[x] Searching for a saint

Your search proceeded in silence after that. Unsurprisingly, Reisen and Alice both seemed rather discomforted from learning about Tamamo-no-mae. It was just as well. You weren't about to teach Alice anything further in a location where Seiga could easily be lurking, after all.

Nevertheless, between your wisps, Alice's dolls, and the three of you roaming the mausoleum's halls, the search proceeded rapidly. And as such, despite your thoroughness, you were forced to confront an unfortunate truth.

"... and that's the west wing. For a given value of west." Alice said, landing in front of you. "Enough's enough. We've each checked both sides, and I've found nothing. There's nobody here."

You landed as well, watching her dolls fly back in from all directions. You sighed, pulled back your wisps as well. "I agree. I'd hoped to at least find someone, but there's no sign of any of them. Not Miko, and not even Futo or Tojiko."

Reisen skidded to a stop beside you, scratching at the back of her head. "Isn't that kinda normal for them?" Reisen asked. "From what I've heard, the Taoists have been pretty enthusiastic about solving incidents like this."

"Miko and Futo being gone is not unexpected," you replied, "though I'd had hopes one of them would be stockpiling their occult balls in here. But Tojiko is a surprise. She is far less active in incident resolution, and as such the odds of her being present to guard the fort were considerably higher."

Reisen frowned. "Is it possible they're just in hiding for some reason?"

You raised an eyebrow. "Can you imagine Miko or Futo hiding from anyone?"

She chuckled nervously, scratching the back of her head. "No, I guess not."

"It's more plausible for Tojiko," you admitted, "But even if she was hidden, it would imply she's unwilling to be cooperative, thus negating the point."

Alice rolled her eyes. "Not to mention, we've already searched the mausoleum thoroughly. Anyone who's theoretically present is clearly capable of hiding from us."

You sighed. You'd thought dealing with Seiga had been a little too easy. "It seems there's no choice but to negotiate with the hermit."

To your complete lack of surprise, the wicked hermit was waiting for you at Senkai's exit, her zombie in tow. She was lounging with her head propped up on one arm, made only slightly more notable by how she was three feet off the ground. Yoshika was staring ahead blankly as always, but Seiga gave you a smug smile as she floated next to her zombie.

"Did you enjoy the tour?" she asked, affecting innocence.

You smiled at her, refusing to be baited. "It was rather interesting, but some relevant religious imagery would have punched it up a little. A nice cross, perhaps?"

Seiga sat upright, putting a hand to her chest in mock horror. "A cross? Who has time for martyrs? Some of us have things to live for, you know."

You smiled a bit wider. "Such as pining for knowledge you will never obtain? Interesting choice."

She shook her head. "Oh, I don't know about that. You-"

"Yes, that's my point," you interrupted her.

That got a look of irritation out of the hermit. "You do need to know where Miko went, do you not? Because you need to stop this terribly dangerous incident?"

Thankfully, your standing orders prioritized the long-term benefit of Gensokyo. "I would be a poor incident resolver if I investigated this by giving you the means to start another."

Alice scowled, rubbing at the bridge of her nose. "I have better things to do than listen to this. Either make a deal or declare a spellcard."

Seiga laughed, covering her mouth with the back of her hand. "The shikigami knows the ritual I want... though I suppose you could tell me also."

The puppeteer sighed. "There are a number of reasons that would be wrong."

Seiga shrugged. "If you prefer to wander around aimlessly, who am I to stop you?"

"Let me handle this," you requested, as you stepped in. "Let's dispense with the posturing. Knowledge of Miko's location isn't nearly enough for me to hand over the shikigami ritual, something that you are very well aware of." If Seiga hadn't been listening to your story earlier, you'd eat your own hat. "You must also be aware that simply beating Miko's location out of you is on the table. Since you're still here, you must have an offer in mind. One that's a compelling reason not to reach for a spellcard."

It's basic negotiation. As a danmaku duel would be a foregone conclusion (Seiga couldn't take you on your worst day, let alone one where you had Reisen and Alice for backup), Seiga was the one that needed the conversation to remain civil. Applying pressure in that direction would force her to state the reasonable compromise and give you the freedom to argue downwards, instead of vice versa. And if she tried an unreasonable compromise... well, you weren't lying about being willing to beat the information out of her. Not that such information would be trustworthy, but the chance it could be useful outweighed the time it would take for you to acquire it. (The potential satisfaction of that course of action had little to do with it.)

Seiga hesitated, eyeing you up and down. One of her hands slid behind her back for a second, hidden from view, but it was wasted effort; the sound of her snapping her fingers was still audible. Though the way Yoshika stepped in front of her master would have been obvious even if she’d hidden the signal; jiang-shi weren’t that independent. You affected a confident smile and said nothing, electing to watch the wicked hermit definitely-not-hide behind her pet zombie.

"You would know what information you're willing to trade better than I," Seiga said, trying to reverse the tactic.

That made it time for a lowball offer. Something directionally correct, but clearly less than she would want. You hummed, as if considering it. "I suppose I could explain the 'nobody' trick we used for entry."

Yoshika drooped and looked down at the floor, muttering sadly to herself. Listening closely, you heard a faint, "Nobody can't come in..."

"Be serious," she hissed. "The issue was obvious the moment I heard about it."

"Any problem is obvious once pointed out. Are you clever enough to fix it?"

The haggling proceeded from there.

What Seiga wanted was obvious enough. Short of getting entirely new servants with the shikigami ritual, she would aim to improve the one she had through better programming. And while improving Seiga's zombie was less than ideal, it was far more palatable than giving the wicked hermit a tool of enslavement, and a reasonable thing to trade for Miko's location. It helped that it was also a method of improvement that was strictly limited by the species of servant she'd chosen for herself.

And as this knowledge was something you specialized in, Reisen and Alice were happy to step back and let you handle this. The puppeteer had one of her dolls taking notes, while Reisen stood listening at attention, waiting until she was needed.

"The root cause of the vulnerability is that Yoshika is thinking of things in weak equivalences." you explained. "That makes her easier to program, as you can messily reuse concepts, but also far less secure. With such a scheme, I was able to reconsider her command with 'nobody' as a name, instead of being the restriction 'no person'."

Seiga scowled. "Yes, but rigorously defining every possible relevant concept is prohibitive. I need to fit everything on a single talisman!"

You shrugged. “Try a larger talisman, perhaps?”

In point of fact, the correct thing to do (if you were stuck with such an inferior servant) would be to make modular talismans. One large one, designed to interface correctly with several smaller talismans that could be swapped in and out for different situations. By making one of them focus on scenario identification, it would even be possible to get Yoshika to make the change herself, allowing her to swap on the fly between being a servant, fighting a battle, or whatever other task her master might have for her.

But you had no need to tell Seiga all of that.

“Maybe,” the wicked hermit muttered.

You nodded, pressing onwards. “Regardless, the key is to type check critical inferences. By making the comparison more specific, any attempt to game the comparison becomes increasingly tortured, enough for even a jiang-shi to detect. If you had programmed her with the command 'Only my master, Seiga Kaku, can pass', it would have been nearly impossible to bypass."

Well, except for a shapeshifter, but that was a different issue.

The hermit's grimace hadn't faded. "That's still going to cost considerable space across the various commands she'll need."

"It's a limitation of the programming itself," you said. "If you don't want to define the context yourself, you need a servant that can understand context without being taught."

Seiga considered it for a moment longer, and sighed. "Fine then. There are two possible locations that Miko is likely to be at."

You frowned. "Likely?"

"It's a limitation of my knowledge," she shot back, smirking. "She did mention her plans before heading out, but that was hours ago. It is plausible for circumstance to have changed them."

It was a reasonable argument, but you found yourself irritated regardless. "Fine. What locations?"

Seiga leaned back, toying with Yoshika's talisman. "The first would be the human village. Miko mentioned a problem with one of Kokoro's masks, and that is the menreiki's known haunt."

You froze. The last time Kokoro lost a mask, she plunged the village into despair and started a religious war. If she was having another issue… “What sort of problem?”

“One of her masks got cracked,” she said. “Her mask of guilt, I think?”

Damnation. A youkai of her strength, unable to feel guilt? Or worse, trying to pull the emotion out of the villagers like she did in the previous incident? Whether it result in one strong psychopath or an entire village of them, that needed to be prevented, by any means necessary. "What of the second?" you asked.

"The incident resolver meeting at the Hakurei Shrine." Seiga shrugged. "Miko's almost certain to find her way there regardless, but it depends on how much Kokoro delays her."

And that was also something you really needed to be involved in. You gritted your teeth. "When is this meeting?"

"Considering the time you've already wasted here?” Seiga shrugged without the slightest hint of apology. “It should be about to start. If you hurried, you’d probably catch most of it."

Unfortunate. You scowled, adjusting your hat as you paced. Miko and Kokoro took priority; not only was it the more direct step towards solving this incident, but it could also prevent another one. It grated on you to miss the incident resolver meeting, but needs must. Hopefully you could make the tail end of it after dealing with Kokoro; with the news you had to share, it should be easy enough to take control of the discussion and guide the incident resolvers to the optimal solutions.

You nodded as the plan took shape. It could work, everyone would be interested in the Scarlet Devil Mansion capturing Sumireko, and it was enough of a gamechanger to invalidate any previously made plans. You just needed to arrive before everyone left.

“Ran?”

Hm. You adjusted your hat, considering it - Miko was the more direct step towards solving the Which was really the trick, wasn’t it? Being able to call ahead would be perfect, but none of your shikigami were truly fit for the task. The wisps were useless. Zenki or Goki could get there, but all they’d be able to communicate would be a squawk. You could always tie a physical message to one of them, but that would beg the question of why you didn’t just write out the news; an ambiguous “I have information, wait for me” would merely irritate the recipient. And while Chen could deliver a message, you would greatly prefer if she stayed completely out of this incident. And she lacked the necessary presence to make people listen in any case, so there was a reason it wouldn’t work.

Someone tapped you on the shoulder. “Um, hello? Moon to Ran?” Reisen asked.

Oh, of course. You weren’t limited to just sending one of your shikigami. You whirled around to face the moon rabbit, nodding as you considered the idea. Alice would be too assertive, she’d drive the discussion by actively sharing what she knew, but Reisen was a beaten-down servant. Staying quiet would come naturally to her; in the haggling just now, she’d stood by and listened without a word. And at the same time, you could still rely on her to speak up to prevent people from leaving if you were delayed, or in the worst case to share the news for you. And because Eirin’s servant was a good listener, she’d even be able to brief you on whatever details you missed!

Maybe you could call ahead after all.

[-] Send Reisen ahead to the incident resolver meeting.
[-] Miko and Kokoro take priority; keep Reisen with you.

[x] Send Reisen ahead to the incident resolver meeting

The logic was clear. You could guide the incident towards the right conclusions while also handling the Lunar Capital’s Occult Ball and the problem of Kokoro losing another mask. The combination of your strength and Alice’s should be more than sufficient for dealing with Kokoro. Miko as well, should that be necessary. And Reisen would be the perfect tool for keeping an eye on the incident resolver meeting!

The moon rabbit you were staring at was backing away slowly, smiling nervously. “Ran? Is something wrong?”

You shook your head, smiling. “On the contrary, this is beautiful! You’re perfect.”

The rabbit’s ears went bolt upright as she blushed, waving her hands in front of her. “Eh?!”

It took a moment for your mental train to switch tracks, and once it did your hand met your face. “Right. Not a shikigami. Phrasing.” You muttered. Clearing your throat, you opted to clarify. “Perfect for this task in particular, I mean.”

Alice raised an eyebrow. “Interesting choice of words. Is that also a shikigami thing?”

“The innuendo? No. The mental oversight?” You waggled your hand noncommittally. “After a fashion. A shikigami evaluates everything with the framing of how to best fulfill their orders, and I realized there was a task that Reisen was uniquely suited for.”

Reisen sighed, scratching the back of her head. “Oh. I thought you meant… never mind.”

“The fault is mine. It was understandable you would reach that conclusion, particularly if others have already expressed it.”

“Huh?”

“You are aware you’re conventionally attractive, yes?” You prodded. Reisen still looked blank, so you elaborated. “While there is a train of thought that larger assets are strictly better, your moderate sizing, shy demeanor, and style of dress mesh very well for a schoolgirl or girl-next-door look. This is in turn enhanced by your nature as a youkai rabbit, being exotic enough to draw interest, yet still approachable for a brave villager. Or if you would prefer a closer species, your lunar origins give you the allure of a foreign lady to the earth rabbits.”

“D-don’t be silly, I’m just another rabbit at Eientei!” Reisen stuttered, shaking her head. “I’m just the help, or Tewi’s pranking target.”

Perhaps a rabbit, then? “You’re a lady descended from the moon, one who possesses a mysterious power and is uniquely trusted by the god-like beings that hold sway over them.” You shook your head. “There would be no shortage of interested males if you decided to pursue such a thing.”

As Reisen went a deeper red than the Hakurei shrine maiden, you were forced to conclude that this was new information for her. Alice’s poorly hidden laughter and Seiga’s outright cackling were also clues that you may have overexplained.

“Are you sure you evaluate everything relative to your orders?” Alice managed.

You sighed, walking over to face the puppeteer. “A shikigami does contain traces of the original personality, as well as the knowledge of their past self. While I no longer possess the relevant desires, I have extensive knowledge of what it is that men seek.”

Alice visibly struggled for a moment, before straightening up with a mischievous smile. “And if you were ordered to seduce someone?”

You glanced over at the still red-faced bunny. No, she’d suffered enough. But since Alice was literally asking for it…

“Why, my dear Alice.” You caressed her hair as you leaned in to whisper in her ear. “I’d show you the night of your life.”

Alice immediately went bright red, and shortly after you received a doll to the face and a punch to the stomach as her shock wore off.

Without magic behind the blows the damage was minimal, unlikely even to bruise. You stepped back and brushed the doll off as you reverted to full formality. “While my tenure as a shikigami has never required them, you may rest assured I possess all of those skills as well. Hopefully that answered the question to your satisfaction.”

Yoshika was holding Seiga up at this point, the hermit was laughing so hard.

“But perhaps we should discuss the task at hand?”

At this point, the pair of blushing maidens were only too happy to agree.

Once you’d explained your plan, Reisen had been happy to follow it, and departed with minimal fanfare. After that, you and Alice departed for the human village. You’d expected her to ask more questions about the shikigami ritual (and to need to deny her until you were certain Seiga was no longer nearby) but instead the puppeteer remained silent for much of the trip. At first you thought it was a combination of irritation and embarrassment, but as time went on her mood turned more pensive. It wasn’t until you reached the outskirts of the village proper that she spoke.

“Hey Ran. Did you mean all of that?” Alice asked, flying next to you.

You were going to need a little more context. “Regarding what?”

Looking down, she sighed. “Not having desires of your own outside of your orders.”

“It’s an exaggeration,” you admitted, scratching at one of your ears. “But only a small one. The ritual was designed with that in mind.”

“Why go that far?” she asked. “What’s the point of a sentient servant if they lose what it means to be sentient?”

“Would feeling anger or fear make your dolls fight more effectively?” you replied. “Would desiring to smell the roses or play with each other make them better servants? Such things are hindrances to a good tool.”

“You’ve been Yukari’s tool for a century, and you display emotions and desires both!” she pointed out.

You took a deep breath, clasping your arms behind your back. “As I said before, some trace elements of the original personality remain. These are most notable when the shikigami is first created, but fade over time.”

“Fade how?” Alice demanded. “Emotions and desires might be felt in the conscious mind, but their causes lay deeper. If the integration of the master’s soul is on the level of decision-making, it shouldn’t be able to touch the subconscious!”

You gave her a grim nod. “True. The shikigami ritual can’t directly touch the subconscious, which is why those elements remain in the first place. However, it can influence them indirectly over time. Have you never lost interest in a hobby after being unable to actually perform it for a time?”

“Doing the dolls theater for the human village is always more effort after a break,” Alice admitted, then flinched. “Is that it? Depriving them of a chance to exercise those desires?”

You paused at a crossroads, looking around for a sign of Kokoro. Nothing yet. “That’s half of it. The other half? While it is difficult to prevent a soul from feeling inconvenient emotions, pushing the desired emotions onto it is far simpler. Shikigami have an urge to serve, one that only grows stronger the longer they are kept from serving. The only relief is acting in their master’s service, and this is coupled with bursts of pleasure upon completing orders and receiving the master’s praise.”

Alice halted beside you, grimacing. “I’d have thought it would be more effective to use pain when the shikigami resists.”

You sighed, turning back to face her. “Tamamo tested that idea. While effective in moderation, a relationship built upon negative reinforcement is inherently less useful. A servant that wants to serve is more productive than one that merely fears punishment. Why give the slave something negative to associate with the master?”

“So you cut them off from themselves and addicted them to following orders instead.” Alice stared at you, obviously troubled. “How much testing-”

“Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answers to.”

Alice clenched her fists, swallowing. “Is this inevitable? How do I work around it? What about my doll?!”

You looked away. “As the psychological attack happens on two fronts, you would need to fight it on both. For the shikigami’s orders-”

“Wait a moment!” Alice said, as a couple of dolls fished out pencil and paper. Once prepared, she nodded at you, and you continued.

“For the shikigami’s orders, the key is to have long-term directives that can be continually worked towards, but never finished. This prevents both the feelings of withdrawal from failing to serve, and the bursts of pleasure from finishing orders. The occasional short term order is acceptable, but they should be minimized as much as possible.”

“And for encouraging their own desires?” Alice asked. “Can they be given time to pursue those?”

“They can’t just be ‘given’ time off. A shikigami will prioritize their orders first and foremost, and feel agitated in the absence of any,” you sighed. “I experienced that back in my first days as Yukari’s shikigami. She was too worried about my condition to let me actually serve, and it was exceedingly unpleasant. No. You need to plan an order that will allow the shikigami to fulfill their desire while carrying out the order.”

The dolls were scribbling away furiously. “An example would be helpful here,” Alice said.

You are to care for Chen as a pet and be highly affectionate towards her.

You… didn’t want to explain that one. “The simplest example would be ordering your shikigami ‘Engage in a hobby you enjoy’. This would have the side effect of heavily encouraging their enthusiasm about that hobby, but it would be a hobby they legitimately wanted to do in the first place.”

The writing paused, and Alice rubbed at her eyes, turning a tired look on you. “Is there nothing better?”

“There is nothing perfect. Long-term orders you are compelled to follow will always change a person somewhat, even if you choose them as well as possible. The best set of orders my past self came up with,” you hesitated, but decided Alice deserved to know, “is what was used for Chen.”

Alice blinked. “You can explain that?”

“‘Be yourself. Be happy. Be free.’” you quoted, smiling slightly. “Her orders contain no secrets. But I’ll admit, it’s not completely without side-effects. Chen is more free-spirited, cheerful, and probably more spoiled than I suspect she would have been otherwise… but there are far worse fates.”

Alice sighed, rubbing her eyes again. “I was half expecting something else horrible. No, that sounds like something I can work with. Though probably not with those exact words.”

“A newly created living doll would hardly have much of ‘herself’ to be.” you agreed. “Perhaps ‘Find yourself’ at the start? To encourage her to figure out her personality first and foremost?”

“Maybe,” Alice said, as her dolls flipped to a new page and continued scribbling. “I’ll need to consider it more carefully.”

“After we find Miko and Kokoro,” you reminded her.

Alice startled, shaking her head. “Ah, yes. By all means.”

She sent out her dolls, you sent out your wisps, and the hunt for the Taoist was on.

[-] To be continued.

Toyasatomimi no Miko opened the door to Geidontei, pausing at the entrance as she surveyed the establishment. Seeing Kokoro sitting at the bar, she sighed, hanging up her cape on the coat rack. Well… sitting didn't really convey the sense of malaise. Kokoro was slumped onto the counter, laying her head on her arms as she idly stirred a half-empty drink. And if that wasn't enough proof of her emotional state, the old woman mask propped on the side of her head confirmed it. Miko grimaced. There were multiple reasons she wished she could just return to the search for Sumireko... but she was the only one suited to fixing this particular problem. She strode up and took the seat next to the menreiki.

Kokoro’s eyes tracked the saint’s every move, but that was her only reaction. "Finally ran out of important things to do?" she asked.

Miko winced. The set time for this meeting had been over an hour ago. "I apologize. Searching Hakugyokurou took longer than expected."

Kokoro shifted, turning her head to look away from Miko. "Because Sumireko wasn't there?"

It had been a reasonable theory. The lack of incident from Sumireko appearing there had made it the odd one out, and while Marisa had dismissed the encounter as 'feeling off', Miko had guessed that the young man from the pond was involved. His desires had been noticeably more peaceable than Sumireko's, and Yuyuko was someone worth negotiating with. If you wanted to get back across the border, soliciting help from Yukari via Yuyuko was a plausible plan. But alas, it wasn't what Sumireko had done.

"Unfortunately not," she said. "It was a dead end."

Kokoro's mask for laughter wobbled, moving slightly closer to the menreiki's head for just a moment. However, the melancholic old woman mask stayed put, and the laughing face quickly returned to its previous orbit. Kokoro sat back up, taking a gulp of her drink. "You're not out chasing her, or gathering occult balls or something?"

"There would be little point," she admitted. "Without an idea of how Sumireko's managing to appear and disappear across half of Gensokyo, the odds of catching her are negligible."

Kokoro's mask switched to surprise as she looked at Miko. "You're giving up?"

"Nothing of the sort," she said. "There's about to be a meeting at the Hakurei Shrine to compare notes and formulate a plan. Sumireko's various appearances must have left a clue, I simply need to work out her true motives."

"Of course." Kokoro said, draining the rest of her drink. She pushed the empty glass across the bar, where a pink-haired waitress refilled it with sake.

Miko hesitated. Drinking ages in Gensokyo were barely a thing in the first place, but Kokoro had been sentient for only a year. "That won't help with what's bothering you."

Kokoro looked over at her. "Are you trying to be my dad?"

The saint hesitated, but gave up with a sigh. It wasn't her place. She waved over the bartender for a glass of her own. "Just some hard-earned wisdom. I'd tell the same to Tojiko if she was drinking to forget."

The mask swapped out to curiosity. "Does she do that?"

"Not any more." Miko sighed. "After she tried to electrocute Futo, I put my foot down on the matter. She wasn’t terribly happy about that."

"Did she deserve it?"

"Tojiko, or Futo?" The saint raised an eyebrow, before smiling. "In either case, the answer is yes."

Kokoro's lips twitched upwards, ever so slightly. "I didn't think you drank at all."

"Not heavily. I prefer maintaining access to my wits. But the occasional glass in moderation does no harm, and it helps me seem more approachable."

Kokoro fiddled with her dress, her hands twisting and wringing the fabric. "You know, I haven't tried it myself, but the stewed vegetables here are supposed to be really good... If you've been running around all day... do you want to grab dinner?"

Miko looked over at the menreiki, at her own face staring back at her from the mask of hope she'd made. The offer was tempting, surprisingly so. With everything going on, she’d spent precious little time with the menreiki of late. But that was precisely the problem.

"There isn't time," Miko said gently. "The incident resolver meeting is starting soon."

Kokoro clasped her hands. "Well... maybe after?"

"While I won't know specific plans until after the meeting, I'm likely to be busy until the urban legend incident is solved. Matters are escalating. Nitori has been kidnapped, the pond got blown up, Satori and another outsider are somehow involved... and then there's that whole mess with Remilia."

Kokoro's face fell, the mask of hope vanishing. "You're just always busy with important stuff, then?"

It was just like when she was the crown prince. He’d had conversations on this topic with his children more than once, about making time for them amidst running a nation. Miko shook her head. This wasn’t the time for sentimentality. "It is the burden of leadership. Though that reminds me. Your urban legend, the Kuchisake-onna. You should stop using it."

Kokoro fixed him with a stare, as her active mask switched briefly to surprise, and right over to anger. "What?"

Miko took a sip before responding. This wasn’t something Kokoro would want to hear, but it was a point she needed to be firm on. "Until it's clear what caused Remilia's malady, it's too dangerous. You risk losing yourself, or hurting one of the humans."

Kokoro downed her entire drink, slamming the empty glass back down to the counter. "Did you come here just to tell me that?"

"Kokoro-"

"Did you?!" Kokoro demanded, jumping to her feet.

She was acting like a disappointed child seeking reassurance… but that was the damaged mask talking. Of course her emotions were going to be out of sync; better for Miko to remind her of that than to say something that would embarrass her once it was fixed. "Of course not. Your mask is cracked, remember?"

Kokoro didn't respond, and Miko got up herself, her voice soothing. "Much like with the mask of hope, your damaged mask is affecting your emotions. You'll feel better once it’s fixed."

The mask in question leapt to Kokoro's head. The face of a man looking downcast, cringing, unable to meet the other person's gaze. The crack ran from the top of the mask a quarter of the way down the face, ending in the middle of the forehead. Miko's gaze was fixed on it as Kokoro herself stared downwards. "And that'll stop me from causing another incident, will it?"

The shot hit home, earning a flinch from the incident resolver. "Better to say you'll be back to normal."

The mask of guilt shook, and the hermit could have sworn she saw a small chip fall away from it. "So you can get back to ignoring me? Like normal?"

The saint froze. She'd misjudged. She'd thought Kokoro's malaise was from her damaged mask, but the hurt in that question could not be missed. Which... which meant-

Which meant that the comparisons to her past life were far more relevant than she had thought. And in that case, she’d made a series of terrible mistakes from the moment she walked in. Perhaps even before that. Perhaps all the way back to when she first met Kokoro.

Her next words came out slowly, carefully, nervousness slipping through her tone. Attempting to creep back from a precipice she may have already passed. "Have you always felt that way?"

"Why bother asking? It's obviously not important. If it's important, you'd have said something about it!"

Damnation. This was not a conversation that should happen with a damaged mask. "Kokoro, please. Let me fix your mask and we’ll talk about this immediately afterwards."

"No we won't." Kokoro laughed beneath the old woman mask, the kind of laughter that was an attempt to avoid sobbing. "Mami was right. You only make time for serious things."

"This is serious," she pleaded. “Far more than I realized.”

"More serious than Sumireko?!" Kokoro demanded. "Than solving the urban legend incident?"

Miko hesitated... but that was all the answer the menreiki needed. She shook her head, her mask swapping out to anger. "I knew it."

"Just because incident resolution is important doesn't mean this isn't." Miko said desperately. "Please, Kokoro. Let me fix your mask, and I promise we'll talk later. About everything. I’ll make this better. I'll answer any questions you might have."

Kokoro's cracked mask was in her hands as she looked down on it. Her hands shook as the mask depicting her emotions swapped from the anger of the oni to the determination of the fox mask. "Then answer one now."

Kokoro's emotions lashed out - anger, confusion, longing, guilt - the mask in her hands cracking further as she turned to face Miko. As the waitress dove behind the bar, Miko tensed, needing an effort to keep her hand from her sword as she faced the set of masks she'd created… at the girl she’d brought into this world.

"Am I pretty?" the Kuchisake-onna asked.

[-] Finding Miko.

Like at Senkai, between your wisps and Alice's dolls, the search proceeded rapidly. Unlike then, your target was actually present, and you located them in short order. Miko and Kokoro were locked in combat right outside Geidontei, and upon relaying that information to Alice, the two of you flew over to the conflict.

Worryingly, that conflict wasn't just danmaku. Kokoro and Miko were locked in martial combat, with the menreiki's naginata thrusting and slashing against the hermit's sword. Which was a concern. The protection the spellcard rules offered were in fact tied into the use of spellcards and danmaku in general. Without them, there was the risk of real damage, something you needed to prevent.

[Superhuman - Soaring En no Ozunu]

Your enhancement magic didn't require a spellcard, but Gensokyo's magic made them that little bit stronger than unassisted magic, and this was a case where every second counted. As the magic coursed through you, you rocketed off towards Geidontei, leaving a trail of bullets for Alice to follow. As you spun through the air you focused on your wisp, observing the fight while you closed the distance.

It was immediately clear that Miko was the superior swordsman. The menreiki's moves were fast and elegant, with the grace of a dancer and the speed of a youkai, but the saint deflected each strike with the minimum movement possible. A half step backwards here, an angled block there, and Kokoro's relentless offensive never quite managed to reach the hermit.

And yet the initiative was entirely Kokoro's. Her masks harried the saint to no end, darting back and forth as they fired sprays of bullets into the melee. Miko weaved around them as best she could, but Kokoro's pursuit limited her options. Every time the menreiki forced her to outright block a strike, a rain of bullets would immediately descend upon the saint, and she could not escape without damage.

Such tactics should have failed dramatically. Kokoro's offense was reckless, suicidally so for any sort of real combat. She made no attempt to defend herself, and your most conservative estimates gave Miko the opportunity to stab her assailant one exchange in three. But Miko made no move to take advantage of any of those openings, instead taking the danmaku battering and continually giving ground. It was the complete opposite of the flashy showmanship the hermit typically indulged in. In the absence of anything else, that alone would have convinced you something was off.

But in the presence of an opponent that would only defend, reckless aggression was the correct answer. With only one combatant ever at risk of damage, the fight’s victor was predetermined, and the only question was how long Miko would last. And finally, whether through injury, exhaustion, or a simple mistake, Miko misjudged one of her parries. Kokoro’s blade wasn’t fully diverted, glancing off the hermit’s shoulder and drawing blood. The saint cried out, and Kokoro whipped her naginata around, the follow-up strike crashing into Miko’s guard and tearing the sword out of her hands.

You expected Miko to dodge, declare a spellcard, or at least bring out her shaku, but she stood there, unmoving. The saint said something, but your wisp was unable to make out what. Kokoro’s mask vibrated, its visage alternating between a red-faced demon and an old woman as she spun her naginata around and thrust.

You pushed more energy into your spellcard, sacrificing stamina for a little extra speed, but you were still a full street away, and no danmaku would reach the pair in time.

The naginata hit Miko dead-center in the chest, and she folded around the weapon. A moment later, a wave of bullets erupted from it, knocking the saint clear across the street. As Miko’s body created a sizable dent in the wall of a building, you realized two things.

The first was the lack of blood. Kokoro had struck with the polearm’s blunt end.

The second was that the menreiki’s fury was not spent.

Fortunately, no matter how reckless or angry a combatant may be, they could not ignore a kitsune traveling at speeds that were only barely subsonic. You aimed right at Kokoro, forcing her to dodge away from Miko. Hitting the ground hard enough to crack stone, you leapt straight up and launched directly into a second spellcard.

[Radiance - Charming Siege From All Sides]

The key feature of this one was its cyan lines of bullets, designed to come down in dense curtains and trap the opponent in a small, constantly shifting area. Combined with the waves of large orbs, it served its role as a moderately difficult spellcard; challenging for small fry, but simple enough for a real opponent.

In this case it was perfect, as the trap was the point. You had enough control over how the lines of bullets fell to keep them away from Miko, and Kokoro was skilled enough to actually avoid getting hit by the danmaku.

Miko picked herself up off the ground, taking a minute to catch her breath, while Kokoro fired back from her masks. You allowed it, taking the damage as a spellcard duelist should, before letting the card break around the thirty second mark and addressing both of them.

"Now that I have your attention," you said, "what appears to be the problem?"

Miko looked over at Kokoro, closing her eyes and sighing. "This is a personal matter, shikigami. Please do not interfere."

Interesting stance to take with the beating she was receiving. You shook your head. "If you're dueling without spellcard rules, the matter is more than merely personal. It has been some time since I've needed to play peacekeeper, but it is still one of my duties."

"As we are dueling each other, I fail to see how that concerns you," she shot back. "Unless you make a point of interrupting every fistfight between oni, any danger is mine to risk."

Alice caught up then, coming to a stop in the air beside you. "As I understand it, the oni don't fight within the human village."

"Indeed," you gave your companion a nod. "A serious injury within the village would set a bad precedent, regardless of who suffers it."

"There was no time to move things out of the village; this was a matter that couldn't wait. One that's already waited far too long." For all that she was responding to you, Miko only had eyes for Kokoro, her gaze not leaving the youkai.

And looking at the menreiki, there was clear reason for concern. Kokoro was shaking, her naginata wavering between you and Miko. Admittedly, the handful of masks that were visible looked fine, but with over fifty of the menreiki’s masks still hidden, that meant nothing.

“You.” Kokoro growled, the naginata swinging over to point firmly in your direction. “Why are you here?”

“Incident resolution,” you said honestly. “I need to discuss a certain occult ball with Miko, and making sure your mask is fixed is also important.”

“Really. All of a sudden when there’s real problems you just happen to be around to fix everything?” Kokoro said, all but spitting the words. “And all for the low, low price of one new shikigami? I’ve heard all about you, Tamamo-no-Mae!”

“What?” For the first time in the conversation, Miko glanced at you, her surprise clear.

You weren’t expecting to have this talk twice in under an hour. Especially not with Kokoro of all youkai. “The kitsune I’m possessing was her, once upon a time. Though she changed long before she was turned into a shikigami.”

Kokoro flew up into the air, spinning her naginata as the masks behind her multiplied. “The leopard doesn’t change her spots! Tamamo-no-Mae shed more blood than the whole village could hold. Human, youkai, soldiers, civilians, adults, children…”

You could feel the fury pouring off of the menreiki as she punctuated each phrase with a swing of her weapon. “They bent the knee! They ran! Or they died! All of them!”

The drama made a certain amount of sense; Kokoro was a collection of theater masks, after all. The venom did not. Knowing about Tamamo-no-Mae wasn’t that big of a stretch (Tamamo’s infamy had resulted in more than one play about her crimes), but reacting this strongly was unexpected… as was connecting Tamamo’s identity to you. Clearly someone had informed her with malicious intent. Had your presence been anticipated?

Wait, no, that didn’t make sense. You didn’t know you’d be coming here before visiting Senkai, it was absurd for anyone else to expect it. Poisoning the well with Kokoro was also a relatively minor complication for the amount of effort it would take. If someone had intended any sort of trap for you personally, it would have made far more sense to spring it around the incident resolver meeting.

You shook your head, grimacing. You had more immediate concerns. “Regardless of Tamamo’s guilt, I am a shikigami. The kitsune that used to be her is alive only in the technical sense.”

“You invented shikigami!” Kokoro yelled. “What kind of schemer just walks into her own trap? Of course you’ve got some kind of trick! The Butcher of Sado would have died before getting herself enslaved!”

Perhaps. But Ran could make a choice Tamamo would not. And while death would be preferable to being a Lunarian shikigami, under Yukari she had hope of doing something meaningful, whether eventual revenge, or just helping Gensokyo. Something the Butcher of Sado would never- wait. Sado.

…Of course. How could you have forgotten Mamizou? She was the one who took Kokoro under her wing after the religious wars, and the tanuki had both the relevant knowledge of your past and cause to personally hate you. A lot of cause, actually. If Mamizou considered Kokoro a friend, then her ranting about Tamamo-no-Mae to the menreiki made perfect sense. With hindsight, you should have considered that angle earlier.

Well, unfortunate coincidences and bloody history aside, it mattered little right this second. Kokoro was clearly about to-

[Mask Sign - Parade of Hidden Faces]

The masks Kokoro’s had separated joined into a line and all flew in your direction. Yelling at Alice to scatter, the two of you flew in opposite directions, and every last mask followed you.

A dozen feet away from you, the masks stopped, shooting out a single spiral of bullets. It was too simple to be the entire card, and after a short delay the front mask separated, staying put as the remaining masks once more flew in your direction. You dodged to the side, letting them rocket past you, only to be bombarded by waves of bullets from both sets of masks at once.

The pattern was simplistic enough for you to continue dodging, but allowing the masks to continue attacking from more and more angles would quickly make the spellcard unmanageable. You could handle it by retreating, but there was no telling how long the spellcard would continue, and continually backing away risked being too far to meaningfully intervene.

So instead, you kept yourself roughly midway between the two detached masks, regardless of the complications for dodging. As you hoped, the masks flew right back along the same line, and the third mask detached at nearly the same point as the first.

You allowed yourself a nod of satisfaction. So long as you kept the mask parade alternating between the same two spots, the spellcard would remain simple. Kokoro seemingly realized this as well, as the menreiki let out a growl and charged towards you.

You needed to address this. Kokoro’s attack was meant to force you out of the spellcard’s safe zone. Miko had just shown the difficulty of fending off the menreiki’s naginata and danmaku simultaneously, and you had no intention of repeating the saint’s mistake.

[-] Fall back. The further you retreat, the less the danmaku from the stationary masks matters. And with Kokoro actively chasing you, it’s not like you’ll lose her.
[-] Use your enhancement magic and sucker punch her. Kokoro’s been fighting all this time against someone who hasn’t been fighting back. You have a chance to deal significant damage before she realizes she needs to defend.
[-] Use an illusion. If you let Kokoro chase after an illusion, you can focus on dodging the spellcard while she tires herself out.

[x] Use an illusion. If you let Kokoro chase after an illusion, you can focus on dodging the spellcard while she tires herself out.
- [x] Point out that tyrants getting their just desserts should be a familiar concept to her as an actor.

It was tempting to give Kokoro a taste of her own medicine, very much so. But without her mask fixed, you didn't want to risk hitting her too hard. You weren't sure what level of force would break a menreiki's mask, but you didn't particularly care to find out.

Instead you closed your eyes, and with a moment's concentration, you'd created both an illusion overlapping yourself, and a veil to hide the real you from sight. You stayed put, dodging back and forth in the spot between the stationary masks, while your illusion flew off to the side, with Kokoro in hot pursuit.

"Surely a collection of theater masks knows of dramatic irony," your illusion said. "How many villains end up as the final victims of their own schemes?"

"Life isn't a story," Kokoro snarled, thrusting at the illusion and only barely missing. "And you seem quite content for a supposedly imprisoned soul."

As you had your illusion get pushed back, continuously backing away from Kokoro's naginata, you realized that the menreiki wasn't alone in her pursuit. The masks of Kokoro's spellcard were also following your illusion. Which meant that two separate sources of bullets had just become three, and soon to be four. As such, you were forced to shift some of your focus to dodging the increasingly complicated spellcard.

"I'm not really her," you said. "That Ran has been fading away for over a century."

Kokoro hesitated, looking at your illusion carefully as her naginata's point lowered. Then she switched out her mask to a cracked one of an older man, looking down - her damaged mask - and laughed, the sound piercingly unpleasant. "Because you're not her, right? You're not her, so of course you don't feel her emotions."

The mask of guilt pulsed, and you felt your heart clench, recalling exactly what you... she... had felt all those years ago. The words all but stuck in your throat. "She was beside herself with grief and rage when it first happened."

The menreiki's laughter stopped abruptly as she floated there, slowly circling around your illusion. "Lying to me in plain sight," she murmured. Abruptly, her red oni mask snapped back to her face, rattling angrily. "Do you think me a fool?! Did you think I wouldn't realize you were faking emotions?!"

"Ran was a mother!" you shot back. "She had a husband, and two children that she loved with all her heart."

"Stop!" Miko yelled. "Don't go there, shikigami!"

You ignored her. Kokoro's continued insistence that you were some heartless animal had raised your ire, and you growled. "Ran's family was important to her, more than you could possibly imagine! Having her daughter torn from her arms was the single most painful experience of her life!"

You'd hoped that would make her flinch, you'd expected a denial... but instead, Kokoro screamed. Her oni mask pulsed and you could feel her sheer fury as she lunged. Reflexively, you jerked your illusion out of the way of her charge, being forced to move it a little faster than you physically could... and to your complete shock, Kokoro ignored it and kept going, her naginata thrusting towards your heart.

You threw yourself to the side, the naginata missing you by inches, and Kokoro followed, chasing you through the minefield of bullets, regardless of the veil that should have hidden you! You weren’t quite able to get out of the way of her follow-up attack taking a slice to your shoulder as the menreiki continued ranting.

"It's just like she said. Lies and trickery, prying open the cracks in one's heart! You haven't changed at all!"

The wound was more painful than debilitating, but either way a clear sign you needed to focus on Kokoro’s weapon. You dropped the veil to do just that, but that left you open to the spellcard. Each slash was accompanied by another pulse of her mask and another surge of anger, and as her naginata drove you into her danmaku, your frustration only grew. Finally, you made a mistake, backing into a bullet you simply hadn't seen, and Kokoro launched herself at you, slingshotting the weapon's blade around with a spinning slash.

And then a doll intercepted Kokoro, flying into the path of the blade and detonating.

The explosion blasted you and Kokoro in opposite directions as Alice flew down, interposing herself. She waved a hand down in a chopping motion, as more dolls flew in at Kokoro.

{Sacrifice - Kamikaze Okinawa Dolls}

"What was that?!" she demanded. "She had you dead to rights!"

You snarled. "I would have had-" you bit the reply back, closing your eyes and taking a deep breath. Alice was on your side. Snapping at her would do you no good.

"It's uncertain." you admitted, clenching and unclenching your fists. "The illusion should have worked - did work, initially. Some sort of emotion sensing?"

Below you, Alice's counterattack was proving extremely effective. While Kokoro had been fighting you, Alice's dolls had surrounded her, and she simply couldn't avoid a couple dozen dolls closing in from every angle. No matter which way she flew, one by one another doll would intercept her, grab on, and explode, earning a cry of pain each time.

"What are you doing?!" Miko demanded, flying up to Alice’s face.

"Winning." Alice said, shooting her a contemptuous glare. "Kokoro's already forfeited the protection of the spellcard rules. Now she's going to learn why that was a mistake."

"Stop this at once!" The Taoist shouted, gripping her shaku. "You'll injure her!"

"She can surrender at any point," Alice dismissed her. "And my dolls’ explosions are less dangerous than 'turning her back into a collection of inanimate masks'."

Miko scowled, one hand on her sword. "I should never have said that, but that gives you no right-"

"You can repair her later! Or disassemble her, whichever fits your reputation better."

While your allies were arguing, you focused on Kokoro, trying to understand what she was planning. The menreiki had retreated into the center of Alice's perimeter, trying to shoot down the dolls before they reached her, but hadn't attempted any sort of spellcard beyond that. Instead, Kokoro had both her mask of anger and of guilt out as well, floating freely as they faced in your direction (Kokoro herself wore a third, the fox-like one you were pretty sure represented some form of resolve or determination). Both masks were pulsing, which felt unsettlingly ominous, though not nearly to the degree as before- wait.

Kokoro's masks represented emotions. And if Kokoro could accidentally drain the hope from the village, then what was she capable of intentionally? Your anger before was uncharacteristic of you. Your actions as Tamamo-no-mae had drawn much worse condemnation in the past, without anywhere near the same reaction from you. And yet, you'd been furious, on the verge of showing Kokoro what real combat was like... but you weren't feeling nearly the same surge of fury this time.

Because it wasn't aimed at you, you realized.

"Kokoro's manipulating our emotions!" you yelled. "Don't let her-"

You were too slow.

[Divine Light - Honor the Avoidance of Defiance]

Miko declared her spellcard right in Alice's face, raising her shaku high as she gathered energy into it. You and Alice were forced to fly away from her as the Taoist shot lasers out in all directions, each laser producing a moving helix of energy that spawned bullets in all directions. Miko pursued Alice, keeping as many lasers as possible near the puppeteer and sending the full force of the spellcard at her.

This had three consequences. It meant the spellcard was far less dangerous to you, it forced Alice to break her spellcard to respond to the attack... and it meant that you were left alone with Kokoro.

… with Kokoro’s fleeing form, in fact, because the menreiki was trying to fly off in the confusion.

You’d need to act quickly.

[-] Break up Miko and Alice’s fight. At the very least, Alice should recognize that fighting Miko is forgetting the reason you came here.
[-] You couldn't risk letting Kokoro escape. Chase down the menreiki…
- [-] …with danmaku. Better to do it properly and not risk alienating Miko into fully taking Kokoro's side.
- [-] … and fight her for real. Your best shot at beating her is to disable her quickly and viciously.

[X] Break up Miko and Alice’s fight. At the very least, Alice should recognize that fighting Miko is forgetting the reason you came here.

Following Kokoro was plausible, but your instincts told you it was the wrong move. You could destroy her, you were certain - despite her rage, Kokoro was clearly inexperienced with foes truly out for blood - but merely defeating her was likely to be more difficult. Pure danmaku would always struggle against murderous intent, and attempting to disable her through potentially lethal means could backfire in several ways.

Particularly considering her emotional manipulation. It had already proven strong enough to affect your decision-making, and you were a shikigami! Carefully laid plans were only as valid as your ability to follow them. If Kokoro hit you with a surge of rage at the precise wrong moment… it could be her last mistake, and one you would never be forgiven for.

As such, the only safe recourse was to get your allies back on task. Even if it risked Kokoro escaping, it wasn’t as if you could fix her without Miko’s aid. Admittedly, talking down someone whose emotions were being toyed with was its own brand of difficult, but needs must.

Still, that was no reason to let Kokoro get away easily. Of Yukari’s crows, you’d sent Zenki off to spy on the Scarlet Devil Mansion, but Goki was still available. Even with gap travel, it would take the crow a minute to arrive, so you called up a few wisp shikigami to follow the menreiki in the meantime.

And with that handled, you turned to the fight in front of you. Miko’s spellcard was still going strong, and was both prohibitively dangerous at close range while still being quite difficult in general. Furthermore, you had no previous agreement with her, and she had more genuine reason to be upset. All these factors made Alice the obvious candidate to approach first. But first, you needed to interrupt their duel.

[Kokkuri-san’s Contract]

Time-out spellcards were made for situations like these. The outward-facing globe of lasers functioned as spellcard and bomb both, erasing the vast majority of Miko’s spellcard and forcing her to do little but dodge for minutes on end.

And with the saint out of the picture, you flew up to Alice… who looked less than pleased at your interference.

“Go chase down Kokoro!” Alice demanded. “I’ll deal with this one.”

“Alice, we need Miko’s cooperation.” you reasoned. “The point of taking down Kokoro is to get her mask fixed!”

Alice gestured, and half a dozen dolls took flanking positions around the globe of lasers. “Beating concessions out of people is a time-honored tradition.”

You shook your head. “That assumes sequential clear victories against two high end opponents.”

Alice shot you a look. “I told you, I’ll deal with Miko. And as for Kokoro… are you a ninetails or not?”

Either Alice habitually underestimated her opponents, or she was significantly stronger than you’d given her credit for. “I could kill her. It’s beating her without killing her that’s the problem.”

She rolled her eyes. “Again, are you a ninetails or not?”

“My role of the past century has been primarily diplomatic,” you admitted. “My spellcards are designed for fair play, with the assumption that Yukari would deal with anyone disrupting the system. As an ancient youkai, I do have a number of more lethal techniques… but we need her alive.”

Alice sighed. “If she’s that much of a problem for you, then let’s switch targets. You hold off the saint here, and I’ll deal with Kokoro.”

You shook your head, glancing down at the globe of lasers you’d trapped Miko in. The light had intensified, indicating the spellcard was nearing its conclusion. “Too dangerous, she’s an emotions manipulator,” you said. “The rage you’re feeling? She stirred it up in an attempt to escape.”

“That won’t save her.” Alice smiled unpleasantly. “Rather the opposite, in fact.”

You needed something more forceful, then. You let some of the anger Kokoro had stirred up leak out, scowling and raising your voice. “Take this seriously!” you barked. “She got you and Miko to turn on each other. She nearly got to me, and I’m a shikigami! If you pursue her, lose control, and start taking her apart, it would be a disaster. Especially if you’re significantly stronger than her.”

Alice’s dolls were swarming around her, and she looked as if she was about to argue, but the puppeteer closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I have a countermeasure,” she said. “I can operate my dolls remotely, at a significant distance. There’s a loss of combat effectiveness if I’m not present to empower them, but I can pin Kokoro down from outside the range of her ability.”

That was a good enough point to change your calculations. Part of you was still hesitant, but too much caution would achieve nothing, and Alice was level-headed under normal circumstances.

“We need to de-escalate the situation,” you stressed. “You would have to remain within the spellcard rules and buy time for me to persuade Miko and reinforce you.”

Alice gave you a sharp nod. “I can do it that way. Now where is she?”

The logic held. You decided to trust her judgement, and took a moment to concentrate and check with your wisp shikigami. Unfortunately, there was nothing to see; Kokoro must have found and shot them down, as the scraps of magic you’d used to create them had returned to you. However, you did have their last known location, and with Goki now in the area… there!

“She’s flying back towards Myouren temple,” you announced. “I’ve got Goki marking her, look for a crow.”

Alice flew off with a nod, and only just in time, as a burst of energy marked Miko finishing your survival spellcard. The taoist took in the situation at a glance and her face twisted in anger as she drew her shaku.

“So that’s it. You intend to delay me while your ally attacks Kokoro?”

[Honor - Ranks of Twelve-

“We don’t need to fight!” you pleaded, and the saint hesitated. “I want your help to defeat Kokoro within the spellcard rules, before she escapes and damages her mask further.”

Miko’s gaze intensified, but she made no move just yet. “And I should trust that why?!”

“You can feel my desires!” you pointed out. “What do they tell you?”

“Your heart is conflicted, with your desire to help struggling against your desire to server your master, despite your attempts to bury it.” she said, leveling her shaku at you. “You’ve been ordered to do something you disagree with, and you’re fighting it.”

What? No, that couldn’t be the case! Your actions in this incident had been both logical and in service of your higher priority directives. The only thing that had been bothering you with respect to your orders was… the one to stay away from Sumireko. Something that you were required to follow, but did not understand the reasoning behind, only seeing that it prevented you from resolving the incident as directly as you desired.

But that wasn’t you fighting against your master, just your own shortsightedness, a lack of understanding. This wasn’t the first time Yukari had given you confusing orders, and she’d always proven correct in the end. Whether you understood them or not, you had long since been resolved to fulfill any order she gave you.

So why had Miko claimed otherwise? Had Kokoro’s emotional manipulation left the saint unsettled? Was her ability to read a shikigami simply faulty, thrown off by the buried personality? No, that didn’t make sense, it wasn’t as if your past self had any connection to Sumireko. Perhaps it was a sort of background noise from the memories Kokoro had stirred up, when you’d first become a shikigami and were struggling in truth? Or perhaps-

There was a rush of air as Miko flew right at you. Relief mixed with shame as you realized her ploy. Relief that her accusation was really just meant to trigger your shikigami nature and distract you… and shame that you fell for it. It took you far too long to react, losing precious seconds as your mind refocused and you shook yourself free of doubts… which was more than enough time for the Taoist to slip past you and declare a spellcard.

[Honor - Ranks of Twelve Levels]

Miko’s spellcard scattered orbs all around you, which fell to the ground and formed many-colored columns of bullets. It was a storm of bullets with your current location as the eye, the one spot where slow and careful dodging made it possible to emerge unscathed.

It also meant that you were locked down as Miko flew away to chase after Alice. Worse, you’d already burned your spellcards best suited for both lockdown and rapid movement. You did have an alternative, but… this was going to be painful.

[Radiance - Princess Tenko’s Illusion]
You started by shooting out a large orb that trailed danmaku, combined with circles of butterfly bullets. Then you vanished from sight, flying quickly towards Miko while under a veil, before reappearing and repeating your attack.

Notably this didn’t do anything to truly avoid Miko’s spellcard. Your veil did nothing to avoid or cancel Miko’s danmaku; you were simply bulldozing your way through it, taking several hits each time. You bore them stoically, neither crying out nor slowing, and doing your best to imply you’d taken no damage at all. (Being a shikigami helped in this regard; it was merely pain, and your pain was unimportant.)

There was a reason for this deception. With the quality of your veil and the speed of your movement, it would seem to Miko as if you were simply teleporting out of her spellcard each time it set up its columns, rendering it completely ineffective. This was a gamble on your end. If the Taoist left her spellcard active, it would deal some fairly serious damage to you as the hits you were tanking added up… but keeping it active would make it more difficult for her to dodge your danmaku, and slow her movement towards Kokoro.

Fortunately, your acting was good enough and your judgement was correct. After a few repetitions, Miko dropped her seemingly-ineffective spellcard to focus on dodging yours. (Admittedly not the most difficult task; continually fleeing in one direction made most spellcards significantly easier, and Princess Tenko’s Illusion was no exception.) You kept yours active; the moments where you appeared next to Miko were ideal for talking her down.

“Miko, my orders have nothing to do with Kokoro!” you yelled. “I’m here to isolate the Lunar Capital’s occult ball!”

Miko continued flying on, a quick barrel roll taking her out of the path of the latest line of bullets. “Then stand down, let me see to Kokoro’s safety, and we can discuss it after.”

You had to wait to appear near the saint again to reply. “So long as seeing to Kokoro includes fixing her mask, I’m amenable. But that will require subduing her.”

The saint looked back to glare at you. “I’m not about to let you or Alice hurt her in the name of safety.”

This could run in circles indefinitely. You had to give her either a concession, or meaningful proof that Alice was restraining herself. Goki’s eyes did give you a way to observe how aggressively Alice was dealing with Kokoro, so you took a moment to check… and covered a wince. True to her word, Alice was nowhere within sight, and her puppets were within spellcard rules. But on the other hand… while the Phantom of the Grand Guignol wasn’t an impossible spellcard, it did look like one, and Kokoro was struggling to deal with it.

“Alice is keeping to the spellcard rules. If she’s out of line, I’ll help you stop her,” you promised instead. “Kokoro’s mask breaking is a worst case scenario; I want that as little as you do.”

Your logic was getting through, you could see Miko hesitating… but she shook her head. “Kokoro has made it abundantly clear that she sees you only as Tamamo-no-Mae. If you want to help, then stay out of the way and let me calm her down!”

The next time you appeared in front of the saint, you swapped spellcards.
[Shikigami - Senko Thoughtful Meditation]

You modified this one ever so slightly. The orb you fired was supposed to go towards your opponent, with the overlapping squares of bullets becoming the challenge they would need to fly to… but instead you rotated the pattern a full ninety-degrees, creating a solid wall of danmaku in front of Miko.

Miko didn’t hesitate, declaring a bomb instantly.

[Senkai - Ways of Enlightenment]

Space distorted around the hermit, with the wall of danmaku getting simply pushed aside, as the bullets that should be flying towards the hermit instead curved around her in decidedly non-Euclidean fashion. She broke through the wall without issue… but neither was it an issue for you. You simply flew backwards, matching her pace, and your spellcard set up another wall in front of Miko as her bomb ran out.

This time the saint pulled up before crashing into it, scanning the pattern for a way to break through. You could see the frustration building in her expression, bleeding into desperation. She wasn’t bluffing when she’d called it a personal matter, earlier. This was more than merely business to her.

You tried to be as gentle as you could, but for this you needed to be firm. “Miko, I don’t know what passed between you and Kokoro, but you were setting her off as badly as I. You won’t be able to talk her down. Not tonight.”

“You don’t know her like I do, shikigami.” Miko unsheathed her sword, her face grim. “If she’s not willing to listen tonight, she will be eventually. Sometimes penance is a necessary step to reconciliation.”

“Is your priority Kokoro’s well-being, or her opinion of you?” you demanded. “Kokoro is clearly not stable. Letting her attack you may cater to her whims now, but will it help her? Is it something she’ll be proud of once her mask is fixed and she’s thinking clearly? What does this accomplish beyond excusing your own guilt?”

The Taoist was absolutely stricken. She looked completely lost, in a way that you hadn’t seen her in any previous incident. Her expression… it reminded me of my first days as a shikigami, before I found Chen. Of a grief that allowed no way forwards.

… Miko had more hope than I, at least. There was a way forwards for her, it was simply a difficult one.

“Sometimes the only thing that will help someone is the last thing they want,” you said gently. “You hope it won’t be the case, you look for any other way first… but sometimes there isn’t one. Sometimes a painful conflict now is the only thing that will prevent worse suffering later.”

While Miko tried to find words, you checked in on the fight through Goki. The results were heartening. It would seem Alice’s high opinion of her own skills was deserved; the puppeteer was winning, and purely through danmaku at that. With Miko on the verge of accepting that this was the correct course of action, your arrival would turn the fight from advantageous to completely dominant. From there, Kokoro could be safely subdued, her mask would be fixed, and you should either have the Lunar Capital’s occult ball at hand, or a clear lead to it.

And then, without any apparent cause, Alice’s dolls stopped attacking. You thought she’d merely ended her spellcard at first, but their careful formation collapsed entirely as the puppets kept flying in their last observed direction, heedless of concerns such as running into each other, solid walls, or Kokoro’s attacks. The menreiki hesitated at first, poking at them cautiously with her danmaku, clearly fearing a trap… before aggressively tearing through them when they offered no response.

Something had happened to Alice.

[-] To be continued.

Just for anyone who hasn't seen it, I did in fact write an entry for Gooboi's recent contest... which ended up being a lot longer than I'd originally anticipated, but it did win!

For the record, my piece was Hidden Thoughts (https://www.thp.moe/shorts/res/3006.html#3014), and while it has nothing to do with USiL canon, I figure anyone reading this story will probably enjoy it, particularly considering how it stars a certain Komeiji.

Anyway, actual update should be coming soon, hopefully.

The first problem was that you had no clue where Alice actually was. It was a complication borne of your insistence the puppeteer stay at a distance from Kokoro, and one you hadn’t expected. The entire point of having her hide away was to protect her from the youkai she had been fighting, and the odds of Kokoro incapacitating Alice in a way that prevented the puppeteer from signaling for help were sub one percent. Unfortunately, you had neglected to consider the possibility of outside interference.

“We need to move,” you told Miko. “Someone else is interfering.”

The saint was still off balance from your earlier discussion, so you took off as you said the words, moving a little slower than your usual flying speed. This was enough to push her into action, and within a few seconds the Taoist had refocused and caught up with you.

“Who is it, and what are they doing?” Miko asked, all business.

“Uncertain. Alice’s dolls all shut down simultaneously.” Technically they’d stopped receiving commands simultaneously, but this got the point across faster. “Unlikely this was Kokoro’s doing, high probability an outside attacker incapacitated Alice.”

“What about Kokoro?”

“She’s destroying the shut down dolls,” you reported. “Though more for emotional satisfaction than for any tactical advantage, as she’s applying more force than strictly necessary to the task.”

It was better than the menreiki running away, but Alice would need to restock on dolls… if she made it through this okay.

“And what if this attacker goes after her next?” Miko demanded.

“I am looking!” you growled. “I have Goki searching the area, but there are limits to my capabilities!”

Admittedly, this was a problem Goki was literally made for. A small gap let the crow keep an eye on Kokoro as it scanned the surrounding streets, its enhanced eyes peeled for any sign of Alice.

No immediate sign of the puppeteer, but you were finding additional dolls at regular intervals… but the pattern so far was circular; a perimeter around where Alice had engaged Kokoro. Not helpful for determining the puppeteer’s location.

But perhaps the method was itself a clue. Alice had shown great confidence in her own capabilities, and holding back a dozen more dolls to watch Kokoro’s escape matched that. If she was that certain of her ability, where better to wait than in the direction Kokoro was running, to more directly block an attempt to flee?

You updated Goki’s search pattern accordingly, focusing on the streets in the direction of Myouren Temple. The idea bore immediate fruit. Three streets over, Goki spotted a doll fallen on a rooftop, and a flying overhead revealed half a dozen more motionless on the streets around the building.

Alice’s position when she’d been attacked, surely. No sign of a struggle, consistent with how quickly the dolls had collapsed. Goki’s more esoteric senses were picking up energy though. Faint, almost hidden, but the sort you’d expect to see from a spellcard. But no spellcard should be capable of instant incapacitation, particularly not to a strong youkai. A bastardized version, then, or… wait. You weren’t certain Alice had been truly defeated, merely that she’d been removed from this fight, and a survival spellcard would be consistent with that.

You untensed just a bit as the theory came together. It would need to be an unusual spellcard to cut off the magician’s connection to her dolls, but there were plenty of youkai capable of such. Any of Gensokyo’s magicians could have attached a form of magical jamming to a survival spellcard… or a hermit could have done something relating to Senkai, or a youkai with a connection to another realm could have pulled her temporarily into that realm, and so on and so forth.

In particular, if Byakuren, Mamizou, or Nue had stumbled upon the conflict without prior information, they might have decided to simply aid Kokoro. (Or potentially someone else entirely; just because Kokoro had been fleeing towards Myouren didn’t mean she’d encountered a youkai from there.) Not an ideal scenario, but one that could be dealt with, and far better than the disaster you had envisioned.

… though, if it was that simple, shouldn’t Goki have seen them? You were still missing something.

You sent an order to Goki to fly in, to see if he could identify the card and perhaps spot the caster… and then you lost connection to the shikigami.

There was no warning, even with the crow’s enhanced senses; one moment he was there, the next it was like he never existed, your connection to him broken off without so much as a flicker of pain. Which implied either that the crow shikigami had been killed instantly (requiring significant strength and speed) or that your connection to him had been magically jammed (unlikely, it was Yukari’s work)... and in both cases, it would require recognizing the crow was a Yakumo spy, and staying strictly out of Goki’s field of vision.

That lowered the odds of a Good Samaritan bystander significantly. Regardless, it was probable that whoever had taken out Alice had taken out your crow.

“I think Alice was just trapped in a survival spellcard, but the attacker took out Goki before he could confirm it,” you said.

“Who is it?” Miko demanded.

“Unknown. Goki never saw them.”

“Fine then. We go in blind.” Miko declared, her expression grim.

Going in blind was a daunting prospect. Dealing with unknown abilities was always problematic, and your only clue was that they’d managed to incapacitate (or at least temporarily remove) Alice and Goki both without warning or detection. By rushing in, you were obviously running the risk of the same happening to you.

But what alternative was there? Kokoro was already in the fray, it was obvious at a glance that Miko would not be dissuaded, and letting her charge in on her own was unlikely to be better. Working together there was a reasonable chance one of you could still fight if the other fell victim to an ambush, and Miko was a difficult person to sneak up on… but then again, so was Alice.

However, the point was quickly rendered moot. When you reached the site of the battle, Kokoro had vanished as well. You could see where the trail of doll destruction ended, but there was no sign of the menreiki herself.

“Kokoro? Kokoro!” Miko yelled, hovering over the middle of the battlefield as she looked every which way.

You chose to land by the last destroyed doll, trying to feel for any magic that had been used. Kokoro’s was obvious, sloshing around the area, and practically radiating pain, guilt, anger, frustration… a potent negative cocktail that you hardly needed your magic to sense. Swimming inside it were strands of Alice’s magic, tied tightly around the dolls and stretching out towards the rooftop where the puppeteer likely was. But aside from that…

“No useful magical traces here,” you grimaced. “Any notable desires?”

Miko let loose a few ancient curses, at least by human standards. “Nothing! Just villagers in their houses. Search the area!”

“My wisps can cover more ground,” you countered. “Check if any witnesses saw something, I’ll look for traces of the attacker’s magic by Alice.”

As you finished speaking, the dolls around you started moving again, and you breathed a sigh of relief. Good, it was just a spellcard.

“And with Alice free, she can help us look.”

Alice’s immediate reaction was in one sense the same as Miko’s, in demanding to know where Kokoro was, and being quite upset at the menreiki getting away… but for nearly opposite reasons. The puppeteer was clearly angry at Kokoro for both the fight itself and the dolls she’d lost, which in turn did nothing to ease Miko’s worries for the young youkai. Had there not been bigger concerns, they likely would have resumed their earlier argument.

But there was little to be done. In the end, your investigation turned up a grand total of nothing. Neither your wisps nor Alice’s dolls were able to find any trace of Kokoro. None of the villagers had seen anyone come to get the menreiki, or noticed the moment of her disappearance. Even Alice herself hadn’t seen her attacker, and had only the spellcard she’d been trapped in to work off of.

Thankfully, the spellcard bore some fairly conclusive identifying marks.

“It was called ‘Prison of the Mind’, and the moment it kicked in everything aside from the spellcard just faded out.” Alice said. “It used a hollow sphere of golden heart bullets, with larger hearts shooting in from outside. The giant hearts would ricochet several times across the sphere’s interior before disappearing, with each bounce producing additional bullets to dodge.”

Heart bullets and an unseen assailant pointed at one youkai in particular. You groaned. “Of course it’s Koishi. Why’d she have to involve herself now?”

“She had better not be here to steal another of Kokoro’s masks.” Miko growled.

You shook your head. “Koishi is impulsive, but not malicious. She might take a lost mask for her own use, but she wouldn’t attack Kokoro for one.”

“And if that were to happen, we’d be able to hear the menreiki erupt from across the village,” Alice pointed out. “I suspect Koishi had an entirely different target in mind.”

“Koishi interfered with an enchantment being performed on one of my dolls earlier this afternoon,” she said, glancing sideways at Miko. “The enchantment still worked, but the doll ended up taking on her appearance, likely as a side-effect of said interference.”

“And why, exactly, is the doll’s appearance relevant?” Miko demanded.

Alice sighed. “Koishi became quite taken with the doll and attempted to steal it. She failed, but it’s quite possible she decided to make a second attempt.”

Koishi with one of Alice’s dolls. That could be anything from completely inconsequential to legitimately dangerous; you’d need to check. “Is it a problem for Koishi to have this doll? What was the enchantment?”

“It’s illusion-based,” she said. “Though in this case it doesn’t matter, because Koishi doesn’t have it. I didn’t have the doll on me right now to begin with.”

You nodded, frowning slightly. “That’s something, I suppose. But it doesn’t change the core point. Kokoro is gone, and we’re unlikely to pick up her trail again.”

Miko shook her head. “There’s still one lead. She may have continued to Myouren.”

“Or Koishi could be taking her literally anywhere else.” Alice pointed out. “You don’t even know if she was really going to Myouren in the first place.”

Miko drew herself up, glaring at the puppeteer. “You are of course, welcome to leave, should you feel this is a poor use of your time. But I intend to find her.”

The saint took off without waiting for a reply and you sighed.

“We could just let her go,” Alice said. “Attend the incident resolver meeting, come back with people who will listen to reason.”

“That’s just the problem.” you said grimly. “Neither her nor the menreiki are particularly reasonable right now, and if she does find Kokoro, it could end badly for both of them.”

Alice shot you a surprised look. “Wasn’t that just the emotional manipulation?”

You shook your head. “It’s more than just that. During the fight, Miko all but admitted that something went wrong between her and Kokoro, something she feels a large degree of guilt over. Enough to compromise her decision-making, for her to let Kokoro beat on her without fighting back.”

“I don’t think Miko’s capable of subduing Kokoro, and I doubt this fight made the menreiki any more stable.” You gestured around at the destroyed dolls. “What if Kokoro actually stabs her next time?”

Alice sighed. “I’ll grant the point, but these diversions cost time, effort, and energy. At what point do you intend to stop chasing her?”

“When I can afford to do so without the situation spiraling into disaster.” you said, sighing. “Hopefully we find Kokoro at Myouren, and we can fix her and make our way to the incident resolver meeting with good news. Are you still able to fight?”

The puppeteer nodded. “I’ll need to be careful with my remaining dolls, but I’ve done more with less. Though, that’s all if Miko’s correct. What if she’s not there?”

“Then we head to the shrine with Miko in tow, by force if need be,” you decided, lifting back into the air. “Myouren will be the end of this particular chase, one way or the other.”

[-] To be continued.