Speaking of flowers, it is almost time for the Harvest Festival. A time for family and friends, one should always remember to pack extra sake and food in case of unexpected guests. Inhospitality kills, you know you know!
Marisa Kirisame, who owes Rinnosuke several antique books, fifty thousand yen, and a box of dango, has arrived at the mansion and is now bullying the poor Chinese Girl. She isn’t much of a guard though, having slept through the first one. Perhaps she’s had a long day?
Marisa is now stealing books from the poor librarian who is wheezing on the floor, her lusty demoness torn between aiding her master and stopping the thief. Marisa has stopped though. She is walking to the duo. Perhaps she’ll aid them?
No! She simply reaches around to grab several other books.
Marisa Kirisame truly has no shame.
Poetry time: Haiku Edition!
Tick tock stops the clock
The maid’s knives fly through the air
Schlick schlack, did you dodge?
That has been poetry time. A Haiku is a syllabic style that goes five, seven, five, though there are variations where you can go freeform with the syllables but stay within the restraint of three lines.
Submit your entries to the box at the foot of the Dragon God’s Statue. Excellent entries get knives. Horrible entries get knives. Where the knives go depends on which category you’re in. Do excellently or knives will go in horrible places.
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The broadcast was dangerous, Hakurei Reimu, Miko of Hakurei Shrine thought. She shouldn’t be distracted, not while she was resolving an incident, but… she couldn’t help but think on the broadcast.
Flying through the hallways of the mansion, Reimu mused on the newly revealed information on the Yokai Watch. Ignoring the near-fetishistic glee the speaker had for youkai, those little factoids about Rumia, Youkai of Darkness, bothered her.
Why would it mention Rumia? Why would it mention her mother’s…. Why would it mention her mother? Was it true that Rumia visited her mother’s grave? If so, why? It felt like there was something in her memory that could explain it, but… there was a Gap there. She simply couldn’t remember anything.
And that worried her.
Her musings were broken when a series of knives forced her to duck. In a way, she was grateful for the distraction. It kept her from getting lost in her thoughts. In another way, it was really annoying to have knives thrown at you.
Quickly recovering from her descent, Reimu hovered into a neutral position, her two Yin-Yang Orbs floating around her protectively. “Who’s there!?”
“How rude,” a white haired maid primly declared, standing on two floating knives, blocking her from advancing upwards. “You are a trespasser here. You should introduce yourself first at least.”
“Hakurei Reimu, Miko of Hakurei Shrine,” Reimu announced herself, Yin-Yang orbs floating around her. “I’m here to resolve this incident. Now who are you?”
“Izayoi Sakuya, Head Maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion,” the maid replied, drawing two sets of knives from who knows where and holding them by the tips between her knuckles, ““I’ve heard of you, but I will admit, you don’t look much like a miko.”
A large red bow tying the back of her hair together, Reimu Hakurei’s shrine maiden outfit could conservatively be called a miko uniform only if one was loose enough with the criteria to base it on only color. A red dress and a sleeveless red top that exposed the sides of saashi, she wore detached white sleeves, ones that were baggy enough to conceal all of her Yokai-extermination tools.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
One of her favored yokai-extermination tools was her Ofuda, paper talismans that worked as her main source of attacks during a Danmaku battle. Summoning a couple dozen them to surround her, Reimu indignantly proclaimed, “I am a miko!”
“I know, I merely noted that you did not look like one,” Sakuya stated in a cool matter-of-fact tone. The statement’s detached inflection actually hurt more than if she were simply trying to directly insult Reimu, “The broadcast warned us you were coming.”
“That broadcast is annoying,” Reimu scowled.
“The voice is certainly incessant,” the silver maid agreed, flinging a set of knives towards Reimu, “Though he is remarkably well informed.”
“Mmhmm,” Reimu hummed, dodging the blades and returning it with a volley of her own, “I don’t suppose you’ll let me through to speak with your ‘mistress’. I already know she’s the one behind this thanks to the broadcast.”
Sakuya’s only response was to throw yet more knives.
Firing back with her Ofuda, Reimu asked as she strafed, “She is the one behind this, right?”
“No, she is, but…” the maid trailed off, clearly thinking on something even as she threw even more knives. While Reimu had to dodge with effort, this maid seemed to only need to lean side to side to avoid her Ofua. It was annoying, insulting, and insultingly annoying how little effort the maid put into this fight, “I did not expect this broadcaster to know so much. Still, I will not let you pass.”
“Argh!” Reimu growled, returning a volley of knives with a volley of Ofuda, “I don’t have time for this, just let me through!”- she then flew upward to dodge yet another set of knives- “And stop throwing knives! How many of them do you have!”
“Enough,” Sakuya answered with even more knives, still remaining standing on the same damn pair of floating knives, “You are a persistent foe, I’ll give you that, and under better circumstances, I’m sure the mistress would love to fight with you,” she then suddenly dashe d backwards, using falling pairs of knives as her platforms, and throwing even more knives to cover her retreat, “But a maid does as a maid should and cleans up even interesting trash from the premises.”
Then, summoning a slip of paper to her hand, the maid infused it with power and activated her Spellcard.
[Illusionary Image: Luna Clock]
One blink and the empty air was filled with knives. Reimu stopped her charge and began weaving through the storm of knives, barely avoiding getting nicked. Tossing and turning in the air, Reimu rapidly lost track of her positioning. A lethal mistake to be made in such a sharp storm.
“This is not throwing less knives, damn it,” Reimu complained quietly to herself. She didn’t care if the maid heard her, this was her just venting her frustrations.
Just as she was considering burning one of her strongest spell cards to escape, a series of green explosions blasted the knives off course.
“Yo, Reimu!” an annoyingly familiar voice called out, “Looks like you need help, ze!?”
“Why are you here?” Reimu grimaced, definitely not happy to see Marisa if one ignored the upturned corners of her mouth.
“Broadcast, duh,” the blond witch dove low on her broom, swerving it to hover next to Reimu and facing the knife maniac maid, holding her mini-Hakkero in the ready position, “Good thing too, since you were about to get stabbed.”
“I would’ve been fine,” Reimu scowled.. She actually would’ve been just fine, but it would’ve been tricky and she would’ve had to burn a spellcard..
“Sure, you would’ve been,” Marisa grinned, “It’s just easier with me around, ze~”
“All intruders will be evicted,” Sakuya primly announced, twirling her hands to reveal yet more knives. It was rude of her to interrupt, but kind of helpful too, reminding them that they did have an Incident to resolve.
Though, she would admit,Reimu was getting sick of knives. Spinning her gohei into a ready position, Reimu entrusted her back to Marisa and charged in, “Keep her off me.”
Clicking her tongue, the silver maid sighed, [Void Sign: Inflation Square]
One blink and the empty air was suddenly filled with knives again, far more of them this time. But this time, Reimu didn’t stop charging. As green explosions cleared her way, Reimu heard Marisa sigh, “Ugh, you’re always so bossy. Not even a please or thank you, ze~!”
As she began fighting the maid with the help of her best friend rival, Reimu couldn’t help but think about the broadcast.
It was dangerous, but also… no, definitely annoying. Especially since it got Marisa here.
Ignore her smile.
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Lost and Found: Somebody has lost track of things. They knew where they began and had a vague idea of the end, but they have lost where they were in between. Take a moment, someone. Retrace your steps. Find it if you can. If you cannot, this is your end then. I hope you find where you were, someone. I hope you find it.
It appears that things are coming to a climax at the mansion. Marisa Kirisame, who owes Alice Margatroid a tin of biscuits, several gems of varying sizes, and a doujin, has joined Reimu Hakurei, you know, the miko? And the two of them are now confronting the master of the mansion.
She appears to be a Western Vampire and has invited them to discuss things over a spot of tea. Her motivation appears to be that the sun is a deadly laser and she would like to walk about without worrying about dying from it.
What a wise young… old? ...What a wise vampiress. I too would like to walk about the sun without having to worry about dying from the sun’s deadly lasers, though it probably would take a considerably longer time for me to die from the sun than a western vampire. Probably.
Alas, flowers need the sun to die and as our survival depends on a flower’s ability to photosynthesize, I shall pray for our two heroines to win.
And now… the fortune.