♫: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRj1EfwRnQI

The story of...

THREAD 1 >>65260
THREAD 2 >>65548
THREAD 3 >>65922

A theme fitting for the tale ♫: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BooDupEyp84

Winter is here, but Spring will come soon, right?

THREAD 1 >>65260
THREAD 2 >>65548

[x] You can’t really refuse this level of desperation. Looks like it’s tea time at Miss Margatroid’s home for all of you.

There’s no reason not to go with Miss Margatroid. She hasn’t proven herself to be dangerous in the slightest — and even if she is, you have Mori and Hina with you. Hina does seem hesitant, but you get the feeling that if she really didn’t want to have tea with Miss Margatroid, she would say it bluntly like she does everything else. Instead, she’s relying on you for some reason. It’s possible that she could be conflicted between following you or Miss Margatroid, since you had something for her to do first. If that’s the case, then there’s no reason for her to prioritize Hatate over anything else. Whatever damage could be done by the indignantly lazy crow tengu being in your apartment has likely already happened, and then some. You just want her out sometime today so you don’t have to sleep next to a shut-in birdbrain.

However, since you don’t feel like going back home to deal with Hatate yourself, you might as well accept Miss Margatroid’s invite— even if it was only out of politeness and/or desperation. It would be interesting to see how a magician lives, anyway. “I’d like to accept her invitation,” you tell Hina, “but I don’t know why you’re letting me decide. If you want to drink tea with her and chat, you should drink tea with her and chat. If not, then refuse.”

Hina wavers, glancing away from you. Maybe your direct approach lacks tact, but Hina acting so troubled over a pleading invitation is surprisingly ordinary for her. She didn’t seem like this at all when you invited her over. “I would not want to be a nuisance on any one or any household susceptible to misfortune,” she says. “However, I feel that ignoring an opportunity to converse with someone who shares my craft would be a mistake. If you are with me, PI, it should be enough of a buffer to prevent any calamity from befalling Miss Margatroid’s home.”

Wonderful, more misfortune talk. “A buffer? So the misfortune will only affect me, then? I can’t say I feel comfortable about that.”

Hina smiles. “That is why I have somet

A theme fitting for the tale ♫: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iA38mIYhXzo

The story of a library, an outsider, and a little pandemonium.

THREAD 1 >>65260

Our protagonist has restrictions and obligations to contend with for now, but soon enough he’ll have some freedom. Please read warmly.

++++++++

He awoke from a terrible and strange dream.

Followed by death, running from clouds of blood, and finding fantastic lights to guide him toward a crimson moon.

At the end, he was pretty sure he’d died.

But it was just a dream and now he was awake. He couldn’t shake an uncanny feeling gripping him, however.

That aside, physically, he now felt something similar to a blanket of weakened fire, enough to notice your being warmed but nothing too threatening all the same. It matched well with the scent of tea and dust in the air. Dust was actually thick in the air, apparently; it tickled his ears as it settled on his still body. The one neglected feeling was sound. Even a taste of iron lingered in his mouth, but wherever he currently was was—

Flip.

Not soundless.

“If you’re going to open your eyes,” spoke a vaguely raspy, feminine voice, “then look up.”

He opened his eyes while looking up. “Up” seemed limitless. He was certain he was indoors, but the ceiling of this place gave an impression of the cosmos. Actually, was it the cosmos? Space, inside? There weren’t any stars... perhaps.

“Close your eyes.”

He did.

... A faint whining noise could be heard.

“Do you hear that?”

“Yes. Am I naked?”

He felt naked.

“You aren’t naked.” There was a clink of cup to plate. “Do you want to be naked?”

“No?”

“Why are you asking? You don’t answer questions with questions.”

“Does that count?”

“‘Why are you asking?’”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“No?”

“If you want to keep your ears—” he heard a page turning “—you’ll use them to listen to me. I would recommend listening to me in general, if you’d like to be worth anything.”

“Yes ma’am.”

“Now look to

I couldn't help but mutter, "Just what have I gotten myself into...?" I had just left a bus whose driver spoke in unsettlingly cryptic messages, and now was left with a far more disturbing scene ahead. Looking back when I heard the bus drive off, I found a complete lack of any vehicle, bus or otherwise. Swallowing my heckles down like tiny frogs, I looked forward instead, to the aforementioned disturbing scene. What I saw wasn't pretty; a scene right out of a horror movie, in fact! Complete with its checklist of spooky stuff, too!

Seriously, if I had one, I'd bet money that everything around me would leave a full column of check-marks!

After all, there were tombstones, dead trees and a liberal smattering of seemingly pointless skulls in what looked like a freaking graveyard. And that was just the left! To the right, a cliff with a sheer drop of at least a hundred feet bottomed out with a jagged end in a sea of what I hoped wasn't freaking blood! And down the path, far in the distance, was a school that looked more like a haunted mansion rather than a place of learning! "Shoulda just freakin' said screw it and went back when I had the chance... I'd rather drop out than chance it." I got a chill up my spine at what all this could only lead to. "Feel like I'll just go missing or something if I stick around this pla—"

"Look out!" Huh?

I looked back just in time for a blonde to run me down on a bike. Last thing I saw was a pretty headbutt and no small number of stars.

When I came to, I found my bangs to be covering my entire face. That can't be right. "Ugh..." I nursed a fresh lump on my head, complaining, "The hell...?" Before me, I found that the blonde obstruction was actually a girl, and not my own hair. Wasn't expecting to see another blonde around. I mean, it could be worse, b

[x] Grab Marisa and hide until the flying woman is gone, then carry her to Kourindou.
-[x] Watch and listen to the flying woman if opportunity presents itself: if you get some indication she's not malevolent, first come out from hiding by yourself to ask what's going on.

There isn't much time to think. For the sake of survival, you have to assume this flying woman is a threat. Priority number one is Mori, so you grab her arm and pull her close so you can whisper to her. "Pick a spot to hide and don't move until I tell you to come out. Be absolutely silent. Understand?"

Thankfully, Mori isn't petty enough to have an attitude in this situation. She looks hesitant, but nods and retreats into the trees on the other side of the path. That's one blonde secure.

You look up to see what the flying woman is doing. She's floating around, still nearby but unaware of you or Marisa's location. Fortunately, she doesn't appear to be any sort of beast-related youkai with super-hearing. If that were the case, she wouldn't have had any problems finding Marisa in the first place.

You turn to the drug-addled witch, who is staring right at you in her rainbow daze. "Ah!" she cries, much like a child who doesn't know words. Then she screams with giddy mirth, scattering some birds in the trees above.

This other blonde isn't going to be so cooperative, it seems. You close the distance between the two of you in a flat second, snag her by the waist, and throw yourself into the same brush she first stumbled out of. You land face-down in the grass with Marisa right by your side, who lands on her back and starts giggling. You cusp your hand over her mouth, and surprisingly she offers no resistance — content to stare up at the canopy of trees with her starry eyes glazed over in foggy delight.

The animals and other creatures of the forest around you have gone quiet after Marisa's little outburst, so it's easy to hear the woman touch down on the path. "I know I heard her," she grumbles loudly. "Marisa! Just come out already!" she calls. "Give me the doll back and I won�

You are a demon.

Your job is to heed to the call of humans who require favours or tasks to be completed. The craft of summoning creatures such as you and binding them to contracts is known as diabolism. Likewise, those who practice the craft are called diabolists. As a demon, once you have been summoned into the human world, you are unable to leave until you finish your master’s terms or die in the process.

Presently, your consciousness is manifesting in the human world. A diabolist stands over his summoning circle, reciting the incantations to anchor you to his world. A human corpse lies on the ground in front of him in the center of a hexagram. He recites from the large leather-bound book in his hands for at least ten minutes. The words are familiar to you; it is an ancient spell in a nearly forgotten language. His words will grant you the ability to do things in this world. In diabolism, the list of abilities you are granted are known as permissions. Without these incantations, you would be unable to breathe the air or to move through physical space. Experienced diabolists can add or remove words from the spell, modifying what you are allowed to do. In this case, the human’s ritual does not seem to be very advanced. His list of permissions are very textbook-standard – you’re allowed to walk, talk, apply force to matter, use magic, and so forth. You’re glad you will have the standard range of freedom this time around.

Soon the incantation is complete, and your essence enters the vessel set before you. You rise to your feet, but you are unable to go far. Your movements are confined only to the summoning circle beneath your feet. You circle around, taking in the empty room around you. The diabolist interrupts your thoughts with a feeble “H-hey!” and immediately you turn, fixing him with a neutral stare. He’s barely more than a boy, you realize. You’d place him for 17 or 18 years old – an impressive age to be able to successfully summon a demon.

“I, Caesar, have summoned you,” he says. You can tell from how he is speaking that he’s trying to sound commanding

Yukari was bored.

Now, this was nothing unusual by itself. Yukari was bored very often. However, this time it was a problem, because there hadn't been any kind of incident for months now, and it was starting to make her antsy.

To help pass the time, she watched the outside world a bit, but that didn't help much. It did, however, give her an idea. An idea involving a certain group of crooks she found...
====================
You shake your head and emerge from the van, your crewmates doing the same. Funny, you were pretty sure that, last you checked, you were in the middle of downtown Washington, DC, not in the middle of some forest.

Before any of you can properly question what the fuck just happened, your earpiece buzzes, and you start to hear the voice of your "handler", Bain.

"Uh, guys, you alright? Well, I don't know why, but apparently, we've caught the eye of someone very powerful, calls herself... 'Yukari', I think? Anyway, sorry, but she's pretty much holding you guys hostage in... come on, she wrote it down somewhere... Ah, here it is. 'Gensokyo'. Yeah, somewhere in Japan, hidden world full of magic and shit, I don't even know. Anyway, she pretty much told me that you guys are stuck there until she says, but she also gave me a pile of intel on the area, including some places where you can get some serious loot."

You all stay silent, taking in what he just said. "Yeah, doesn't make any sense to me, either. Apparently, she was bored, and decided to bring us here to alleviate that. Regardless, the van should have an ample amount of supplies, and... wait... she tells me she dropped a list of potential locations to hit in the van, and that once you've decided, she'll send both of us some more specific intel. And I know what you're thinking, that this all sounds stupid and very unlikely, but it seems like we don't have a choice either way. So we might as well make the most of a bad situation and profit from this. You all know what you do best, and I'll still be here to help you out, so good luck.

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You should really mind your own business, but you can't help it.

If you were working anywhere else, you'd tell her no and that would be the end of it. But you aren't, so who really cares? You grumble to yourself and snatch a manila envelope from the file cabinet. Sighing, you dump the envelope onto the hands of your employee.

Rylee stares hard at the envelope. A bewildered noise escapes her lips, but you don't say a word until she can form coherent sentences. “U-Uh. What is this?”

“It's an envelope,” you reply, folding your arms impatiently.

With a low voice, she seethes, “I know that.”

“Then? We were talking about your pay. What else do you think is in this envelope? A sincere letter of apology?”

“I mean, yeah, but...” Rylee pauses, and in a quiet voice, she says, “can you even do that?”

“I don't mean to be rude, but I just fucking did.” You stare at her like she's the biggest idiot in the world. “You should feel lucky that I got a big heart and an inclination to break the rules.”

Rylee frowns – though she looks more puzzled than anything else. “Uh, thank you, Boss,” she huffs.

“What, no snappy comeback?” you ask. Rylee without her sharp tongue is... new, to say the least.

Clutching the envelope firmly, she exhales. “I really don't have it in me anymore.”

Didn't really expect that from her but whatever, you're okay with that. It spares you from the unnecessary banter. The sooner you're done with this, the better. “Well, you better earn that advance on your paycheck. I expect nothing but hard work for the week.”

“Don't worry, I will,” she responds solemnly. “I'll even get back to work now.”

You recline back on your chair. Man, you don't know how to deal with the girls when they're all serious. Maybe you're too easy on your employees – Momiji included. After this, you better get your act together. Don't want y