>>18776 I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but only the Prismriver sisters have a "harem" ending, and it's not necessarily guaranteed even in their case. Conflicts are bound to happen, I suppose... it probably won't help that the Ran and Yukari routes both involve a fair amount of interaction with both parties. On the other hand, I guess that could be considered a consolation prize.
[X] ... so that you can go sit down, have a nice, relaxing cup of tea, and maybe a nice talk, and just unwind after all this stress.
[X] Suika should help clean up the mess. She created it.
***
"All I want to do right now is get this room cleaned out, and go sit down for a nice cup of tea. I need to unwind." A headache is coming on once again, and a quick massage of your temple is needed to combat it. "It would be nice if you helped clean up this mess, by the way. You're responsible for creating it apparently, I'm not sure I could handle it even if I were at my best, and Ran has been working on it for days."
Suika blinks at you a few times, looking rather puzzled for a few moments. Then she just laughs cheerfully again, and takes another draw from her gourd.
"You can be really blunt, can't you? I like it! Reminds me of Reimu: nice and honest!"
Glancing over the stack of bottles amusedly, Suika snaps her fingers and holds out her hand. A low rumble fills the room, and the bottles... begin to
disintegrate? Ran takes a surprised step back as all at once the whole mess just sort of dissolves into shining, glassy streams of glittering, colored sand, which flow through the air in winding trails, and gather above Suika's outstretched palm in a small. The streams come together at a single point, forming a spinning orb that never seems to grow in size, no matter how much pours into it. Every last bit of the mess flows into the ball, until at last all that is left is a single marble of brilliant swirled colors that sparkle in the light. Suika grins at you, tossing the marble from one hand to the other a few times before holding it out to you.
"Catch."
She drops the marble into your waiting hand-- which comes crashing painfully into your stomach with enough force that it knocks the wind out of you, and may well have dented the floor! Good gods, that thing is heavy! As you gasp and wheeze for breath, Suika laughs, and you shoot her a glare.
"What are you laughing at? This thing is heavy!"
"So? It's not like you've got any muscles to strain with it!"
"Hey!"
"I'm being serious!" She leans in and pokes your chest. "You're a ghost. You literally don't have muscles to strain with this."
... never thought of that. The moment that you do, however, the marble becomes surprisingly easy to lift. You give the marble a hard look, then give Suika an exhausted one. This is just getting weirder and weirder.
"Look at that face!" Suika snickers, prodding your cheek. "You are just too much! You really need that tea, don't you? Hey, Ran," she turns and calls over to the fox woman, "why don't you get started on that? I'll take care of the rest here."
As she says that, she pulls a few strands of her hair loose and blows on them, sending them scattering across the room. In mid-flight, each floating lock mists over and... transforms into a miniature Suika? Wha..."
Yeah, you... you could really use that tea.
---
"Thanks, Ran."
"It's no trouble. The tea is quite hot, so be careful."
She gives you a warm smile as you take the cup of tea being offered, careful not to spill any. You reciprocate the smile before turning back to Suika, who's already busy pouring something pungent into her tea from a flask she kept hidden. As the horned girl tinkers with her drink, you resume your conversation.
"So, you can manipulate density?"
Suika nods, stirring her tea with her finger.
"That's right."
"If you could do that, why did you wait until now to clean up your mess?"
"Ran never asked for help," Suika replies with a sigh and a shrug. While that response sounds a little flippant to your ears, she adopts a surprisingly serious and concerned expression before addressing Ran directly. "I've told you before Ran, if you really want help with something, you should come out and say it."
"My job is for me, and no one else, Miss Suika." Ran sips calmly at her tea, looking rather unfazed. Suika gives her a sour look.
"You say that, but you and I both know..." Suika glances over at you momentarily, then shakes her head and trails off with a sigh. "We'll talk about it some other time."
"Anyway," turning her attention back to you, Suika cheers up considerably, "now you know about my abilities, but how about your own? Figured out what you can do yet?"
"I can walk through walls, and apparently I'm not constrained by muscles. That's about all I'm aware of at this point."
You're really getting used to the sound of Suika's laughter at this point. At least it's almost always jovial, and only sometimes disrespectful.
"That's really no good, you know? You're a ghost now, a monster like the rest of us! You need to shape up and start acting more monstrous." With a grin, she turns back to Ran. "Hey, Ran, what do you say we take him out and teach him what it means to be a youkai? It'll be just like old times!"
"I'm afraid not, Miss Suika. I would rather enjoy my peace while I have it."
"Boo!" Suika pouts. "You're such a stick in the mud these days, Ran. You should get out and live a little." A sly smile spreads across the horned girl's face. "I'll bet your little kitty would enjoy this one, wouldn't she? She ought to know all about how the dead should behave!"
Ran's brow twitches, and Suika's smile spreads into a full grin.
"How about it?" She asks, turning to you. "We'll find that kitty, and me and her will take you around Mayohiga and teach you all about the stuff you can do! Sounds good, right?"
***
[ ] No thanks, you'd rather sit here and enjoy the peace.
- [ ] Talking with Ran a little is all you need to enjoy yourself for right now. (Specify something to talk about.)
[ ] Sure, why not? Might as well figure yourself out.
- [ ] Wake up Chen and have her tag along. She did something weird to you before, so maybe she does know more about ghosts.
- [ ] Don't wake Chen. She's probably pretty tired. Besides, she did something weird to you before, and you don't want her to get cranky and do it again.
