Myouren Temple was unusually loud today. Dozens of footsteps echoed in the halls of once flying ship. The stairs at the entrance gleamed with a new shine as the morning sun shone over it. Byakuren and her followers were already up and ready, or at the very least were most of them.

Shou and Nazrin tended to oversleep due to their nocturnal nature. Nue, Koishi, Aunn and Joon were part of the ‘Come and leave whenever they felt like it’ club. Most likely causing mischief in whatever part of Gensokyo each one has gotten their interest in lately. Or in Aunn’s case, protecting whatever temple or holy ground that she deemed too undefended at the moment. But semantics.

Kyouko was busy brushing at the floor outside, attending to her cleaning duties a bit longer than usual as punishment for having snooped away last night and not telling where she had gone to.

This left Byakuren with Murasa and Ichirin as her company for breakfast. The latter promptly chokes on her soup as the drowned ghost laughs in amusement. Having clearly used her ability to cause a ‘water accident’. Before Byakuren can admonish her for it though, Ichirin is quick to retaliate for a gust of wind ‘somehow’ spills over some of the food the phantom has over the table and into her lap. The two then glower at each other, before a mischievous smile adorns them both.

Byakuren simply lets out a sigh, how children can be so rowdy these days. That didn’t mean the more ‘mature’ members of the temple were any better. For Mamizou is a force of nature on her own, a wrecking ball of schemes even. No matter how many times Byakuren asked her to give some kind of notice, Mamizou continued to simply do things without warning. One moment she steers all participants of an incident into the right direction, the next she confesses to having helped the mastermind of some incident or even being the one responsible for some greater goal.

Most of those confessions came out the moment she was smashed though. Which though an opportunity Byakuren is not against indulging still shows she acts like she owns the place.

Which is why it feels so out of place when she gets a message –carried by a tanuki with the red seal of urgency-- letting her know that Nue is heading to the temple for an important announcement.

Naturally the monk’s heart thinks, this can’t be good. But then moves aside all anxieties she has about the ‘probably an incident to be’ and thinks about things rationally.

This will definitely not be good, says the monk’s brain.

But she does what is expected out of her anyway. She tells Ichirin to get more dishes. She tells Murasa to make sure the Palanquin is flight ready if things really get bad.

And then sets about calling the rest of the family.

Koishi and Aunn did not heed the call for they were currently not in the temple.

Shou and Nazrin however appear within minutes, the tiger and mouse greet every person in the room with a hello or a lazy wave as they move to their seats still half-asleep. Still that doesn’t stop them both from indulging in the food laid before them, something Byakuren gives a small smile to.

Kyouko, of course, shows up moments after with a loud entrance and a louder greeting. Taking her seat opposite to the animal duo, right beside Byakuren herself. Not that it meant anything for anyone could seat themselves wherever they wanted, but Byakuren patted the girl regardless.
Finally Joon appears, and the house gets that much less quiet with their presence. She immediately starts chatting about her latest achievement to whoever is willing to listen so Byakuren tunes it out.

“So,” Nazrin starts mid-bite. “What’s everyone guessing Nue’s got to say?”

“I’ve got no idea what you mean.” Joon says with a scoff, and Byakuren knows enough of her tone to know that she’s playing dumb or pretending to do so in a vain attempt to look all-knowing.

“Oh come on,” Murasa adds in, “She never comes on time unless it’s important. So either she and Mamizou discovered something super worrying or well...I don’t know what could be worse.”

“She does up though!” Kyouko protests, a bit too loudly before covering her mouth with one hand.

“Always half an hour too late that is.” Ichirin says while Unzan rolls his eyes, “I don’t think that counts. But speaking of which, you left the temple right after her last night so…”

“Do you know something?” Shou finishes the sentence and Kyouko staggers under the accusation.

Byakuren looks at the Yamabiko. She doesn’t think she’s hiding anything, but Kyouko’s gotten far too good at hiding things from her as of late. That nightbird friend of hers must be a bad influence.

“So?” Byakuren prompts, hoping Kyouko will be forthcoming.

Whatever she was about to say gets interrupted by Nue’s sudden arrival. Mercifully she’s unharmed nor looking like the bearer of bad news. Still there’s a suspiciously large burlap sack over each shoulder, both big and bulky, but Nue’s strong enough that she isn’t bothered at all by the weight.

When Murasa floats to try and helpfully take one of the bags, Nue turns to stop her.

“Nuhuh.” She says. “I’ve got a nasty surprise waiting in one of these, big booms and all.”

“I believe,” Ichirin says, “that we agreed to limit the amount of explosives in the Temple’s proximity.”

“Yeah,” Joon adds in with mock seriousness, “No explosives in the house, Nue.”

Nue just rolls her eyes.

“Fine,” She says. “Warm some food for me, I’ll be right back.”

It says something about the situation that Nue simply lets herself out of the temple, explosives in hand without any sort of further conversation or explanation. She knows every nook and cranny of the temple and its surroundings. But that doesn’t stop Byakuren from worrying about what the plan here is. She shouldn’t be as everyone has been behaving for a while now. Still, the fact that Mamizou and Nue are scheming again pulls a foreboding twist in her stomach anyway.

She still remembers the trouble they caused by disguising thrown garbage as falling stars.

Anyway Nue returns again with one bag still over her shoulder, which raises, if not a red flag, than at least a yellow flag in Byakuren’s brain.

“So,” Byakuren says as Nue slides onto a spot, settling in to eat with the bag still under her arm. “Mamizou told us you’ve been busy.”

“Nice try,” Nue says in between mouthfuls. “But I know this isn’t the type of thing she would have told you about through only a letter.”

“Are you going to tell us though?” Shou asks. “You’re back because its important, right?”

“I agree with Shou,” Byakuren says. “Are you going to explain what’s the matter?”

“Eh, I had some work.” Nue starts. “To start, anyway. I’m doing Mamizou a favor by helping her smuggle a certain exotic thing. Something you might want to take care off even, Byakuren.”

“Stop beating around the bush.” Joon interrupts with a haughty scoff. “Just say it.”

“Fine, ahem. Mamizou wants you to take care of this.” Nue pushes her plate aside then hefts the bag up, pushing it onto the middle of the table. “Careful though, the goods are a bit fragile.”

Byakuren’s not sure what she means by that, but expects Nue to open the bag and show off whatever she’s acquired. Instead, the Nue pushes the bag closer to her until it’s within range.

“Consider this a birthday gift,” Nue says with a smile on her face that means nothing but trouble.

Byakuren considers not opening it for a moment. The whole thing reeks like a bad prank about to showed off, even if most schemes ended up working for some good most of the time, she still didn’t like anything that convoluted for no reason other than thinking that being honest is a boring option.

“Go on,” Nue says, settling back in her seat with anticipation. “Do leave the restraints on though.”

The what? Byakuren feels a sudden, intense feeling of dread.

Still she reaches out, removing the rope at the top and opening the bag in one fluid movement.

Inside the bag isn’t a weapon or some prank. Inside the bag is a girl, bound, gagged and blindfolded.

“What the fuck,” Murasa swears, speaking for everyone in the room.

The room is seconds away from breaking away into chaos.

What does Byakuren do?

[ ] “You kidnapped a human, as a gift?” Byakuren asked ‘calmly’. She didn’t understand how things went sideways that quickly and Nue’s status as a ‘good person’ was always distinctly tarnished by the massive amounts of deeds on her records. Still kidnapping was a new low, altogether. But there had to be a reason right? There better be, because if not then Nue is about to be in lots of trouble here.

[ ] Byakuren moved to release the restraints immediately, if it wasn’t her then someone else would have and no child, no child whatsoever should ever find themselves in such a disgusting position. She’s not even sure if this is a misunderstanding or the cruelest joke she’s been ever exposed to, but even so, that is no excuse. No excuse whatsoever for bringing a girl in here like they’re flour!

---

What if Kosuzu turned into a youkai CYOA, depending on your choices she meets the inevitable path of Mr Fortune teller or she gets to not end up like that! One could call this the 'Get her tf out of Gensokyo, NOW adventure.'

[X] “You kidnapped a human, as a gift?” Byakuren asked ‘calmly’. She didn’t understand how things went sideways that quickly and Nue’s status as a ‘good person’ was always distinctly tarnished by the massive amounts of deeds on her records. Still kidnapping was a new low, altogether. But there had to be a reason right? There better be, because if not then Nue is about to be in lots of trouble here.
Kosuzu turned youkai story, let's see how it goes.

[ X ] “You kidnapped a human, as a gift?” Byakuren asked ‘calmly’. She didn’t understand how things went sideways that quickly...

Ooh, I'm going to be keeping an eye on this one. Are there any areas that wouldn't extradite Kosuzu besides the Outside World? I'm not saying look for Asylum in Hell or the Lunar Capital, but if we just need to get out of Gensokyo we have more than a few options.

[X] "NUE DID YOU KIDNAP A HUMAN AS A GIFT" Byakuren said calmly.

[X] "NUE DID YOU KIDNAP A HUMAN AS A GIFT?" Byakuren asked calmly.

>>68886
I'd assume Old Hell is bassicaly the 'Mexico' of the 2hu world seeing as all hated and nonfitting youkai end up there. Kosuzu would prolly fade from existence in the outside world and there's no way anyone will be let into heaven.

Any other places peps remember?

[X] “You kidnapped a human, as a gift?” Byakuren asked ‘calmly’.

>>68888
> Any other places peps remember?

The animal realm, if you count that separate from Hell. I'm not sure if the dream world would be sustainable, but it's there. There's always the option of buying a sunflower costume and hiding in the Garden of the Sun.

>>68890
I struggle to imagine Kosuzu doing well with the animal yakuzas, but I doubt Reimu would bother chasing her down there. The sunflower option though, that could work...

[x] “You kidnapped a human, as a gift?” Byakuren asked ‘calmly’.
>>68890
>>68891
I think a more important question than "would Reimu bother following her there" is "why wouldn't Reimu follow her there?"
Is there anywhere which is difficult enough for her to reach that she'll actually care?
Maybe windows Makai?

>>68893
Good point. Anywhere in Gensokyo will probably eventually be found, anywhere in the afterlife is as good as dying anyway long-term, Yukari and Okina would probably deal with Kosuzu themselves, so their little pockets of the world are out...

Maybe running isn't what we should be brainstorming. What if we just tried making everyone forget about it? Memory manipulation shenanigans.

>>68894
Memory manipulation is also possibly a bust.
Her instincts may clue her in that something's up even with it in place. Plus you'd need someone able and willing to get multiple people, with no informations as to just how many know.
Could just be Reimu and Marisa, but for all we know basically all the people affiliated with the barrier know, and I don't fancy the chances of getting Yukari, Okina, Kasen, and whatever familiars, allies, and servants they've given the information too.
Even what seems to me like the best bet for getting heat off Kosuzu, starting an incident, doesn't seem like a good long term solution.

>>68895
We could always go full incident mode and just turn EVERY human in Gensokyo into a youkai. Reimu can't maintain the balance between humans and youkai if there are no humans. Especially if we turn Reimu herself into a youkai. I mean what's she going to do at that point, exterminate herself?

[X] “You kidnapped a human, as a gift?” Byakuren asked ‘calmly’.

>>68896 I feel like that has the one tiny problem that even if there WAS a way to do it, it'd be a death sentence in the end without humans to provide belief.

I'm curious if we can just stay out of harm's way forever, honestly. Pretend like it's Impossible Spellcard all over again and just dodge death.

>>68893
>I think a more important question than "would Reimu bother following her there" is "why wouldn't Reimu follow her there?"
I would answer that with the fact I imagine Reimu would be exterminating Kosuzu out of necessity and not passion. And the main reason human villagers aren't allowed to become youkai is to keep the balance and keep from upsetting things. Once Kosuzu is that far away and obviously not coming back, why extend all that effort into pursuing her?

Granted we don't really know much about the specific rules and reasonings behind the rules of humans and turning into youkai, so that could be something we find out in this adventure.

[X]“You kidnapped a human, as a gift?” Byakuren asked ‘calmly’. She didn’t understand how things went sideways that quickly and Nue’s status as a ‘good person’ was always distinctly tarnished by the massive amounts of deeds on her records. Still kidnapping was a new low, altogether. But there had to be a reason right? There better be, because if not then Nue is about to be in lots of trouble here.

[X]“You kidnapped a human, as a gift?” Byakuren asked ‘calmly’. She didn’t understand how things went sideways that quickly and Nue’s status as a ‘good person’ was always distinctly tarnished by the massive amounts of deeds on her records. Still kidnapping was a new low, altogether. But there had to be a reason right? There better be, because if not then Nue is about to be in lots of trouble here.

[ ] “You kidnapped a human, as a gift?” Byakuren asked ‘calmly’. She didn’t understand how things went sideways that quickly and Nue’s status as a ‘good person’ was always distinctly tarnished by the massive amounts of deeds on her records. Still kidnapping was a new low, altogether. But there had to be a reason right? There better be, because if not then Nue is about to be in lots of trouble here.

[ ] “You kidnapped a human, as a gift?” Byakuren asked ‘calmly’. She didn’t understand how things went sideways that quickly and Nue’s status as a ‘good person’ was always distinctly tarnished by the massive amounts of deeds on her records. Still kidnapping was a new low, altogether. But there had to be a reason right? There better be, because if not then Nue is about to be in lots of trouble here.