stands up, then says “I understand you are powerful, but right now, your body isn’t as strong as it should be. Please, allow me to assist you, at least. It’ll give me peace of mind.” Kimi turns her face away from Cirno to hide her pink cheeks, then says “alright, alright already! I-if it’ll shut you up, I’ll stay with you!” Cirno pats Kimi’s head, messing her hair up, making her grumble as she combs herself again, then grabs the large beret from the ground, places it back on Kimi’s head, then says “come, let’s go with the others.” Kimi grabs Cirno’s hand, and as they start their walk to the other side of the island, Kimi says “boy, I never expected this from you. Before this spell struck, you were so dumb and weak, you couldn’t even shoot and think at the same time. Now look at you. Acting all grown-up and smart. I’m impressed.” Cirno smiles at Kimi, though her eyes hide under a dark shadow as she says “th-thank you Kimi... but you are being too blunt.” Cirno recovers and smiles, as Kimi says “hey, it’s better to be honest, right?” Cirno giggles and says “I guess you’re right about that.” A pair of shadows fly next to then, and when they look up, they see Remilia, Sakuya, who holds an umbrella over her mistress, and Meiling, who is riding on Remilia’s back, then Cirno says “oh, it’s the vampire. Wonder where she’s going in such a hurry.” In the sky, Sakuya says “my lady, are you going to let that ice fairy do as she pleases? She raised more of those orbs, and some are even floating in the air.” Remilia calmly says “we’ll cross that bridge if we ever get there, Sakuya. Right now, I want you to focus on our current task.” Sakuya nods and flies closer, covering her mistress as best as she can, then Remilia says “don’t worry about it too much, Sakuya. These are one of the set of clothes that Rika prepared for me.” Sakuya nods again, but continues to protect her mistress from the rays of the sun, to the best of her ability, as she always has.

By the time Remilia, Sakuya and Meiling reach the Hakurei Shrine, it’s already dark. Remilia holds Meiling’s legs as she lands so she doesn’t fall off her back, and right after Sakuya lands next to her, she asks “Sakuya, doesn’t it seem too quiet here?” Before Sakuya can answer, a little girl shouts “ATTACK~” It’s Reimu, and she’s followed by Rika and Sanae, as they charge Remilia and Sakuya. When Remilia tightens her grip on Meiling, she and Sakuya notice she is gone, and when they look to little Reimu and her small army, they quickly find Meiling running along with them, smiling and giggling with glee. Remilia, face lights up as she happily shouts “crap! Sakuya! They are too cute!” Sakuya’s face is filled with both ecstasy and terror as the girls get closer, and asks “is there an adult here?” The shrine’s doors slide open on their own, and inside, Suika has Hina and Hatate swinging by her side-horns, while Hina, Kyo and the RKNS are trying to pull her down to the floor by her arms, and Luna, Keine and Renko just stare at them and cheer on. Remilia shouts “it’s no use! This army is just too strong!” Sakuya shouts “now it’s not the time, my lady! RUN!” Before they can run, Reimu, Meiling and Sanae jump on Remilia, who pretends to fall down with them while holding them tight, and Rika jumps on Sakuya, who grabs hold of her, as she says “sorry about that, miss Sakuya. Reimu’s orders. It’s kind of fun too.” Sakuya chuckles and says “well I’m not dropping to the ground.” Suddenly, all the giggles and laughs stop, when little Mima and little cat Maribel fly down from the roof, then Mima angrily asks “what’s with all the racket?” A few moments later, everyone is kneeling on the floor on cushions, listening to Remilia, who holds both Reimu and Meiling, and sits them on her lap, while saying “...and Koakuma said she would help, but she says she’ll only help when properly ‘persuaded’.” Sakuya sighs and says “that’s when she took Patchouli with her and flew to the top-floor shelves.” Reimu laughs, then looks up at Remilia says “serves her right. But why come here and tell us all of this? You should have ‘persuaded’ her, so this could all end already!” Remilia sighs and says “she said that Flan and I are too strong, and that it would be cheating. As for Sakuya, she said something about respecting her, and said she wanted something else.” Sakuya’s face turns beet red as she whispers “th-that’s enough of that, my lady.” Remilia stares at Sakuya with curiosity, then turns her attention to Suika and says “so we came here looking for someone to fight her, so what do you say, miss oni?” Suika rubs her forehead, then looks at Remilia and says “what kind of example would that be for the children? Fighting like that! Nope, absolutely not. I’ll go talk to her, but that’s it, I won’t go and... huh?” Hina stands up in the middle of the conversation, then casually walks toward Remilia. She looks at the vampire, waves her fingers, then smiles. In a second, she grabs Reimu’s sleeve and Meiling’s beret, and quickly removes them from their owners and drops them on the floor. Reimu and Meiling gasp and stare at Hina with little scowl on their faces, but suddenly both start to hyperventilate, then break down to cry out loud. Remilia panics and softly says “ack, wait. Don’t cry, little ones.” Hina sticks out her tongue and does a rude noise at them, then Remilia angrily says “why you little monster! Sakuya!” Sakuya stands up and says “little lady, it seems I’ll have to teach you some proper manners!” Hina jumps just as Sakuya lunges at her, then lands on top of Sakuya’s back and runs out the door, followed by the RKNS, stops at the porch and turns around, pulls down on her lower eyelid, then says in sing-song “you can’t catch me! You’re too slow!” From her left, Nitori jumps out from under the floor and grabs Hina, then says “HA! Got you!” Hina struggles and shouts “no fair! Let me go, you big meanie!” Nitori smile triumphantly and says “no way, little missy. Nothing, and I mean nothing is gonna convince me to let you go!” A large golden washtub falls from the ceiling and lands right on top of Nitori’s head, knocking her down and effectively freeing Hina from the kappa’s hands. Hina giggles as she runs away and says “that was very unfortunate! You’re gonna need more luck than THAT to catch me!” Before anyone say another word, Momiji holds Aya and Hatate on her lap, and has them sleeping as she gently combs their hair, and says “I told her she should have worn gloves.” Everyone else inside the shrine gasp and look surprised at Momiji, who smiles and wags her tail, as she says “oh that’s right! Tomorrow’s edition of the Wolf View Report Newspaper will arrive to your houses as scheduled.” Everyone keeps quiet and stare at Momiji and the little crow tengu, all wondering how did she get inside without being noticed.

At the Human Village, inside Keine’s school, Medicine and Su-San struggle to untie Mokou, Medicine saying “for a little girl, she tied these very tight. Ahh, there we go!” After hours and attempts, Mokou is finally free from the ropes, and immediately runs toward the bathroom, shouting “they went to the shrine! Let’s get them!” Medicine asks “what are you doing?” Mokou replies “I’ve been suck in there for HOURS! I thought I was going to explode!” Mokou walks out of the bathroom with a satisfied look on her face, and after a loud sigh, she says “alright, let’s get the kids!” Mokou trips on a very thin wire, and from the ceiling, a blond girl with short hair that reaches her shoulder, wearing a black hat with black clothes, falls and lands on Medicine’s hand, smiling while holding a timer that’s on 06 seconds and counting down to zero. Medicine asks “what’s this?” Mokou asks “who are you, little girl?” The little girl giggles and says “YUKI~ And your time is up. BOOM!” The entire school is suddenly engulfed in fire from inside, and Minoriko, Mokou and Medicine find themselves running back and forth, picking buckets of water and pouring it on the fire, while little Shizuha and Yuki continue to smile, watching them struggle to turn off the fire. Yuki looks to the night sky and asks “why don’t they ask me to turn it off for them, I wonder?” Shizuha answers “they’re adults. What else did you expect?” It’s a warm summer night at the village, and the available neighbors rush toward the brightly flaming school, helping the two girls turn off the fire before it consumes all.

To be continued...

Characters and Scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Kyo,, the Rabid Karate Night Sparrow, Kimi and Kali were created by Willie G.R.
Rika Onkamikami was created by Snapshot 2010

JUN 12 2010
Written by
Willie G.R.