[x] Bomb bomb bomb!

She isn't the only one with a surprise.

[x] Duck.
[x] Punch her off the broom.

This will not work at all. I'm sure of it.

But the bitch sort of deserves it, now.

[x] Bomb bomb bomb!

[x] Bomb bomb bomb!

[X] Bomb bomb bomb!

This situation is exactly what bombs are intended to resolve.

>>13040

I'm not quite sure how you reason that. This has been a fairly amicable battle overall.

[X] Bomb bomb bomb!

>?Chance!" you hear Marisa shout. Startled, you look in her direction. She's got her palm pointed at you, and several vibrantly colored stars shoot out at you from an almost point-blank range. T-that's not fair!

That's what you get for playing fair.

[x] Bomb bomb bomb!

We could have won this one.

[x] Bomb bomb bomb!

Mikio need to [Delusionary Cage] this bitch so hard. SO HARD.

Make it happen, anon.

>We could have won this one.
Winning it isn't important, I'd say.

[+] Bomb bomb bomb!
...but not making a good showing of yourself until the end is intolerable.

[x] Bomb bomb bomb!

>>13049
>Winning it isn't important, I'd say.

Winning is always important. Do you always want to lose against everyone?
I just feared that if the other option would have won something would have gone horrible wrong. Well, it did not happen so everything is okay.

[x] Dodge!

I don't think he has enough time or power to summon up a bomb right now. Definitely not enough to put up a shield and block. Though I may be a bit too confident in Tengu speed.

But I have to wonder why we're suddenly given the option to bomb. Perhaps we're capable of winning the spell card bonus, and this would lose it for us? It would certainly be a nice reward. How often does a boss use a bomb? Did Mikio ever learn? Questions...

>>13051
So you're saying, even on the verge of death, it's bad to listen to the voice?

This may be danmaku, but one day we will be in a real fight. If life has any importance, why not spend it insane and curable, than injured or in the ground?

Everything is most certainly not okay. Things don't just disappear because you want them to. Sometimes giving in doesn't allow something to take foothold, but bottling it up and letting it build can, too.

>>13052

>Insane and curable

You assume insanity is easily cured even in Gensokyo. It isn't, since even at best, few wrong buttons pushed with Flandre could easily mean Gensokyo getting nuked.

Physical injuries are more easily healed than mental ones.

The worse thing to do with a dark element second to giving in to it, is looking away acting like it doesn't exist.

That is different than acknowledging it exists and suppressing it.

>>13051

How the hell does always losing follow from losing once? For that matter, how would it backfire horribly? Especially when, canonically, the smart thing to do in this situation is to purposely lose. Winning isn't everything; sometimes you have to lose a battle to win a war. Besides, Miki has held his own against more than enough people at this point to be acknowledged as strong.

>>13052

What makes you think the insanity would be curable? Giving in when faced with malicious voices in your head is a terrible, terrible idea; all giving into an emotion or an idea does is make you feel safer about doing it again. That's why expressing anger every time the slightest bit wells up in you is just as dangerous as bottling it up; the endorphin release every time you throw a fit just trains you to have a hair trigger.

As for a "real fight," Gensokyo runs on the Spell Card Rules, and Mikio has come as close to real fight as he's liable to get, and come out on top; after all, he got away from Sakuya, despite the fact that he acknowledged repeatedly throughout the battle that her brand of attacks might have killed him. He'll do just fine in a real fight, and we can worry about that when it comes. Just because Mikio might face another dangerous battle one day doesn't justify treating this non-lethal battle as a matter of life and death, and brutally violating the spirit of the Spell Card Rules when they should apply most; especially when it involves being a giant ass toward someone who is moderately friendly when it comes down to it. Who knows when Mikio might need Marisa's help in the future - I doubt she'd want to help him much if her last experience with him was losing a duel because he was borderline cheating by removing a chunk of her arsenal from play entirely instead of dealing with each card as it came, as he should; even worse, the cheating would have involved possibly making her lose one of her most prized possessions.

You need to relax. There's a pretty big difference between ignoring something, and acknowledging it exists but resisting the temptation to comply. No one here is plugging their ears and trying to believe the voice is harmless.

>>13053
You assume it isn't. And we're not Flandre, nor are we hundreds of years old. Go back to GH if you want to reason how curing mental instability is like trying to dive into the sea without getting wet.

Whether we acknowledge it or not, it's still bottling it up. It's a matter of it being intentional or not.

>>13055
>Sometimes giving in doesn't allow something to take foothold, but bottling it up and letting it build can, too.
Read my response carefully. I didn't say giving in was a good idea. I said that it doesn't always lead to insanity, that sometimes it's bottling it up that does. Both are very possible. You act like listening to voices makes you insane; the fact that you're even hearing them is what's the problem.

Lastly, don't treat Marisa like such a fucking saint. She's burning down the forest, fighting people for no reason, shooting us in the back; she's knocked our mask off twice, once while violating our privacy that ended with us getting a punch to the head and carried away. She honors our actions by turning around and throwing them in our face.

Disarming her is not breaking the spell card rules. It's not cheating. I don't exactly believe that gunpowder shield she used was fair play, but I don't see anyone complaining about it, so why only the hakkero?

>making her lose one of her most prized possessions
I wish you'd all stop with that. The vote wasn't to cleave it in half. The vote wasn't to knock it into a crevice where it could never be found again - and I know with enough pestering, she and anybody she could get her hands on would be tearing down the mountain just to find it. You don't know if it even means that much to her in this story.

Mikio is not an ass; but not fighting on equal terms is a fool's way of doing things, and we may as well kill him off now if running away and getting walked on is how you wish to handle these situations.

And because he isn't an ass, he would not have done anything to harm her hakkero. Instead he probably would have pocketed it to give it to her after battle, or helped her find it if it went somewhere in the bushes.

The voice told us to hide and disarm her; not break her toys and maim her horribly. Good god.

[x] Dodge!
[x] Punch her off the broom.
You BITCH WITCH

[x] Bomb bomb bomb!

>>13058

Firstly, I never said a thing about Marisa beyond the fact that she would likely hold it against Mikio if he were to win using the suggested tactics. What sort of person she happens to be is mostly immaterial - she's self-absorbed, she gets overly excited, and she can play dirty, but she's not terribly malicious when it comes right down to it. None of this really matters, however, because Mikio isn't Marisa; there's no reason to give him a free pass to do the things she would, just because she would.

I don't know where you got the idea that I was treating Marisa like a saint. There's no need to get so indignant over something I never even suggested.

>Disarming her is not breaking the spell card rules. It's not cheating. I don't exactly believe that gunpowder shield she used was fair play, but I don't see anyone complaining about it, so why only the hakkero?

No, it isn't a direct violation of the rules. The nature of the Spell Card Rules, however, carries the implication that you should deal with cards as they come - each participant is supposed to agree on the number of cards beforehand. Disarming your opponent during a Spell Card in order to end it makes perfect sense, but eliminating a portion of the opponent's arsenal and preventing them from using some of their cards in the first place? That pretty obviously is against the spirit of the Rules, whether or not it's against the letter. It should be pretty obvious at this point why the option itself acknowledged that the tactic counted as fighting dirty.

As far as the bit about Marisa's Hakkero goes, there's no reason not to assume that the canon still applies when it comes down to how she received the Hakkero, and no reason to assume it doesn't mean just as much as it usually does. Perhaps we would have given it back, but there's little reason to have risked knocking it into the forest and letting who knows what happen to it.

Again, I think you're treating this battle far too seriously, especially considering that losing is to our advantage in the long run.

>>13061

You forgot to point out how punching someone off a broom is also breaking the spell card rules' spirit as well.

I just think a bunch of pig headed FPS players/Marisa haters are using this as a chance to turn a nice story into Modern Warfare 2.

That and it's better to lose with one's head held up high than a victory won through treachery.

And did you forget this post? >>12874

It's clear there's no insane grudge or hatred that some folks have been showing, just two folks who want to do a more or less even fight.

>?Well, no chance of you just letting me past either, huh?" Marisa asks you, adjusting the brim of her witch hat as she steadies herself on her broom.

"I'm sorry, but I can't," you say as you draw your sword, giving it a swish through the air before assuming a stance, the sword raised towards the shoulder opposite your sword arm and holding the tip of the blade between the thumb and forefinger of your other hand.

"I was always kinda wondering how strong you were," Marisa replies with a grin, "Alright! I'm not holding back, so don't blame me if you cry!"

You give an uneasy smile, "I won't hold back either," you say, readying yourself for the battle, "After all, it would be insulting to give someone a handicap, wouldn't it?"

"I like the way you think. it's annoying when people lose and they're all ?Oh I wasn't trying my best. I let you win?, isn't it?" says the witch, pointing something shaped hexagonal towards you, "Right, right, let's goes!?

>>13061
She has no reason to hold it against us when she fights just as dirty. With all the crap she's put us through, she has no right to hold a grudge.

We're dealing with the cards as they come, but if we get the opponent into a position where they can't declare a card, whether by danmaku or by disarmament, I don't see a violation, nor do I see one by dealing with a card before or during it being declared. We agreed on the number of cards to be used, but not what type or how they're to be used. She's quite capable of using a spell card without the hakkero.

I really don't see how losing a fight against Marisa will be to our advantage in the long run. I think it will just end up hurting us more.

>>13063
Complete bullshit. Melee danmaku is used quite regularly, and we have been using it ourselves this entire time, as well as Marisa with that gunpowder shield. If she happens to fall off of her broom from contact, that's just part of the game. Mikio doesn't know whether she's able to fly without it or not, so that's just collateral damage; like clothes, but no one ever complains about those. Wonder what happens if one of the girls was stupid or unfortunate enough to wear expensive jewelery or a dress to fight, even more so if it belonged to their mother or something of that nature.

>Marisa haters
Yes, yes that's fucking it. You're so right.

We bring up a few details about this particular Marisa and her actions in this particular story and it's obviously because we're haters. How fucking right you are. You deserve a gold medal. Congratulations.

You're the same guy who cries "Reimu hater!" every time someone posts a negative comment about her, aren't you?

I'd never have expected that choice to cause so much arguing...

>>13053
>>13063
I guess you didn't get it in >>13014, so I'll be clearer. It's not that I hate you because of your choice of vote; plenty of other people chose the same vote, and I'm fine with them. I hate you because every single one of your posts contains either an unjustified leap of logic, blatant failure to consider or understand other posters' opinions, idiotic ad hominem, or some combination thereof. Your posts are so bad that I can recognize them even when you don't use a name; I'd suspect you of being tripless Wiseman, but even he wasn't annoying quite as consistently as you are. Stop posting.

Selfsage for non-thread related rage.

>>13071
This. A thousand times this.

I wonder if this asshole is Arrogant Sagefag's apprentice or something. Non-responsive Assumptionfag?

Would >>13071 be bullheaded bloodthirstyFAG then?

Soon FoM's thread will end with only two or four updates.

>>13081

Once this duel ends hopefully we can have some peace and quiet without certain bullheaded foolks mucking things up.

>>13084

Just wait until SWR and SA begins. As it seems, Sanae's world can still go on for at least one more incident, or two, maybe.

>>13086
I mean without the shitstorms, not so much the matter of action in the story.

[x] Dodge!

>>13087

There will be more shitstorms once SWR and SA starts. In SWR the voice will probably play a big part by keeping Mikio alive, and most people will want to ignore it.

>>13092

Nothing in SWR is a major matter of life and death. Same goes for SA.

These incidents are never life and death.

>>13078
No. That would just make him tired of putting up with such utter bullshit.

[x] Bomb bomb bomb!
------

With not a moment to hesitate, you draw your final spellcard, declaring its name.

"Delusionary Cage?

You grit your teeth in concentration as the wave of stars approach. With an incredible burst of speed, you easily zip around the shower of danmaku bullets, whirling around to behind Marisa. Right now, you're flying past her so fast that her eyes can't keep up with your movements as you draw a circle around her.

"Whoa, that's fast!" you hear Marisa exclaim in wonder. You feel a little proud of yourself, but you need to end this quickly. At the rate of speed you're going, you don't have enough stamina to keep on moving this fast for too long.

Practically leaving behind a trail of blurry afterimages, you charge power into your off-hand, and taking careful aim, you manage to throw a glowing green spear straight at the witch's exposed back. She notices the attack immediately, and veers to the side to avoid it.

But as soon as she dodges it, you're already on the other side, deflecting the blast, angling it at her. The spear flies through the air, cutting through the air and heading right for Marisa again. This time, she's barely able to avoid it by leaning to the side just in time, the blast narrowly missing her head. You see her eyes widen as you give a burst of speed to deflect the spear at her again. She's realizing what you're doing.

Better prepared to dodge this time, she evades the blast and opens fire back at you, sending out a linear beam from her hand. But you're moving too fast for it to have any chance of hitting you, and the laser harmlessly passes through the air.

"C'mon!" Marisa laughs as she dodges the incoming spear again, "If I just watch where that thing goes, this is too easy to dodge!"

"Then let's add another one," you say as you deflect the spear at her again. Rushing to another location, you chuck another spear at her, identical to the first one.

"You're kidding, two of them?!" Marisa exclaims in surprise as she flies above the first one and ducked her head lower to avoid the second.

Moving quickly, you hurry to deflect both spears toward her. It takes even more concentration, and much more movement to manage two at a time, but you have to make this card count! And it seems to be working, because even Marisa seems to be struggling to avoid two at once. You have to finish this now! With the wind whistling in your ears, you soar past her to hit the blasts-!

You miss.

"Damn?!" you curse as the spear zips past your arm. it's not that you couldn't handle ricocheting two blasts at once. Just that fatigue had worn you down and slowed your reactions. You pant heavily, glaring at the witch.

"Sheesh, that was close," she remarks. ??But now you're open!" she grins confidently.

"Maybe," you say with a scowl, "But I've had a moment to catch my breath, and if I dodge your next attack, then you'll be trapped in the cage again, and you won't be able to dodge this time."

"Then I'd better beat you before you start moving again!"

Still in the process of steadying your breathing, you watch her, alert. Digging in her pouch, she pulls out her fourth and last spellcard and declares it.

"Blazing Star!"

"I'll surpass the speed of a tengu right now!" she says, lifting the wooden block up and pointing it at you. But, even if she uses a beam attack like last time, as long as you know what's coming, you can evade it easily. She flashes a wide grin, and then? aims the block behind her? What is she-

No way?!

In a blinding flash of light, she fires a huge blast behind her, her body surrounded by an amazing mass of energy! Like a comet, she hurls herself at you at an unimaginable speed. You can't dodge it-!

Futilely, you raise your arms in defense as she rams into you, hurtling you through the air. That? that hurt! Ugh? contact danmaku is the worst to be taking the brunt force of. That felt like being hit with one of the oni's punches. Helplessly, you continue to fly back, in too much pain to focus on regaining control of your flight.

"Gotcha!" you hear Miss Aya's voice as she catches you from behind, carrying with both arms from under your armpits.

"N-nice save, Miss Aya," you say in a dazed manner, turning your head to look toward her..

"No problem," she replies with a wink.

Struggling to recover, you sustain yourself in the air, allowing Miss Aya to let go of you as you float beside her. The Hakurei shrine maiden, flying up just next to you, cups her hands around her mouth, facing Marisa.

"Heeeey," she calls out, "She said she'll lead us to the shrine!"

"-You lost too, Miss Aya?" you whisper.

"Ehehe, sorry~!"

Somehow, you don't think she's really sorry.

Once Marisa joins her friend, Miss Aya takes the lead, almost too enthusiastically. You're willing to bet she threw the fight just for this opportunity. Isn't that disobeying orders?"

"-and then she told me the close down the shrine! Can you believe that?" you overhear Hakurei chatting amiably to Miss Aya, who nods as she replies to her.

"Yes, yes, no respect for seniority at all, right? They ought to be punished!"

"Well?" Hakurei says, frowning, "it's not that I'm really all that mad about it, because the things she said about my shrine losing faith are true. I thought maybe if I came here and talked to the god, I might be able to figure out a way to make my shrine more popular, too."

"I see, I see," Miss Aya grins, constantly nodding. She turns her head to Marisa and asks, "And why are you here, Miss Marisa?"

"Eh? Uh? let's see?" Marisa shrugs, ??Had nothing better to do."

"That's just like you," Miss Aya says. "Now then, the new shrine is that way," she says, pointing towards near the summit of the mountain, where the shrine and the lake are visible even to your human eyes. "Good luck!"

As you watch the two of them leave, you decide to ask Miss Aya a question that's been weighing on your mind. "Is this really alright, Miss Aya?"

"Hm?"

"Letting them go like this. it's against orders, isn't it?"

"-Miki, it's good to follow orders," she says in a lecturing tone, wagging a finger, "But you also have to be flexible when carrying them out. These turn of events might be what we need to break the stalemate we're in with that shrine. I'd say this is a blessing in disguise."

"Right?" you say, still somewhat unconvinced.

"Anyway, let's head back and give our report to the council." She turns to leave, but she sports a sudden sly look on her face as she turns back to you. "Well, unless you're worried about that new friend of yours, huh?" she says, nudging you in the side with her elbow, "In that case, I can go give my report alone."

"Cut it out," you say, to which she responds with a fit of giggling.

[ ] Go report to the council with her.
[ ] Stay behind and observe the shrine.

[ ] Stay behind and observe the shrine.

Boo, we lost. Ah well, moving right along.

[x] Stay behind and observe the shrine.

Might as well observe how things play out at the end.

[X] Stay behind and observe the shrine.

Things are right on track to go as they should. Now, let's be there to make sure Sanae cools her head and learns her lesson... and doesn't get too beat up.

[x] Go report to the council with her.

[x] Stay behind and observe the shrine.

[x] Stay behind and observe the shrine.

He did pretty good until the end.

>>13102
>Sanae cools her head and learns her lesson

What? You stupid or something? It's not Sanae who needs to 'learn her lesson', it's Kanako. Sanae is actually a good girl.

>>13100

I want to punch your face so hard.

>>13099


Goddamn, if only we hadn't let her pick up the Hakkero...

[x] Stay behind and observe the shrine.

[x] Go report to the council with her.

>>13108
Cry more, seriously.

It was pretty much going to turn out this way no matter what we did. Because even if we beat Marisa, we would have had to fight Reimu after, and there's no way we could have won that.

>>13106

Yeah and Reimu isn't as angry at the whole thing as some might think she is.

Though I can imagine Sanae apologizing after the whole thing is over.

And as far as the fight goes, we might have lost, but it was on a pleasant note. And I'm sure she'll be putting down Mikio's cards in her Grimoire when the time comes.

>>13106

No, the whole "rush over and tell Hakurei Shrine to shut down" idea was entirely from Sanae. She dreamed it up the moment we mentioned the shrine. It may not have been a particularly malicious idea, but it was hotheaded and poorly thought out; I'm not saying she needs to be "taught a lesson," I'm saying she literally needs to be taught a lesson: that she should think things through just a little more, and not be quite so impulsive.

>>13111
The idea was to win a spellcard battle for once, not to stop what was suppossed to happen.
Come now, do you even read other posts?

[x] Stay behind and observe the shrine.

Wow, seems the other guy was wrong. We don't have Marisa haters, we have Marisa lovers. You guys are seriously okay with losing? Doesn't mean a thing to you at all? What pushovers.

Moving along, I don't know what any of you are trying to accomplish by watching the fight. Are you going to get involved? Save Sanae from the big bad girls? Gain her appreciation by showing up to watch her ass get kicked? If she's the one you're gunning for, you're only setting yourselves up for pain.

If our past and our split-personalities are anything to worry about, maybe you should all consider what would happen if Mikio were to see her get tossed around. Maybe it would awaken some deep desire to protect her. Maybe he'd lose control. Maybe we'll become the next incident.

We fucked around and twiddled our thumbs - we got red eyes, a cool new voice in our head, and we pass out frequently! Awesome! On top of that, we ignore our instinct and lose all our battles because we insist common sense is just crazy talk. Obviously ignoring the plot has worked out really fucking well for us so far. You all got so freaked out last time, why suddenly decide to follow the plot-line now? Come on, let's all just pretend we're listening to the wind. Brilliant.

>>13111
No it wouldn't have. Had we beaten Marisa, Aya would have still told us that she took a fall, meaning that we'd have let Marisa go on by and not even considered fighting Reimu, especially in our condition.

>>13115
>Save Sanae from the big bad girls?
Yeah, by bleeding on them I guess. With ourselves commanding his battles, Miki couldn't even defeat a quadriplegic fairy.

Now, regarding the rest of your post... although I don't like how you say it (you sound like a jackass, which probably means you're one) I can't help but agree with you. In fact, if we end up in a permanent bad end (Kira style) I'd be angry but not surprised.

>>13115

Calm down. You look like a jackass.

Losing an ultimately inconsequential duel is not the end of the world, especially given that we want Marisa to go by anyway. Observing Sanae doesn't mean we intend to leap in, or would even be tempted to, especially since we know perfectly well that Marisa and Reimu aren't going to kill her; we're only going there to make sure that Sanae doesn't get too roughed up. We haven't ignored a shred of plotline so far, which you can't seem to get into your head; red eyes, voice in our head? Both happened as we made progress with our dreams, and neither happened as a direct result of anything we did. Choosing not to indulge the voice isn't ignoring it, it's choosing not to indulge it, so stop equating the two.

Your impassioned ranting about Mikio constantly losing is rather asinine as well. Mikio has held his own against both Sakuya and Youmu, and did so when he was far weaker than he is now, and far weaker than either of them. He's progressing just fine, and losing one round of what amounts to a game isn't going to somehow screw him over when confronting something serious.

Stop throwing temper tantrums and shitting up the thread just because the option you wanted lost. You're acting like a damn child.

>>13117
>Survived twice while dueling opponents who were far superior, and did decently well each time.
>Have a wide range of very caring friends and family to fall back on if need be.
>Lost one match against one of the two famous incident resolving specialists in Gensokyo. A match where the consequences of losing were trivial to irrelevant, and probably better than the "rewards" of winning.
>end up in a permanent bad end (Kira style)

Honestly?

>>13118
Quoting doesn't work that way. Why don't you read the post again?

Bah, nevermind, let me clarify:
At the first paragraph I was commenting about his take on battles and our character's spectacular record. At the second one I was commenting about his take on anon's stupid choices and deliberate effort to ignore the plot. Now, the comment you quoted 'end up in a permanent bad end' was on the second paragraph.
Which reasons do you think I have for saying that a permanent bad end would be a reasonable outcome?

Are you following me or I'm going too fast? Do you even know what 'regarding the rest of your post' means?

[x] Stay behind and observe the shrine.

>>13120

Yes, and my response was nothing more than an indirect way of saying that I think you're giving the poster before you too much credit, and that I think your other points are ridiculous. Which I noted by highlighting the story circumstances that led me to believe that. Fairly standard practice around here.

Are you following me or am I going too fast?

>>13118
No, both happened because we kept going along with only one dream route. We didn't try our hardest to get rid of what was causing any of our problems. We took it easy and now it's biting us in the ass.

We passed out immediately after the fight with Sakuya, left alive if only because of Aya, and the fight with Youmu wasn't even a real fight.

We're not indulging the voice, either. Were you in that situation, would you have honestly stood like a deer in the headlights and taken that Master Spark? Would you try distance attacks with a fast magician? Would you have allowed her to pick up her hakkero to fuck you over? Screw honor, screw listening to voices; it's common sense. Sure, it's a game, but it's still painful, it still has outcomes, it still makes you think and listen to your survival instincts as if it were lethal. You're the one who's confused about the voice, when it's really just rational thought made audible.

I'm not pissed because the option lost, I'm pissed at your and other's attitudes that makes it sound like no big deal, as if it were justified, as if it were already predetermined by the hands of fate. And don't tell me I'm shitting up the thread when just as many of you are crying over the other side's objections.

>Comments about me being a jackass
I won't deny that I'm probably a jackass. Waking up to a cold morning after a shit night's sleep doesn't help. Though I'm not about to doll it up for any of you, either. Anonymous tends not to listen when you're not slapping them in the face about it. It isn't all rainbows and candy, and you shouldn't treat it like it is.

>>13122
Don't worry: you're slow enough. Maybe a lil' too much actually.

But 's okay, you're entitled to have your own opinion, just like I'm entitled to believe that your arguments against an idea you labeled as 'ridiculous' are (is) insufficient. I mean, 's good to have a 'wide range of very caring friends and family to fall back on if need be' but if the problem is related to his psyche, then I doubt they'll be of much help besides some token moral support that he'll be unable to hear at that point.

>>13123

Except that we had no real idea what was causing our problems, and we eventually finished both series of dreams. I can say with certainty that a number of us were always voting for Hoshuu because Hoshuu's sequences were just flat out more interesting.

There was no way for Mikio to have known what was coming with Master Spark, and again, his standing there had nothing to do with our voting. As far as relying on distance attacks, danmaku is a game about beauty first and foremost, and relies primarily on ranged bullet patterns - contact attacks only really show up in the fighting games - so we were really just playing by convention; besides, some of our ranged moves worked quite well. Like our first card.

As for letting Marisa pick up the Hakkero? You bet. We were playing what amounted to a game, and were fighting in a formal duel. Maybe you're just not into good sportsmanship, but that's all there is to this one. Saying "screw honor" in a formal competition is kind of, well, a jackass move. That's why no one is all smiles about Marisa's tactics; hell, other characters rarely approve of the dirtier moves she pulls. There's no reason to sink to her level.

Ultimately, this is not a big deal, sorry to burst your bubble. We could have won, we lost, but it's irrelevant either way, because we would have let Marisa by in the end regardless. The only difference here is that Marisa probably feels a bit fresher than she would if we had beaten her, which is probably for the best anyway.

This was never a matter of life and death. There's no reason to treat it that way. Save that for actual life or death moments.

As far as shitting up the thread goes... look, after the most recent vote, all we had was a little bit of grousing among the votes. The first huge, angry wall of text was from you. We probably could have gotten through to the next update without any of this extended arguing if you hadn't had a conniption fit.

>>13126

Fair enough.

Just out of curiosity, however, how exactly would you plan to deal with encroaching insanity? Having your mind slip away is not really something that you can tackle with battle prowess alone.

This is one of the reasons I would think having a huge network of support would be so helpful; not only is it the mark of a well adjusted individual, but moral support would be genuinely helpful when trying to maintain your mental health. Even if worst comes to worst, and there is a battle involved in the end, wouldn't having such a large network of friends still be helpful? Many of his friends are skilled at battle, some trained for it, and some with abilities that would help immensely with subduing anything more dramatic that pops up. Mikio isn't alone, and he doesn't have to do everything by himself; yes, he should strive to become as strong as he can in order to pull his weight, but falling back on your friends when you need to is just fine. There are some things you can't do alone.

>>13127
The first statement I made was because I saw several comments being so nonchalant about the loss, acting as if they were entirely right with their decisions, nothing else mattered, and anybody who said otherwise didn't know what they were talking about. Yes, the third paragraph went off on a tangent; primarily because not only did no one consider any negative outcome from the choice when they were so adamant about not listening to a voice from one of our past lives, but apparently what we do can be forgiven so long it involves easy living and a girl of our interest.

Everything else is pure response.


Lastly, I can't help but bring up the fact that you completely ignored what I said about rational thinking, even when confronted with something 'unknown', even when it's a giant flash of burning hot light. Seriously, you get the fuck out of the way and hide, then you take the time to think about your plan of attack. Game or not, it's still painful, she's still mercilessly attacking the mountain, and we have orders. This wasn't really a 'formal duel'. Voice or not, they were all tactics that any warrior, or rather, any normal person would have thought of. Without being given reason from said voice, we would have thought of it anyway, and voted accordingly.

Sarcastically speaking - you know that little voice in your head, in everyone's head, that tells you to run when being chased? You fucking listen to it. Unless you're some cliche slut in high-heels that's the first to get killed in any horror movie, or a dumbass like in the older movies where the monsters are slower than snails.

>>13127

We haven't really finished Hoshuu's dream track yet. ('Transcendence' seems to be the last one)

But it's too soon to tell what our selections have done. Since the only person who knows for sure is the writer and he's not talking.

Mikio's problems earlier on was basically overtaxing himself trying to live up to Tengu standards. (He's grown stronger, so he could push himself at such a rate with greater ease. It's to the point where he's right behind the other notable humans in terms of overall power, and that's saying alot.)

>>13128
Someone to talk to about these things goes go along way. And Mikio has a few people he can talk to in such a manner. Even Aya despite her quirks, would be serious in such a matter.

>>13132

If your qualm is with a general attitude, there are better ways to express it than angry ranting. You say no one will listen if you sugarcoat your words, but the reverse is true as well; no one will listen to you if you scream and rant about everything either. I'd recommend you learn some moderation.

As for not addressing the "being rational in the face of unknown bright glows," I think you may have missed it. I never bothered to come up with a huge argument to justify that because it's not something we chose to do. It happened in the middle of another scene, and it was noted that Mikio was readying himself to get out of the way - he never had time. You can't pin that sorry performance on us, because we had nothing to do with it.

On the topic of the duel being formal, I think you're simply too caught up to pay attention to how it started. Marisa and Mikio faced each other, agreed on the number of cards, and gave the traditional pre-fight banter in a rather open and friendly way. If she had been "mercilessly attacking the mountain," she could have blown by, or Sparked Mikio without a single word. She did not. Sorry to say, but this was a formal match, and a mostly amicable one at that.

Your real issue seems to be with how we voted to let Marisa pick the Hakkero back up. Sorry, but I think it fair to say that most of just did not see the circumstances as dire enough to warrant throwing away honor, and that just comes back to the fact most of us saw this us as simple match, and a friendlier one than most that Mikio has had at that. You can get hurt in a sports match, but good sportsmanship is still something to aspire to; same principle here.

Again, I think you're reading into the duel an undertone that was never there. It was never a life or death situation, it was never even an unfriendly one.

[x] Stay behind and observe the shrine.

Aya's a big girl-- she can handle the council on her own. We'd probably just get in her way.

>>13134
It was still the best thing to do in that situation, instead of stand there and try to block like an idiot. Had we have been given a choice, we still would have gone with hiding in the bushes. Had the voice not existed, he most likely still would have thought of it. You don't need a big flashing sign to tell you when to move.

Again, it may have been a game, but it still tends to make people think and act as if it were real. So far, I see Mikio as more of a pacifist than an honorable soldier. It's not often anonymous is given a chance to direct the actions of the protagonist from a back-row seat for more favorable circumstances, but usually you keep to character, and if that comes with a possible win, even more so.


By the way, I'm not screaming and ranting. I made a statement, which you chose to reply to, and now it's an argument. Yet you seem to be listening to me.

I'm not about to make like everything is hunky-dory in lala-land, nor will I try to downplay any part of it. All that achieves is me trying to reason everything over people who do, and explain myself over a large number of posts (much like this, unfortunately), which is not at all a great way to handle things. That is if I'm not already being ignored for not quite slapping you hard enough.

But that's only to sway and give reason to those who have none. Help to point out the overlooked. In the end, though, I'm still going to have someone who disagrees with me that has some stupid, white-knight, sportsmanship, optimistic, asinine reasoning who's just as ready to act like a jerk whether I had a calm, non-threatening tone to my posts or not.

I have to wonder where people like you come from; if not for some burning love for the character, then someone who hasn't been here long enough to dull themselves to decent thinking that doesn't involve favoring a female target, or at least leading up to the probability of it. All anyone wants is the best outcome, not the chronologically correct outcome. Otherwise we wouldn't have CYOAs.

Everyone here is ready to chew into whoever goes against their opinions in a heartbeat. You want to talk to me equally, as one kind, understanding individual to another? Try it on some other site where the user base isn't comprised of members that go by the name anonymous.

>>13136

Let me put this simply: pulling what I think of as a jackass move for what I think of as a petty reason would already be a lousy outcome from my perspective. I would imagine the others who made the choice felt similarly.

Further than that, let me say that if you think >>13115 amounts to anything more than petulant whining and shouting, then I have nothing more to say to you. If you want to continue looking like a jackass, go right ahead, but don't expect it to help your side of the argument at all; you'll just polarize the opposition, and look unreasonable while you're at it.

>>13136
I stopped caring about this argument before it even began, but I just wanted to comment on something:
>Try it on some other site where the user base isn't comprised of members that go by the name anonymous.
Man, could you have picked a worse way to phrase that? I know what you mean, but damn. I couldn't help but think of this.

[+] Stay behind and observe the shrine.
At the least, being around to give Sanae company might help to keep her grounded.

>>13137
Perhaps if that's all you see it as, then you weren't actually reading it, and you're just bitching because I didn't word it in a way that you thought was pleasant. Aww, big bad man so scary. Heads up, I'm not here to please.

Would it really have stopped you from coming up with some other bullshit excuse to make me look bad? It only makes you seem better by grilling me on my attitude towards it. It's all to make your opinion sound more appealing. You don't really give a damn; so long as it goes your way, screw everybody else, right? You just blow it all off with half-assed reasoning, quit early and disregard me because you think it makes it look like you're in the right. Guess what, it's an overused tactic and you're just as much of a jackass as I am.

>>13138
I chortled.

>>13140

... Did you just tell a guy that criticizing your attitude is meaningless after admitting to starting this argument because you didn't like some voters' attitudes?

[x] Go report to the council with her.

>>13142
Where did I admit to starting an argument? I just made a statement; it escalated into an argument when I had an opposition. I commented on how people aren't taking this as seriously as listening to the voice, and that it doesn't add up, unless in the end it really is just 'hooray for me and fuck you'.

Yes, I disliked his and other's attitudes towards it, but I didn't use it as a counter to try and make the other guy look bad, nor did I try to use it to disregard his opinions forthright. He made jabs, I made jabs. It was not my intention to criticize their attitude, or bring it up at all for that matter, but rather to reason why it's suddenly a good idea to interact with an aspect from our past when they were so against it the first time. I did not mean to grind it deeper, either, but I needed to explain my reasoning behind making the comment, and that it's not just "petulant whining and shouting".

How I choose to present myself is my own fucking business, and shouldn't be used as a counter to any of my reasoning; demeaning sarcasm does not constitute irrational anger. I had qualms that went away quickly, but if it was this guy's intention to make me angry again, he sure as hell did a good job of it.

I'm certainly not going to get any better from anyone else, no matter how nice I make it. I'm not going to try my patience and I'm not going to waste my energy on behaving like a goddamned saint.

Take it easy, guys.

[x] Stay behind and observe the shrine.
------

"Alright, I'll stay here and observe the shrine," you say as you nod, though you begin to rethink what you've said when you see Miss Aya flash a knowing smirk at you. "No, it's not like that, Miss Aya, and you know it," you say with a frown.

"Sure, Miki, I believe you," she says with a teasing wink. it's really true, though. You might be a bit worried about that shrine maiden, but it's not because you're? "Well, I'll see ya, then."

She flies off, leaving you alone. You look away from her and begin flying toward the shrine, trailing the two dots that would be Marisa and Hakurei. You stay back far enough to stay unnoticed as you follow after them to the shrine.

Sure enough, once they reach the shrine, Sanae flies out to confront them. Cautious about being seen, you conceal yourself within the cover of leaves as you watch the scene play out. She isn't going to take on both of them at once, is she? That's crazy?

No? it looks like Marisa's going to relax, letting the shrine maidens fight it out amongst themselves. You find yourself a little curious about what Sanae is capable of. Maybe she really is as strong as the Hakurei shrine maiden? Maybe even stronger, since her shrine houses an active god. But? there's no way she's as experienced, is she? She seemed to be relatively new to danmaku?

"Hey there, Mikio," Miss Momizi says as she jumps onto the branch you're standing on.

"Oh, Miss Momizi," you turn to greet her, "What are you doing here?"

"I've been assigned to watch the shrine," she says, looking off into the distance as she focuses on the shrine up ahead, "So the intruders have engaged the shrine maiden?"

"Looks like it," you say, straining to make out more details.

"Seems like the green one is at a disadvantage to me," she notes, almost completely focused on what she sees through her enhanced vision.

"Really?"

Not too long after, you see Sanae descending to the ground, while the other two head off toward the lake. She must have lost. Even from the distance, you can clearly see her stooping over in pain, completely unbalanced. You have to help her. You have to.

"There. That must be the god of the shrine," you hear Miss Momizi whisper next to you, not even blinking as she continues her ceaseless observation of the lake behind the shrine.

Wordlessly, you leap from the branch.

"Eh? M-Mikio, where are you going?" you hear Miss Momizi call to you from behind, but you ignore her, heading straight for the shrine grounds.

You touch down on the ground below, running toward Sanae. She has no external injuries, but it's clear that she's still in bad shape. Her legs are wobbling, and she seems to be struggling to even stand.

"Miss Sanae, are you alright?" you ask as you run up next to her, unsure of whether you should try to support her or not.

"I-I'm fine," she gasps, managing to stay standing, "I-it's just? my body hurts all over. Spellcard duels are painful, aren't they?"

"You? aren't used to pain, are you?" you say. Of course, you have to be prepared for pain when you're fighting, even if those attacks won't harm your body, "It might hurt a bit, but it's something you'll just have to get used to as part of spellcard duels. But look, you aren't hurt at all, are you?"

Sanae looks at herself, and then smiles weakly. "I guess not," she says. Wistfully, she looks off toward the lake, where you can see beautiful patterns of danmaku decorating the air above the water. "Gensokyo's humans are amazing?" she whispers, "That shrine maiden was so strong, even though her shrine lacked faith. Compared to her, I was?"

She trails off there, placing a hand on top of her chest in a melancholic gesture as she gazes up at the bullet patterns in the sky. "Hehe, I guess I bit off more than I could chew," she says, looking down, "Even though I'm so weak."

"That's not true," you reassure her, "I was watching. You're very strong."

"I wonder?" she says with a heavy sigh, "I thought because I was a living god in the outside world, I wouldn't lose to any humans here, but I guess I'm nothing special."

"Well, they have more experience than you do," you say with a small grin, "I'm sure you can get better with practice."

"-Yeah, you're right, Mister Kirita," Sanae replies, returning the grin and looking a bit more confident than before. "Ah, the winds have changed," she says suddenly, looking back up at the lake. "they're coming here."

"Eh? Really?" you ask, following her gaze to the lake. it's true. The three dots are slowly growing larger? Stay here, or quickly get out of sight?

[ ] Stay.
[ ] Leave.

Also, check out my second story in >>/others/22621
[/shamelessadvertising]

[x] Stay.

[x] Leave.
- [x] But quickly explain a bit to Sanae (about why you can't quite stick around) and bid her farewell.

I think Mikio would be a kindred spirit to Sanae in terms of being a newbie at spellcard duels (He remembers very well what it's like to be in those first battles)

[x] Why don't we go inside to chat and and have some tea? That ought to take her mind off of the pain.

The best of both options.

[x] Stay.

[X] Stay.

Leaving now is pointless. See it through until the end. We just can't miss the whole event.

My thoughts on this choice:

First I don't think staying is that bad of an option, though it'll risk getting into trouble due to indirect interference.

Leaving avoids that risk, though without a bit of writing it, it might sound a bit cold.

As far as the tea one, you could avoid interference, helping Sanae some, but perhaps missing out on observed moments.

all in all, there's no major risk to any choice so far.

[X] Stay.

Dealing with the aftermath. That's what we came here for.

[X] Tell Sanae you'll be back.
[X] Leave.

>>13158
In before "Ah, suddenly a skylight" the roof is removed forcefully.

Tea for everyone afterwards. Another crazy day in Gensokyo.

[x] Why don't we go inside to chat and and have some tea? That ought to take her mind off of the pain.

[x] Stay.

>>13158
>it'll risk getting into trouble due to indirect interference.
We're the only one who can interfere with the shrine, remember? This is part of our job. We need to find out what happened and how it'll affect the tengu, and represent the tengu in peace talks.

[x] Stay.

>>13163

Yeah my point was that basically either choice is good in their own ways.

But I wonder when we'd get to visit Shizuha again.

[x] Stay.

>>13165
>But I wonder when we'd get to visit Shizuha again.

I kind of forgot about her. We really should visit her once everything is over.
After all the fighting we sure need something soothing for the soul again.

>>13167

I didn't, I was kinda hoping that Mikio would get the option to check on them.

That and who knows how long fall would last (and did it explain what the sisters do during other seasons?)

[x] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECl8I-nSFbg&fmt=18

[B] Leave.

[x] Stay.
------

You briefly consider getting out of there as fast as you can, but you remain grounded, staring up at the sky. There's no reason for you to flee; you have a duty to act as a messenger for both the shrine and your own clan, after all. Nervously, you raise your hand and wave to them as they approach.

The three of them land on the shrine grounds, and Sanae runs up to her god. Their clothes all look pretty beat up, but they all seem to be in a pretty good mood. A little hesitantly, you follow after Sanae and walk up to them.

"Oh, perfect timing," Lady Kanako says as she spots you, beckoning you closer, "Come, come inside the shrine, all of you. There's something I need to talk to you about."

She heads for the shrine, Marisa and Hakurei following after her. You exchange confused looks with Sanae before going after them. Taking off your geta, you step up the porch and wait for the others to head inside, and then walk in after them.

"Sanae, ready some tea for our guests," Lady Kanako commands.

The wind priestess nods immediately, albeit still a little confused about the situation, and heads into the kitchen. Meanwhile, the four of you take a seat around the square table in the living room, on top of which rests an unlit candle, and with a flick of the god's finger, the candle lights itself, lighting the darkened room.

"Um?" you begin first, looking around the table, "So? what happened?" you finally voice your confusion.

"We won, that's what!" Marisa says excitedly, looking proud of herself, ??nother incident resolved!"

"Indeed," Lady Kanako says, smirking, "I thought I'd scold them for forgetting the power of a god, but it seems I was guilty of underestimating humans myself."

Sanae returns, carrying a tray. Carefully, she sets down a cup of tea for everyone. Marisa and Hakurei thank her before taking a sip of it.

"This tastes? different," Hakurei remarks, raising a brow as she examines the cup.

"it's tea from the outside world," Sanae helpfully says. You scoot over a little to the side to give her some space to sit, and she takes a seat between you and Lady Kanako. "So? um, what happens now?" she asks.

"That's what we came here to discuss," her god replies, crossing her arms together, "It seems there was miscommunication somewhere, and the youkai of this mountain think we mean them harm."

"I think that was inevitable considering your choice of words, Lady Kanako," Sanae says with a nervous laugh.

"Really now?" the god cocks her head to the side, clueless.

"The tengu interpreted it as a declaration of war," you add.

"Miscommunication indeed," she says gravely, furrowing her brows.

"What did you say to them?" Hakurei asks, curious.

"Hm? Ah, only that I'd come to subjugate the mountain's youkai and to make it my place of worship," Lady Kanako replies with a completely straight face.

"That sounds like an invasion no matter which way you look at it," Marisa points out.

"Is that so?" Lady Kanako places a hand on her chin, apparently running the words through her head, ??Well, I suppose I'm just a little too used to doing it that way."

"Then, let's make it up to the youkai," Sanae says brightly. Turning to the Hakurei shrine maiden, she asks, "How do you think we should go about doing that, Miss Reimu?"

"Eh? Umm? hmm?" She pauses to think her response over before replying, "Well, whenever I resolve a conflict, what usually happens is? well, the ones who started it come to my shrine, and we just have a cup of tea or two, and then everything's good again."

"That is usually how things go down," Marisa says, shrugging.

"I see!" Lady Kanako says, pounding the top of her palm with the bottom of her fist, "it's easier to win over followers with a friendly face than an imposing stature these days."

"So? maybe something like a party?" Sanae suggests, raising the tip of her index finger to her lips, "Maybe if we invite the tengu and the kappa to our shrine to have fun, they'll see that we're not bad gods."

"That sounds like a good idea," you say, nodding.

"No, not at our shrine," Lady Kanako says firmly, "The tengu are a suspicious bunch. They may think we're setting them up for something if it's on our own conditions. What we need is an unrelated third-party to invite both factions, acting as a mediator."

Everyone's heads turn to look at Reimu, who's drinking deeply from her cup. At first, she pretends not to notice, but after a few seconds of silence, she finally sets down her cup and takes a look around. ??Oh, alright," she says, shrugging, "I guess it's part of my duties as an incident resolver."

"Excellent," Lady Kanako says with an eager grin, "Now, I'll be trusting you to deliver the invitation to the tengu," she says, briefly turning to you. You quickly nod in response. "And I'll need someone to extend it to the kappa as well."

"Ah, I ran into one back when I was climbing up here," Marisa says, raising her hand, "If I see her on the way back, I'll let her know."

"Thank you," the god says with a nod, "Now then, the time of arrival should be?"

After deciding on the time of the party, Marisa and Hakurei say their goodbyes and fly off, leaving the three of you. Immediately afterwards, Lady Kanako returns to the lake, mumbling something about not losing to humans again.

"Whew, that was an eventful day," Sanae says with a heavy sigh as she steps out of the house with you, "it's gotten so late now," she says, looking up at the sky.

"Yeah," you say, following her gaze as you step down from the porch. The sun's fully set, and now the myriads of stars are visible in the dark night sky.

"Gensokyo's sky is so beautiful," she says with a gentle smile as she continues to watch the stars, "I thought there were a lot of stars back in the outside world, but it's incomparable to this."

"There's less stars in the outside world?" you ask, confused.

"No, that's not it," she says with a giggle, shaking her head, "they're there, but they're not as visible because of something called ?light pollution?."

"I see?"

"Anyway, I'm just glad that it looks like everything's going to work out okay now," she says energetically, though physically she seems a little drained, "it's thanks to you."

"Eh? No, I didn't really do anything," you say, feeling a little embarrassed. Really, all the things that happened, it was all just dumb luck?

She giggles, "We're going to be neighbors of sorts now, probably," she continues, extending a hand toward you, "So, let's get along, Mister Kirita."

"Haha? right, Miss Sanae," you say.

"Miss Sanae sounds a bit?" she says, withdrawing her hand and laughing awkwardly a little, "I dunno, but it seems weird. Can you drop the ?Miss??"

"Then? Sanae," you say. Actually, it's been bothering you, too. Not that you're trying to be rude or anything, but it just feels wrong to address her as ?Miss Sanae? or ?Miss Kochiya?.

"That's better," she smiles, extending her hand once more.

You return the smile and take her hand.

AAAAAAAaaaaaaaaAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAaaaaAaa-

"Then, I'll see you later," you say as you let go of her hand. Waving goodbye, you trot around the back of the shrine and toward the stairs leading down, jumping off the top and lifting yourself up into the air. Right, it's almost time for dinner.

[ ] Head back to the base at once.
[ ] Check on the kappa. Make sure Nitori knows about the news.

Looks like Headgames does not react well to the divine touch. Just the thing that might be needed to bring about a miracle...

[X] Check on the kappa. Make sure Nitori knows about the news.

Somehow, I can just see her getting excited enough by the idea of a party to make a full recovery on the spot. Time to let that kappa violate our personal space, as usual. Mikio ought to be at the age where it's more pleasant than not...

>AAAAAAAaaaaaaaaAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAaaaaAaa-
...Well then.

[X] Check on the kappa. Make sure Nitori knows about the news.

I hope we can invite a guest to the party, such as Shizuha.

[X] Head back to the base at once.

Don't neglect your duties, Messenger of the Tengu.

Besides, I'm sure Marisa and Nitori will get along fine,.

[X] Head back to the base at once.

[X] Head back to the base.
- [X] Make a little detour first to check up on Shizuha and Minoriko.
- [x] Invite them to the party.

>>13180
Actually, wait, can't we do all this tomorrow?

[X] Head back to the base.
- [X] Make a little detour first to check up on Shizuha and Minoriko.
- [x] Invite them to the party.

[x] Head back to the base at once.

If there is any animosity from today's events, better to apologize when everyone is well rested. It's not as if we can't get up early to check up on Nitori, Shizuha and Minoriko tomorrow.

>>13173
Maybe not divine touch, but just Sanae's touch.

As another anon stated, we haven't finished Hoshuu's story yet. It may be rather light-hearted, but who knows if it ended in enough sorrow to cause him turning into an evil spirit? It may not have been locked off solely because of us. Tayasumi didn't seem like a bad guy even though he and everyone he knew was killed.

Then there was the snake, which some people filled in the blanks to mean "Welcome back master" or something along those lines. What if instead of death, he witnessed Sanae being taken away from him; he swore revenge, his life went to hell, and what spiritual energy was left from where the shrine once stood, he used to gain power? There's a chance he could have become hateful, especially as a runaway minor in the outside world.

[X] Head back to the base.
- [X] Make a little detour first to check up on Shizuha and Minoriko.
- [X] Invite them to the party.

Well, looks like we found a cure for voice-in-our-head.

[x] Check on the kappa. Make sure Nitori knows about the news.
- [x] Make a little detour to check up on Shizuha and Minoriko.
- [x] Invite them to the party.

>Maybe not divine touch, but just Sanae's touch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK3N2DC3Fds&fmt=18

*Grumbles*

[x] Check on the kappa. Make sure Nitori knows about the news.
- [x] Make a little detour to check up on Shizuha and Minoriko.
- [x] Invite them to the party.

[x] Check on the kappa. Make sure Nitori knows about the news.
- [x] Make a little detour to check up on Shizuha and Minoriko.
- [x] Invite them to the party.

[x] Check on the kappa. Make sure Nitori knows about the news.
- [x] Make a little detour to check up on Shizuha and Minoriko.
- [x] Invite them to the party.


Definitely want more Shizuha.

[X] Head back to the base.
- [X] Make a little detour first to check up on Shizuha, Minoriko, and Hina.
- [x] Invite them to the party.

>>13184

Hard to say since that voice has only manifested just before the MoF scenario, that and being around Shizuha has always been relaxing for Mikio even before then.

[x] Check on the kappa. Make sure Nitori knows about the news.
- [x] Make a little detour to check up on Shizuha and Minoriko. Hina too (either directly or asking the sisters to pass on the word)
- [x] Invite them to the party.

Not to say I distrust Marisa, but more the matter of checking on her anyways. (That and Marisa might have spooked her; kappa are shy towards strangers)

[B] Head back to the base.
- [b] Make a little detour first to check up on Shizuha, Minoriko, and Hina.
- [b] Invite them to the party.

To everyone who voted to check on the kappa, the tengu council is already pissed at us for interacting with Kanako and her shrine, do you really want to risk pissing them off more by putting off Kanako's message?

>>13196

Yet most of the people who voted to head back to the base also voted to make a detour to somewhere past the base of the mountain to invite the Aki sisters.

>>13197

I'm still trying to work this one out.

These people want to skip right on by our good friend Nitori, who lives on the mountain, in a river we would be passing by anyway, to go drop in on the Aki sisters? It's fine to want to visit the Aki sisters immediately, but if we're going to be headed that way anyway, it would only be the decent thing to do to check in on our other friends who got thrashed by Reimu and Marisa. Hina is probably feeling pretty out of sorts too.

I'm also wondering about meta-knowledge here. Sure, the Aki Sisters, Hina, and Nitori are stage 1, 2 and 3 bosses, but of them Mikio only knows that Nitori confronted the intruders. I'm not against our lovely Goddesses here, but going past our friend who we know got beat up while we made a tactical withdrawal in order invite some of our other friends to a party just seems... off.

Ah, also : consider rationalizations. For instance, if we followed Marisa to make sure she told the Kappa, we could've justified our actions as us escorting the intruder out AND checking up on our allies. I'm not fully convinced yet we should do this over telling the Tengu Council first, but it does make legitmate sense. You make sure there's no more harm done before the intruders leave (After all, you would look silly if you reported all clear while Marisa Master Sparked the mountain for the luz.) and it makes the Tengu look like they're in charge (On the outside, a 'guest' leaving alone I think would look a little suspect.) In addition to this, Marisa is a known thief (They can get this from Aya herself) and thus the possibility of her stealing something important or powerful (Like, oh... a cloaking device) is a risk they have to negate.

The fact we're also checking up on a friend and informing her of a party does not diminish the above points. (Although I'm not sure how you'd justify talking to the Goddesses in this manner. Also notable, Marisa has a bit of a head start on us, so it's questionable if this is at all usuable, but I find the train of thought interesting enough anyway. Am I making sense? I'm lacking in sleep.)

>>13196

Who would know that he was slacking off so to speak? Since what he is doing is connected to the resolution of the incident.

And i doubt it'd take too much time.

>>13199
It could be to introduce them to Kanako.

>>13202

Yeah and it'd be a nice thing for the old gods and new gods to meet.

>>13202

That... doesn't actually answer the question. Why would going out of the mountain to tell the Goddesses be a higher priority than checking up Nitori, who we know got into a fight and lost? Or if the return to base option is chosen instead, why is looking for the Goddesses (In the middle of the night, no less.) a higher priority then telling the rest of the Tengu mountain that they can put down their weapons? As others have already pointed out, those Goddesses are outside of the mountain, two stages away. They'll still be there tomorrow, along with a useful little called 'daylight'.

[x] Head back to the base at once.
Screw the damn detours

[x] Head back to the base at once.
[x] Plan to meet up with Nitori and the Aki sisters tomorrow to tell them about the party.

[x] Check on the kappa. Make sure Nitori knows about the news.
- [x] Make a little detour to check up on Shizuha and Minoriko.
- [x] Invite them to the party.
------

"But you can hold off on it for a little bit. Though it's your duty to report back to the council as soon as possible, it's not exactly something of urgency, at least at the moment. After all, Miss Momizi was sent to observe the situation. All in all, the incident ended with a fair spellcard match between the humans and the god, so the report Miss Momizi carried back to the council should have already made it clear to them that there's no reason to worry.

The next step would be a peaceful negotiation between the tengu and the shrine, and tomorrow's party will be able to make that possible. But the tengu aren't the only youkai on the mountain; the kappa are an important part of it as well, so for this to go over smoothly, their cooperation should be ensured as well. Well, not that you wouldn't trust Marisa to pass on the message. But you can't afford to be careless about these things. Poor communication kills, after all.

So you set out to find Nitori, the only kappa you really know beyond mere acquaintance. Come to think of it, Miss Momizi said she confronted Hakurei and Marisa on their way up the mountain, didn't she? You should go check if she's okay as well.

It doesn't take you long to find her standing nearby a river, looking off towards the distance in the direction opposite of the mountain. Waving your arm, you call out to her, "Hey!"

She turns and waves back upon seeing you, and patiently waits for you to land next to her, "Heya Mikio," she says, grinning broadly.

"You see to be in a good mood somehow," you note.

"Ehe," she lets out an excited giggle. She looks like she can hardly contain her joy. She's even trembling a little as she hops up and down on the spot. "Guess what guess what!" she huffs, twirling around a little before staring you down with bright, eager eyes.

"What?"

"I got invited to a human's party!" she says, almost squealing in glee, "Oooh I wonder what I should wear? Should I bring my inventions and show them off or do you think they're not gonna be interested and what do you think I should bring? Oooh, I can't wait!"

"Whoa, calm down," you say, a little overtaken by how fast she's talking without pausing for breath, "So Marisa's told you about the party, then?"

"Yeah!" she says, nodding vigorously, "And she was so cool flying in on her broom and she could even detect me with my optical camo on and she beat me and she was so strong even though she was only a human and then just now she came and invited me to come to the Hakurei shrine!"

"Well, it's good that she passed on the message," you say with a smile, "Would you mind relaying it to the other kappa as well?"

"No problem no problem!" she says confidently, "The tengu are coming too, right? This is gonna be the best!"

With that out of the way, you part with her, giving her a wave as you take off to the air above once again. Well, since you went through the trouble of going all the way down here, you might as well invite the Aki sisters as well. Introducing possibly the new patron god of the mountain to the gods around might not be a bad idea.

It takes you a while to find them, but you're finally able to locate them. You swoop down and land gracefully, and approach them. Shizuha's already fast asleep, curled up on a bed of fallen leaves, with her younger sister not far from her, leaning against a tree while hugging her knees.

"Is something wrong? You look a little depressed," you ask as you approach the younger sister, who looks up to you, surprised.

"Eh?" she exclaims, startled, "Ah, oh, nothing. I was just thinking that maybe we don't really get the respect we deserve as gods," she says with a sigh.

"Did something happen?" You cock your head to the side in confusion.

"Well there was this shrine mai-" she begins, though she quickly stops herself, covering her mouth. Trying to laugh it off, she hurriedly says, "Ahahaha, no, no, nothing in particular."

"You probably shouldn't pry.

"By the way," you say, turning northeast, where the Hakurei shrine's located, "There will be a festival at the Hakurei shrine tomorrow. The tengu and the kappa were invited as well, so I was wondering if you wanted a part in it as well."

"The Hakurei shrine??" She seems to hesitate on hearing the name of the shrine, but after a moment of contemplation, she renews herself, putting on a determined expression, "Of course!" she says forcefully, clenching her fists together in front of her, "It'll be a good opportunity to show that shrine maiden how important we are!"

"I'm glad you're so excited about it," you say with a laugh.

Now then, all that remains is to return to the base.

------

Who am I?

who are you

Who are you?

who am i

Why?

what is your purpose

What?

why do you live

Do I need a reason to live?

Then do you live for the sake of living?

whats wrong with that

is it a sin to live for the pleasure of living

you are afraid of death then

Am I?

Why do you wish to continue to live?

because living brings me joy

living also brings suffering

Suffering is a natural part of any life.

So you can bear it?

i dont know

youre even worse than i am

How so?

If your life was nothing but constant suffering, betrayal, and despair, can you continue to live? Can you say that living has its value then?

[ ] no i cant
[ ] I can.

[X] I can.
[X] Not that I intend to let that happen.

No matter how inevitable that voice may think Mikio's fate is... I believe in miracles.

[X] I can.

Happy, grammatically correct voice beats depressed, poorly capitalized voice every time.

[X] I can.

[X] I can.

Shit, we forgot Hina.

[X] I can.

[X] I can.

[x] Your question isn't worth answering, being premised in ridiculous abstractions that have nothing to do with reality. No one who draws breath outside the pages of a book has an existence like the one that you've described unless they've closed their eyes to the good in the world and taught themselves to find only the evil in everything. In other words, you.

[X] I can.

[X] I can.

[x] no i cant

[X] I can.
There is no destiny.

>>13212

Guess that'll wait until tomorrow. And it sounds like the sisters need cheering up.

[x] I can.

Won't be making the same mistakes as that voice did.

[X] I can.

>no i cant
>I can

The lack of capital letters is proposital. It probably means Mikio will change places with the voice, or 'fuse' with it.

>>13224
The lack of capital letters with some of his responses don't really match up.

Therefore I believe the writer was just really fucking tired when he wrote this.

>>13227

It has happened before. Maybe they show which one has more influence on some subjects and moods?

[x] I canicanticanicantican
------

I can.

isnt it painful

yes it hurts it hurts so much i want to scream but I can live

Then why do you struggle so hard?

Because I don't want to die. I don't want to die and let everything end the way it will. I don't want that. I don't want that to happen. I can't allow that to happen.

you should rest

i dont want to

Why are you so selfish?

Because I want to live.

you stubborn monster

you too

How long do you plan to live?

I don't know.

you are on borrowed time

and once it runs out theres nothing to stop me

and then youll disappear

completely

utterly

i dont want to disappear

it's inevitable. There's nothing you can do to stop me. You feel it too, don't you?

I don't know.

your own desire

my own desire

?to be done with everything

and finally rest?

and be free from everything

and be completely forgotten?

?and disappear.

I?

I want to die.
you want to die

------

"What beautiful scenery. it's nice to watch the leaves down here sometimes," Miss Aya remarks, looking up at the vividly colored trees surrounding the Hakurei shrine.

"Don't you come here all the time?" Hakurei asks, brushing a fallen leaf out of her hair.

"That is certainly so, but Miss Reimu, wouldn't you agree that it's a scene like this that makes you think ?Ah, it really is autumn??" the tengu quickly replies, wearing a grin on her face.

"Something like that, I guess," the shrine maiden responds without too much concern, shrugging her shoulders, ??By the way?" she says, turning to you.

"Hm? What is it, Miss Hakurei?" you ask, raising your head from your sitting position.

"-I don't remember inviting those two," she says, lazily pointing a finger toward the nearby Aki sisters. "Or her, either," she says, pointing to Miss Kagiyama now.

"That's rude!" Minoriko objects with a frown.

"Yeah!" Shizuha joins in, "it's thanks to me that the leaves over here have been turned now, you know!"

"And I brought food and rice wine!"

"Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to offend."

"I'm sorry for not telling you earlier," you say with an apologetic smile, "But since almost everyone on the mountain was going to gather here, I thought it might be a good idea to invite a few of the gods near the mountain as well."

"it's alright, I don't really mind," Hakurei says, shrugging again. "I'd like to get along with you youkai and gods as well, and I guess it's a good opportunity for the newcomer god to meet with Gensokyo's gods."

You follow Miss Aya as she walks toward the two newcomer gods at the center of the shrine. Some of the tengu and the kappa have formed a cautious, tense crowd around Sanae and Lady Kanako, though their faces carry expressions of great interest and curiosity than any hostility.

Though Lady Kanako looks calm and composed, Sanae beside her looks nervous and tensed up, her movements stiff. Squeezing past the crowd, the Hakurei shrine maiden makes her way toward the center of the crowd, standing next to the newcomers.

"Eh?um? everyone!" the shrine maiden announces, and all eyes focus on her, "I know yesterday was pretty hectic, but I'd like it if everyone could just get along. These new gods aren't bad gods."

Whispers and murmurs start up among the crowd, as tengu and kappa share side-glances and mutters with one another. They die down, however, when they notice Lady Kanako clearing her throat.

She stands tall and proud, her hands on either side of her waist. With a gallant, imposing voice, she begins to speak, "I'd like to help revive faith in all things," she begins, and in the silence, her impressive voice seems to carry even farther than it should, "Faith? is a reverence towards existence? a fear of retribution for one's actions? and the will to enrich one's life, spirit, and body."

The god closes her eyes, having delivered her ready speech. With a much more relaxed and natural posture, she puts on an easygoing smile, and summons a sake bottle and a drinking dish into her hands. "But, it doesn't really have to be that serious," she says, dropping the impressive way of speech.

The murmurs start up again, with looks of confusions on some amongst the crowd, and smiles on the others.

"There's no difference between faith and the ability to share a drink like this," she continues, pouring into the dish in her hand. "See? Even we give the shrine our offerings of sake." As she finishes saying this, she turns to the table set up in front of the shrine, and with a wave of her arm, new sake bottles materialize on its surface, joining the ones brought by the tengu and kappa.

Gradually, the murmurs grow into cheers, and a much more festive mood overtakes the grounds of the shrine. Hakurei herself can't help but smile, as she addresses the much more agreeable crowd, "See? She's quite a frank god, isn't she?" she says, "Why not invite her over sometime?"

"Hah," Miss Aya laughs, fanning herself, "You're asking us tengu to invite her over for drinking? We would have, anyway. We could outdrink even gods."

"Oho, do my ears hear a challenge?" Lady Kanako asks with a grin.

"Alright, let's have a drinking match here and now!" one of the wolf tengu shouts.

"Gotta warn ya, though! We can drink eighteen liters of sake in a single gulp!" another tengu yells cheerfully.

"So strong," Lady Kanako says, though she doesn't look bothered in the slightest, looking very confident in herself, "Ah, but so am I, like a woman possessed!"

Soon, the tense crowd surrounding the new gods becomes much more joyful, with several members of the tengu and the kappa gathering around Lady Kanako for the drinking match, Miss Aya included. One of the crow tengu gives Sanae a rough pat on the back.

"Hey, c'mon, you should join in!" she says to her.

"T-thank you, but I'll pass," Sanae says, politely refusing, "If I have even just a drop?"

Elsewhere, you see Nitori talking excitedly to Marisa, who doesn't seem to know about the drinking contest that's starting up right now. The Aki sisters are watching the crowd from the sidelines, joined by Miss Kagiyama. They somehow seem a little unnerved by her presence, though they seem to be doing their best not to show it.

"Miki, come on," Miss Aya returns, tugging on your arm, "You're our trump card! The secret weapon! You have to beat her!"

"Eh? You want me to join??" you say, resisting a little.

[ ] Go on and drink.
[ ] Refuse.

>I want to die.

Damn it, Mikio! Bad boy! Bad boy!

[X] Go on and drink.

Show them how you got your name, Mikio!

[x] Go on and drink.

Did we choose the right choice or what?

>>13235

Perhaps we need to admit that we could never live without the love and support of our friends and family? It's hard to say, but it's always possible that Headgames doesn't really want to destroy us; perhaps he/she/it had an "I am a rock" attitude, and is trying to teach us that "no man is an island" before we repeat past mistakes?

Either way, we really need to talk to Aya and Momiji about all this some time soon.

[X] Go on and drink.

[X] Go on and drink.

I don't see why not.

[x] Go on and drink.

[X] Go on and drink.

[x]Refuse and drink.

Maybe Headgames is actually just Mikio's emo side?

[x] Go on and drink.

I wonder if he'll get drunk and reveal his dreams to them, or have his other side take over and behave like a jackass. Also, inb4 liver failure.

[X] Go on and drink.
Where's mah Suwako?

[X] Go on and drink.

It's a party. Might as well make the best of it.

>>13236

Yeah Mikio has a good circle of friends to rely on, a knowledgable Tengu, a dutiful mother figure, a shrine maiden, three gods, one of which deals with curses, and a Kappa. There's something that could be done with the combined talents.

>>13243

Probably after Transience happens, or just before it.

[x] Go on and drink.

>>13242
But Mikio doesn't really ever get 'drunk'.

>>13248

Mikio has a super human drinking ability (just as a small tyke he beat most of the Tengu in various drinking contests in the same day, only passing out when challenging the lord of the Tengu himself; chances are he'd have beaten the Tengu lord if he didn't go through most of the other Tengu)

>>13250
I know that, it's just that he never seems to get tipsy.

>>13245
>and a dutiful mother figure
I first misread that as "and a lustful mother figure"

...And then I got angry about that never happening in this story. Dammit, Lion.

>>13253

It's not my fault I swear!

[x] Go on and drink.
------

"Ahaha? I guess if you're counting on me like that, I don't have a choice," you say, awkwardly walking along with Miss Aya as she pulls you along by the arm, heading to the center of the crowd where everyone who's participating is seated. As the tengu see you approaching, a few of them give you a friendly grin, while others only look more determined. it's always like this; whenever you take part in a drinking contest, there are always some tengu who don't want to be upstaged by a human and push themselves past their limit?

You and Miss Aya make your way through the participants, settling down on the ground next to the Hakurei shrine maiden, who's sitting nearby Lady Kanako.

"Ah, you're in this as well, Miss Reimu?" Miss Aya asks as she seats herself next to her.

"As if I could keep up with you guys," Hakurei says, shrugging. Grabbing a sake dish in each hand, she offers them to the two of you, "Here you go."

"Thank you very much," Miss Aya says as she accepts the dish, taking it into her hand.

"Thank you," you reply in turn as you grab the dish as well.

"Well, I'd say this is a success, wouldn't you?" Lady Kanako addresses you as she pours from a sake bottle into the dish in her hand, looking over to you before downing the liquor.

"I suppose so," you say with a smile.

"By the way?" she says, taking a quick look around, "Certainly, many tengu have come to attend the festivity, but I don't see the? uh? how should I say?" She pauses, for a moment before continuing, "The big cheese. The tengu boss."

"The daitengu council decided against coming here," Miss Aya promptly explains, "Ah, but please don't mistake it as a gesture of disrespect and hostility. Actually, we resolved our suspicions based on reports of your battle with the humans, and the council was very interested in beginning peaceful relations with the new shrine."

"Eh? You mean? this was unnecessary?" Sanae, who's also sitting next to Lady Kanako, close to the Hakurei shrine maiden, asks with a slightly disappointed expression on her face.

"Not at all," her god responds before anyone else does, "Having a drink and a good time together like this? it's lifted the heavy atmosphere between us. Being able to have a friendly relationship with your subjects is the first step to winning their respect and loyalty."

"You're still talking like you're ruling a kingdom?" Sanae laughs weakly.

"In any case, since we'll be getting along from now on, how about a toast?" Miss Aya suggests, holding up a bottle, "Raise your cup, Miss Sanae, I'll pour for you!"

"N-no thank you," she politely refuses, "I don't really drink."

"Come on, it's not good to be that way when someone's offering you a drink, Miss Sanae," Miss Aya insists, leaning over closer to the shrine maiden, who squirms away slightly in response, "You should have just a drop."

"She can't handle even a drop," Lady Kanako interjects.

"Oh, is that so?" Miss Aya cocks her head to the side before shrugging her shoulders, "I suppose there's no helping it."

"It was such a disappointment, too," Lady Yasaka says with a somewhat bitter tone of voice, sighing dejectedly, "And I waited for so long for her to become an adult. I wanted to drink with her together?"

Sanae remains silent, hanging her head in shame.

"Don't worry about it," you hurriedly say, "Everyone has something they're not good at."

"Well, it's about time to start, wouldn't you say?" Miss Aya says cheerfully, raising her sake dish into the air, "A toast to the new shrine!"

A mumur spreads throughout the kappa and the tengu as they raise their dishes in unison, and several whistles and cheers can be heard from the crowd.

"Just as a warning, Lady Kanako," Miss Aya begins with a confident grin, "But Miki here never gets drunk, you know. He can outlast the best of us."

"Hoh?" Lady Kanako turns her attention to you once again, pouring into her dish, "You must have quite the constitution."

"N-not really," you say, feeling a little embarrassed.

"Well, let's see if it can match a god?s, shall we?" Lady Kanako says, lifting her dish.

?

"Pfah, no moooore," Miss Aya whines as she clumsily sets down her sake dish, her face completely red, "I can't keep up anymore?"

Most of the others have given up by now, leaving only you and the god. You feel pretty bad yourself, your vision beginning to blur regularly. But more than that, your stomach feels like it's going to burst if you take in any more?

"Ugh?" Lady Kanako groans as she struggles to lift her dish to her mouth. Her arm is trembling and her head is dangerously unsteady, lurching forward every now and then, "You?you're not bad," she slurs, "But this is? this is nothing for a god!" she declares, pouring even more liquor into her dish, spilling quite a lot of it on the ground.

Wordlessly, you pour into your own dish and down it in one go. Your taste buds were killed a long time ago, so now it just feels like you're drinking scalding, tasteless water. All around you are empty bottles of sake, and just looking at them all just serves to make your head hurt.

"L-Lady Kanako? don't you think you've had enough," Sanae asks worriedly as the god continues the challenge, gulping down more of the stuff.

"Never!" the god declares stubbornly, almost tossing the dish out of her hand as she waves her arms around in an exaggerated, drunken gesture, "Sanae, as a god, you can't? you can't show weakness to yooouukai," she says, wrapping an arm around her shrine maiden's shoulder and pulling her closer.

"Y-yes, Lady Kanako," she says, cringing a little. Ugh? everyone must reek of alcohol right now.

Slowly, with a swaying arm, you raise your hand up. "I?I give," you say in a defeated tone of voice, before losing the grip on the sake dish in your hand and falling over backwards.

By the time you wake up, you're already back in the mountain fortress.

------

"Yo, Kirita. it's raining again, so I'm gonna have t? ask you again. Thanks for your hard work."

You stare at the umbrella that was thrust into your hand as the footsteps of the white wolf tengu dies away. Why do you always let this happen to yourself? Sighing, you shrug your shoulders and head towards the exit.

it's been two days since the party at the Hakurei shrine. The daitengu council as well as the other tengu elders met with the shrine's god in a secret meeting just the day before, though the details haven't been made public to the rest of the tengu.

You make your way down the mountain, the umbrella in your hand shielding you from the hard rain falling from above. It sure has been a while since it last rained. And it's definitely been a while since it was this heavy. Still, you enjoy rainy days.

Reaching the Giant Toad's Pond, you walk around the water, heading for the small shrine holding the offerings left by humans living at the base of the mountain. Gathering it all, you get ready to head back without delay?

"Hm?"

Out of the corner of your eyes, you notice something unusual. There's an unfamiliar girl squatting down at the edge of the pond. With nothing but a wide-brimmed hat with bulging eyes perched on top protecting her from the rainfall, the golden haired girl is staring at a frog in front of her with great interest.

Kero~ke~ro, the frog ribbits.

"Kero kero," the girl says, wearing a cheerful smile.

Kero kero.

"Kero kero? Kero~kero."

Kerokerokero.

"it's almost like they're having a conversation.

But disregarding that, who is that girl? A frog youkai, maybe?

[ ] Approach.
[ ] Watch her.

[x] Approach.

I see no harm in doing this.

[x] Watch her.

It'd be best to take it easy.

[x] Watch her.

>a wide-brimmed hat with bulging eyes
Cannot resist the Hat.

[x] Watch her.

[x] Watch her.
-[x]?Kero kero?

[x] Approach.

We lost the drinking match. We are forever shamed.

It's all the fault of the people who wanted to let Marisa go on by. Now we'll lose at everything forever.

[x] Approach.

Poor Suwako missed the party. Maybe we can give her a private party later one.

[x] Watch her.

[x] Approach.

{X} Watch her.

[x] Approach.
-[x] Put the umbrella over her.

[x] Approach.
-[x] Put the umbrella over her.

>>13259 Here changing my vote to this.
[x] Approach.
-[x] Put the umbrella over her.

[x] Approach.
-[x] Put the umbrella over her.

Froggy Braves the Elements... with some help.

[x] Approach.
-[x] Put the umbrella over her.

Good idea, but not perfect yet. He would need to say something to her to make it complete.

Do frogs like the rain?

>He would need to say something to her to make it complete.

>>13272
+
>>13260
=
[x] Approach.
-[x] Put the umbrella over her.
-[x] "Kero~kero?

>[x] "Kero~kero?
"Excuse me?! I am not that kind of woman! W-What did you just say about my mother? My hat is not lined with tinfoil! Ooooh, so rude!"

[x] Approach.
-[x] Put the umbrella over her.

"Have I... met you before?"

Which one is more likely to bring out a memory from Mikio's life as Hoshuu? Approaching her will cause some interaction, but watching her may trigger something...or just make him leave.

-[x]"...Mom??

[x] Approach.
-[x] Put the umbrella over her.

[x] Approach.
-[x] Put the umbrella over her.

[x] Approach.
-[x] Put the umbrella over her.
------

"She shouldn't be out in the rain without something to cover her like that. Temporarily placing the bag with the collected offerings back at the shrine, you approach her, trudging through the wet grass scratching at your ankles. Standing beside her, you put the umbrella over her, covering her and yourself with it.

"You'll catch a cold staying out here like that," you say in a quiet voice, though audible enough to discern from the sound of the rain splashing against the ground.

Slowly, the girl turns her head, looking at you while grinning cheerfully from ear to ear. Clutching the brim of her hat with tightly clenched fingers, she stares at you without a word. The only sound that can be heard is the singing of the frogs nearby, and the raindrops hitting the ground.

"Um, were you talking to this frog just now?" you ask, looking at the frog sitting in front of her.

She nods vigorously.

"I see, so you can understand what they say?"

"Not at all," she says with a giggle, shaking her head.

"Huh?

The frog hops away, and the girl goes after it, mimicking its leap and leaving the cover of your umbrella. You follow her, covering her from the rain again. "You should try to stay out of the rain," you say with a frown.

"Eh? Why?" she asks without looking at you, instead stroking the head of the frog with a single finger.

"Like I said earlier, you'll catch a cold."

"Ahaha, no worries! Gods can't catch colds!" she laughs, jerking her head back to stare at you upside-down, holding down the top of the hat with one hand to keep it on her head. Her nose twitches a little. "Eh? Ah?ahhh?achoo!" she sneezes, knocking herself down onto the mud.

"Auu'maybe you were right?" she whines as she picks herself up, placing her hat back on her head. Wiping her nose with her sleeve while sniffling loudly, she reaches down with her other hand, and seemingly pulls up a giant lily pad from the earth. Holding up by its long stem, she uses the leaf as an umbrella.

"-who are you?" you finally decide to ask her. If she's an intruder, then?

Humming cheerfully while swaying from side to side in her sitting position, the girl doesn't seem to have heard your question at all, instead looking up to the sky and saying to herself out loud, "Sheesh, she sure is a show off."

"Huh??" Who is she talking about?

"The god who sits high atop the mountain," she says, pointing towards the summit, "The power to create the sky means to be able to control the wind, lightning, and rain."

"You mean? this rain is the work of Lady Kanako??"

"Yup," she nods, "With the power to give life-sustaining water to the people, she was worshipped as a god of agriculture; although without fertile earth, a little show of weather means nothing."

"didn't she say earlier that ?Gods can't catch colds?" Then? is she one of the native gods of the mountain, or is she?

"Say, you kinda look familiar," she unexpectedly says out of nowhere, intensely staring at you, "Have we met before?"

"Eh??" you raise an eyebrow, looking back at the girl. You take a moment to scrutinize her face, taking in her childish features, ??No, I don't think so."

"Hmm?" she frowns, tilting her head from side to side as she continues to examine you. "Well, you have a sorta typical face. The kind you see everywhere. It must be just me," she finally laughs it off.

"But you're wearing your mask right now.

"I've been asleep for so long that I've forgotten how nice it feels to be outside on a day like this!" the girl says energetically, springing up, "I feel so full of energy~!" Joyfully, she jumps into a puddle of water nearby, "Hee hee! It was a good idea to come here after all~!"

She seems to be in a really good mood, anyway.

"Then, g'day!" she says as she whirls about to face you, giving you a wink and a salute before skipping off into the fog, her lily pad still held high above her.

?

Who was she, anyway?

Well, putting that aside for now. You walk back to the small shrine, and pick up the bag you left there earlier. It would be pretty embarrassing if you'd forgotten to take this back with you. Hoisting it over your shoulder, you begin to make your way back to the base.

"huh?

Your arm is trembling. The one holding the umbrella. it's shaking uncontrollably, and you don't know why. There's a sick, swooping sensation in your stomach, and you feel like your insides are being turned around and twisted. it's almost making you feel nauseous. And yet?

"Why am I??"

so happy

---

"So hey, you two," Miss Aya addresses you at your usual dinner table, sitting next to Miss Momizi, "Have you heard the new rumor?"

"What rumor?" you ask as you shove a clump of rice into your mouth with your chopsticks.

"About the new shrine," she says as-a-matter-of-factly, raising a single finger up, "According to sources I will not diverge, at the secret meeting between the tengu elders and the shrine, there were two gods present, but one of them wasn't the shrine maiden."

"You mean, there's a third god at the shrine?" Miss Momizi asks, interested.

A third god, huh?" Is it possible, then? That young girl you saw earlier during the day? could she be the rumored third god of the Moriya shrine?

"What's up, Miki?" Miss Aya asks, snapping you out of your train of thought, "You look like you're thinking about something."

"No, it's nothing," you say with a shrug, scooping up more rice with your chopsticks and shoving it into your mouth.

------

The once quiet mountain was now filled with energy and festivities. It didn't take very long for the youkai residents of the mountain to embrace their new gods and revere them. Lady Kanako had completely won them over with her words, ability to hold her drink, and cheery interactions with her newfound subjects, and so?

"Party, party, party!" the youkai gathered at the grounds outside the gate of the shrine chant festively.

Their cheers grow louder as Lady Kanako descends the long staircase leading down from the shrine itself, with her shrine maiden and the other god, the golden haired young girl with the goofy hat, at her sides. She greets them you all with a confident grin and a wave.

"Things sure have gotten livelier around here, hasn't it?" Miss Aya says with a grin.

"Almost a little too lively," Miss Momizi notes, "I don't think the mountain's defenses have ever been this lax since, well, ever."

"Hah, if an army attacked, we'd be completely defenseless, eh?" the reporter laughs, ??cos we'd all be drunk off our butts."

The party's in full swing no sooner than minutes after the Moriya shrine's residents join the group of tengu and kappa, with bottles of sake being opened and tengu and kappa musicians playing their flutes, shamisen banjos, and taiko drums.

Who will you accompany?

[ ] The Moriya group.
[ ] The tengu.
[ ] The kappa.

[x] The Moriya group.

>>13282

>Honshuu

HOSHUU GODDAMMIT. He isn't a fucking island in Japan.

[x] The Moriya group.

[x] The Moriya group.

[x] The Moriya group.

[x] The tengu.

Not nearly enough Momizi recently.

>>13281
This entire update made me feel like I was playing a VN. Just needs some nice music. Great stuff.

[x] The tengu.

{X} The tengu.

[x] The Moriya group.

[x] The Moriya group.

[+] The Moriya group.
GLORY TO THE HYPNOTOAD

[x] The Moriya group.

Which group has Shizuha?

[X] The tengu.

As curious as I am about the Moriya family, I want another date with Momiji.

[x] The Moriya group.
Maybe we should inform them about who we found out talking to the rain. She's a goddess, y'know, maybe she has some information about her...

[ ] The tengu.

[x] The Moriya group.

Show me the true path My Goddesses.

>>13295
That's what I wanna know too.

>>13282
>Honshuu
I am now certain you are a troll.

I have to wonder about if you weren't, though. Do you just not read any other posts? Do you not feel that you have to change, despite people pointing out very clearly that you're wrong?

Troll or not, you're still definitely a faggot, but I'm curious as to just how much more retarded you can get. Most people would be dead by now from sheer stupidity, but not you. Nope, you just seem to keep truckin' along.

That said, I still think you're a troll.

And quite frankly, it's time to give it up, dumbass. It stopped being funny a long time ago, and now you're just embarrassing yourself.

3/10

[x]Drink Alone

Let's see who comes to join us.

[x] The Aki sisters

[x]Drink Alone

I'm interested.

[x]Drink Alone

Being a loner really doesn't usually produce results, but wouldn't the Moriya group be the center of attention right now? Sometimes you just gotta hang back and see who seeks you out.

>>13306

it's you.

you're the faggot.

>>13306

Actually, he has every right to be irritated by you, because you have been corrected every fucking time that you have made that mistake, and yet you never do anything about it. It makes you look like an idiot.

One would think that it wouldn't be that hard to drill it into your skull that "Hoshuu" has no "n" anywhere in it.

>>13308

Pardon me for having better things to do in my life than memorize some obscure name and to be anal retentive about the spelling. Do you people seriously fap to a dictionary?

>seems Headgames was happy to see Suwako, or perhaps about her remark about Mikio being familiar. We must find out how Hoshuu's path ends.

Better now? Now you can move on to the next thing you two are anal about.

[x] The Aki sisters

[x] Drink Alone

smooth

>>13309

You only make yourself look worse. Everybody here has other stuff to do too, but memorizing such a simple name is not hard.

An early Merry Christmas, everyone.

[x] The Moriya group.
------

For a while, you're simply content to watch the festivities. Some of the tengu and the kappa begin dancing together to the music, laughing joyfully, while others are content to sit back and have a drink. Even the daitengu council and the elders have joined in this time. Everyone looks like they're having so much fun.

Humming along with the tune of the music, you head over to where the refreshments are being kept, and grab a small bundle of rice cakes, popping one into your mouth. The sweet taste of the honey inside brings a smile to your face as you look at the scene of celebration before you. Even though this is far from the first party you attended, it feels different to be celebrating up here, with the gentle and constant evening wind of the mountain brushing against your body.

You watch as the youngest looking god cheerfully prances around, locking arms with one of the kappa and dancing around in a circle together. Breaking away, she spins around and latches on to a tengu near her, dancing together with her. She's certainly having fun, isn't she? The other god of the shrine, Moriya Suwako?

Her existence was brought to light not long ago, when the Hakurei shrine maiden and the black-white witch returned to the shrine a few days after the party at the Hakurei shrine. Together, they engaged in danmaku play with the previously unknown god, and came out as the victors. She's a native god of the earth, with the ability to shape the ground to her liking and strengthen metal. The kappa, being metal workers, found her abilities to be a great boon for them.

"Hey, come on, join in!."

A bright and energetic voice brings your focus back to what's in front of you. Grinning widely, Lady Suwako yanks you forward by your sleeve, and as you stumble around awkwardly, she wraps her arm around yours, dragging you into the crowd.

"Eh? What? B-but I can't dance!" you protest as she pulls you along.

"You don't need to know how to dance to have fun!" she replies loudly, "Just follow my lead!"

"O-okay," you say, clumsily trying to match her movements as she skips about here and there, jerking you forward and back with every step. After a few seconds of being tossed about, you finally grasp the rhythm in her dancing, and begin to move about in conjunction, smiling faintly beside yourself.

"There you go!" says Lady Suwako as she grins at you, "Not that hard, is it?"

You swerve your body to narrowly avoid bumping into another person. Your steps are still clumsy and unsteady, but you can still somewhat keep up with your partner. In fact, this is actually kind of fun! Laughing, you speed up the pace of your steps as the music becomes faster and more frantic.

The god gives you a wink and one last grin before she breaks off from you, continuing to dance on her own. You also dance with the others for a while until you become tired. To catch your breath and have a drink, you head off to the side.

"Ah, the tengu reporter," Lady Kanako greets you as you reach out for a bottle of sake, "Care to challenge me in drink once again?"

"Ahah, I'm sorry, but even I can't keep up with you," you say as you pour yourself a few drops of liquor.

"Still, you do have quite an impressive stamina," she notes, drinking from her own sake dish, "There are quite a few gods you could handily defeat in drinking, you know."

"Can Lady Suwako handle alcohol as well as you can?" you ask, after taking a sip from your dish.

"Nope," she says with a sneer, "She's like a child. Can't hold her liquor very well. Well, I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised about my Sanae being unable to drink very well at all, considering that's how it is."

"Huh?"

"Nothing, just an old god talking to herself," she says casually as she pours sake into her dish again. "Well, it's nice to see that Sanae's getting along with the mountain youkai," she says, staring past you and into the crowd.

You turn around to take a look for yourself, and see a group of kappa and tengu surrounding the shrine maiden. She looks a bit uncomfortable to be at the center of so much attention. Curious, you decide to approach her, just close enough to hear what's going on with her.

"-Um, is it true that youkai eat humans?" you hear her timidly ask the surrounding youkai.

"Us, eat humans?" one of the tengu laughs. He looks over to another wolf tengu, curling his lip so that his canines are especially prominent, "Oi, Masaru, do we eat humans?"

"Occasionally," he replies with the same toothy grin, "When was the last time we had human?"

"Oh, I'd say about it's been ?bout a century."

"You ever get the hankering for some human meat?"

"I sure could go for some right now."

They guffaw loudly together, either not noticing or completely ignoring that the girl's face has blanched white, her eyes wide in terror.

"A?ahahaha?" Nervously, she tries to laugh together with them, but it's clear that she's terrified of them.

You? wouldn't really call that ?getting along." You know that Masaru and his friend are just joking around, but it doesn't seem like Sanae does.

"Oh there's lots of ways to eat humans, too," one of them continues, "There's baked human, barbequed human, human stew, human-kabob, human and potatoes?"

"Don't forget saut?ed human."

they're certainly enjoying themselves, while Sanae's expression turns increasingly more uncomfortable. Isn't that a bit too much teasing?

[ ] Leave them alone. they're just having fun.
[ ] Stop them.

[x] Stop them.

She's new and not used to things. I doubt they'd joke like that with Reimu. (Then again Reimu would list the ways she can terminate them.)

[x] Stop them.

Merry Christmas Lion.

[x] Stop them.

[x] Stop them.

[x] Stop them.
I want a piece of that Sanae too!

[x] Stop them.

But not like a dick.

[Q] Stop them.

Mikio remembered Suwako's name.

Also, Lion, I really wish this story could be animated, or illustrated, or something. Narrated could be fine.

[x] Stop them.

No other option for me.

[x] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOe18JcatZo&fmt=18

[x] Stop them.
I hope he'll somewhat remember something after all this...

>>13323
What, not "Stop! In the Name of Love"?

>>13325

I actually thought of that one, but for some reason 'Stop the Calvary' amused me so.

Also, the date, and the lyrics. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hVEdE0O5tA&fmt=18 contains a version with the lyrics.)

>>13320

Of course he did. After, Reimu and Marisa have revealed her existence already.

[x] Stop them.
------

they're taking this a bit too far. Can't they see that she's scared of them? Or do they just not care? Either way, this is a bit too much even for a joke. Though you feel a little uneasy about this, you take a deep breath, strolling up to the crowd as casually as you can.

"Don't worry," you say reassuringly with a smile, "We aren't youkai who attack humans without a reason."

"Tch, fun killer," Masaru says with an aside glance at you, though not with spite. With a friendly grin on his face, he speaks again, "Right. Though we don't show mercy to intruders, we don't go out to hunt humans."

"Don't expect other youkai to be as nice as we are, though," his friend adds with a bark-like laugh, "They'll eat ya for sure."

Sanae gives a visible shudder at these words, though the color gradually returns to her face. It must be difficult to adjust to living amongst youkai like that. You were raised by youkai, but you have no memory of a prior time before that, so it's not like you had the same problem, but even so?

"Ah, looks like the little god's up to somethin?," one of the kappa says, pointing at the center of the party grounds.

There, you see Lady Suwako crouching down, touching the ground with her hands. The earth beneath her becomes flat and smooth, and raises itself to a higher level, with the small god standing on top of it like a performance stage. The kappa and the tengu around begin to watch her attentively, as she walks about the raised platform.

With a bright smile, she extends her arms to the side, and then raises her hands up in the air. Seemingly clenching the air, she begins to slowly lower them in such an angle that it looks like the sliding her hands down an invisible ring in front of her. When she completes the circle, however, a real ring manifests itself in her hands, the evening moonlight reflecting off its golden surface.

Gripping the sides of the ring with both hands, she makes a motion as though to pull it apart, but rather than breaking the ring into two halves, it splits into two wholes, so that each hand is holding identical rings. The spectators begin to clap, but it seems the god is not yet done, and as she tosses one ring into the air, another appears in her hand.

"The famed iron rings of Suwa," you hear Sanae mumble to herself as she watches. As you turn your attention to her, she does the same, walking up to you. "Hello," she greets you with a smile.

You return it to her before speaking. "Don't worry too much about what they said," you say, "it's true that youkai eat humans, but there are many of them who have no problem living with humans. At least, you don't need to fear the mountain's youkai."

"Thank you," she says with a nod, before putting on that resolute look of hers again, "But I'll have to get used to it if I'm to carry out my duties." Tightly clenching her hands into fists, she continues, "As a wind priestess, I can't let myself be intimidated by youkai!"

She deflates a little shortly after her declaration, however, nervously looking around her. ??it's okay to be a little scared though, right?" she asks in a small voice.

"Of course," you say, giving a short laugh. And before you realize it, you've raised your hand, as if to give the girl a pat on the head. You stop yourself with a sudden jerk when you notice what you're doing, lowering your arm. "S-sorry, that was rude of me," you say awkwardly. What came over you just now?

But it wasn't just you who was acting strange, either. For a moment, when you raised your hand towards her, you saw a strange sort of look in Sanae's eyes. Her eyes seemed almost? hollow.

"Eh?" she says in a confused voice when you lower your arm, shaking her head and snapping out of it, "Ah! Um, no, you don't have to apologize."

She's staring at you rather peculiarly, though.

"Is something wrong?" you decide to ask.

"Oh, no, no, nothing's wrong," she says hurriedly. However, the troubled expression on her face makes you suspect that something is wrong. "it's nothing," she says when you silently stare at her, "it's really silly, anyway?"

"But if it's troubling you and I can help, I want to," you insist.

"Well?" she hesitates, fidgeting with her hands behind her back. ??Don't laugh, okay?"

"I promise I won't."

"-Have we met before?" she finally asks.

Well, that's impossible, isn't it? She's from outside the border, and you were in Gensokyo for your entire life. it's no wonder that she was hesitating to ask that question. Maybe she's mistaken you for someone else? Well, then again, who else would you mistake a guy wearing a bird mask for? Then, maybe you sound or act similar to someone else? Well, either way, you're prepared to say ?No"-

not your entire life

You freeze. You feel your vision going out of focus as the sounds of the festivity around you slow to an inaudibly low pitch. Is it possible that you've met her before? You can only remember the last nine years of your life, after all. Isn't it possible that prior to your amnesia, you were also from the outside world?

Then, this crushing, painful feeling you get whenever you look at this girl?

Can it be related?

Why? Why does it hurt so much to look at her? Why do you suffer so much when you touch her? Why why why why why why why why why? it's painful. It feels like torture. But you just can't leave her alone. Even though it hurts so much, you still want to help her.

If you were able to remember her, would the suffering stop?

Or would it only increase?

[ ] you want to know
[ ] it's so painful.

[X] you want to know

What do you know? For once, Head games has the right of it. I really would like to know.

[x] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7lelSrvxUA&fmt=18

I think my votes are bordering on self-abuse now.

[ ] you want to know

[x] you want to know

Can't say no to this option.

[x] you must know

It's time.

[x] you must know

This is it.

[X] you want to know

[x] you want to know

Time to confront destiny.

[x] you want to know

[x] you want to know

[x] you want to know

[x] you must know
Show me what's behind door B.

[x] "Who are you?", "What do you want?", "Where are you going?", "Why are you here?"

[x] you want to know

[x] you want to know

[x] you want to know

"TH10 takes you Behind the Mask for a look at the real life of the tengu pretender!"

>>13342
And of course, "What's for lunch?"

[x] it's so painful.

Would rather not cause a ruckus amongst a crowd of people.

[x] you want to know
------

You want to know.

Even though you know it's going to hurt. Even though you know it's going to be unbearable. You want to know. You must know. You can't? you can't run away, or hide anywhere. Not anymore. No more running. No more hiding. Even if it kills you, you have to know.

are you ready then

I'm ready.

no regrets

From somewhere, you can hear the faint sound of glass slowly cracking. The sound gradually increases in volume and frequency, become higher and higher pitched, until all you can hear inside your head is something shattering into millions and millions of shards.

hahahahaha

Your mind is completely and utterly blank.

it's going. it's going going going going going going going. The last of the chains holding you back. The last of the shackles binding your arms and your legs. You're free. Freer than ever. No more chains. No more imprisonment. Everything has been unlocked.

All you have to do now

is pick up the scattered pieces

---

"No. Of course not. That's impossible," you say with an apologetic smile.

"Yeah, you're right," Sanae agrees with you, nodding. "That's why I said it was such a silly thing."

"Maybe I remind you of someone else?" you suggest.

"Maybe," she says, "Maybe it's the design of the mask?"

"My mask?" you repeat in a confused voice, pointing at it with your finger.

"Speaking of it. it's really? peculiar looking," she says hesitantly, gazing at it, "But somehow I get the feeling it doesn't really suit you."

"Eh?"

"How should I say this?" She touches her finger to her lips, tilting her head from side-to-side as she hums, thinking about something quite intently, ??Hm, I'd say that? you're not the right kind of character to be wearing a mask."

"Huh?" You raise an eyebrow in confusion. "I don't really understand what you're talking about."

"You don't have the personality to be wearing a mask," she says it a little more clearly now, "Usually, characters wearing a mask are all brooding and enigmatic, because they're hiding some sort of secret."

"-I have to be brooding?"

"If not that, then?" She pauses to think again, before putting on a smile and continuing enthusiastically, "Then a cool and confident Ace, or maybe even some kind of a mysterious yet charming protector!"

"Haah?" you express even more confusion, "Um, so I should be brooding, confident, and mysterious?"

"Yeah!" she says with a giggle, nodding.

"Umm?" you cross your arms for a bit. A mysterious, confident, and brooding masked man?

You place a hand in your hair, flicking your bangs to the side. "Hmph. Worthless. it's a waste of time," you say in a stiff and harsh tone of voice, scowling as hard as you can. After a few seconds pass by, you loosen yourself up and turn your head to Sanae, "Something like that?"

She's giggling uncontrollably into her hands at your display, gasping for breath as her face turns red. Straightening up, she manages to speak between gulps of air, "That? that was perfect!" she says.

You menacingly scowl again, placing a hand on the hilt of your sword. "I have no name to give to trash like you," you say in that low, growling tone of voice, "Nor do I have a past!"

Sanae doubles over in laughter again, clapping. You smile as well, your hand drifting away from your sword. You feel a bit silly now, to be honest, but it looks like she enjoyed it. Calming herself down, she beams at you as she catches her breath.

"You're a good actor," she says.

"Thank you."

"But anyway, you're fine as you are," she says. "I was just rambling about what masked characters are like in anime and manga, anyway."

"Anime and manga?" you ask, tilting your head.

"Entertainment from the outside world," she says, playing with a lock of hair, "If you'd like, I can show you what they're like.."

"I see," you nod, "That would be nice."

"Wouldn't it?"

Her gaze turns once more to her god's stage, where she's impressively juggling over five rings at once, never failing to keep even one ring off the ground. That's some impressive dexterity. But she's not the only sight of the party, as a group of kappa begins lighting fireworks. As Lady Suwako continues her show for everyone, the sky is lit with bright and colorful images of crows, wolves, cucumbers, snakes, and frogs.

it's such a peaceful time. it's the time to relax and drink with comrades, or dance and make merry by yourself or with others. If only, something like this could last forever.

But nothing lasts.

------

you cant run anymore

[ ] Transience.

[x] Transience.

Does this mark the end of the beginning or the beginning of the end?

Finally we'll find out what happens on the boy's path.

[x] Transistors.

hooray

[x] Transience.

this reminds me of the
[ ] Kill her
[ ] Kill her
[ ] Kill her
choises.

[x]Twisted Transience.

[X] Transience.

Somehow, I still think this will end with a downer ending.

[X] Transience.

[x] Transience.

>>13348
Both and none.
Twice


[x] Transience.

[X] Transience.

Somehow, I still have faith that this will have an upbeat ending.

who knows how this last memory thing will end, but I think we can still get a happy ending out of Mikio's tale. Since we will be confronted with the truth. Our votes would determine if the truth ends up being too much for Mikio or not.

[X] Transience.

[x] Transience.

[X] Transience

[x] Transient

Somehow, I still think this will have a thing.

I will see the choice that isn't there. Just as I held the hand of the man about to die.

[x]Persistence.

[x] Transience.