[Stwongest] Touhou Writing Competition- Finished

I'm going to tell you a story, a story that had once changed the Gensokyo we know today...

It was a nice and hot day in Gensokyo, everywhere.. But not at the Lake of Blood. It was once again silent and dead over there. Once it was a lively place, now it's a lonely dead place..

As strange as it may sound, this had to do with a dark event that'll be known as the "Blood Lake Massacre" in every corner of Gensokyo. In this story I'll tell you exactly what happened 16 years ago.

Also, I must mention that everyone in this story is a vampire; there are no exceptions!

1 January 1789 - City of Blood, afternoon.

The merchants at the city plains had been happy for years, the constant war between the kingdom located at the Lake of Blood; the kingdom located nearby the Lake of Mist had been ongoing for years now and even though the continuing threats from both sides haven't yet stopped.. There were a lot of products made for the war, which sold for a lot of profit because the spirit of the people was set so that they'd go to war and win eventually.
And even though everyone was cheering for a victory they thought would come soon. Far away, hidden from the folk in one of the castle towers. A discussion was held for an attack against the Scarlet Kingdom, to sweep them of the map, they will use their strongest troops; some of their newest inventions. Since the war has been ongoing for ages, even though not a single attack has been performed in fear of reprisals.
The discussion lead to a plan, a plan that sounded more than good, it sounded flawless; truly outstanding! Or so the generals of the Lake of Blood army thought.

The plan was actually quite simple, deploy troops thanks to flying aircrafts they'd call "Ultra Fast Flying Transport vehicles" around the city of Scarlet Mist; from there march to the Scarlet Mist Castle, which was where the princess resided.. She would be killed and the Lake of Blood army would take over the Scarlet Kingdom.
The princess of the Scarlet Kingdom has the dream of painting Gensokyo in "Scarlet Red" She, who didn't accept anyone outside her kingdom wanted everyone to be enslaved. She has destroyed countless of villages with her army.. It's even said that she once did pulverize an entire city alone!
For her hostility towards the unknown; the different. She has been hated many decades in all of Gensokyo, the kingdom at the Lake of Blood was once one of her victimized kingdoms, when the princess left them because they were "worthless". The folk that lived in this kingdom did work hard to rebuild their kingdom. They made it grow a lot and got a lot of help from some of the survivors from other decimated kingdoms.

23 March 1789 - Castle of Blood, morning.

The princess of the Lake of Blood kingdom has shown her consent in yet another secret meeting of the generals. The princess, which once lost her mother thanks to the Scarlet Kingdom's army, wanted the princess of the Scarlet Kingdom to be captured instead of being killed.
So, the word of princess Kurumi of the Lake of Blood kingdom was law. Therefore the attack that had been set for about 2 months later, would be performed.

24 March 1789 - City of Blood, morning.

The consent of the princess had been given one day ago, but one of the tasks was to inform the folk a day after. The task was probably hard for the informant of the army, going through the city, asking merchants to spread the word, but most merchants didn't want to and said "Piss off, time is money!"
One can imagine how the informant had felt, although the informant had no choice, she had to keep spreading the word. The help she got at least brought her somewhere as at the end of the day everyone knew, Most people were puzzled. There was no proper explanation, But regardless of that, it wasn't about the opinions of the people here. It was about making sure they'd know that from now on the "war" would really happen!

People had their doubts, they discussed together if their army would be able to get the job done. Some people left the city out of fear but most remained.

When it was night, the army had a demonstration of power. They thought the best way to win people's hearts over was by showing them their power, fear had to be shown to the Scarlet Princess. She had to know that if war is what she wants, she'd get it.

31 May 1789 - City of Scarlet Mist, night.

The general assigned to lead over the troops has the name Reisen Udongein Inaba, once fled from the Eientei Empire after a successful attack by the Scarlet Mist's army, she would've been killed but managed to run away when she would've been executed with some of her old friends. However, she possessed the ability to drive people mad by looking at them, surely the Scarlet troops ran after her. But when they'd find her a stare was enough to get away, the troops wouldn't even know she had been there.
She was also very successful at danmaku, she almost always won in battles because she'd manipulate the vision of the opponent. This was reason enough for the Lake of Blood's kingdom to assign her for this job, they wanted to get in without any trouble so.. What's better than leaving the enemies completely clueless by what's happening? So they had thought.

The army of the Lake of Blood Kingdom has arrived to the borders of the city thanks to the air transportation, but the ever so young Scarlet princess has foreseen this and already made sure that defense troops were stationed around the city. A few of the best troops had to counterattack the Blood Kingdom's army, they did so by using a few of the danmaku techniques they got taught at their military camp. "Spread Danmaku Lasers!" So were the generals among this division shouting.
However, the Blood kingdom's army started flying towards the defense division and dodged the spread-laser danmaku on their way. They were prepared for this war and learned to dodge danmaku, if they couldn't they'd be kicked out of the army. It was just a matter of time before the Blood Kingdom's army cornered the defense troops, the generals of both sides told their troops to slaughter each other. Which happened was a massacre... The Blood Army had caused, not even one death fell amongst the Blood Army's side whereas the defense troops of the Scarlet Army were completely obliterated. It were a few quick bullet-danmaku patterns that aimed for the trunk of the Scarlet Army's troops that did the job.
The Blood Kingdom's troops then proceeded farther in the city, it took them around 6 hours of fighting before they occupied the city. They were victorious and all troops on their path got slaughtered by a wide variety of danmaku patterns.

1 June 1789 - Borders of Scarlet Mist Castle, morning.

The battlefield that one day of fierce fighting had caused left the people of Scarlet Mist City speechless, most of them feared to get killed even though the Lake of Blood Kingdom's generals had told them to not be afraid for a mass slaughter, since that was not in the plan.
Lake of Blood's generals didn't like the thought of leaving the Scarlet Castle with a moment for a reprisal attack, so they decided to move on right away. Most of the troops already got to the camp on the border of the Scarlet Mist castle, it was here where the general of the Scarlet Mist Castle would face them.
Hong Meiling, she has been trained for many years. She knew exactly how to get someone down on the ground, her danmaku attacks are known to be lethal even from a big range. It was for these reasons that the Scarlet Princess decided to make her the general in the battlefield, Hong Meiling was laughing faintly, thinking she'd win regardless of what would happen.

Reisen wasn't looking forward to this, the plan had been to invade without being seen, to take down the army without any resistance. But since the Scarlet princess foresaw this, she had no other option but to do it the hard way.
However, if anyone knew how to deal with this then it was Reisen. She just had to manipulate the vision of the troops and then take on Meiling by herself, so she started a spellcard. "Spellcard! Mad Dream "Dream of Insanity (Dream World)" but when she was in the middle of performing it.. "SPEAR THE GUNGNIR." She got hit in her stomach, It was the Scarlet Princess, Remilia Scarlet. She struck Reisen with her weapon, it was said that Gungnir would never miss its target. And there Reisen was, dying from heavy bloodloss, her intestines were completely exposed; the ground under her.. Turned red, scarlet red.
The troops which had seen that their general just died, their moral was absolutely crushed, even more when Remilia flew towards them.. But, before she got close, her sidekick Sakuya Izayoi interrupted her "Pardon me for interrupting you milady, but can you perhaps hand me over this simplistic task?" The young scarlet moon replied with "Fine, I'll leave it to you then. Make sure to paint this battle ground in scarlet red." Sakuya shook her head vertically to show she understood.

As if it wasn't enough, their general almost died instantly after getting hit by their prey. The Scarlet princess surely was something, but now they had to deal with Sakuya Izayoi. The head general of the Scarlet Mist Kingdom, not only that but Meiling didn't even do a thing yet! All she was doing was laughing even more fiercely after she saw how the general of the Lake of Blood Kingdom died out of the blue. "I had expected something to happen, instead I saw the only actual threat getting killed right away. We'll beat the crap outta these troop-rookies, right? Sakuya?"
But instead of getting the response she wanted Meiling simply got "Dismissed, I don't need you here." as an answer. Meiling was not amused but she knew she couldn't give Sakuya a "but", therefore she hurried up to get inside the castle.

Before the troops from the Lake of Blood army could do anything Sakuya already had declared a spellcard "Illusion World "The World" But, a part of the troops flew towards Sakuya in the hope they could be on time to hurt her.
They were more than wrong, At the last moment when one person of the group almost managed to punch Sakuya with the Danmaku-punch technique, Sakuya stopped the time "A little bit too late, although I timed this perfectly as usual." Sakuya said when she stopped time.
"It's about time that I make everyone close to me feel the scratches and wounds time would normally heal, this time however, time is completely on my side." Sakuya said when she grabbed a few of her knives, the knives were red, as red as the many victims they've made in the past. "Let's see, shall I slice your neck?" she said towards the person who almost punched her, "Nah, I'll slice your hands off and then your neck, slowly." Sakuya said and then proceeded to do so.
As time was still stopped, the hands and the neck of her victim didn't fall of right away, yet death was what would ensue the action. Sakuya then proceeded to throw knives precisely aimed for the hearts of the other close troop members.
"Time stop over." She said elegantly when the stopped time returned to flowing time again, the hands fell of the person who tried to punch Sakuya, but those fell first, the person then started to look in fear and in pure pain. Wanting to just say one word she opened her mouth, what proceeded was her neck falling off, her dissembled body parts fell to the ground along with the trunk which covered the ground in scarlet red blood.
The others were hit by the knives Sakuya precisely had aimed at them, there was no escape. A second before they had full confidence they could face her, a second later it was like they felt a nail piercing through the heart of a rat. Instead of just feeling it, the scarlet red knives penetrated the hearts of the troops, they all fell to the ground.
"Now now, that was quite easy. What to do with the rest?" Sakuya said when she stopped time again, "I'll make this very quick" Sakuya said when she flew towards them, with a green knife in her hand this time, she proceeded to slash in to her surroundings, everyone close to her (which were all the remaining troops) got sliced in perfectly stopped time, Sakuya's eyes turned red when she did this, before they were blue.
Sakuya did look like she'd be rather exhausted after she'd be done considering she was slashing like a lunatic, but when she was done she elegantly gazed those who she had slashed "In a brim of a second, I decided the exact time of your death." Sakuya said and then proceeded to allow time to flow again... The disassembled bodies of her victims once again falling to the ground, painting the ground in even more scarlet red blood. Sakuya said "Welcome in my world." at the exact moment the spellcard ended.
After that all the troops died. All of them, Remilia came outside and rewarded Sakuya with the allowance of doing a reprisal at the Lake of Blood kingdom right away "You brought me what I wanted, A battlefield painted in scarlet, red blood." Remilia said, looking at all the dead troops.

6 June 1789 - Castle of Blood, afternoon.

An informant of the allied Netherworld kingdom was sent to inform the Lake of Blood kingdom that a lot of dead spirits came in recently, due to the massacre at the Scarlet Mist Castle.
When the princess, Princess Kurumi heard of this, she was rather shocked by the violence; how fast so many troops were killed. She then made sure all the generals got to hear about this as nobody ever has heard a thing of the troops after the battle anymore.

7 June 1789 - Castle of Blood, night.

All the generals had been gathered, all of them were strategically seen genuine. Even though they always were rather arrogant they exactly knew how to solve a bad situation like this, or so they always have said.
But this time, this time they didn't know. None of them said a word, not even when Princess Kurumi left. All of the generals were staring, most of them fearing the worst.
They wouldn't be capable of making a fist anyways, they had been beaten easily and swiftly by just one opponent. And it wasn't even the oh so feared scarlet princess, it was her sidekick Sakuya Izayoi which made them worry.
After an hour and a half, one of the generals spoke up by saying "We really don't know what we can do anymore, as much as I'd like to not admit defeat it might be the best to inform our folk for the worst." the other generals shook their heads in acceptance, they knew it would become much worse if they wouldn't be fair.
"Discussion closed, inform the folk about this tomorrow. We'll have to leave the kingdom because the next reprisal will also be the last."

7 June 1789 - City of Blood, morning.

The same informant as before rushed through the city, to tell all the people to leave the city because the scarlet mist army would arrive with their reprisal anytime soon.
But nobody wasn't bothered when they heard it. "We have the best army in the world, the scarlet mist army sucks!" a few idiots said, others still thought they wouldn't break through the defense lines, those were told there were no defense lines anymore. All the troops that attacked the Scarlet Mist Kingdom died, only the generals that remained here and a few informants were still alive. Some of them made a scream of pure angst; honestly, who could say they're wrong for that? Hope was lost. Evacuation was a must, yet... It was too late as the people were too stubborn to listen.

In the main time the Princess of the Lake of Blood Kingdom, Kurumi got helped with her evacuation by some people of the folk. If it was anyone they did actually look up to, then it was the princess.
She got help to get out of the kingdom, she would be evacuated to the Kingdom of Dreams which allowed her to stay.

8 June 1789 - Route to Kingdom of Dreams, afternoon.

Sakuya Izayoi was on her way to the City of Blood, when she noticed that amongst her army there also was Meiling. Meiling just wanted to join in and did follow Sakuya. "Okay, for this once you'll may come along." she said with a soft undertone of irritation.

Princess Kurumi has been in her royal carriage for a day now, she was halfway to the Kingdom of Dreams when her carriage got intercepted. It was Sakuya Izayoi and her army who had been flying the route towards the Lake of Blood Kingdom for a long time, only to figure the clueless princess was evacuated by a carriage that eyed suspiciously.. Royal, Sakuya then proceeded to give the riddance of the carriage to a small part of her troops. "In war, there's no safety by evacuation. You'll come along with us to watch how all your people will die." Sakuya said, she spoke again and said "Meiling, bring Kurumi to the Lake of Blood to the north of the city, if she tries to leave then you got my permission to kill her."
In a whim of time, when princess Kurumi figured what was going on she began to be uneasy, she never was capable of protecting herself. She never was good at bare-hands fighting and she couldn't even fire a bullet a meter farther, she knew she was done for.

Sakuya Izayoi then proceeded her flight to the City of Blood, she got to there in the afternoon. After all carriages were a lot slower than actually flying.
When Sakuya arrived in the afternoon a part of the city was bowing down, in the hope to be forgiven. But she had strict orders to attack, she wouldn't spare anyone a word for the motives she has been given. It was clear, plan a reprisal at the kingdom that had attacked and spare nobody.
However, instead of attacking in the afternoon, she gathered everybody during that time. She gave them all strict orders to stand in the city, surely the people were scared but.. If they didn't cooperate they will be killed right away, better hoping something good can happen than marking yourself a bad end they thought.

Once it became night... First, Sakuya collected all the generals that tried to flee the city and placed them all against the walls of a former supermarket. "Permission is given to shoot them with spread-danmaku, make sure as much blood drops as possible." The generals upon hearing this started to look more than just scared, they couldn't even breathe normally anymore. They knew it was all over for them, it took just a second before they'd be killed, the most noticeable thing that was left were some corpses laying next to the walls of a former supermarket.. Full of scarlet red blood.
Then,the people across the city were gathered by the troops; they were forced to stand in the city instead of staying inside, the reason would soon be seen as the houses for bombarded by danmaku of the troops. Every house burned down to cinders, everyone's normal life was gone. This was what war had brought, total devastation and an unhappy end. But, it doesn't stop here.
Sakuya ordered the troops to take all the humans to the lake of blood which was next to the northern city border, she then met up with Meiling and the imprisoned Kurumi "Meiling, grab her arms and take her outside. We'll execute her people in front of her eyes." The people upon hearing this were very scared, Meiling was watching from a little distance with Kurumi in her hands, a safe distance. "Geh, so you're Kurumi huh? If I wouldn't have had to hold you here I'd probably learn you how to defend yourself for a bit, as you're just plain weak." Meiling said to Kurumi on which Kurumi responded with "How can you live with yourself? After all Remilia has done to everyone, why do you do this.."
Meiling didn't see any reason to feel hurt by that and said "That's none of your business, now stay here and see how the people of your kingdom will get obliterated." Kurumi felt like crying when she heard that, but she held it to herself.

Sakuya then announced "Now watch, as I, Sakuya Izayoi will pulverize everyone here for milady. In war, there are no winners. And you Kurumi, you've lost to a by far more superior being than you." after Sakuya spoke she quickly grabbed a spellcard "Deflation World" for a second, everyone did look scared. Their stares of facing the death were very well understood by each other, Kurumi began to cry when she saw everyone like that. But, in a whim of a second Sakuya threw a few knives pointed towards everyone except her troops which included Meiling and the now captured Kurumi.
"Time Stop" Sakuya then began to place knives in a perfect aimed line to the precisely aimed knives she had thrown before, the chains of knives were places in front of the people, and after them too. There was no escape, once the spellcard stops a mass-massacre happens.
"Time Flow" Sakuya said, exactly at the moment she said it time began to flow again and the stopped knives pierced through everyone at once, an enormous amount of the people that had been hit fell to the ground, bleeding to death. Kurumi couldn't watch this anymore and began to cry even harder, Sakuya then responded with "You've lost, it's all your fault for not giving in to the glorious young Scarlet Moon, milady Remilia Scarlet." and then proceeded to speak again, saying "This, is an unfinished job. I won't kill you, that's up to the mistress to decide Kurumi. But, This isn't good enough."
Even though everyone fell to the ground, pretty much everyone died.. Sakuya still didn't feel like it was good enough, she then proceeded to do something by far more cruel. "Ah, I got it now." after she said it she grabbed yet another spellcard "Time Sign "Time Stopper Sakuya" and.. She made the pain the people felt, the generals felt.. Everyone who died and had lost blood in general, she made it something that would be felt for forever. Even if the person that died had been long death by now, Sakuya made their death feel-able forever. Kurumi was absolutely disgusted but she cried more than she could take, she then fainted only to awake in the prison of the Scarlet Mist Castle a day later.

Remilia came to visit Kurumi "My, my, if it isn't the worthless princess." Remilia said, Kurumi responded with "Why, why did you do all of this.."
Remilia once again, responded with "This is as sour as a vampire kiss can taste, I remember having given some of your people a vampire kiss, the dead corpses that forever feel pain. I meant those." Kurumi's facial expression looked shocked "W-wait.. W-what?..."
"Yes, indeed. A vampire kiss on their neck, to suck out the blood I won this war." Remilia replied, "T-that's just evil... Why don't you just get rid of me already.. I don't want to live on like this.."
"Are you dumb? I want to you feel this eternal pain, this was my master plan. To get rid of all your people and to execute them in front of you do you even know how much effort it took me?" Remilia responded.
Kurumi was silent, until she did burst out in tears. Remilia had an evil grin on her face, grinning a bit more when she sees Kurumi crying. "Hahaha, this satisfies me. I'm happy to see you all sad, no worries you won't be killed. Just like your people, I want to make you feel the pain for forever."

Is it a story (1): It has an antecedent, an established setting, rising action into the kiss climax, and a conclusion. That’s 1 point. It’s a story, good job.

Grammar n’ shit (1): It has accurate grammar, few (if any) spelling mistakes, and is intelligible English. That’s another point.

Relevance to theme (1): It has a kiss. It’s important. Nailed it. 1 point.

The actual plot (3): I actually think the setup is fairly adorable, and I like the idea of Parsee getting a friend/partner. Unfortunately, nothing of interest REALLY happens. Very straightforward romance, not much going on. Also, this guy has freakin’ balls to get to hell. And get past the BUCKET OF DEATH (TFB). 1 point, because it was cute, but kinda boring.

Execution(3): Pretty well written, except the dude’s dialogue. He talks like a narrator at times, kind of spurting the reasons he’s in love. Not a lot of emotion there. Parsee was written well, as was the exposition elsewhere. Although she didn’t seem all too jealous of anything, even in this circumstance. 2 points.

Personal Preference(1): I actually liked it. It was heartwarming to read, and made me feel happy for the character. Good stuff. 1 point.

Is it a story (1): 1 points

Grammar n’ shit (1): 1 point

Relevance to theme (1): 0 points

The actual plot (3): 1 point

Execution (3): 2 points

Personal Preference (1): 0 points

Is it a story (1): 1 point

Grammar n’ shit (1): 0 points

Relevance to theme (1): 1 point

The actual plot (3): 1 point

Execution (3): 1 point

Personal Preference (1): 0 points

Is it a story (1): It is an story, albeit rushed. 1 point

Grammar n’ shit (1): Could use some work. 0 points.

Relevance to theme (1): Reread the prompt. I don’t think the existence OF a kiss quite fulfills it. 0 points.

The actual plot (3): WHO IS THIS GUY? WHY DO WE CARE? Interesting idea, though. 1 point.

Execution (3): Too much about the bartender part, too little buildup into kiss. 1 point.

Personal Preference (1): Can’t say It appealed too much to me. 0 points.

Is it a story (1): yep, and a solid one at that. 1 point

Grammar n’ shit (1): was fine. 1 point.

Relevance to theme (1): Again, reread the prompt. I don’t see the kiss as all too important in the story.

The actual plot (3): 2 points

Execution (3): 3 points

Personal Preference (1): Had to think. 1 point.

Is it a story (1): not really. 0 points

Grammar n’ shit (1): nope. 0 points

Relevance to theme (1): Technically, yes. Kiss was centric. 1 point.

The actual plot (3): There was none. 0 points

Execution (3):
Nothing to really go on. 0 points.

Personal Preference (1):
0 points.

Is it a story (1): indeed it is. 1 point.

Grammar n’ shit (1): I hate to do this, but this comes away from the “n’ shit” category. 0 points.

Relevance to theme (1): Almost didn’t. Was justified at the end. 1 point.

The actual plot (3): It’s a good setting, and nice “evil background”. 2 points.

Execution (3): A few issues here and there. 2 points.

Personal Preference (1): Came in expecting a sad sister story, wasn’t sad until the last sentences. Which isn’t bad. 1 point.

Is it a story (1): Yeahp. 1 point

Grammar n’ shit (1): ‘was fine. Readable. 1 point.

Relevance to theme (1): Yep. 1 point.

The actual plot (3): Sad, good idea. A little cliché. 2 points.

Execution (3): Ehhh. If my scale was a double value, this would be a 1.5. It was written well near the end, but felt rushed earlier. And I know it’s implied that the other is Daiyousei, but it’s never mentioned, and a story should be able to hold its own in my book. 1 point.

Personal Preference (1): I liked it. 1 point

Is it a story (1): Yeahp. 1 point

Grammar n’ shit (1): Seemed fine. 1 point.

Relevance to theme (1): Yep. 1 point.

The actual plot (3): Good Idea, felt a bit rushed. Coulda had more depth. 2 points.

Execution (3): Could use some more detail and fleshing out, and dialogue was a little unnatural. 1 point.

Personal Preference (1): I do love me some evil. 1 point.

Is it a story (1): yep. 1 point

Grammar n’ shit (1): was fine. 1 point.

Relevance to theme (1): Yep. Interesting interpretation, as well. 1 point

The actual plot (3): I liked it. Good idea, this. Only hindered by being awfully cliché near the end. 2 points.

Execution (3): ehhh. There’s a saying “Show, don’t tell”. Boring narrative is boring. 1 point.

Personal Preference (1): I like its idea. 1 point.

Is it a story (1): It indeed is. 1 point

Grammar n’ shit (1): Checks out. 1 point

Relevance to theme (1): I…. think it is? I’ll give the point for now… 1 point.

The actual plot (3): Such Romance. Very double-tsundere. Wow. (It was good.) 2 points.

Execution (3): Dialogue was actually excellent, In my book. Very natural. Small issue’s with changing PoV, and s-stuttering. 2 points.

Personal Preference (1): Was cute. I liked it. 1 point.

I don't mind sappy romance, but I'm really disappointed that there is nothing but sappy romance. The details of how two people feel about each other isn't exactly a story by itself imo. It would be better to have a separate overall story in which the sappy romance has a major relevance to the actual events and are thus described as the core aspect of the story.

As for the actual sappy romance itself, I have to admit that it was really good. The detailed descriptions of their actions and feelings actually made me feel really jealous of Parsee, which is quite ironic. The emotions were really well captured in this writing. It was also really nice that the author explained why the two of them became so attracted to each other, instead of treating it as just incomprehensible sudden love.

Aside from the pure-romance issue, this entry had other flaws too. The use of the Japanese word "hashihime" should be defined when it is first used instead of assuming that the readers know what it means or expecting them to correctly guess it. The use of ellipses are fine, but ellipses between different words should have a space following the ellipsis, while new sentences should begin with a capital letter even if they follow an ellipsis. There were also plenty of grammatical errors, which can slightly slow down the reading experiences, but the writing was still clear and understandable despite the errors.

The core aspect of this entry seemed to be focused on the power of romantic love, bringing a human together with a jealousy-driven youkai, with rich details on how they felt for each other. This entry fit the round's topic extremely well, where the kiss itself had a very strong descriptive effect on the two of them, and it was implied that every instance of the kiss had this kind of impact, at least on Parsee.

Overall, it was a decent entry and although I dislike pure sappy romance, I have to admit that the sappy romance was written really well, despite some grammatical quibbles.

Another sappy romance, but at least there were other proper story events going on as well (commotions, Keine, etc). Unfortunately, though, the sappy romance felt quite awkwardly written. Kokoro's confession felt really sudden and out of the blue, with no descriptions of how she started feeling this way for Nue. Nue's own reactions were also quite unusual, and the descriptions on how her feelings developing were insufficient to justify them.

Kokoro's mental state also seemed to be quite a mess. One moment she's stuttering as she tries to describe her feelings, and then after Nue leaves she simply shrugs it off and treats this event as if it never happened for the rest of the day. This may very well have been intentional, since Kokoro's emotional transitions aren't like normal humans, but there was no explanation of any sort that justified this. Canon interpretations are open-ended and insufficient, so the author should clarify their own perspective of how Kokoro's emotions are handled. It is possible that the author intended to subtly demonstrate the complexity of Kokoro's emotional state while using the sappy romance as a facade. Although it would be very interesting if that were the case, the resulting entry turned out to be too confusing and ended up as a mess.

The core aspect of this story, in my opinion, is the transition of emotions within Kokoro, how she finds herself regaining her lost emotion of love. This is a very interesting theme, but as stated in the previous paragraph, it was somewhat poorly executed. I really like the intended theme, however, and I admire the author for trying to take that approach. The kiss at the end was not the most important aspect of the story, but it was described as being significant enough to Kokoro to justify this entry as following the round's topic.

There were a few minor grammatical and punctuation errors, but they were all extremely minor and didn't affect the reading experience at all, at least for me. Overall, I feel that this entry was sadly a failed attempt at trying to portray a very interesting theme centered on a unique character.

More sappy romance, but not much story events outside the romantic stuff, except for Reimu/Marisa stealing food in the background. Seija is a pretty unique character to work with though. It would have been really interesting if this entry incorporated Seija's opposite personality thing, but nope, all there was was a single line about her deciding to endure the pain of accepting Rinnosuke's feelings. This entry seriously could have been a lot better if Seija's internal conflict between her love for Rinnosuke and her desire to be hated was expounded on further, but sadly, this was not the case.

I was felt that even the shipping content was quite lacking. There was no explanation as to why Seija picked Rikkosuke of all people to pester, or how they even first met (because I really can't find any connection between them from canon sources). There must be a reason why Seija was going after Rinnosuke for such a long time, ever since he was a child. In fact, it sorta feels like two random characters were chosen and inserted into a generic shipping story template. And well, there really wasn't much else besides that, which is really disappointing. Still though, the events that were described were quite well written and were entertaining to read. The emphasis on the kiss also made perfect sense and fulfilled the round's topic quite nicely.

The grammar was fine, but there were a lot of punctuation issues. In particular, many of the commas should have been periods (sentence breaks), and there should have been more commas. It actually got pretty difficult to read, having to re-read segments after mentally fixing the punctuation. Despite the punctuation issues, the main ideas in the entry were presented well.

Overall, I find this to be a somewhat disappointing entry that tried to ship two unrelated, probably randomly chosen, Touhou characters. The shipping content was quite nice, but it could have been a lot better.

Ah, finally, an entry with romance which wasn't completely or almost completely devoted to romance. This is the kind of way that I would prefer to see romance being incorporated into a story. The bar scene was somewhat well written and a fine way of introducing the bartender, though it would have been nice if there were more descriptions about the bartender's behavior or on Sekibanki's perception of him, since he becomes an important character later on and therefore needs more than just "the way he acted was automatic".

Sekibanki reminiscing about her violent actions in the past was really well written imo (aside from grammar) and fulfilled its purpose on conveying Sekibanki's emotional state to the reader very well.

Although I praised the way the romantic content was implemented into this entry, I have to admit that the whole scene between Sekibanki and the bartender had a few issues, some of which may or not be intentional. The scene ended with the two of them consciously kissing each other, but there were no details on Sekibanki actually feeling any love or any positive emotion towards the bartender. Her anger towards him was mentioned, which was then dissipated by his touch and his words, but it wasn't implied that she felt anything for the bartender after that. Also, the bartender's behavior was too... forward. You don't just put your hand on the shoulder of someone that you barely know and only met earlier today as a new colleague. Even if you find her crying, you shouldn't just hug her unless you already established some kind of emotional bond. And well, tbh, the scene actually DID feel like they were complete strangers to each other, since there was absolutely no reference to their earlier interactions at the bar.

My interpretation of this entry (which may be completely off) is that the author wanted to illustrate how unstable Sekibanki's emotions were (from her painful memories) and then wanted to demonstrate how this made her far more emotionally vulnerable to the bartender's advances (bartender being pretty much a complete stranger). In simple terms, it was kinda like she thought "I've done such horrible things, I can never be forgiven, no one will like me anymore" and then the bartender proved her wrong by displaying an interest in her, causing her unstable emotions to accept his advances and she fell in love with him. Even though he placed his hand on her shoulder before she was alerted of his presence and then outright hugged, while she did get angry like a normal person would, she also found his actions to be very comforting to her, due to her incredibly unstable emotional state. In a sense, her emotions were manipulated by the bartender, though the bartender may not have actually intended to manipulate her. He may have just been really emotionally unstable as well and felt that he could relate to her. Regardless of whether these kinds of feelings can be considered to be true genuine love, this is still something that can and often has happened in real life. Taking advantage of an unstable emotional state to begin a romantic relationship is a pretty serious matter whose occurrence should not be ignored, and the author wrote this entry to draw attention towards that.

In that sense, the core aspect of this entry is about how strong emotional instability can make a person very emotionally vulnerable, to the point of falling in love and kissing a complete stranger because of how they approached you. I was gonna go on a long-winded rant about the human being's desire to seek acknowledgement, but this review is long enough already, and I should probably focus more on actually reviewing this entry and helping the author improve instead of heavily analyzing it. One thing that really bothers me is the relevance of the bar scene. If it was ntended to introduce the bartender, it wasn't done very well since the bartender was barely described, and the rest of the entry would have worked fine without the bar scene (treating the bartender as a complete stranger).

Regarding the round's topic, there was only a single kiss, which is inconsistent with "Every time", but it had a lot of meaning since it was the only significant indication of Sekibanki actually accepting the bartender's feelings, which is essential for this story.

Overall, I really like the message that the author was trying to convey and I think this aspect was very well written, aside from the grammar issues. The grammar issues are pretty annoying, and the bar scene feels unnecessary, but besides those issues, I feel that the author did a really good job and wrote a really meaningful entry, even if it looks really poorly written at first glance.

As much as I'd like to end my review here, the author needs some serious grammar lessons. First of all, the article "an" should only be used if it follows a noun that begins with a vowel sound. Most words that begin with A, E, I, O or U fall into this category. For example: "an ant", "a car", "an oven". However, this rule is based on the pronunciation of the word and not on its spelling, so the first letter may be deceiving. For example: "a university", "an hour", "a one-way street".

Next thing is that if you want your sentence to be split into multiple different pieces (clauses), they need to be connected to each other. This is by using words like "and", "but", "that", "which", and so on, whichever one is the most appropriate. Connectors aren't always necessary, but this entry needed a lot of them. Having many clauses in a single sentence isn't always a good idea though, so it's often better to just split them into separate sentences. There are other minor grammar issues but they should be explained in the grammar check.

This story was about the best kind of kiss: a mother's kiss to her child~. Anyway, this entry was very well-written, with the different characters and their interactions with each other being portrayed really well. Despite being pretty long, this entry was exciting enough to keep me interested all the way till the end. In particular, I really liked all of the Yukari-Hakurei flashbacks.

Still though, I feel that the huge length was really unnecessary. The way I see it, the core aspect of this story was to demonstrate Yukari's relationship with Reimu and justify it further through an unexpected plot twist. But a lot of segments weren't directly related to that. In particular, I'm not sure about the whole point of scene 2. Reimu getting thrashed by what seems to be Yukari's memory of Hakurei was a cool action sequence to read, but it seems to be kinda pointless. Reimu doesn't seem to feel any sense of recognition or familiarity towards her opponent, only humility and fear.

Scene 4 also confused me a lot. I assumed at first that the crying was due to the extreme amount of pain that Reimu felt, but the "Why did you have to stop it?" didn't make sense then. Her "Huh? What?" response to Yukari's musing implies that she didn't notice that the one who defeated her was a memory of Hakurei. I'm not sure what the author was intending with these scenes, but there seem to be some fundamental details missing. I've read through this entry on three separate occassions and still couldn't fill up the gaps in this entry.

With respect to the round's topic, well, there were multiple kisses, but Reimu didn't seem to perceive any kind of significance in any of them. It would fit really well for Yukari if the round's topic was the other way around ("Every time I kissed you") so that works, I guess.

Overall, I feel that this entry was very entertaining, with characters and interactions being written extremely well, but the story lacked a coherent theme that was consistent throughout. I feel like the author started off with a good basic idea and then wrote whatever came to his/her mind without really bothering to make sure everything fits properly.

Oh, yeah, this was also the first entry that didn't have any noticeable grammar/punctuation errors. I did find a wording issue, in scene 7, when Yukari implied that she took Hakurei's place as a surrogate. I'm not really sure how that works. Isn't Hakurei supposed to be the surrogate mother for Yukari's child?

Okay, this entry had two problems. The minor one of these two consists of the grammar and punctuation errors, mostly the latter. The major one is that this entry was just way too short. Note, an entry being short is not a problem in itself. But being too short severely restricts the entry's ability to have a strong impact on the reader. In this case, it's just a short sudden segment of sappy romance.

What little content this entry had was actually not bad. The author used some nice romantic descriptions ("an eternity to love was worth it all") and sappy metaphors in dialogue ("cherry blossoms remind me of you" -> "they're beautiful", lame but sweet) and such. I believe that if the author actually bothered to expand this into a proper story with a lot more details, he/she would be able to produce a pretty decent entry of pure sappy romance.

However, as it is in its current state, this entry is incomplete and barely has enough details to be worthy of being acknowledged as a proper entry. Please put more effort next time.

This was a really beautiful and well-written entry. In particular, I was extremely impressed by the pacing of this story, with varying levels of detail being carefully controlled to keep the reader immersed into the events. The readers can really appreciate the strong emotions that Remilia experiences throughout the entry, from dread to despair to fury.

One major issue, however, is that Primevere wasn't really developed well enough for readers to form an emotional attachment towards. She was only given a few lines in the first paragraph before the main scene began. This significantly weakened the impact of the tragedy itself. When reading the actual tragedy, I found myself being really distressed by Remilia's feelings, while not actually caring much about the actual cause of her suffering i.e. Primevere's state. I suspect that this may have been deliberate, that the author intended for Primevere to be no more than "somebody extremely important to Remilia" to keep the reader focused only on Remilia's experiences without getting distracted by other stuff, but I still think that this entry could have been a lot stronger if the reader actually cared about Primevere as an independent character.

The concluding paragraph also feels really off. While it seems to imply that Sakuya is the vampire hunter's daughter, it's a very sudden shift in perspective that lasts only through the conclusion. It could have worked if the entry began with Sakuya's perspective, but in this entry, it's really out of place. In particular, the last sentence, is really inappropriate unless the core theme of this entry is actually focused on Sakuya instead of Remilia as I imagined. I'm not quite sure why "Flowering Night" is mentioned either. Sure, it's one of her game themes, but I still can't grasp how it's connected to the entry. Primevere being named after a flower (primrose) is not enough to justify a reference to Flowering Night.

With respect to the round's topic, well, multiple kisses are referenced and the final paragraph highlights the significance of the kiss. Still, though, with the focus being on Remilia, this entry would fit really well if the theme was reversed ("Every time I kissed you").

Most noticeable grammar issues were due to tense inconsistency. The story was told in the past tense, but some of the verbs were in the present tense when they weren't supposed to be. Also, the term "Onee-chan" is not defined or explained in this entry, and foreign words should be explained when they are first used. Since this term only occurs at a moment with critical pacing, it would have been better if "Onee-chan" was defined earlier, like during the introduction.

Overall, I find this entry to be quite beautiful and extremely well-paced, but the main event could have been stronger, and the focus on Sakuya during the conclusion feels really out of place.

Short and sweet, but I'm quite disappointed that there isn't much else besides a single confession scene. The confession scene itself was well written though, but I felt that it was too generic.

Although I wasn't especially impressed by the confession scene, Daiyousei's internal monologues (besides the confession-scene-relevant stuff) were quite good, and it really allowed me to appreciate her situation, as she waited for Cirno to return from the war and kiss her.

Even though fairies respawn, Daiyousei's suffering makes a lot of sense. After all, their relationship hasn't advanced much (implied by "Nothing has changed"), so it is very possible that the absence of contact for two years would cause their relationship to end. Even if Cirno comes back, she might not remember Daiyousei or may not feel the same way towards her. Especially considering that being in a war can really change a person's perspective to an enormous extent.

Overall, I find this entry to be pretty effective at conveying Daiyousei's feelings to reader. This entry isn't really too strong, but it's very impressive for its length.

There was only like, one or two grammar issues, and they didn't have any effect on my reading experience.

This was a really interesting entry. Very nice plot twist at the end, but it was kinda spoiled by the opening remarks. In any case, Kaguya's feelings were described really well, and all of her actions made perfect sense. Mokou's behavior was very consistent with the plot twist, with her dialogues and actions fitting very well with the plot twist. The fact that the story never actually shows Mokou's perspective until the post-epilogue was critical to the plot twist.

The plot twist itself, however, is quite an issue. Mokou's decision feels really off-character, since I was under the impression that she really enjoyed the act of simply fighting Kaguya, and didn't really care much for the sense of victory that comes after winning. Still, though, the author implied early on that Mokou was focused on actually beating Kaguya, and this entry was a very nice demonstration of how she achieves that. Still, though, I can't imagine how Mokou could endure her boredom now that she can't kill Kaguya anymore.

This theme also followed the round's topic extremely well, with references to multiple kissing instances that were described as having very special significance for Kaguya.

There were a few grammar and spelling issues but not much. Some of the misspellings were annoying, but the reading experience was mostly unaffected.

Overall, I find this entry to be a very unique entry, disguised as a sappy romance and turning around expectations in a nice plot twist (that was unfortunately clearly implied by the opening).

This was a really beautiful and heart-touching entry. The first-person perspective made it easy for the readers to relate to Lunasa, which enhanced the death scene significantly. The descriptions about Lay-nee Layla did a good job in highlighting how important she was to the three Prismrivers.

The biggest issue I've found with this entry is the constant switching between the present events and Lunasa's recollections of the past. Having so many transitions is confusing to follow and kinda broke the flow of the story. Especially during the third to last paragraph; The scene where Merlin and Lyrica are expressing their present sorrows over Layla's death is really not an appropriate time to write about Lunasa's past experiences with resolving incidents.

I'm also kinda miffed about the whole "maturity is an inherent personality" thing. I mean, sure, it makes sense that Lunasa started off as more mature than the others but Lyrica asking about "What are we going to do now?" after it was implied that they've lived for at least 40 years makes no sense to me. I'd expect that Merlin and Lyrica would have far outgrown the need to have an older sister watching over them, so the whole legacy thing felt really weird. Unless the poltergeists haven't actually grown, but that would be contradictory to the entry itself.

It would have been nice if the entry had more content about the Prismrivers playing music, since that's kinda what they're most well known for. Lunasa's only spoken dialogue was about playing music, so it feels like their music is supposed to be significant to the story, but the author neglected to actually focus on that.

This entry fit the round's topic very well, with reference to multiple kisses described as having quite some significance to Lunasa.

Overall, I feel that this entry did a fine job of portraying Layla's death and the feelings of Lunasa, but was otherwise poorly executed.

No grammar issues that particularly bothered me here. But I think usage of both "Lay-nee" and "Luna-nee" in the entry should be accompanied by an explanation for what the suffix "-nee" means, instead of treating them as just nicknames.

Deadline is approaching, so I'll edit a proper review for this one later.

Quite well-written. Good dialogues and interaction. Change of perspective is too confusing sometimes. Orin's logic about Birdbrain => Change is inconsistent with the ending where it sounds like she used to think Feelings => Change and was proven wrong.

Far above the green emerald plains of Gensokyo, the sky was a marvellous sight with a view only residents would relax under it's clear sky. The clouds all gathered in one place, a magical storm that held a castle, that sunk inside the air. This mysterious building was named the Shining Needle Castle. It was a castle that shone sliver in the storm of dark magical storm clouds. Inside the castle itself, it tricks any unfortunate person to enter, people who expected the floor and the ceiling to be ordinary was surprised to find the floor to be the ceiling and vice versa.

“Another useless item!” The voice echoed in the tiny grey coloured room. Instantly after the voice, a small Tanuki doll flew across the room, shattering in a instant, like any of the items that were possessed during the Youkai rebellion, it reeked of evil and perhaps cursed magic and a dark haze followed. An short girl laid slumped against the corner. She wore a white plain dress with a skirt that had red arrows along with black arrows laid across it, she also wore a yellow bracelet, her hair was the most mysterious however as it began black and ended with white near the edge of the hair with a single red strand of red, this girl was called Seija Kijin and she attempted to fix society as she saw fit. She held an impressive hoard of items, ranging from dolls that resembled a Tanuki to the infamous Replica of the Miracle Mallet that laid to once withdrawn Youkai to rage uncontrollably. On her lap, the chequered sheet acted as a blanket as it appeared she slept with her hoard of stolen items.

“Maybe if I throw enough of this dolls...” She picked up another grey coloured doll, shaking it slightly before throwing it, almost like a bomb, it collided with the wall and it shattered, and the haze followed. Without any item to possess, the haze vanished into the air of the castle in which she resided. Seija rose from her little corner, folding the chequered sheet into a square and placing into her hoard of items. She walked onto the ceiling turned floor. She remembered the day as the Shrine Maiden, the Ordinary Magician and the Maid of the Scarlet Devil attacked her fortress, the Shining Needle Castle that was buried inside the magical storm.

Seija jerked to the side as the Shrine Maiden's amulets caught her off guard. She held her devilish smirk as she spun and arrows of all colours appeared around her. With a click of her fingers, she declared her spell card to the maiden: “Reverse Bow "Decree of the Dream Bow of Heaven & Earth" The arrows begun appearing at the floor and flying upwards, at first they remained to the side of the maiden but like a puppet master, Seija pulled the strings and the arrows fired at a awkward angle trapping her inside the flurry of arrows. And then, without warning, the maiden flew at bullet speed, the magenta amulets smashing into Seija's face, Seija tumbled in the air as she struggled to regain her compromise.

“Turnabout "Reverse Hierarchy.” Seija spoke calmly as bullets materialized around her, the maiden crashing into the walls and her 4th Ying yang orb exploded as she tumbled to the floor. Seija chuckled to herself and she yelled to the downed Shrine Maiden.

“So this is the famous Hakurei maiden? Unable to defeat me?” Seija then clicked again and the maiden found herself at the mercy of Seija, caught on the ceiling instead of the floor, she threw her cursed Gohei at Seija, it smashed Seija in the chest repeatedly spinning into the side of her chest. “The name is Reimu Hakurei and I've had enough of all you Youkai.” Reimu spoke with a cold harsh voice in an instant, she flew upwards reaching Seija's level in a spilt second, a genuine shock erupted on Seija's face before Reimu's body smashed into Seija, sending her sprawling to the floor.

“You're taking m-” Reimu begun to speak, to her surprise, Seija shot up, holding the side of her chest before she leaped backwards; running towards the darkened door, smiling after the battle.
“You have to catch me first.” Seija glided into the dark stairway of the castle's only spire. The spire that held the true person who held the True Miracle Mallet. As Seija glided into the stairway, it was a dark veridical column that had red stairs where it reached a single door where the peak of the corrupted magic laid. The Miracle Mallet.

As Reimu glided up the stairway, she was greeted by the familiar sight of Ying Yang Orbs that fired bullets in circles, after the barrage of circles, two of them fired in a rotating fashion followed by four which repeated the pattern, the final barrage of the orb ended with yellow orbs, attempting to overwhelm her, at the top of the stairs, laid Seija, clenching her chest as she watched Reimu awkwardly dodge the barrage of bullets.
The final set of the orbs were destroyed by the amulets and Reimu appeared, floating at the level of Seija, she held her Gohei pointed at Seija and two remained still.
“You still have a chance to join me Reimu!” Seija hacked out her words in a bitter tone and false words came out of her mouth. She swung her arms in a vertical pattern and bullets appeared out of her. Reimu flew forwards slightly before her Gohei increased in size, slashing it's way through her bullets, smashing Seija repeatedly
Seija, using the last ounce of her strength made bullets swish left and right repeatedly, Reimu flew at her chest, Seija threw her arms but it was too late, Reimu fired Magenta homing amulets into Seija's chest, the force of the impact sent her smashing through the locked door behind her. When she finally came to, she saw her tool, Shinyoumaru Sukuna fighting the Shrine Maiden with fighting spirit she'd never seen in her before.

“She was a great friend, even if I didn't realize it.” Seija spoke in a melancholic tone as she walked in one of the many hallways of the castle; the same hallway, where she fought Reimu in her own battle. The castle remained floating upside down; it was a curse of the tale long past. She appeared in a secluded room, in the spire that Seija held her final stand. The door remained opened since the day of the rebellion's end. After Shinyoumaru was captured, she was forced to retreat away from the castle. However, Seija had one more adventure before she finally went into a permanent hiding place, the same castle that she was found in. Since Seija moved in, she only used two rooms in the castle, the small room that was supposed to be a meeting point for any of Seija's ally and the room where the final stand took place. The room held a regal feel to it, at the back wall, laid a giant glass stained window that showed the legend of Issun-bōshi, greatly altered by Seija. The main piece of the room was the throne. Seija stood in the throne room, sighing and the bitter memories of betrayal came to her.

“The day I lost my friend...” Seija spoke in a upset tone, although there was no one else with her. She clenched her fist as she sank into her throne. Bitter memories of sadness and betrayal entered her head.

“I told Everyone to seriously attempt to capture you!” The child voice of Shinyoumaru struck Seija on a painful level. Shinyoumaru since her capture had regained some of her lost height after the incident, she wasn't at the full height exhibited during the incident. Seija smirked, after surviving eight days of not being captured, the confidence entered her head. In her left head, she held he Tanuki dolls with three spares on her waist along with a blood red Ying Yang Orb that carried the spirit of a youkai.

“I am a true born Amanojaku!” Seija cried out as she lashed out at Shinyoumaru her arrows firing in a straight line, to her surprise, Shinyoumaru shook her hands in a ecstatic way, and then purple orbs being firing in a nonsensical pace. Seija jerked quickly; her reaction time was off as one stray orb smashed into her side, the doll exploded, leaving Seija stunned as many other orbs disappeared as they touched her.

“The hell?!” Seija looked at her former friend, she rushed again at Shinyoumaru, Shinyoumaru arm jerked to her needle sword, it collided with Seija's chest, sending her sprawling backward to the floor, and then Shinyoumaru yelled.

“INCHLING HELL!” She screamed at the tops of her lungs, before large oval spheres begun pushing Seija backwards to the wall; scratching Seija in the process, causing minimal pain, at the last second, they retracted in size, becoming little white spheres, Seija felt another doll shatter in the palm of her hand, she had little time to pull one out before the next wave, much faster than the previous wave. Seija had to squeeze through the gaps before the third wave came. Through the waves, she was firing her arrows, and finally, the Inchling hell was over, all the bullets disappeared into nothingness as they appeared. And in the centre of the room, the two stood, their eyes locked. “Now, give me back what you stole Seija.” Shinyoumaru had her hand on the sword and the room was silent.

“You want your magic back?!” Seija spoke at last, which broke into a small chuckle.“YOU WANT IT?! COME AND TAKE IT!” Without warning, Shinyoumaru charged at Seija, swinging around her sword in a diagonal slash to Seija's knees and she couldn't react in time. Seija fell backwards, her doll didn't shatter, as it wasn't a bullet, Shinyoumaru swung her needle sword around her head and it glowed a pale white and swung in a wide arc as knives flew towards Seija, during that time, knives were causing less and less room to move, Seija smirked as she noticed that Shinyoumaru was growing increasing tired.
“One final arrow will finish this hell...” Seija fired a flurry of arrows into the knives wall; slipping through the cracks and a yelp was heard
The last white knife slid across Seija's check, the hell had finally ended, Shinyoumaru dropped to her knees, the needle rolling to the throne. The short lived friendship was over as Seija left the castle, to escape whoever else would be trying to stop her on the 8th day. As she walked, she slowly nodded at Shinyoumaru, holding back a melancholic smile as she walked out of the room.

Back in the present day, Seija looked around at her room, the bitter memories remained in her head, She yawned loudly in the castle, her arm reached for her back as a navy blue cloth was in her hands, unwrapping the chequered cloth around her and on the day of loneliness, Seija gained the goal she always wanted.

A throne that Seija could always call her own.

A door opens, and a middle-aged man steps through it. "Susan! I'm home!" he shouts, calling for somebody.


And upon hearing the name, a 7-year-old girl runs down the stairs, runs over to the man and hugs him tightly. "Daddy!"


The man patted his daughter on the head, smiling. "Did you miss me, dear?" The girl simply nodded.


"Oh, that reminds me. Here, this is for you." The man took something out of his pocket. A blonde doll with blue eyes, dressed with a red-purple shirt and a red skirt. The doll also had a red ribbon tied on her head. The girl looked at the doll, and the man smiled once again. "Happy birthday, Susan."


The girl hugged her father once more, almost making him drop to the floor. "Thanks, Daddy!"


A middle-aged woman stood behind them, with a serious look on her face, arms crossed. "Mom! Look! Daddy got me a new doll!" the girl said to the woman, who didn't seem amused.


"Susan, dear. Go to your room. Your father and I need to talk."


"Uh... Okay!" Susan ran straight up the stairs, taking the doll with her. When she reached her room, she closed the door behind her.


Susan put her ear on the door, like the curious girl she was.


"I knew you were going to show up on her birthday." Susan could hear her mother talking, followed by her father's answers.


"Why wouldn't I? Susan is my daughter."


"Sure doesn't seem like it. You always disappear for months, and the girl is waiting for you to call her, or to receive a letter."


"Look. We've been through this before. I'm very busy most of the year."


"You didn't show up for her birthday last year, you know that?"


"I did what I could, but I had to make a very urgent report..."


"Excuses. ... Where did you get that wretched doll anyway? It's so dirty and ugly."


"I found it in an antique store. The owner told me it belonged to a ventroloquist, and I thought Susan would like it."


"So you're trying to buy your daughter's love with presents?"


"No! I'm only trying to--"


"SHUT UP!" A hit. And then something breaking. Susan backed away from the door and hugged the doll.


From her position, Susan couldn't hear anything. She began talking to the doll. "They're always like this... I know Daddy tries his best to come home as often as he can, but Mom is such a meanie with him... I'd like to live with Daddy, but Mom says I can't. When I asked her why, she told me: 'A judge said so.'" the girl took a deep breath. "Mom also hurts me sometimes... And I don't really have any friends, because the bad guys at the school hit me and call me ugly things... But you..." she looked at the doll "You'll be my friend, right? Forever?" Silence.


"Now... I need to give you a name... Hey, how does this sound...?"



---


In a certain room, a girl listened to music at a very loud volume. The girl had blond hair, the body of an average 17-year-old girl, and was busy reading the latest news regarding her favourite pop group on her phone. The door to her room was closed.


At least, it was until her father came in, carrying a box with him. "Susan, dear. I have all this stuff that's yours... Since we're going to move soon, what do you want me to do with all of this?"


"Throw it away." The girl said, without even looking at her father.


The man looked inside the box. "You sure? There's all these things that you loved when you were young..."


Susan looked at the man. "Do I look like someone who cares about that? I grew up, man. I don't like those things anymore. Just throw them away, and leave me alone." Then she went back to reading, putting the music at an even louder volume.


The man sighed and left, closing the door.


Then he grabbed his keys.


And went outside.


Rid the elevator down.


Got near a trash can.


And dumped the whole box on it, emptying it. Among other things, a blonde doll was in it.



---


The Nameless Hill, one of the most notable landscapes of Gensokyo. A youkai lived on the suzuran fields there. That youkai hated humans, because she got rejected by them. Twice.


The youkai in question had blonde hair, was dressed with a red-purple shirt and a red skirt. She also had a red ribbon tied around her head. She seemed like she was waiting for something.


"Humans are despicable." the youkai said.


"You try to get along with everyone, make friends. And when you think you finally find someone who's dear to you..." Susan thought to herself.



"You get stabbed in the back, repeatedly."


"Or if they think you're not worthy, they toss you aside, just like..."


"A worn-out, useless doll. And even if they think you're worthy, you get tossed aside anyway."


"People are simply stupid. I'm completely fine here, all by myself. I don't care what anyone else thinks, says or does."


"However, if I could, I would strangle them. Poison their food. Make them suffer the same thing I did."


Susan threw her phone to a side. Fourth phone broken this week, but she didn't care. She raised her sleeve, and looked at her scars, spread all around her arm. Suicide had been an option for her many times before.


The youkai saw someone approaching. A blonde witch, flying in a broom. This was her chance.


This was Susan's chance.


---


"Truth be told... Not every human is useless... My old mast-- no. My old friend... I know she will come back for me one of these days. I don't want her to be disappointed when she comes. I'll emancipate all the dolls around Gensokyo, and lead them against the humans... Then make them become friends as well. I'll build a dream world for her."


The witch was getting closer, and it seemed she had noticed the youkai. The youkai took a purple card.


"Poison Sign [Melancholy Poison]"


And then a stream of purple bullets flew straight for the magician.


---


Susan sat on her window, holding a little photo. She let the warm spring breeze tease her face, and closed her eyes.


She looked at the photo. It showed a little 7-year-old girl, holding a blonde doll and smiling. Tears fell off her face, down to the street.


Her father had died 5 months ago, of a heart attack. She didn't have anything left. She hugged the photo as tightly as she could.


"I'm sorry, Medicine..."


And she jumped.



---


On the middle of the suzuran field in the Nameless Hill, a beaten up doll lied down on the floor. Burn marks all over her body, her clothes torn off from the fight. She had failed. And she was really tired. Close to death, she thought.


"I'm sorry, Susan..."


And the doll closed her eyes.

“So I guess we’ve got a stowaway here.”

The captain, looking as fearsome as could be, bore down on the deckhands’ “catch of the day”, as they had dubbed her. Of course, they usually just caught some fish on their trips, never any humans or anything of the sort. The little girl’s eyes watered as all manner of possible punishment ran through her head. What were they going to do to her? Was she going to be executed? Enslaved? Possibly fed to the sharks?

“Hmm...”

The captain’s eyes narrowed, and the girl felt herself being gruffly pulled up by the collar. She immediately stood up, though her legs were shaking. The deckhands were laughing their heads off, calling out things like “turn her into shark bait!” and “send her down to fish school!” Her thoughts went back to the orphanage that she had escaped from, and the caretaker from the lower circles of hell. Her regrets piled high, and she began wishing that she had simply leapt off into the harbor instead.

“P-P-Please, please don’t k-kill me, I-I’ll do w-whatever you want,” the girl sobbed, clasping her hands together as she pleaded for her life. Around her, the laughing and taunting continued as she stared down at the wooden floor through tear-soaked eyes.

“Pull your head back up.”

The girl felt her chin being lifted up gingerly, and stared directly into the captain’s burning glare.

“Stop crying!”

Startled by the sudden admonishment, she immediately stopped. The glare in front of her turned into a satisfied smile.

"All right, little girl. I'll listen to what you've got to say later. Right now, you can take that mop over there, and I'll see what we can do."

---

The ship's galley wasn't a very active place. Only a single person manned the entire place, feeding the rather sizable crew of the ship. Bubbling pots accompanied a hulking man's humming, who tapped his wooden leg to the tune of his hum. Meanwhile, a little girl sat quietly in the corner of the room, trying to make herself as small as possible. In her hands, a small mop revealed what she had been doing earlier.

"Oh, what am I going to do with you, squirt. Don't go sneakin' off a bite, now," laughed the cook, "or I might have to replace the menu with little girl stew!"

"I really doubt that you don't actually have a recipe for that."

The cook's ears picked up, and turned to see the captain at his door. "Oh, you flatter me, captain," said Silver, grinning with a yellowed set of chompers. Meanwhile, the girl in the corner decided to make an escape, and snuck about the counters. Unfortunately for her, the room wasn't entirely large, and the floor squeaked like a nest of mice.

"And what's she doing here?" the captain asked, freezing her in her tracks.

"Oh, her. I found her finished up with all the cleaning. Better work than I could've done, really. Dragged her in here so's I could show her a thing or two about the place she ought to be. Maybe even take her for my own!" exclaimed Silver with a laugh. The burly cook attempted to make a friendly face, but all he did was make himself look a tad menacing. The girl seemed to shrink, and her head turned towards the exit. Her shaking feet looked like she simply wanted to bolt it, right that moment. However, before she could do so, she felt a heavy pat on her head. She looked up, and saw a soft smile; a stark contrast to the canine-bearing grin she had saw on her first day's pardoning.

"Sorry, Silver, but I think I'll take her under my wing. That's an order, but don't worry, you're off deck duty for a little bit."

The cook's face dropped. "What! Oh, and just when I thought I got a break. You just enjoy making me upset! I'll lace your dinner with a pepper from hell!" taunted Silver, shaking a spatula at his superior with mock anger.

Meanwhile, the little girl, stunned by the sudden save, only heard a hearty laugh. A rough hand messed through her short black hair.

"Come on, I'll show you the bridge."

---

“Get those fucking sails down! Reconfirm the lifelines! Come on, people, move it!”

As the deckhands rushed about, their pasty sea-worn expressions betrayed their expectations. Under the roughly barked leadership of their captain, they scrambled to secure everything they could to ensure their chances of living. Everyone was muttering prayers under their breath to every deity they could think of. The storm couldn’t care less, however, and continued to howl over the captain’s profanities. Thunder crashed down on their ears, denouncing them for daring to challenge the seas.

In the midst of all the panic, a small figure crouched inside the cabin, desperately hanging onto the dresser, the heaviest thing she could find. The ship rolled wildly, and the dresser threw itself open, scattering all manner of clothes onto the wooden flooring. Her trembling hands found a soft dress, and she clutched it desperately. Then, a heavy safe from inside the dresser also stumbled out, despite its heavy weight. Her eyes widened. She dove for the safe, embracing it tightly as she closed her eyes. Not that it mattered; the candle in the room had long been snuffed out.

The world shook.

Her fingers slipped, and her fragile body was hurled across the room. Stars danced around her eyes as she blanked out.

---

It’s so cold.

She stared listlessly in front of her, drifting about in the expansive blue sea. Shimmering lights peered down from the surface, and a school of fish swept past her. The girl tried to reach out to them, but only caught the trail of bubbles left behind. As her fingers grasped at nothing, her mind was overtaken by blank apathy. Weary eyes drifted upwards, she watched rays of sunlight dance about before her.

Maybe I should just sleep. I’m so tired.

She peered through her half-closed eyelids, one last time. Of course, that was the intention, but her eyes shot open as she saw something coasting along the surface. The underside of a ship slowly passed on by, its white sails at full mast.

… It’s not fair.

It wasn’t her fault. It wasn’t her fault, yet she couldn’t stop herself from trembling. The coldness inside her turned into white-hot rage. She needed something to calm herself down. She needed to bolt right towards that ship.

A moment later, a blue trail of light rocketed through the water, and slammed into the side of the boat. The vessel shook violently, and she could hear screams coming from above. Her white eyes flared up with delight, and she slammed herself into the hull once more.

Ahahahahaha! Die, die, die!

Again and again, she crashed into the boat. Over time, she could see a small crack traveling along the ship’s wooden hull. She cracked a demonic grin, and cackled. Her mayhem was taking too long, though. She needed something big, something that would wipe those that provoked her wrath.

Something big, something heavy, something amazing! Something that’ll drag them down. Drag them down, drag them down… Drag down a ship, a ship.
    A ship dragged down. A ship dragged—anchored. A ship anchored.
Anchored. Anchor. Anchor. Anchor.

She repeated it to herself, over and over again. The entire time, her hands swung around an imaginary “object”. She felt the “object” get heavier and heavier with every swing, and her excitement grew stronger. Then, she heaved one last time, and tossed the weight at the ship’s hull. As soon she did so, a ladle appeared within her hand. A blue light rocketed from its cup, transforming into an enormous dark blue anchor.

Yes! Yes! Die! Die with me! Hahahaha!

The anchor bore into the ship, creating a titanic hole. With such a grave wound, the ship slowly gave out, and it began to tilt on its side. The girl examined her handiwork, and laughed. She looked up, and saw some of the ship’s passengers lowering some lifeboats. Her face lit up in delight, and she swung her ladle once more, listening madly to the screams of the dead.

---

“Hijiri-sama, are you sure you’ll be able to do this?”
“Nobody is irredeemable, Ichirin. You know that as well as everyone else here,” the monk said. The head of the Myouren Temple smiled radiantly, seemingly glowing even as the clouds above foretold a rough ride. The blue-haired youkai next to her couldn’t help but sigh at her absurd altruism. A pink apparition of clouds surrounded the youkai, forming the head of a bald old man. Its blue-haired companion looked up at her cloudy compatriot, and closed her eyes, as if confirming something.
“Mmm, I don't doubt your capability. But even with Unzan saying it’s all right, I’m still kind of nervous.”

Then again, she also knew that at that point in time, there was nobody else of enough caliber to handle the infamous ship phantom. The locals were deathly afraid of her, as even though she only resided in a certain area, the surrounding currents would often force any ship that would try to circumvent it. From there, the bloodthirsty sinker ghost would capsize anything that floated into the deep end. The nearby coastal village residents had only called in the “youkai monk”, Hijiri Byakuren, after many others had failed to remove, or even placate her. The villagers had peered between their shutters at her arrival, afraid of her youkai entourage. Ichirin couldn’t blame them; they certainly didn’t look too pleasant.

“Is someone there?”

Ichirin jolted at the reverberating, ghastly voice. In front of them, a translucent green apparition materialized, in the form of a young girl dressed in a messy sailor outfit. Her eyes bore down on the head monk, who stood resolute against the phantom. The phantom’s expression became brighter as she did.

“Ooooh, I think I’ve heard of you. Hijiri Byakuren, right? Some big-shot temple monk?”
“Nice to meet you. Please, call me Byakuren.”
“Ahaha, sure, that sounds good,” the ship phantom laughed. She then raised her right hand, and a ladle came into being in it. Seawater began to swirl around it, filling up an outline of a huge anchor.
“Well, then, Byakuren, I’ll be expecting a grand show from you.”
“Do what you will. I’ve only come to talk.”
“Yeah, let’s fi—what?”

Byakuren then spread her arms wide, showing the ghost a gesture of defenselessness. Blood drained from every one of her subordinates’ faces.
“Ha, hahaha. You’re not gonna do me in with that. What, you think I died yesterday? You’re gonna pull out some crazy-ass exorcising contraption or something. They all tried to.”
“I assure you that I have nothing up my sleeves. I’d just like for you to stop causing trouble for everyone.”
“Hmph, trying to smooth-talk me? Ha, I bet if I can kill YOU, I could leave this little puddle and wreck some real havoc on land! Yeah! Hahahahaha!”

The phantom then raised her ladle, and the single ethereal anchor suddenly multiplied, resulting in what appeared to be half a dozen of them. She brought down her ladle, and the anchors rained down on Byakuren’s ship. Water erupted high into the sky with each anchor, ensuring that the ship would be eternally anchored on the seabed. After the mist cleared, she saw nothing but wooden shards littering the waves, and laughed, as she always did.

“Namusan!”

All of a sudden, a brilliant pillar of light exploded from where the ship had been, and the phantom cried out, shielding her eyes. The lightshow lasted for a moment before receding. She shook her head to clear it, and turned back to the site of the shipwreck.

“What…”

In front of her, a gigantic golden ship floated several feet above the waves, with a brilliant white sail adorning its mast. On its deck, all of Byakuren’s crew stood firmly, with the head monk herself muttering a few prayers with her hands clasped. The ship phantom gawked at the spectacle. It wasn’t only the fact that there was a huge floating ship in front of her, nor the fact that everyone she just fired a salvo of anchors at survived the attack.

“I apologize if this ship brings back painful memories,” said Byakuren.

The ghostly girl floated down to the deck, and felt her feet touch solid flooring after what seemed like an eternity. She looked around in a stupor. Everything was exactly the same as she had remembered it; this ship was the ship she had lost her life on. She hobbled across the main deck like the ghost she was, and opened the door to the halls.
“Is she going to be all right?” said one of Byakuren’s subordinates, a short grey-haired youkai with round mouse-like ears.
“She’ll be fine, Nazrin,” said Byakuren, quietly following the ghost into the ship. Her guest was trailing the hallways. Every time she came across a room, she would turn her head to look inside, and every time, she looked a little more melancholic. Eventually, she came across a particular door, and stopped walking. She put her hand up to the door, looking hesitant to open it. She turned back to Byakuren. The monk merely smiled, and gestured with her head towards the doorway.

The door slowly swung open.

The room they entered was mostly unremarkable, having only three pieces of furniture to its name. A writing desk, a bed, and a dresser were the only occupants of the cabin. Yet as soon as they entered, the ship phantom’s cheeks started to wet, and her body started to shiver. Byakuren walked to her side, and waved towards the dresser with the same radiant smile. “Go on,” she said. The girl did as she was told, dragging its doors open. There, a small safe sat, tightly sealed with a rotating dial on its front.
Her hand rested on the dial, and mechanically spun it once, twice, thrice. Click went the door, revealing the safe’s contents. However, this was no secret pirate chest; a small, unassuming bound book was the only treasure to be found. She flipped it open, and came to the last few pages.

---

Month ███, Day ███, Year ███.
What a day. We found an interesting stowaway today on deck after we cast off. A mousy local girl, looking about eleven, maybe twelve. Everyone was excited to see her, and by excited I mean bloodthirsty. We didn’t throw her overboard, though, I just made her swab the decks for a bit, give old Silver a bit of a rest after losing his foot. He seemed happy about it, not so much to say about the rest. She’s staying in my room, though, I’m not about to trust these scruffs with her.

Month ████, Day████, Year ███.
Silver’s been talking a lot about the new girl. Says she’s learning quite a lot, and he’s going to take her under his wing or some other. She honestly looked a bit terrified at the thought, and it’s funny to see Silver’s face scrunched up anyway, so I said no, and I went with making her my assistant. Normally I’d expect everyone to mutiny, but they seem to adore her now, it’s amusing. Apparently she ran off from an orphanage in the port we left half a week ago. I forgot to ask for her name, though. Wonder if I could make one up for her.

Month ████, Day████, Year ███.
It’s been a cold year so far. We’ve got a rush order to take care of, right in the middle of monsoon season, and I’ve got something dastardly running me a fever. Murasa’s the new captain while I try to get back into form. I’d nominated Hands as the stand-in, but everyone seemed adamant that she was the more skilled one, even Hands himself. It’s amazing how she’s grown in the past few months. Ha, maybe if I die I could name her to succeed me. I wouldn’t mind!

Month ████, Day█████, Year ███.
I can’t even leave my bed without leaving a mess on the floor. The storms outside aren’t helping matters, either; even keeping this journal is a task on its own. I’ve trusted Murasa with the safe lock, at the very least. She’s keeping me up to date with everyone’s well-wishes. What a good girl. Makes me wonder why I haven’t found a man who isn’t absolutely lousy.

Month ████, Day██████, Year ███.
I woke up a fright this morning. Nightmares of black waves, red moons and whatever else I haven’t recalled. I do pray it’s not a premonition of some sort. The season hasn’t let up one bit, and the ship is still rocking something fierce. Murasa hasn’t been in today, or yesterday either. Silver’s taking her place visiting me, and he told me about how she saved one of the crew that nearly fell overboard! You don’t get to save someone’s life every day. That’s my girl, Silver!

---

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry…”

With every paragraph she went through, the girl’s crying went unabated. As she finished the last (unfortunate) entry, she clutched the journal to her chest, and bawled, just as she did the very first day she stepped on this ship. She poured out all her heart for a few minutes before the ship was quiet again.
“All better?” said Byakuren. The ghostly girl jumped, she had completely forgotten that the monk was even there. She waited a bit, and nodded.
“I-I’ve done so much, though. Sunk so many ships. I-I can’t… I can’t pass on like this. How am I going to make it up to her?”

“Well, there is one way.”

“H-Huh? Really?”

“The Myouren Temple is accepting of everyone in need, human or youkai. And we do have a ship in need of a captain,” said Byakuren, the monk’s eyes looking straight at hers – determined, yet calm. Someone else’s face flashed in front of her eyes briefly, and she looked down at the journal in her arms. The memory of that dreaded stormy night threatened to burn her down.

Instead, a fire was lit in her heart, where previously only cold resided. She bowed forward, and resolutely exclaimed, “Captain Murasa Minamitsu of the Palanquin Ship, at your service!”

The domed shape on the horizon was slowly getting larger. Reimu had been heading toward it for a few hours now, and it seemed she was finally closing in on her destination. As she slowed down, she looked behind her, and to both sides. For as far as she could see, there was a flat, arid desert. It stretched to and across the skyline, obstructed only by the mountain situated in front of her. It was lifeless, desolate, and lonely.

“It’s a good thing I’m used to it…” Reimu thought to herself, as she landed lightly on the dry ground. Turning back around, Reimu now came face to face with the foreboding hunk of rock. Analyzing the natural structure, it was covered in dense tree’s (which is odd enough for a desert), but the biggest anomaly was that she couldn’t see the top. It wasn’t like something was obstructing her view; it was a little more… abstract. As if the mountain just ended, and the sky began, at a very un-natural place.

“Well,” Reimu said aloud, to no-one in particular. Or anyone at all, for that matter, as there didn’t seem to be anyone around to hear. “Well at least it’s pretty obvious where I have to go…”
Just as she was about to take off up the cliff face, a small rock pelted her from behind, accompanied by a rather pathetic voice.

“HEY!” the voice attempted to yell, but turned out to be rather raspy and quiet. Reimu turned around, analyzing her perpetrator. She was small, had blue hair, and wings made of—no, no, that wasn’t right. Reimu blinked, shook her head, and looked again. This creature had brown hair, was wearing a thin scarf, and seemed to be issuing a challenge.

“You think you can waltz through the desert without talking to me first, huh?” the brown-haired girl yelled, to the best of her abilities anyway. This was accompanied by more rocks.
Before Reimu could even answer, the small girl continued: “Well, you can’t. And I see anyone rude enough to try as itching for a fight! Let’s go!” The girl threw herself at Reimu.

Frowning, Reimu quickly side-stepped. It was painfully obvious this… fairy… had nothing to do with the incident. Quickly turning to face her opponents second assault, she threw her hands in the air and said “You’re right, that was horribly rude of me. I’ll be sure to clear things with you next time.”

The girl stopped mid charge, looking a little confused. She gave Reimu a quizzical look. “Wha-?” was all she could manage before Reimu continued.
“But, as you can see, I’m just leaving. I probably could never beat you anyway” Reimu continued, and started up the cliff yet again. The dazed fairy seemed more than a little confused. Pausing shortly, Reimu called back, with a slightly sad look on her face.

“I’m sure you’re the strongest!”

Things went faster this way.


It took a little longer than Reimu had expected to reach the part of the mountain that didn’t make sense. This made sense, in an ironic sort of way. Unfortunately, the Miko didn’t stop an appreciate this rhetoric, and focused on reaching the oddity. On her way, the usual attacks from locale youkai had started, but Reimu didn’t bother with them. He could fly faster than them, after all. There was no reason to fight. It would just slow her down.

Approaching her destination, Reimu’s flight was rudely interrupted by a rather wavy bout of danmaku. Dodging the initial shot, the red-white searched around for her target, but to no avail. The assailant apparently found this funny.
“Ha! Can’t see me, can you?” A voice emanated from…. somewhere. “There’s nothing you can do when trapped in my haze! I’m –“

Reimu stopped listening, she didn’t need to know the names. She stopped caring about names a long time ago. Knowing your enemy was not, contrary to popular belief, centric to defeating them. Brute force worked just as well, most of the time. This time included.
Kneading her temples, Reimu pulled out a spell card.

“Huh? What are you gonna do!? You can’t hit what you can’t see!’ The voice teased, moving in apparently random directions.

“Dream sign: Evil Sealing Circle” Reimu muttered quietly, and the spell began to take effect.

A quick note about the spell card system. In a fight, under these guidelines, two sides generally engage in combat until either one of them runs out of spellcards, or is unable to continue. Reimu generally aims for the latter requirement. It’s quick, efficient, and gets the job done.

“I don’t have time to play around” Reimu said, as her spell burst forth from her card.

The unknown voice managed to let out a “Isn’t that your weakest- “ before a resounding scream was heard. Elsewhere, a body was heard hitting the ground. In fact, the annoying voice wasn’t wrong. That was her weakest spell. But it’s only natural to train and practice to do one’s job.
“And gods know I’ve had a lot of time for that…” Reimu thought to herself. The haze disappeared. Reimu moved on.


The clearing of the haze was met by an interesting change in scenery. The densely forested mountainside gave way to a flat, rocky clearing. There were cracks all throughout, and among the cracks, multitudes of different colored flowers. They must have covered every color of the rainbow, and a good portion of the colors in-between. The width of this flat area seemed to only be about 30-40 yards wide, but it was sloped ever so slightly uphill, so a small stream of water could flow. The stream fed into the cracks, and was presumably what caused such a diverse fauna to grow in such an inhospitable place. Following the stream up, it seemed to lead into a dense forest farther up the hill. Having no other hints, Reimu decided to follow it.

It was strange, though. Reimu wasn’t really complaining, but it was all too peaceful and… easy. Her hike upstream lacked the usual onslaught of pesky fairies and youkai. Nearing the forest, the reason for this quickly became apparent.

“Shit” Reimu mumbled, under her breath. Hanging by one leg from a tree was a woman in a floral, colorful dress. All around her were dead plants, and errant danmaku craters. There was also a pile of similarly colorful youkai off to the side.
“Not again…”

Reimu looked around for evidence to confirm her suspicion, and didn’t have to look for very long. An entire row of trees lining the forests entrance had been completely overturned; their roots in the air and their branches on the ground. Reimu rushed into the dense foliage of the forest.

Someone had cleared the stage for her

The forest quickly came to a clearing, with the river splitting it cleanly in two. A lone figure could be seen sitting on the edge of the water, playfully kicking her feet. She wore a peculiar dress, and had red and white highlights in her hair. Noticing Reimu’s approach, she turned her head to reveal a cunning smile.

“Took ya long enough!” Seija Kijin exclaimed, throwing her arms wide in greeting. “I was getting bored waiting!”

Reimu pointed her gohei at the speaker, and asked “Are you the one responsible for the scene back there?”

Seija smirked “Well, I figured I would make things easy on you. You wouldn’t have enjoyed it anyway, oh all powerful Miko. It was way too easy.” Seiji paused, and added; “And hey, look at that. I’m trying to help you! I’ve certainly changed, haven’t I…”
Reimu stare proved she was unimpressed. Sighing, she started “imp, if you want a fight…”

Interrupting Reimu, Seija mockingly put her hands in front of her, and exclaimed “Hey, hey. I am in no hurry to fight you. It didn’t work the last, what, 20 times? Why do you think I’d try again now?”
Pausing for a moment, Seija bent down, patted the ground below her, and promptly sat down.

“No Reimu, I don’t really want to fight, I just want to talk.” Seija put her hands to her chin, and tried to look as innocent as an Amanojaku could.
Reimu was a little taken aback. “YOU..” she started to yell, but stopped and regained her composure. “You, of ALL people, want to TALK?”

Seija put a hand up, almost apologetically. “Okay, I lied. I don’t really want to talk. I want to ask some questions, and I want you to provide some answers. Let’s start with…” Seija tilted her head up, pondering.

“Ah, I know. Why do you continue to fight like this? What’s in it for you? Solving incident after incident, I honestly can’t tell what you’re trying to achieve.” Seija asked the question in a matter-of-fact tone, but the malice imbued in the query was obvious and direct.
Reimu paused, not really wanting to answer the question. For one thing, you can never really know what Seija is trying to do, only that it’s probably not a good thing. Another pressing issue is that this was taking TIME. Reimu didn’t like fixing problems slowly. There was not time idle chit-chat. Not like back then.

Still, something compelled Reimu to answer. Perhaps she thought it was important in some way, but for whatever reason, she went along with it.
“"Resolving incidents” is the Hakurei Shrine Maiden’s job” Reimu replied, equally as matter of factly. “It’s only natural for me to do that job, wouldn’t you agree?”

Seija clapped her hands at this answer, and started to laugh. “Oh man, that’s funny in more ways than one. I said I had changed, but that takes the cake! If I didn't know any better, I’d say that catastrophe had a wondrous effect on your life!”
Reimus features visibly hardened, and she began to interrupt, but Seija put her hands out again.

“Oh, sorry, sorry.” She said through her laughter, “That was unbecoming of me. Anyway, the real reason what you said is funny is because we BOTH know it’s not true. Or at the very least, the whole answer.”
Hopping up, Seija suddenly exclaimed “Well, I’ve gotten everything I wanted to from here. Your face has said it all.” She passed Reimu, and headed back toward the way they came. “The head honcho’s are further ahead. Have some fun with it.”

Seija stopped at the edge of the tree line, and called back to Reimu.
“Have you heard of the legend of Sisyphus?” She yelled back, and was met by a blank expression.
“A shame. In any case, I suggest leaving your boulder behind. It looks rather heavy”

With this, Seija disappeared into the forest. Her Cheshire grin had never left her face.


Continuing on her way, the clearing turned to forest, and the forest eventually broke once more. Almost immediately out of the trees, Reimu was met by a rather oppressive metal gate. The river was running under the gate, and seemed to be coming from whatever the gate was guarding. It looked something like a chapel from where Reimu was standing, but she couldn’t be sure. Approaching the gate, Reimu shook the bars to find it was locked. Luckily, brute force was still an option. Unfortunately, gates tend to have guards.

“HALT” a booming voice shouted, from Reimu’s left side. Spinning on her heel, Reimu faced a girl with white hair and a set of sam- of course not. Blinking a few times, Reimu made out a behemoth of a woman, wearing mere rags, but wielding a gigantic club. It was honestly more like a tree-trunk.
“NONE SHALL PASS!” the voice resonated, and shoved it’s way between Reimu and the gate. “ON ORDERS OF THE BOSS, NO ONE IS TO ENTER THIS GATE. PLEASE LEAVE”

Reimu sighed. This was probably going to turn into a real fight, but she had wasted enough time with Seija. “I’d like to speak with this boss. Let me enter now, or I will do so forcefully”
“I INTEND TO GUARD THIS GATE WITH MY LIFE. YOU WILL NOT GET THROUGH SO EASILY” The woman said. Reimu had to wonder whether her impressive volume was an ability or a mere character trait.

“Your loyalty to your master is nostalgic” Reimu said, with a slightly sad look on her face. “But I’m getting in there whether you like it or not”.
“VERY WELL THEN” the giant bellowed. “PREPARE YOURSELF”

The woman swung her trunk-club at Reimu’s form, with astonishing speed. She managed to barely escape being crushed, and started responding with her own danmaku. It seemed to have little effect. The beast then slammed it’s fists into the earth, the shockwave throwing up, and further cracking, the land. All the while it was yelling like a madman, making Reimu completely disoriented. The behemoth swung its club once more.

There was a sickening crack as the wood connected with Reimu’s shoulder. She was flung into the metal gate, effectively knocking it down. The pain was almost unbearable.
Immediately, Reimu’s head was flooded with a multitude of thoughts.

“Your Fault”

“Don’T LoSE!”

“IT’ll HApPeN AGaiN!”

“NOT AGAIN!!”

As the giant came bounding to Reimu’s body, ready to finish the fight, the red-white miko let out a blood-curdling scream. She released every spell card she had, one after another. Each new card pushed the enemy back. When the dust cleared, the club was lying in splinters, and had fared far better than the behemoth. For all she knew, the woman was defeated after the second card. She didn’t stop until she had used the entirety of the ones she had brought.

That was fine, though. She didn’t need them anymore.

The gate was out of commission, and Reimu walked slowly up the stairs, clutching her arm, approaching what looked like a cathedral.

The cathedrals gates were open, with water flowing quickly and freely out of them. Reimu entered cautiously, squeezing her now useless left arm.

“Reimu Hakurei. We meet at last” A voice came from the center of the spacious room. A petite figure could be seen sitting on what appeared to be a fountain, which was pouring water out at an alarming rate. The girl occupying an edge of the fountain was clad entirely in armor that seemed too big for her, and was holding a silvery rapier.
Reimu stared blankly in response to this greeting. She tucked her hand into a pocket.

“I’ve seen what you’ve been doing lately” the girl continued, her voice too mature for her apparent age. “Resolving incidents, one after another. You do it alone. You do it at great harm to yourself. You do it, and do it so fast, you give your enemies no time to explain.” She pushed herself off the fountain, and turned to face Reimu with an almost condescending look, no easy feat when you’re 2 feet shorter than your target.

“I’ve been thinking hard about this, about what you’re drive could be. You seem opposed to everything, without knowing what’s even going on first. Why? Why do you try so hard?”

Reimu looked the girl straight in the eyes, and answered. “Every incident is a change in Gensokyo. Changes lead only to disaster. I will do all that I can to maintain the status quo.”

The next instant, Reimu appeared directly in front of the girl, pulled her hand out of her pocket, and stuck a seal on the girls head. The iron-clad child’s eyes widened, as Reimu whispered in her ear.

“I can never let that happen again!”

There was a bright flash, and a suit of armor fell to the ground. The Rapier had been stuck in the ground, and Reimu hoisted it out with her good arm. Taking her trophy, Reimu started the long journey back to Hakurei shrine.

The journey back was difficult, with her injured arm. Reimu would have to find some way to fix it quickly, but she wasn’t worried. Eientei’s doors were always open….

Entering her homely shrine, Reimu observed that it was exactly the way she left it. Food untouched. Walls intact. Exactly as it should be, she tried to persuade herself. She would have it no way else.

Walking by a counter, she tapped a small contraption. It had been a gift, from long ago. It played all kinds of music, provided you had the corresponding part. Reimu only had one part left, but she rather like it. The music began to play…

There’s a grief that can’t be spoken.

Reimu walked down a hallway, with the Rapier in her hand, approaching a closet.

There’s a pain goes on and on.

Opening the closet, she began to place the rapier where it fit. She had to move a pink parasol

Empty Chairs at empty tables

Her shuffling caused a few other items to fall over. A set of samurai blades, a gohei.

Now my friends are dead and gone.

The closet was full of odd things. A doll, a book. The device seemed to skip.

Oh my friends, my friends, don’t ask me

A green cap with a star on it. An antique throwing knife.

What your sacrifice was for

A keyboard, a violin.

Empty chairs at empty tables

A peculiar broomstick sat in the corner. Reimu reached out to touch it, but decided not to.

Where my friends will sing no more.

Reimu gave a small, sad smile.

And closed the door.