Entry 2 - Marisa:

Crow plushie with an enormous hat. Technically a recolored eagle, but our little miko insisted it was a crow. She didn't really explain why after remembering her past life, just said that it fit.

Anyway, where Genjii was the first plushie period, this one was the first in a series of four. Marisa, Akyuu, Youmu, and Kosuzu. Our miko remembered all four around the same time, and asked for them in relatively quick succession. Considering Akyuu's been confirmed to be one of the Immaterial Children, and that the old man said Youmu would fit as the name of his missing granddaughter, the odds of Marisa being one are higher than our miko spotting Asami's attempts to drug her. (What was it again? Six tries foiled in quick succession?)

Regardless, Marisa's the only Immaterial Child that's still missing, which is interesting, since she takes center stage in our miko's playtime. When she was young, Marisa was the plushie she was most likely to "duel", and even after her attacks tore it apart one-too-many times, she still loves pitting it in battles against other plushies.

Interestingly, Marisa also features in the more peaceful playtime sessions as well. Our miko pretty much always includes her for tea-time, drinking, hanging out, shopping, walks... if it's not an action scene, then Marisa's at her side for it.

There's one constant to the whole thing, though. Whether it's sneaking books out from under the nose of a red bat, or winning shiny "magical" jewelry after a fight, our miko always has Marisa making off with some sort of prize after each adventure. I think that's probably why she picked a crow, seems like the whole hoarding behavior thing.

Makes me think our miko and Marisa were close. Friends close to be sure, but maybe a bit of rivalry in there as well. This closeness does mean we've got the best sense of Marisa's personality. She seems to have a bit of a chip on her shoulder; friendly, outgoing, and shameless to the point of being a compulsive liar. Apparently strong though. Maybe that's just bias from being the miko's friend, but she tends to win unless she's fighting the miko herself, and even then the miko will take a few pretend hits here and there. Another point to the rival idea.

All this is supported by the miko's memories, of course. There's some gaps, but what she's related lines up with the above, and indicates a friendly teasing/pushing relationship.

Speaking of which, the most important takeaway from this whole thing? If you desperately need to distract the miko from something, ask her point blank what Marisa would think of her plushies. She'll be reduced to a red-faced sputtering mess, and completely lose her train of thought. Though you then need to start running fast, or she'll reduce you to a green mist.

Still bloody hilarious though. Even Asami had to hide a laugh.

Entry 3 - Youmu:

Otter plushie with two swords. This choice officially means Youmu is the most noble and benevolent of Immaterial Children short of our own little princess, accept no substitutes!

What? Come on, princess was a figure of speech, not a slip, nobody would connect-

Fine, I'll edit it out later. (I swear, Asami needs to take the miko stick out of his ass.)

Youmu's another frequent combatant among the plushies. Our miko fights against her somewhat less often (and when she did, she'd pretend it was snowing about half the time), but she's presented as a capable combatant. In particular, her swords are apparently very dangerous. When Genjii came into the fray, our miko would declare him able to tank anything else, but then Youmu would appear and she'd cry "Oh no, Genjii! Her swords can cut through almost anything! Dodge it!". I got tired of hearing how those swords can cut through almost anything. When she first got Youmu she said it over, and over, and over.

But seriously, before Yachie made a pair of fake swords, the miko had outfitted Youmu with kitchen knives. And slashed up her bed with them. Plus the carpet, the curtains, and most of the other plushies. Genjii lived, though.

But yeah. Outside of combat, Youmu is apparently the perfect straight otter. Polite, straightforwards, diligent, no sense of humor, and frequently bewildered. (It's part of why I was so skeptical of the plushie project, I was sure this one was just Asami plus swords.) The other plushies kinda run rings around her, up until the point where she decides to start slashing. But yeah, she'll be gardening, or cooking, and then Marisa will steal food the moment her back's turned, and she never notices.

... though apparently part of the reason for that is Youmu cooks ridiculously large amounts of food? Any time the Youmu plushie is hosting one of the miko's tea parties, they last for like a dozen-plus courses. She doesn't treat the otter plush like a glutton, so maybe she's responsible for a large household.

Anyway, as of this writing... talking? Youmu hasn't been found yet, but the old guy said it would be a fitting name for his granddaughter. Our miko had also named the plushie's swords, and while one of them doesn't match, one of them does. And Hakurouken is apparently even a bloodline weapon, which would explain why the other sword (Rou-something) is different. It's a point in favor of the plushie intel project, then.

I told our miko exactly that, by the way. She was not happy, but couldn't do anything to me because I'm acting under the boss's orders! It's not teasing, it's subtly encouraging her to develop refinement!

...

Wait, she can't do that! Can she do that? Asami, you've gotta countermand this, please!

...

Apparently our plushie princess can in fact choose who gets stationed on the front lines. I'm so dead.

Oh, shove off, Asami! What more are you gonna do, eat me yourself?

Koji had no plans of ending up as goat bait. Sure, Yachie might have put her down for now, but the hellgoat would be back. She always came back. The only reason the convoy job didn't give him a heart attack was that as an otter spirit, he couldn't technically have one of those any more. And while he had no intentions of ever admitting it to anyone, a part of him had been relieved when Yuuma had chased after Reimu's actual hiding spot instead of tearing through the central convoy he was guarding. Not that getting charged by Kurokoma was a restful experience, but getting splattered by the meathead was better than getting eaten!

For crying out loud, all he did was tease her a little! He didn't deserve this!

And... that meant he needed someone to countermand Reimu's pettiness. The problem was, the three higher-ups who actually cancel the order were Reimu, Asami, and Yachie. And... well, Reimu was stubborn. She could be talked down, but you'd generally need someone to talk her down. Someone like Asami, who was right there, approving the punishment, with his smug little smirk. No, there'd be no help from that quarter.

And while Yachie's authority was absolute, she hated being dragged into petty disputes. Without an actual strategic reason to object, she would consider this petty. Wasting her time was a good way for an otter spirit to end up on the front lines... and while he was already being sent there, pissing off the boss could always make things worse.

He needed an intermediary. A way to get in the good books, someone who would see that there was no point in sending a handsome, witty, and all-around useful otter spirit to his re-death in the Animal Realm's meat-grinder! He was destined for bigger things! Or at least safer ones, he'd settle for safer ones.

Well, as it so happens, they were hosting a VIP, were they not? Someone who was probably bored sick of receiving medical care, who was important enough for Yachie to care about his opinion, and most importantly, who would be grateful for any information about the granddaughter he was looking for, no matter what form it took!

And frankly, if Yachie thought this crap was good enough to keep a file on, other people should feel the same.

"What do you mean Youki's not here?!" Koji demanded.

"Exactly what I said," the doctor-otter said, leveling a disapproving glare his way.

"But... he was supposed to be here!" He had to be here!

"On that point I agree." the doctor scowled. "He was supposed to stick around for two more days of bed rest, but it would seem he snuck out an hour ago."

Koji could all but visualize the eagle spirits carrying him off to Yuuma, and he shuddered. "Do you know where he went? Please, doc, I need to find him! I have important information for him!"

"Oh?" The rise of the doctor's eyebrow was inversely proportional to how much he cared.

"Yes! It's from Reimu, about the immaterial children! About his granddaughter!" Koji pleaded. It was even true, minus the important part. He'd get down on his knees and beg, but that would only hurt his chances.

The doctor's face softened, and he sighed. "Regardless, I can't help you. He isn't here."

"Is it life and limb important?" a nurse chimed in.

Koji swallowed. "Very much so." It was his life, after all!

The female otter hesitated. "Well, I don't know if this will help you, but he was heading in the direction of Keiki's territory. You might be able to catch him by the reservoir."

Great. Just great.

Koji really, really didn't want to venture into haniwa territory. Those things were unnatural! A single haniwa could tear through dozens of animal spirits, what with their completely unfair advantage of having actual physical bodies! Which was really bad, because attacking animal spirits was like the only thing they did. Which was stupid! This was the animal realm! If they wanted their own place, they could find the hell of broken pottery or something!

Really though, if one of those stupid sculptures objected to his presence, he'd have no choice but to run. Which... meant running deeper into haniwa territory, because he had to find Youki.

Stupid Reimu. Stupid old man! Why couldn't he have just stayed put, and made Koji's life easier?! But no, the perimeter sentries confirmed that Youki had gone straight for the reservoir Keiki had seized.

There was nothing else for it. The only nice thing about Keiki setting up shop in the reservoir was that Koji could sneak closer to it in true Kiketsu fashion. Rather than the uncomfortably exposed streets, he could swim his way through the waterways nearby. He was swift, he was silent, he was practically invisible! A pale green shadow at the bottom of a deep canal. Dodging Keiki's own sentries was easy. All he needed to do was sneak through this checkpoint, and-

"That's an otter spirit! Kiketsu!"

Aw, hells.

Koji abandoned all thoughts of stealth and started swimming for his life. The haniwa chased along either side of the canal, firing arrows into the water, but the sheer depth of the water made that a pointless effort. That was the problem with their oh-so-precious physical bodies! They were wholly unsuitable to moving in water, and that meant there was nothing they could do to him!

A haniwa ahead pulled a sack and tipped it into the waterway. Which seemed really stupid to Koji. Even if it was some kind of spirit-trapping weapon, the water would dilute it to uselessness. There was nothing that-

Haniwa crabs?! The wicked god made HANIWA CRABS?! That wasn't fair! She couldn't do that! And rather than crawling along the bottom, like an real crab should, some propeller thing in the back of their shell started spinning and sent them rocketing towards him. And- oh dear Yachie those claws were huge!

Koji dodged down away from the first clay crab, touching bottom. For the next couple, he waited for them to charge before pushing off, springing away right before the crabs hit the stone with enough speed to crack the clay. He'd launched at an angle too, carrying him over to the side of the canal where he could leap again when the next one charged.

Right, this could work! There were only half a dozen of them, and they were all stupid! If he just kept alternating walls, he could let them shatter themselves to pieces, and continue on his way!

A splashing noise drew his attention, as three more sacks of clay crabs were tipped into the waterway.

That... two dozen. Two dozen of these giant-clawed crabs. He wouldn't even have the decency to get eaten by one person, the wicked god's crab swarm would tear him to pieces!

He had to get out. With the clay crabs in the water and haniwa lining the banks above, he needed somewhere they couldn't follow. Looking around desperately, he spied a narrow pipe sticking out of the wall he was clinging to. There was a grate covering it, but nothing better came to mind, so Koji made a beeline for it.

Crabs rocketed around him in every direction, narrowly missing as he swam and squirmed his way towards his only hope. Yelping as one of them got a tuft of fur, he made it to the pipe, grabbing the grate with both hands and pulled. The grate rattled and the pipe shook, but the damn thing was stuck, and more crabs were coming! He tried some of those fancy danmaku bullets that Reimu liked, sending a few green orbs smacking into the pipe, but the grate held! He’d need something stronger- and he was out of time. He had to dodge aside as another crab came rocketing at him, smashing into the side of the pipe and denting it.

Wait, denting it?

Koji swam over to the front of the pipe as the next one came, positioning himself so that the grate was to his back. The crab took the bait, striking forwards with a claw as Koji flipped himself up and over onto the top of the pipe. The claw smashed into the grate and broke from the sheer force of the blow, but Koji had lost track of the other monster, only to be reminded of its presence when it clamped down on his tail.

Yelping in pain, Koji yanked the loosened grate free and smacked it into the monster grabbing him. The flat side of the grate bounced off the shell, doing basically nothing as the crab pulled him away from the pipe, and the other twenty-some monsters closed in. Desperately, he rotated the grate, swinging the edge this time and aiming for where the crab's arm connected to the body. This one was aimed true, shattering the thin arm. With the detached claw still latched on, he scrambled to the pipe’s opening and started squeezing into it, tail-first.

The haniwa-crabs kept snapping at him, but he managed to bat them away with the grate as he backed into the pipe. Finally, he was far enough in to replacing the grate in front of him, and Keiki’s monsters were left with their claws bouncing uselessly off the metal.

He was safe! Of course, it was a really tight squeeze, and he couldn't get out, or turn around, and the only way 'forwards' was to back down a pipe he couldn't see into the unknown deep into Keiki's territory, and why did he think this was a good idea again?!

Then he heard a clunk and the whirring of motors. That couldn't be good. Some other trick of the haniwa? He had just enough time to shake nervously before he started getting sucked down the pipe! Frantically he scrabbled at the walls, but the pipe's sides were smooth and offered no leverage, and the grate was just out of reach!! Despite his best efforts clawing at the walls, the pipe's suction was dragging him away from the waterway, into whatever torments Keiki had prepared!!! He was doomed!!!! DOOMED!!!!!

This went on for quite some time, the otter being roughly dragged through a number of sections of plumbing, up until the point where the pipe narrowed and Koji got stuck. At which point his hysteria switched to being trapped forever in a random pipe. Which in turn lasted until the pipe started banging and rattling again, which switched back to sheer terror of whatever was coming to get him.

With the panicked frenzy that Koji had worked himself into, his reaction to the Haniwa guards that had come to retrieve him and unclog the pipe can perhaps be understood.

"Please don't eat me!" he screamed.

After his close brush with Keiki's demon crabs, pipe of doom, and the psychological torture that one of the Haniwa referred to as "plumbing", Koji felt he was remarkably put together, all things considered. It had only taken a few minutes for him to stop gibbering in terror, and a few more to make the haniwa understand that he had important information for Youki! Vital, top secret, not-for-their-eyes information! They'd believed him, proving his mastery of persuasion, and even given him an escort deep into Keiki's fortress! Which... you know, put him even further from safety than before, but he had to get here to talk to Youki anyway, so maybe it was progress!

And as the haniwa dumped him in a chair, Koji saw the target of his quest. The old man! He even seemed to be in a decent mood, looking amused about something... perhaps the blue-haired demon-goddess next to him, who looked supremely unimpressed about it.

"I've been woken up for this?!" Keiki demanded, rubbing her eyes. "This had better be good."

"That- I don't- you weren't-" Koji sputtered.

One of the haniwa next to him leaned in, eyes sparkling maliciously. "You'd better tell Lady Keiki what she wants to know. Or she'll make you into a new haniwa."

"Plushies!" Koji screamed, bringing the entire room to a dead stop. "Reimu has a plushie of Youmu I wanted to tell Youki about! She's got plushies of all the Immaterial Children, and memories about what they were like, and I wanted to tell the old guy about his granddaughter! That way he could put in a good word for me and I wouldn't get sent to the front lines, and I just don't wanna die!"

Youki started chuckling as Keiki stared at him. "A plushie. I got woken up because one otter spirit, scared of his own shadow, managed to breach multiple lines of defense in his quest to tell Youki about a child's toy."

"To be fair, it's a very important toy," Youki cut in.

Keiki glared at him, doing nothing to stop the old man's mirth.

"I've got proof!" Koji squealed. "I couldn't bring the plushie, Reimu'd kill me, but the drawing..." he reached down to the little waterproof satchel he'd carried it in, then stopped, finding it missing. "Where'd it go?!"

One of the haniwa interrupted. "The operative's bag was taken to a mined-out section of the quarry, to safely examine it."

"To be fair, it could be a very dangerous drawing," Youki said again.

"Oh, shut up!" Keiki snapped, before turning to the haniwa. "I'm going to have coffee. And by the time I'm done, I want a detailed report on how a single otter spirit managed to get far enough into my defenses to trigger a security alarm!"

The enraged goddess turned to Koji. "And as for you! You're going to make this interruption worth my while. I want to know every last detail about these Immaterial Children plushies."

"Starting with Youmu," Youki interrupted.

Keiki rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, your granddaughter first."

"I'll tell you everything!" Koji pleaded.

He told them everything.

And so! After a harrowing adventure, Koji, first of his name, succeeded in his quest to regale Youki with Reimu's memory of his grandduaghter! Such were his persuasive efforts that he managed (after coffee) to make a positive impression on Keiki, causing her to extend for the Reimu safe passage agreement to some of the otters! Between his bravery in storming Keiki's stronghold, the strategic coup in paving the way for otters to sneak through her territory, and the good word Youki was putting in for him, Yachie was surely going to be impressed enough to admit that being another soul on the front lines would be a waste of Koji's talent, and promote him to a far more fitting position!

Except... the more Youki said, the more Yachie was giving off smoke. With a polite smile that didn't reach her eyes.

"You don't need to worry," Yachie told Youki, using that calm voice that implied someone was about to die. "I'll be sure to reward this brave spirit appropriately."

"Yes, well, I really do appreciate hearing more of my granddaughter," Youki replied. "I figured it was worth the trip to thank you for it."

"And I'm sure he told you and Keiki a lot," Yachie said, sending Koji a smoldering glare. "But if you'd like to hear more, I believe Reimu's doing nothing of importance. I'm sure she'd love to go over what Koji told you."

For his part, Koji sent Youki a pleading glance. The boss was going to kill him!

"I may just do that." Youki replied, not noticing his plight. "You have my thanks, Yachie."

The moment the swordsman was out of sight, Yachie yanked the otter into a private room.

"Boss, I-" he tried.

"You had no reason to be in Keiki's territory, and even less to tell that god anything." Yachie snarled. "Explain. And leave nothing out,"

Yachie's use of her ability was unnecessary. The glare would have been enough.

By the time Koji finished his tale, Mt. Yachie had quit smoking, at least. Which wasn't to say she was happy with him.

"I find myself at something of a loss," she admitted. "Your actions were idiotic. The idea was wrong, the execution was worse, and your actions were insubordination bordering on treason... and yet your hairbrained scheme worked out."

He said nothing. It seemed like the safest bet.

"The details you leaked are strategically unimportant, but yielded measurable gains. Reinforcing Youki's gratitude and Keiki's concession on otters moving through her territory, are in fact relevant." Yachie mused. "I'd call your 'plan' worthy of the Keiga... but with recent events, perhaps there's some value to that. On rare occasions."

"Does this mean I'm not being sent to the front lines?" Koji asked.

"Of course not, that would clearly be a waste of your unique talents." Yachie grinned. It wasn't a pleasant smile. "You will be the first member of the Kiketsu Special Forces."

"The what?!" he blurted out.

"A new branch, for those dangerous missions that require a unique touch." the boss sentenced him. "Such as scouting out Gouyoku territory to see how Yuuma's recovering."

Entry 4 - Kosuzu

Hey! Komori here! As Koji's poor decisions have gotten him in trouble (Really, he should have known better!), Asami has reassigned this whole audio logs business to me. Which is great! Rei-Rei, there won't be any more teasing, I promise. No, I have to use the nickname, I’m not supposed to call you your full one, it’s a rule, remember? But really, I think it's great that you have all those plushies, and not just because of the informational advantage! It's adorable, and entirely appropriate for a child your age.

(Ah, she's blushing! So cute!)

Anyway, Kosuzu's a red wolf puppy with a bell on her collar. I know, I know, wolves are supposed to be the Keiga thing, but she really does act like a puppy! When Rei-Rei was playing with her, Kosuzu was always cute and harmless, always happy to be included, to watch others play danmaku, and nosing her way into any business she could just to be part of the group. This apparently got her into trouble a lot! She's one of the two main plushies (Akyuu was the other one) who never actually played danmaku herself, and she'd always be wandering off looking for a book, or for her friends, and then youkai would attack or she'd get lost, or she'd fall into some scheme, and Rei-Rei would have to save her! She was Rei-Rei's own little damsel in distress!

The other way Kosuzu's cute and puppy-like is how happy she is! She is basically irrepressible. Even right as she's being captured, or some wicked youkai has her claws in her, she might get scared, but she'd still be like "It's okay, Rei-Rei will save me!" And of course, Rei-Rei would save her, she'd drive off the bad guys with Genjii, and Kosuzu would instantly be super cheerful again, getting a hug from Rei-Rei, and she'd be safe and happy again, right up until the next time she got herself into trouble. And of course Rei-Rei would save her again, then Kosuzu would get a hug, and some pets, and Rei-Rei and I would set all the plushies up for whatever the next incident was going to be!

No, Rei-Rei, it's not embarrassing! It was perfect for a child your age! It still is! We haven’t played in ages!

Anyway, Kosuzu also really loved hanging out with her friends when she wasn't getting into trouble. Akyuu was the one she'd hang out with the most - she was the other non-combatant, but they were close friends too - but she was also happy to hang out with Rei-Rei, or Marisa, or anyone else, really! Again, she was always friendly, always happy, there was basically nobody she disliked... it's another way she really was the cutest puppy! Ahh....

Ahem. Anyway, we don't have much information about Kosuzu as an Immaterial Child. The most likely source is the Mootori’s with their bookstore, considering the plushie's notable love of books, but the real thing hasn't shown up yet. Maybe if we can scrape together enough stories from Rei-Rei's memory, we could spread a book that would draw her attention?

Don't worry Rei-Rei, your name wouldn't be included. There's nothing wrong with a child playing, but you're a secret, after all!

Oh, that reminds me! To better establish Kosuzu's character, I figured we could re-enact a typical scene with the plushies! Now, I've got Kosuzu and Akyuu here, I think we can let Youmu be the villain, and you've already got Genjii, so-

Wait, Rei-Rei! Where are you going? Come back!

Entry 5 - Akyuu

Komori here again! And this time our focus is going to be on the last of the IC plushies, Akyuu! Learning more about the youkai in Gensokyo people already know about doesn't seem as important. I'll have to ask Asami, but that... might make this the last entry?

What are you thanking God for, Rei-Rei? Oh wait, is this a miko thing? Is it practice? You're always so diligent about this stuff!

But getting back to plushie-Akyuu, she's adorable! Forget the color scheme, she's an otter plush, with a flower motif! (Although, I'll admit, purple looks better on an otter than I thought it would. Stupid eagles ruining a perfectly good color.) And like a flower, her job is to just stand there and look pretty.

Okay, that's a bit of a stretch. The thing is, like Kosuzu, Akyuu's not a fighter. She stays back, drinks tea, and watches everyone else having wacky adventures. The thing is, unlike Kosuzu, Akyuu's basically never getting into trouble. The bad guys don't target her, and she doesn't wander out after dark or crack open suspicious books marked "DUn'T READ ME, iM KURSEd!!!!" (Yes, Rei-Rei wrote it out that way! I saved the warning sign, it was too good to throw away!) Every once in a while, maybe she's in a group that comes under attack or something, but by and large, she just gets to chill.

So, if she's not a fighter, and she's not a damsel in distress (except very occasionally), how does Akyuu get to play? Well, there's all those tea parties and innocent scenes. In fact, it's how I know Rei-Rei's listening when the boss is going on about refinement! Akyuu's manners are immaculate. She drinks tea with her pinky out, never confuses the salad fork with the dessert fork, remembers everyone's names and titles, and generally does all those proper young lady things! (You'll get good at them too, Rei-Rei, I know you will!) She'll even lecture Kosuzu over some of them, brushing crumbs off her and telling her how to be a proper guest. Kosuzu kinda gets annoyed at that, which is pretty much the only time Kosuzu ever gets frustrated, but never for long, and they're always friends again by the end of the tea party.

(Though I wonder... perhaps the red puppy should have been a red and white puppy? At least for those play sessions.)

But that's not to say Akyuu doesn't come out for more serious quests too! She might not be involved in combat, but she's really good at figuring out what's wrong and telling the others where to go. Sure, sometimes it's obvious, like Marisa stealing Youmu's swords, but other times, especially if Yukari the axolotl is involved, it gets sneaky. And Akyuu has an amazing eye for detail. She keeps picking up the smallest little hints, and Rei-Rei was pretty creative with them! My favorite was when she pointed out the Suika plushie was a little bit smaller right before the sake got mysteriously stolen, which meant she split part of her off to go and nab it! She's also got a teeny bit of a mischievous streak; every once in a while she'll play a small joke on the others, like swapping the covers on Kosuzu's books. She pretty much never gets caught. Rei-Rei had a running gag for a while where Akyuu kept blaming it on Marisa, and it kept working! (Though Marisa did get her back in the end.)

And as far as the real thing goes... well, she's been found. Akyuu Inaba is the Child of Miare, and is living as a moon rabbit at Eientei. The first publicly known Immaterial Child. I'm not really sure where things will go from here... whether she'll stay at Eientei, or go back to the Hieda household. I hope she stays. Being a cool animal youkai has to be way better than being human, even if it's not an otter. Supposedly she’s got a sister named Reisen, so hopefully that's enough reason for her to stick around?

That got a little heavy... I guess that's it, huh?

...

Rei-Rei? You don't have to, but... do you want to play? One more time? I'll turn the recorder off.

...

Really? You're the best!

*click*

((Spoiler warning: This omake contains moderate spoilers for the plot of Urban Student in Limbo.))

Kudamaki Kiiro froze as the mirror turned and a youkai stepped off of it.

Maribel.

All at once, memories from his past life flooded down on him, carrying him away on their currents. Memories of a different name, a different life, a different world. Of being Greg, not Kiiro. A human, not a tube fox. Living in Japan, not Gensokyo.

He remembered Sumireko, his first friend, the one who'd brought him out of darkness. He remembered Satori, her mind reading, her gentleness, a kind soul stranded by an unfair reputation. He remembered his magic, the illusions, the enchantment, and all the other odds and ends he'd tried in the process of discovering where his skills lay. He remembered his trip to Gensokyo, the danmaku, being injured, being kidnapped... even finding love, or at least the possibility of it.

Try as he might, he couldn't quite remember how it ended. Had Satori felt that way for him, or was it just his own wishful thinking? And for that matter, why were his two lives so different? He looked much the same, age and foxy features aside, but name, background, species, family… all of those were completely different. He had no explanation for those differences… nor why he’d woken up in the past at all, really. (He was pretty sure it was the past, at least. His knowledge of Gensokyo’s history wasn’t great, but it was enough to compare dates.)

But most of all, in this moment? He remembered her. Whether she called herself Maribel or Yukari, Greg would never forget what she did to him, in any lifetime.

Which made it all the more distressing that Yukari was here now. And he didn't have Sumireko, or Satori around to help. Heck, he'd take Sakuya or Patchouli right now. And he wasn't in his body- or well, he sort of was, but he should be older, taller. The ears and the tail felt wrong, for all they also felt right. He'd lived as a human, not a kitsu- kuda-gitsune. He'd dealt with worse, he just needed a few minutes to get used to it - but he didn't have a few minutes. Yukari was here now.

He put a hand to his chest, trying to slow his breathing. It's fine, it's fine, she was probably here for Reimu... wait. He glanced over. Wasn't Reimu supposed to be the name of the Hakurei Shrine Maiden? And human as well? Wait, the disguise ring was meant to let her pretend to be human. If she was wearing it all the time, it's conceivable that she could have pulled the wool over everyone's eyes, especially if she had Yukari backing her.

Was that why he and Sumi had gotten such a vicious reaction for bothering youkai? Gensokyo had been rigged against the humans from the start.

"But I have to say, young Kiiro, I'm impressed. I didn't expect you to have such a firm grasp of coding languages."

He startled at Yukari's voice, and barely managed to keep his own level. "It's the same concept as magic, really. The rules might be intuitive, but they're consistent once established, and it's a matter of knowing what pieces to black box and which ones you need to dive into. It also helps significantly that the program was well made. Commenting and well-named variables increase the readability of a program significantly."

"Oh? A firm understanding of magic as well? That's commendable in one so young."

He looked down, heat rushing to his face. If she would just talk to anyone else! "Nothing worth speaking of, just a few odds and ends from books," he managed. "I'm just a tube fox, after all."

"Now, now. My dear Ran is one of the most talented magicians around. For you to keep up with her work at all is quite commendable, little Kiiro. And for that, you've caught my interest."

Oh no.

Yachie exhaled, smoke leaking through her nose. "So I finally find a candidate who might fit, who Reimu doesn't reject on sight, and you're already trying to compromise him?"

"That's right!" he said, jumping into the conversation. "I'm sorry, but this job is really important to me and Mom, so I can't do anything to risk it."

"You needn't worry about that," Yukari smiled, sending chills down his spine. "I'd just like to see your skills flourish, so I brought you a gift."

He gulped, glancing over at Reimu - was she really just looking at herself in the mirror?! "You really don't need to-"

"I insist." She brought out what was clearly a spellbook, its yellow cover embossed with gold, and all but radiating magic. "This is... an instructional book penned by Yakumo Ran herself. It contains detailed descriptions of many of the spells her fox magic can cast, as well as numerous applications and optimisations of each. And even further, it includes a bunch of reference material on all things fox-related."

It was remarkably good bait. He'd been struggling with the kuda-gitsune tricks in this life, so anything that could help with that, some way to make him more useful to Mom would be good. There was probably some trick in there, some unexpected 'feature' of a certain spell, or maybe even all of them that would bind him to her... but his understanding of magical theory was far better than the gap youkai knew. As long as he didn't cast anything directly from the book, if he just reverse engineered the spells within and took care to cast his own variations, ones he'd designed from the ground up and fully understood, surely that would be worth the risk? He could be a magician again.

He hesitated, reaching his hand out when Reimu spoke. “Really, Yukari? Even for you, having something that convenient strains credibility.”

Yukari shook her head. “I understand your confusion, but it’s misplaced. There was a time when I was looking at creating another kitsune shikigami, after the first worked so well - but I’ve found shikigami work best when recruited and trained from a young age. So this book was intended to be reference material for said young kitsune to learn from, before formal training began.”

His hand shot back as if stung. Recruiting and training shikigami from a young age? Grooming some poor child to be her personal slave? Had he forgotten who he was dealing with?!

There's always a choice, Greg. In fact, you get to make one right now! I didn't come here just to reminisce, I have an offer for you. What do you know about shikigami?

She wasn't just here for Reimu! She wanted her hooks in him. Again!

Yachie sighed. “Does that mean you hope to make Kiiro a shikigami? I imagine his mother would have some rather strong objections.”

Yukari hummed. “Doubtless, but that's a concern for later. I do believe he has strong potential as one... but any plan to do as such would be well into the future. Like I said, this book’s more of a well-detailed primer than anything else.”

He looked at her, frozen in disbelief. She was openly planning his future enslavement right in front of him, not even trying to make a secret of it! And the others were barely reacting to it! Admittedly, the youkai present were essentially a mafia crime family, but still!

...wait. They were a mafia crime family. And regardless of what Tsukasa could provide, that paled to the power and influence of Yakumo Yukari. Maybe they didn't care. And if that was the case, Yukari could take him right now, and he could do little more than scream. He was surrounded by youkai far stronger than him, literally in the middle of their stronghold. Those were impossible odds for a stupid tube fox. Even if he had all the magic he remembered, if he could cast a veil, he had no illusions of being able to hide from Yukari. If she tried to take him, he was doomed. Simple as that.

His breathing quickened as Yukari approached, holding the book low in front of the Kuda-gitsune. “Little Kiiro. Would you like to borrow it, for a time?”

She must not think he knew. It was the only explanation; Yukari seemed to be going for a soft sell, and flaunting an atrocity made no sense alongside that. That was a potential opening; he just had to take the book, pretend he didn't know, and never touch it or its magic.

[ } Take the-

Reimu blinked. The book sailed through the air, crashing to the floor and skidding to a stop against a wall. Her gaze shot back over towards Yukari, frozen with her empty hand and blank look of shock, and the fox backing away from her. Pale and trembling, breathing in shallow gasps as he retreated, horror and determination mixed on his face.

"N-never." He swallowed, hands shaking. "It doesn't m-matter what you offer. Never."

((To be clear, the setup for this omake series is that the USiL protagonist, Greg spawns in in Kosuzu's place. His memories extend roughly to the current point of USiL's story, perhaps slightly further. He has no idea what IC's are, or why he woke up in a different body, and nobody else is expecting him at all. The other IC's are in their canon positions, with the exception of Kosuzu who is just somewhere else, well out of the way of this story.

I'm not going to tell the full arc from beginning to end, but I think I'll hit a few highlight scenes here and there. Depending on how this goes, I may do omakes for other crossover IC's in the future. We'll see.

Oh, and while this hasn't come up in USiL proper yet... Kiiro is in fact Greg's birth name. He is currently unaware of this.

Finally, thanks to Kosu for the art! Mini-Tsukasa-Greg came out really well.))

Chen reacted first, scrambling over to pick up the book. Yachie and Reimu were both watching him, their eyes wide. And Yukari... Yukari had gone completely still, frozen in what was doubtless calculation.

"Kiiro..." Yukari hesitated, looked back at the book, "why-"

He started laughing, a shrill, frantic sound. "Did you think I was ignorant? I know what shikigami are! How did you think I would react to that enslavement ritual?!"

Yachie frowned, a puff of smoke escaping her. "Is that how Tsukasa described it?"

"Mom has nothing to do with this! This was from my research, something I studied." He had to convince them how bad this was. He had to. "Magic's a passion of mine, even if- even if I can't cast much as a tube fox. But this isn't something anyone sane should ever touch."

He put his hand to his chest, trying to calm his breathing, trying to sound authoritative. "It was from an old journal I found about mental magic. There were a number of interesting tricks in there, a couple of which I could even use... and then an entire section warning against the shikigami ritual that Tamamo-no-mae created. Declaring it in no certain terms to be an abomination and a war crime."

"Shikigami aren't like that!" Chen cried out, cradling the book to her chest. "Lady Ran and Lady Yukari would never do such a thing!"

He almost snapped at Chen before he placed the name. "Oh. Oh right, you're Ran's shikigami, aren't you." He winced, shaking his head. "I-I'm sorry. Your life must be- I’m so sorry."

The cat was speechless at that, and he used the chance to regain some momentum. "Regardless, the book was very clear on this. Once created, the shikigami cannot disobey orders. The original personality fades away, bar whatever pieces of it are useful to the shikigami's programming. The original person is for all intents and purposes dead, replaced by a magical slave loyal only to their master."

"No!" Chen yelled. "It's not like that at all!"

"Of course you'd defend them, you can't do otherwise!" he pointed out. "The shikigami does what their master wants. They can't disobey, they can't fight back, they can barely even talk back. That's why it's slavery, that's the entire point!"

"But it isn't true!" Chen hesitated slightly, her knuckles going white around the book as she stared him down. "I-I've disobeyed Ran before. Even though it was important."

"Did you? Or does your programming make you think that because it didn't work out, because you weren't fast enough, strong enough, smart enough? And even if you did, even if some small piece of your soul resisted... that's your biggest regret." It was a shot in the dark, but from the way Chen flinched, it looked like it landed. Kiiro leaned in for the kill. "You'd give anything now to not have failed your master before. To have been the perfect little servant."

"Enough." Yukari stepped in between them, and he recoiled, falling back to the wall. Throwing this all in Yukari's face was a step too far. Was this where he died?

The gap youkai looked down at him, closing her eyes with a heavy sigh. "Chen... let's go."

"No!” Chen snarled, bristling. “We can't let him think-"

"Chen!" Yukari raised her voice, reaching out for the shikigami.

"No!" she shouted, lunging.

There was a flurry of movement, Yukari yelped, and suddenly Chen was right on top of him.

"There!" she said, her face inches from his. "Could one of your stupid slaves do that?!"

Kiiro looked past her to where Yukari was holding one of her hands with the other, framing a semicircle of tooth marks and a trickle of blood. Had Chen just-

"You bit her?"

"You see?” Chen rubbed at her mouth. “I don't have to obey!"

Had Yukari planned this ahead of time? No, unless he was completely misreading this, he'd surprised Yukari, and then Chen just had again. So was it because the cat was Ran's shikigami, not Yukari's directly? Or maybe an overriding order to convince him however necessary?

Kiiro stared at the catgirl on top of him, at a loss for words. The book was clutched to her chest in one hand, as her other gripped his shoulder hard enough for the claws to pinch. Her face was red, tears peeking out in the corner of her eyes. If he didn't know better, he'd conclude this really was important to her personally... but that shouldn't be possible.

"Enough!" Yachie said, her tail flicking. "I'm convinced you both believe you're telling the truth, but whether shikigami are slaves is too important a question for he-said, she-said."

Kiiro opened his mouth to object, but Chen beat him to the punch. "But it’s not true!"

"And you are sorely mistaken if you think yelling louder is going to convince me.” The Kiketsu leader shot her a glare and the cat flinched. “Regardless of your personal feelings on the matter, if you interrupt me again, you will regret it. Am I understood?”

Chen looked away. “... sorry.”

Yachie let out a deep breath, releasing a puff of smoke as she turned back to him and Chen. "Now. Clearly an amiable working relationship will be difficult with that accusation hanging overhead. And as such, the first priority needs to be establishing the truth about shikigami.”

But that was giving Yukari a chance! Kiiro grit his teeth, but nodded. What else could he do? Objecting here would make him look like he was the liar!

“And while I would prefer to handle this in-house, Keiki does own a substantial magical library of her own. One that neither Yukari nor Tsukasa should have had any reason to touch." Yachie blew out another puff of smoke as she looked over to the gap youkai. “Yukari. You are to stay here to ensure that remains the case. There are some matters that need revisiting.”

Yukari seemed to only half be paying attention to Yachie, despite the intensity of the jidiao’s glare. “Of course,” she said distractedly.

The Kiketsu leader once again returned her attention to him… but there was an extra force to it this time. "Kiiro. Chen. The two of you are to head to Keiki’s library and research what shikigami are. Then you are to return here and report exactly what you've found. Do I make myself clear?"

No, Kiiro wanted to scream. He wanted to argue more, to prove that shikigami were a terrible thing, no research necessary, but somehow he couldn’t find the words. There had to be something, some slip Yukari had made, some proof of the monster she was… but looking into Yachie’s slitted pupils, he couldn’t think of it. He could barely think of anything.

But maybe… if he found those books… that would be enough proof, right? A-and Chen would have to help, Y-Yachie's ability would stop her from doing anything else. He trembled as the order sunk in, seeing Chen do the same.

"Yes, of course!" he said at the same time Chen stammered her own affirmative.

He looked over to see how Yukari was taking this... but she was silent, raising no objection, not even looking at him. Did Yachie’s ability allow some sort of authority over her? Was he safe? No, it couldn’t be that easy; Yukari was too strong, and she wasn't the type to give up at the first setback. That realization snapped him out of his fugue, and Kiiro scrambled to his feet.

And he thought that would be it when Reimu finally spoke up. “Mama, may I go with them? If shikigami are a bad thing… I want to see for myself.”

Yachie’s gaze softened for a moment. “Very well. But as a neutral observer, understand? You are not to sway the results.”

Reimu nodded. “I understand.”

Yachie favored her daughter with a small smile before waving them off. "Then go. Reimu knows the way."

Kiiro couldn't get out of the room fast enough, pausing outside to catch his breath. He held a hand to his chest, trying to steady his heartbeat while Chen caught up.

The cat looked as flustered as he felt. "D-does it feel that way when Ran orders you to do something?" he asked her.

Chen shuddered. "No. It's not like that at all."

He looked at her in concern. "A-are you going to be alright? You attacked Yukari!"

"She’ll understand." Chen shrugged. "Worst comes to worst, she'll just put me in time out for a bit. I'll be fine."

Just put in time out... Kiiro's heart clenched at the thought. Chen was sad, alone, and under the control of someone who cared nothing for her. And she didn't even see it as anything wrong! She was a brave little thing (even if they were the same size), and he wanted to offer her some comfort; a hug, headpats, anything... but she didn't know him, and wouldn't welcome that sort of affection from him. But all the same, he’d be betraying his own memories if he didn't try to do something.

Greg paused to grab her hand and really looked at her, even as Yachie's order pulled him towards the library. "Don't worry, Chen. We'll find proof of what shikigami are, find the truth. And once we do... we'll take it to Yachie, Keiki, whoever we have to.” He hummed. “Considering Yachie brought us tube foxes in as outside experts… maybe I can talk her into getting Satori involved?"

Chen seemed taken aback and a little embarrassed. The cat had opened her mouth to reply when Reimu belatedly exited the room, the door squeaking on its hinges. Kiiro dropped Chen’s hand, silently cursing the jidiao’s timing. Getting someone to open up about a problem was so much harder with a third party. But there was nothing for it now.

“That was a bit of a delay,” he observed. “What took you so long?”

“Yukari just wanted to ask me something,” the miko said, not meeting his gaze.

“Like what?” he demanded.

“Just what I thought about something,” she said, trying (and failing) for casual. “Something that as a neutral observer I shouldn’t be talking about.”

That was another dodge, and he was about to press her on it when Chen interrupted, tapping his shoulder. “Hey Kiiro? Why’d you suggest bringing Satori in?”

The sudden switch caught him off guard, and he stumbled over his words. “W-well that’s because… her ability would be perfect here. Reading minds is an amazing way to verify whether someone is trustworthy, after all.”

Having regained his train of thought, he nodded, warming to the idea. Chen was basically a pet already, this would just be giving her a better home. “It’d be easy to get her to come, too. Simply mention there’s a cute animal youkai in distress and she’d be more than happy to help. She’s way more benevolent than people think.”

Reimu narrowed her eyes. “When did you run into her? There’s no way Tsukasa-”

“It’s a long story.” he said, deflecting. He’d forgotten; tube foxes and mind readers generally didn’t mix. “Point is, so long as we can get the truth out there, it’ll work out somehow. How’s that saying go? ‘You will know the truth and the truth will set you free’?”

Chen and Reimu both stared at him, for long enough that he was worried one of them was going to call him on it. Finally Reimu shook her head, incredulous. “The truth? Are you sure you’re a tube fox?”

He sighed, giving her a wry smile. “Mom always said I was no good at being a kuda-gitsune.”

For just a moment Chen seemed… almost relieved? She shook her head, eyeing him with a look of steely determination. “He could be right, though. If we can’t establish the truth beyond doubt… one of the Third Eyes might be exactly what we need.”

_______ Reimu had to admit that shame was not a… prominent part of her vocabulary as Kicchou Reimu walked through the library where she felt best, changing direction seemingly at random as she followed her instincts in search of the missing fox. She actually recalled that oni Hermit saying something to that effect during some barely remembered event, something about air tubes? Anyways, when your method for dealing with defeat in an incident is to show up the next morning for another go… maybe they had a point?

Though Reimu thought that might be why Kosuzu had kept catching her off guard throughout the few hours that they had since being reunited. Why Kosuzu’s reactions couldn’t tip off Kicchou Reimu that something was wrong, why the little fox’s sudden dash into the maze of bookshelves had caught both her and the kid by surprise. But really, even then Reimu couldn’t make sense of it.

Since the confrontation with Yuuma, Reimu had wondered how each of her friends would handle becoming a Youkai… and honestly she thought Kosuzu would have been the least of her worries.

Marisa? …Well that was a kettle of fish that she would worry about when Kosuzu wasn’t hiding from her. Youmu? She was half-phantom in the first place, and was the constant servant of a ghost princess. As long as there were swords involved she would be fine.

Akyuu had also been someone _______ had worried about. But when the letters from Akyuu began coming in, with an undercurrent of life and enjoyment between the information shared, with things like complaining about how she disliked the morning workouts she had been doing on the moon and yet from her words somehow had yet to drop the habit, now doing them with her sister, the worry had been eased on that front.

And Kosuzu? _______ had been very aware of how nearly blase the young girl had been to the risks of her reading hobby. So Reimu had been relaxed about how Kosuzu would take being a youkai, especially after the tea party, when she had asked Asami what had happened.

Less than five minutes.

There had been less than five {clam-sucking} minutes between when Kosuzu had left the sight of those in the lobby and the point in which the fox had planted herself in the middle of the Kiketsu Family’s most valuable secret… she had walked through the {Sheep-bait} defenses like they had never existed.

Then just a short time after being handed a tome of fox magic, (By Yukari! Because Kosuzu had caught her attention somehow, which _____ was not{not} jealous of, so stop thinking it kid!) she was slinging spells and ideas from it like she had always had it!

And then she had neutralized Yoshika without alerting the other guards, got the three of them into where Yumemi was being imprisoned, and to top it all off, faced down Seiga head on, and with Yumemi not just held her off (and the wolf spirits that were there as well!) but knocked her out!

And yet…

How many times so far had Reimu heard Kosuzu call herself a useless tube fox just this morning? How many times had Reimu seen her friend try to assume the blame fell on her if the slightest thing had gone wrong? How many times did the little fox try to deflect and push others away? (Heck, Kosuzu had even mentioned being told she was eating too much before the tea party, which bothered ______ for some reason that she was having problems recalling, something to do with Marisa…? Had Kasen given her and Marisa a lecture about tube-foxes for some reason? Maybe once Kosuzu had been found Reimu would borrow a book on Tube-foxes before she left.) And just now, blamed herself for the results of her grandfather’s attempts to help her…

What was it about what Kosuzu could do as a tube-fox, Kitsune, Inari, or whatever, or has done that was to be ashamed about??

Kicchou paused as she heard Yumemi calling out for Kosuzu as she went.

There was a possible source of a couple of Kosuzu’s reactions, but _______ was hesitant to consider it. Even with how many memories she was missing _______ had the feeling that even with her memory restored… there still wouldn’t be anything that she could draw on regarding how a parent acted. But even then as Reimu thought back to the previous hours of the day, how Tsukasa didn’t even glance at Kosuzu when she had come into Kicchou’s room. How Tsukasa demeaned Kosuzu’s capabilities with Kosuzu standing right there, how her friend quietly admitted that she could see her mother send Seiga after her and the rest of them for just some chance to schmooze up to their enemies. There was no way Kosuzu should have ended up like she was now, {unless something truly dreadful had happened to her.} Tsukasa did manipulate and disparage people, {but it was behind their backs, and she surely wouldn't be doing it to her own daughter!} Whomever was at fault, Reimu swore was going to seal {claw} and exterminate {BUR-}

Reimu had to shallow the sudden flare of heat that had surged up her windpipe and coughed out a plume of dark smoke… it would not do to have Kosuzu upset for some scorched books on top of everything else right now.

The problem was that _______ just didn’t know how off such actions were for a parent. The only things she could draw on were Yachie’s actions and care for the kid and Keiki’s actions for Mayumi that she could observe, and some patchwork memories involving feeling eyes on her and seeing a hand reach out from a gap to usually nab some of her crackers…

Actually, speaking of that feeling, Reimu stopped as it came over her and she turned her head towards the gap that appeared in the air beside her…

This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.

Keiki’s library should have been amazing. And, at first it had been. Three stories, beautifully carved metal shelves, tasteful marble flooring… from appearance alone it blew the school library Greg vaguely remembered out of the water. And that was before getting to the contents - this place was stocked to the brim with books on every subject imaginable. Finding books on shikigami hadn’t been hard. Chen had practically dragged him to the section on magical theory, and had pulled out six books on the topic in under thirty seconds.

Shikigami - Empowering a Loyal Servant. Symbiotic Magical Bindings, Vol II. Sharing My Head with Me; an Autobiographical Account of Life as a Shikigami. Gaining Magic - Calculating Acceptable Risks. A Study on Mental Gestalts. Nippakigami - A Complete Guide to Autonomous Constructs and Servant Augmentation.

It had been Kiiro’s first clue something was wrong. Only two of them had contained the word “shikigami” in the title, and Chen had barely needed to look at the others. They were still relevant - the table of contents did reveal a chapter on the shikigami spell, but the shikigami hadn’t even opened them to check. And that could only mean one thing.

She already knew what was inside.

He’d torn open the books to check for himself - he had to - but all of it was wrong. Every last book!

Minds working in synchronization, beneficial relationship, servant, not slave, trust between the shikigami and the master - every last reference kept repeating the same ideas, the same propaganda! He’d figured maybe it was just the references Chen had found, that Chinese Robber fallacy thing. It had to be - maybe Keiki’s library was so full of magical references that you couldn’t swing a cat without hitting three books on shikigami, and she was just finding all the doctored ones…

Except… except he couldn’t find anything. He’d been looking, tearing books from the shelves, checking titles, descriptions, table of contents, indices, anything- but somehow there was nothing! Somehow, Yukari had already planned for this, replaced or modified the books in here… in the restricted section of a god’s library all the way down in the animal realm… despite clearly being surprised when he’d called her on the shikigami spell being enslavement in the first place.

No. He couldn’t even convince himself of that, let alone anyone else. Maybe a more general measure, then? Something to give her cover for having Ran as a shikigami? But why bother? The gap youkai clearly didn’t give a damn of what people thought of her, why go to these lengths?

“I’ve got more!” Chen said, dropping off another armful of books. “These three have a chapter on it, the book on mind magic has two, and the others don’t have a dedicated section, but there’s some references in the index.”

“I can’t make heads or tails of these,” Reimu said, scowling at the tomes in front of her. “What’s the quickest way to get the full picture?”

“Zanmu’s book is entry level,” the shikigami said, “but ‘A Study on Mental Gestalts’ is still approachable and has an excellent chapter on the interplay between the original personality and the shikigami.”

Another eight books. That made what, twenty-six now? He shook his head, sucking in quick, shallow breaths. Why didn’t matter right now. He had to find something. There had to be something! B-because he was gonna have to report to Yachie what they’d found, and they were gonna tell Yachie it was fine to make him a shikigami, that e-enslaving him was a good thing, and then Yukari was going to…

“Hey! Are you okay?” Chen’s face popped up in front of his, looking concerned.

“Better than I will be after we report back.” He tried for cavalier, but it just came out sounding defeated. “A-at least Yukari will be pleased with you… maybe you’ll avoid being put in time out.”

“But this proves shikigami are fine!” the cat insisted, grabbing him by the shoulders. “So you have nothing to worry about!”

“I know what I saw!” he pushed her away. “The original personality is left as nothing more than a voice in the back of its own head! Powerless to do anything but watch the shikigami fulfill all its orders, no mercy, no hesitation! A-and no way for anyone else to hear your screams.”

“No!” Chen growled, tears in her eyes. “Yachie told us to find proof, I found proof! You wanted to find the truth, well here it is! Shikigami have nothing to do with whatever horror story Tsukasa told you! And even if it did exist, Yukari would never use something like that!”

His hands shaking, he clenched them into fists and stared her down. “But she’s here for me specifically, isn’t she?! She wants to take me away from Mom and make me hers!”

Reimu started protesting at that, but her words didn’t matter, he barely even registered them.

Because Yukari’s servant was staring at him, completely stunned. Another truth he wasn’t supposed to know, that they were sure he had no way of knowing.

He started laughing. “Iiiiin the red corner, the youkai of the gap, the sage of Gensokyo, Yakumo Yukari! And in the blue corner, a half-baked tube fox!” He laughed harder. “Wouldn’t that make great television? The strongest youkai in Gensokyo, chasing down a pathetic gutter fox to the end of the world!”

The concept was too much, and his laughter got even more out of control, abandoning any pretense of not being hysterical as he doubled over.

A splash of flame across the tiles startled him, and he stumbled back, looking at Reimu. The jidiao took a deep breath, the smoke leaking from her mouth slowing to a trickle. “Kiiro. What happened between you and Yukari?”

That was just it. It wasn’t like he could just tell her the gap hag traumatized him in a past life, they’d put him in a mental institution! Right before a gap opened inside his padded room. A-and with Yukari having already doctored all the evidence - or whatever she did - there was no hope of getting Reimu, or Yachie, or anyone to believe him!

“What does it matter?” he demanded, grabbing onto her. “The Kiketsu won’t throw away Yukari’s assistance for the sake of some stupid gutter fox - and it’s not like me or Mom can offer anything to compete with her! And she’s not gonna stop - she’s never going to stop, there’s no escaping her!”

“The whole reason we hired you-”
“She’s not like that!”

Both of the girls protested, talking over each other. He didn’t even think they were lying. Chen’s expression was pained and Reimu’s fierce, but both were completely earnest, pleading with him to reconsider. It was no comfort; he knew what Yukari was like, even if they didn’t. His head in his hands, Kiiro closed his eyes, feeling the urge to shrink down, find some small corner to hide-

There was a yelp followed by a loud thump behind him, followed by a series of smaller thumps. Turning around, he saw a red-robed woman with a mask sprawled out on the floor, covered by a small avalanche of books. It was jarring enough for the three children to just stare at the prone figure, their previous trains of thought momentarily derailed.

He shook his head and rushed over, pulling books off the fallen woman. “Are you alright?”

“I’ll be fine, but thanks for the help.” There was something wry to the woman’s tone as he pulled her up. “It’s nice to run into a proper gentleman down here.”

Reimu sighed. “I take it you’re Ichi? Why were you trying to hang upside down from the bookshelf?”

“Youkai make it look so easy,” she groaned, brushing herself off. “But anyway, you kids have been at this for a while-”

“We’re still looking!” he said quickly. “There’s a lot to sort through, and we want to make sure we do it right-”

The red-robed woman put her hands up placatingly, speaking gently to him. “Easy, easy, it’s nothing like that. I just overheard your discussion getting a little too intense, and figured you all could use a break. This is a library, you know?”

Reimu narrowed her eyes. “Right, and you showing up is pure coincidence. Does Mama even know you’re here?”

He could hear the smirk in Ichi’s voice. “What she doesn’t know might just help her. As it so happens, I was looking up a book. One you might find interesting.”

He shook his head. “I-I don’t have time! Need to keep looking, h-have to find the real shikigami spell!”

She pulled a slim volume out of her robe. The Rise and Fall of Tamamo-no-Mae. “As in the version of it that Tamamo-no-Mae invented?”

“What?!” Chen cried.

Ignoring the outburst, Ichi held out the book to Reimu. “I’ve bookmarked the relevant pages.”

Kiiro and Chen both scrambled behind Reimu to see for themselves as the jidiao began to read.

“‘During her reign, Tamamo-no-Mae kept a number of powerful youkai and humans as both servants and personal enforcers. She was using the harshest and most controlling of several spells competing for the nomenclature of ‘shikigami’ at the time, but noted several deficiencies in the spell’s function, and planned to wholly remake it. Her primary desires for improvement were to turn it from a potential liability into insurance against attempts to assassinate her - not only creating an unbreakable version of the spell, but including embedded orders for slaves to go berserk in the event of their master’s death. Several of her letters to M. Iizunamaru over this time period include her plans to redevelop it - though it appears this research was largely shelved with the birth of Shirohime.’”

“I’ve never heard of this,” Chen said faintly.

“This is it!” Kiiro jammed his finger at the page. “That’s the spell, look, the next paragraph-”

“I’m getting there!” Reimu snapped, taking a deep breath before continuing. “‘Though she would eventually return to her shikigami spell, it was only in response to the nascent Hakurei Goddess’ lightning campaign to dismantle the Great Fox’s power. As a result, the fears of liabilities in her current servants would prove to be fatally accurate - with several of her lieutenants being freed from her servitude and promptly turning their blades on her. She still did achieve a few recorded cases of success - T. Inaba describes a chilling account of one of Tamamo’s slaves being ordered to cut off his own fingers…’” the jidiao hesitated, “‘and his unquestioning obedience.’”

There was a moment of silence at that, with Chen looking sick and even Reimu seeming unsettled. “So it was a real spell?”

“Not just was, is!” the fox youkai insisted. “The spell did get finished, I’ve seen it!”

“Slow down there, hotshot. There's a second bookmark there for a reason,” Ichi said.

Reimu coughed, looking relieved as she flipped forwards towards the end of the book. “Um… ‘When it came to magic, and innovation in general, the wicked kitsune was a genius of the first order. Many of her spells were centuries ahead of her time, with some still in use today. There are even reports of her forces using rudimentary hand-held firearms in her final battle. But in the wake of the Great Fox’s defeat, the Hakurei took great efforts to destroy or suppress her remaining research that hadn’t been published. One of the most notable efforts to do this was with their popularization of a very different, far more benign spell that would eventually become the accepted definition of ‘shikigami’ - indeed, Hakurei-affiliated accounts of the final battle seem to attribute significant parts of their ultimate victory to the Goddess’... turtle servant?’” the jidiao seemed a little dazed, reading the next sentence in a faint voice. “Uh, ‘when there is compelling evidence to suggest he may have only become a shikigami significantly later.’”

What? No, that wasn’t how it went! Tamamo-no-Mae’s shikigami spell had been finished, and everyone knew about it! Patchouli and Sakuya had recognized it, and with the grief the mage had been giving him, she absolutely would have called him on it if there was another definition around. Even Yukari had admitted it was practically unbreakable!

“‘Some historians bemoan the loss of Tamamo's research,’” Reimu continued, shaking her head to clear it, “‘with extreme estimates suggesting that some fields of magic study could be a century ahead of their current developments if Tamamo's efforts had been preserved. Others have thrown doubt onto the Hakurei's official accounts, suggesting that the destruction of the research was merely a front to suppressing a past association - in alignment with speculation that the Hakurei Goddess' origins could be traced back to Tamamo's court. However, one universal truth is agreed upon - had Tamamo's version of shikigami become the common form, the word would be an ashen taste in many mouths today.’”

Hadn’t Tamamo-no-Mae survived her assassination? Kiiro vaguely recalled something about her taking another identity - could it be the Hakurei somehow? Or… wasn’t there a story about her making it to the Animal Realm? There had to be another fox that picked up the idea, whether an inari or fox spirits or Ran Yakumo herself, it couldn’t just be-

“So that’s where Tsukasa got it from,” Chen muttered.

“Why do you keep trying to blame Mom?!” he growled. “I’m telling you, I’ve seen it!”

The nekomata shook her head. “Kiiro, I… didn’t know about this, but this still explains it. The enslavement spell she told you about was real… but Tamamo-no-Mae’s work is gone. It’s not what shikigami are, and it’s not what Yukari meant.”

“No!” He made a grab for the book, pulling it out of Reimu’s hands as he flipped through the pages. “That’s not how it went - there has to be more!”

“What do you mean that’s not how it went?” Reimu asked, frowning.

He hesitated. “I… uh-”

“Because it wasn’t,” Ichi said. “Not in his first life.”

He just about dropped the book. “How-”

“First life…?” Chen gasped. “He’s an Immaterial Child?!”

“...Not one I’m aware of,” Reimu said, biting her lip. “Though it would explain a lot- wait!”

The jidiao turned on him. “Kiiro, do you know anything about pyres?”

He flinched. “Pyres?”

“The black flames!” she demanded, leaking smoke. “Right when you died, do you remember seeing black flames?!”

He shrunk back, seriously off-balance. Ichi somehow knew he was from another timeline, and somehow Reimu and Chen’s response was to start going on about ‘immaterial’ children and black flames? And talking about when he’d died… but he’d had a first life, so s-something must have ended it.

“I… I don’t-” he shook his head, trying to remember.

“Let him be, Reimu,” Ichi said. “Kiiro doesn’t have the answers you’re look-”

“I did die, didn’t I?” he realized. “There… there’d been a big fight, everyone was already freaked out, and…” He swallowed, glancing at Reimu, “someone died. And then…”

There had been a moment of silence, of disbelief - everyone had expected the shrine maiden to get back up, to declare another spellcard - but she just laid there, motionless. Kasen had screamed Reimu’s name and ran to her side. Produced a little wooden box filled with liquid, frantically saying that it was going to be okay, Eirin was nearby, she just needed to drink this and hold on…

She’d lifted the girl’s head up, poured a little in her mouth, massaged her throat to make her swallow… and the moment she moved her hand, the corpse’s head flopped back lifelessly. And then she’d started weeping. Crying and pleading with Reimu to get up, Gensokyo needed her, she needed her, please get up… He’d looked away, unable to watch, but then there’d been a scream, a howl of despair, and then… black flames.

“It was the end. Y-you could feel it after she caught fire. Nothing anybody did could stop it, and the fire just spread and spread, and… everything burned.” His voice broke and he looked down. “...including me.”

“Greg.” Ichi’s voice cut through his dark thoughts. The red-robed woman knelt beside him, putting her hand on his head. “Just… listen: ‘Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.’”

She knew his old name? A-and that was a Bible verse! Kiiro stared at her in shock, his voice coming out in a whisper. “How do you know all this? Are… are you a satori?”

“It’s kind of my job,” she said gently, taking a moment to ruffle his hair. “I am human, it’s just I’m also a… soothsayer. I’ve got a pretty good idea of what’s coming.”

Like a prophet? It sounded absurd on the face of it - even for Gensokyo, predicting the future was… well, a supernatural ability. And yet, she knew he came from another world, she knew the name he’d had there, and she even knew he was a Christian. Things that should have been impossible for anyone to guess; he’d only remembered his past life minutes ago.

“Then… do I…”

Her arms wrapped around him. “It’s going to be okay. The next couple of days are going to be rough, for all of you… but it’ll end well. The truth will be revealed, you’ll be safe in your mother’s arms, and you’ll never be a shikigami. Ever.”

It was impossible. H-he barely knew anyone here except Mom, and they were up against Yukari! And yet… and yet she sounded so sure, and pulled into a hug like this, he could almost believe her. He knew better, it was just that… he needed to believe her. He needed something to hold on to.

“You promise?” he asked weakly, barely a whisper.

“Of course I do.” Ichi murmured, one arm holding him tightly against her as the other reached up towards his head.

Instinctively he flinched away, but the expected pain didn’t come. All he felt was a gentle touch that started along the top of his head, tracing its way between his ears and down the back, a smooth gentle sensation that made him shiver, that felt comforting even as it mixed with loss, a sense that something was missing.

“It’s going to be okay, Kiiro.” Ichi’s voice was as calming as her touch, as she repeated the motion. “It’s going to be okay.”

The flinch lessened with each repetition, even as the weight in his chest grew. And yet… despite the sadness he couldn’t place, despite the sobs that started to escape… the boy believed her. That somehow, some way… maybe things would be alright.

So i finished Redo/Reimu's first arc recently and I had the thought:
>How can I make this about me?
So as I was finishing up writing my JJK/Touhou crossover fic The Premature Burial IncidentI thought:
>Hey I know how I can make this about me?
>The Reimu from the end of TPBI gets reincarnated instead of R/R Reimu, that's genius! (Of course things have to be changed so she dies.)
And so I went to writing straight away and ended up completing this in a fever, if you don't mind me being self centered and writing recursive fanfiction crossover.

Crossposted on ao3

Reimu caught herself before she hit the shag carpet, a lifetime of fighting instincts drilled into her catching up all at once as she got onto her feet. Immediately her mind began to piece itself together, two lifetimes: one as the Hakurei of the outside world, an orphan child burdened by fate, and another as the silent 'princess' Kicchou family. In the first she remembered a death, horrible and bloody but the last thing standing between the four assassins and their goal. Then in the inky blackness between reincarnation they had been found by two fading lights.

They, Reimu, Satoru, Marisa, and Suguru, were the last hope of another, dying world. Reincarnated heroes from another world.

Reimu grimaced, somehow phrasing it like that gave her the distinct impression Meiling would have burst out laughing if she was speaking aloud. Her heart dropped, Meiling was dead as well, and they hadn't seen her when they were reincarnating

She was already regretting taking whatever bargain they made.

The room around her was intimately familiar but of no use, she knew where she was, a building, on a hill, in hell. An ironic place to reincarnate in, but she didn't have time to inspect the room, she needed to make sure her Cursed Technique was still working in this new body, shelled, horned, and tailed as it was.

She walked over to her room's pile of plushies, pointedly choosing a green dragon she had named, 'Meiling'. Off the top of her head she remembered her Cursed Technique's three most basic techniques: fuse, phase, and sever.

She picked up another plushie, a black raven named Suguru, and placed it up against Meiling. She closed her eyes, trying to sense the cursed energy in the air only to find it bereft. Reimu felt annoyed, new world, new rules. Frustrating.

She focused on the word 'fuse' alone and pressed the plushie together harder. When she opened her eyes they were stuck together, no seam appearing where their sides touched. She tried to pull them apart to no avail, then she focused again on the word 'fuse', her cursed technique–no–abillity deactivated, leaving her with two plushies again.

Phase went similarly well, with Reimu harmlessly passing her hand through the plushy. That part was even easier than before with no cursed energy to 'weigh' her down and encumber her phasing. But when she tossed the plushy into the air and chopped it, the Meiling plushy failed to separate into two.

It impacted the floor harmlessly, the little dragon looking up at Reimu as if she'd hurt it somehow. Reimu ignored it and returned both Suguru and Meiling to the pile. Severing without cutting was the most difficult of the three basic applications, and her Cursed Technique had changed into something else as well, although she could keenly feel that it still worked on the same principle of manipulating the gaps between all things.

She nodded to herself and started for the door, only to realize that she hadn't organized her memories of her new life.

She was a Yakuza's daughter, a youkai, and a–

Reimu cut off the thought process as she felt bile rising in her throat. Her past life rebelled against it.

She decided to get dressed instead, walking over to her closet and forcing it open with a loud thud. She raised an eyebrow. What she found wasn't surprising, but it was still distressing. An endless parade of the same annoying too restrictive school uniform combined with a few dresses her mama had picked out for her.

Reimu grabbed a dress in disgust and headed for the cloth scissors, she felt lucky mama had spoiled her with all sorts of things, notably a couple kits for making doll clothes. Actually now that she thought about it, without much training or youkai hunting to do she had ended up pretty interested in the arts. With the knowledge of this life, combined with what Marisa had taught her about fashion in her first, Reimu immediately went to work fixing the school uniform.

One of Yachie's many nameless, but trusted, otter servants scampered towards Reimu's door ready to make sure she was dressed and awake for breakfast. Even if they were going to put her right back to sleep after breakfast. Then right before he reached the door, it slammed open, hitting the wall with a bang.

"Ah!" The otter scampered back, his eyes widening as he saw the matriarch's daughter.

She was wearing something that he could tell used to be one of the uniforms Yachie had picked out for her. Only Reimu had seemingly taken some fabric scissors to it, cutting the red jacket into something like a crop top and detaching its sleeves which had been cut open at both ends while her scale pattern had been changed to a red-and-white, and red ribbon accentuating her horns. Although the most worrying thing was that her expression somehow seemed 'blanker' than usual, staring the otter dead on..

"Ah, Young mistress."

She nodded to him, paying him the barest amount of attention as she passed him.

Shaking himself out of shock the otter scampered to her. "Oh, I love what you did with your shell!"

She offered him a non-committal grunt, crasser then her usual polite nods, causing a chill to run up the otter's spine.

He put it out of his mind as they arrived at the dinner table, scampering away into the kitchen as she sat herself down.

He stumbled, taking a moment to realize what he had seen, leaning against the countertop as the chef looked at him. He didn't know if Reimu becoming some sort of punk was a good thing or not. For the longest time they had all been afraid for her sake, with how passive she was. Sure she was elegant like her mother, but she was totally lacking in the traits needed by the Kiketsu Matriarch. She didn't seem to understand her fellow animal spirits, and understood the humans even less. Of course that was only when they had asked for what she thought about the situation, the rest of the time she sat there.

When Yachie has coaxed her into being more verbose her plans were simple, poorly thought out, and generally absurd with little regard for reality. As well as a surprising softness towards humans. Really she seemed a bit dim, pathetic even, cute, and far too naive. Of course it wasn't like they hadn't tried to teach her, she actually did quite well at tactical lessons, but not strategic and trying to reach her things outside of her comfort zone was like pulling teeth. Shogi, hopeless. Business fronts, her eyes glazed over. Booby traps, she hadn't even tried. Her disguises had somehow been even worse, if only because of her horrible sense of fashion that caused Yachie to hand pick everything she wore. It was a mix of passive resistance and interest in the wrong parts of the things they tried to teach her.

Yachie had been the most worried out of all of them, biting her nails, letting her scales and hair dull. Which had a noticeable knock on effect on the rest of the gang.

Finally he turned towards the cook. "Did you see her?"

The cook deposited three bacon strips onto a plate as he turned down the temperature of the eggs with his off hand. "The princess? No."

"She's dressed like some type of punk."

That caused the cook to pause for a moment, before sliding the eggs onto Reimu's plate."Good for her."

"How do you think the boss will react?"

The cook shrugged, taking a bottle off the counter and turning to the green tea. "Dunno, it's not exactly a good time. Either way, with this special blend the princess will be in back in baku-land soon enough."

"I-uh!" The other otter jumped as he saw something emerge from the wall, tugged on his compatriot's arm as he landed.

The cook wobbled mid-air, almost toppling over as he held Reimu's breakfast in one hand. "H-hey, wait!"

Only for him to freeze as he saw what the other was looking at: Reimu Kicchou, the Kiketsu princess half inside the wall and staring them down with her famous poker face.

Reimu nodded herself as she looked at the newly conceived otterball she had made by twisting the two otters into a knot, fusing their skin together where it touched. Really she was starting to see the appeal of the 'using-youkai-as-raw-materials-thing' Marisa always talked about, although maybe that was just the new artistic 'her' she had been reborn into. On the other–otter–hand, the whining, shocked gasps, and panic of the aforementioned otterball was grating.

The thought of how funny Meiling and Marisa would find the joke caused her frown. She tilted her head at the otterball, Suguru might disapprove since he only superficially disliked youkai and he disliked unnecessary violence as well. She rolled that over in her mind. Well they were bad people and it'd wear off on its own so it wasn't like there was any point in undoing it now, besides it was convenient to interrogate these two in this state. Besides they were probably traitors, or something.

"Princes, I, please what did we do?"

Reimu slammed a hand down on the ball, squishing them slightly as he other hand went to grab another strip of bacon. "Talk."

"I-I, but we're."

Reimu felt anger rise behind her forehead. Satoru and Marisa were always the ones who handled that sort of thing, they could understand people in a way she had always struggled to. After a moment longer of thinking, she decided on what to say: "About the tea."

The otters gulped. "Well my lady..."

The otterball explained it to her as thus: the other gangs didn't know about her–which seemed reasonable, Yukari had kept her secret for a year when she had adopted her in her first life and she had more reasons to be kept secret in this one–but they had noticed that there was some-thing in particular that her mama was protecting, and some light show from across the sanzu from someplace in the world of the living had alerted them to her location. Apparently there was some place called Gensokyo there but Reimu couldn't make heads or tails of what this 'land of illusion' was. Reimu nodded at their explanation, taking a step away from the table.

The situation certainly seemed grim, with the tiny green guitar pick of Kiketsu territory and the neighboring reservoir under the control of enemy factions. Of course, it was a problem for Reimu was well, sure assumed the light show the otterball described was some sort of signal for her, of course to Reimu the only person dumb enough to create a signal that would also signal her out for their enemies, but was also smart enough to pull something like that off was Marisa. So she decided to blame her, either way if she was going to get to its source and meet up with everyone else she'd have to get through enemy territory and to the bank of the sanzu. At the very least mama was already moving in that direction, but she wasn't in the mood to get drugged and hauled around as cargo.

"Please, princess."

"Don't. Call. Me. That."

The word felt like scolding hot needles against her skin, before the feeling was doused by a tide of emotions she couldn't put a name to. Princess was the embodiment of her new life, the one that only existed so she could complete her quest and then live it as she pleased. It was the embodiment of her relationship with her mother, the always quiet and beautiful Reimu bearing with her mama's whims. It hadn't always been like that, she had been ruder, more opinionated, but none the less elegant. Nearly the opposite of her relationship with Ran or Yukari. Then she had asked about her father, then mama had used her ability on her. It had only happened once, Yachie making it so Reimu 'lost the will to fight back', but afterwards she had entirely given up on the woman, there was no point in opposing someone who only saw you as a tool, no use in opposing someone who you were helpless against. After all that Reimu had never felt in hardship in her life up to that point, never done anything without being waited on hand and foot.

Reimu felt disgust for her own sake at Kicchou Reimu, during her first life she had already been battle hardened many times now and now at the same age this second life hadn't even developed the barest shred of self-efficacy.

Now she had a goal, saving the world, finding her friends, finally living the life she wanted to and either way both Reimu's had already given up on mama, mother, Yachie, 'that woman'. Reimu nodded to herself, that last one felt just right. If this new life existed to give her a second chance, then that woman had already played her part in facilitating her rebirth.

She ignored the two Otters, finished her breakfast, and looked at the blank wall, staring through it in the direction of the sanzu, and started walking.

"Wait! Reimu!"

She made sure to pocket the sleeping medicine on her way out, it may not be a convenient means to kill by forcing someone to drink a lethal dose was her only way of killing people that didn't involve getting all bloody right now.

Traversing the streets, waterways, and buildings of the Animal Realm had been easier than she first thought it would be. Well either way most didn't exactly have a way to deal with a red-and-white blur moving fast and phasing through buildings. Of course that still did leave a rather conspicuous trail, but apparently whatever large battle that was happening between that woman and the taotie was keeping both of them too busy to find her. It reminded her of the time she and Marisa had been able to pit Yukari and Okina against each other.

Just the way Reimu liked it.

Although she avoided swimming when she could. She was surprisingly bad at it for a dragon turtle, but the weird comfortable sensation it gave her was–Reimu shuddered–Disgustingly comfortably.

Right now, she was hopping through windows and across low–by a city's standards–rooftops, cutting through the air using her phase to eliminate air resistance and occasionally phasing eagles into buildings or turning them into eagleballs.

She pursued the city streets below her as she jumped again and froze mid-air, her momentum carrying her onto the next roof, as she caught a glimpse of familiar white and green.

'That man' was standing there in an alleyway between two buildings, holding a hand to brace his back as a surly eagle spirit verbally assaulted him.. Actually, she had already classified someone in her mind as 'that man', Reimu nodded to herself and reclassified Youki as, 'that assassin'. Either way the harmless act he was putting on. Besides, dogs like him only answered to their masters, meaning that villain Yuyuko was probably up to something like killing Yukari. The only thing that didn't fit was the lack of Roukanken and Hakurouken. Reimu blinked. With both the Hakuroken and this Roukanken-look-alike, while the old man was unarmed she could take him, she really could. This wasn't the venerable old man from her last life, this was a desperate old man doubled over in pain, half dead already. Reimu allowed herself the faintest hint of a smile.

She disappeared down into the shadows, flitting between buildings as she kept her ears open. She needed more information.

Then the assassin mentioned something about dropping his 'tools' into the waterways below them.

Reimu sank into the ground, and entered the waterways. She turned her head at a forty-five degree angle as she failed to recognize the sword that was paired with the Hakuroken but went for them nonetheless.

In the next moment she shot up from the water.

The eagle spirit fell into the canal, vertically bisected.

Youki's eyes narrowed as Reimu landed across from them. "Careful with those sword, you don't want to hurt yourself.""

The electric lights blazed above, casting the city in perpetual twilight as the two stood across from each other. On their left was a monolithic skycrapper, it's shadow falling down onto Youki while Reimu stood at the corner of a three way intersection. To their right was the canal, one of many that crisscrossed the city merging into underground waterways and passed over by countless highways, and on the other side of it was another monolithic skyscraper. All of that was to say Reimu had the terrain advantage, there were plenty of places for her to phase into and nowhere for the assassin to hide.

"Konpaku, right?"

The oldman kept one hand on the wall, another on his back. "Should I know you?"

"You and your friends killed us." She still remembered their names, Youki, Toji, Medicine, Koishi, although the last names were lost on her. The assassin looked confused for a moment. For Reimu, it was somewhat aggravating to have to take revenge on an evil-doer who didn't even–or rather, hadn't in the first place–done the deed she was going to execute him for. Either way, she was doing this for her own sake.

The old man laughed and steadied himself. "I suppose I'd have to run into one of the Immaterial Children eventually, I just didn't think it'd be as an enemy."

Reimu ignored whatever nonsense he was blathering, it was just like Yukari or any other adult she had dealt with. All you had to do was not respond and they'd tire themselves out eventually.

"Die, Konpaku."

The assassins had cost her more time than she anticipated. Especially with that somewhat embarrassing moment when she realized she couldn't use the Hakuroken properly, for some reason. Either way she had dumped the old man into the canal after laterally and vertically bisecting him, making sure to destroy the brain like Yukari had taught her. Although she wasn't sure if this world also had the medical knowledge to turn people's brains carnivorous and transplant them into a new body.

But you could never be too safe.

Either way, the not-Roukanken was doing wonders for Reimu's time since she had started running across objects that were 'dense' enough to where she couldn't just phase through them. It probably had something to do with all the sculptures made by this world's version of Keiki. That thought caused Reimu to smile, imagining Jujutsu High's arts teacher as some sort of god was funny, what was next Miss Margatroid as the daughter of satan, Mister Yaga as some sort of samurai? It was a bit interesting how even across worlds Keiki was still playing around with dolls, she assumed the other two would be the same.

Of course that fact that the not-Roukanken had helped her still hadn't stopped that Taotie from showing up. Which the burning trucks, destroyed buildings, ruined clay statues, and god-of-arts-and-crafts could all testify to.

"So,' the Taotiei growled, "I'm guessing you're her secret, I didn't imagine she'd be one to have a brat."

Reimu shrugged. Well she supposed it was now or never, Suguru did have a similar ability to the Taotie. "Do you have a son?"

"What?"

The goddess seem similarly surprised, well Reimu supposed this was all natural really, none of them had any reason to think she existed.

"Daughter?"

The goddess had gone to her statues, rebuilding them as the Taotie stared at Reimu incredulously.

"NOT EVERYONE HAS A SECRET FAMILY?!"

Reimu shrugged and drew the roukanken. This looked like it was going to be a harder fight. She had wanted to try out some proper battle techniques.

"Vertical slash."

As Reimu trotted along the beach of the sanzu she thought about how shaking that self-proclaimed-god off was harder than she thought, luckily her and theHaniwai had taken enough of a beating on Reimu's behalf that she could still make a clean break. Really she had no idea why the sculptor had thrown herself in the way of the Toatie's attack, but it's not like it mattered. On that note, the Taotie had been even harder to fight than the old man, but with the old man's sword, this annoying yin-yang orb that appeared mid-way through the battle, and a lethal dose of sleeping medicine she had been able to incapacitate the Taotie. Really what sort of power was 'take of the properties of what you eat', even Suguru's cursed technique was more convenient than that.

Although she supposed that this whole, red-and-white yin-yang orb was going to be a problem. She didn't exactly like having its pattern branded on her–shell–back like some mark of ownership and it had been dragging down her phasing with how 'heavy' it was ever since it appeared. Well she could always smash it and wherever shrine it came from, as long as it wasn't important and humans didn't get hurt it would probably be fine.

She shrugged, casting those thoughts away as she took off her socks and shoes, bundling them up into a clutch of fabric she had stolen from that sculptor god. Even if this wasn't a beach of earth, it would still be nice to feel the sand in between her toes. It was a comfortable sensation that reminded her of her old life, namely the last moment of peace she had, where she and all her friends enjoyed a slow day on the beach.

Trying to cross the sanzu by flight hadn't accomplished much, leaving her with not much to do except walk around and try to bum a ride across. She looked down at herself, her modified uniform had been torn and stained red. She'd have to get replacements when she found the others. So, she started walking down the bank in the opposite direction of the beach house.

Eventually she spotted a small collection of figures in the distance, surrounded by what looked like cairns. Reimu supposed even hell had to have graves somewhere.

Slowly she approached the figures, being able to make them out more clearly. They were child sized ghosts and phantoms, feebly lifting stones to stacks while at the center of them a blonde girl perhaps two years younger than her looked on with kind eyes as her jellyfish tentacles assisted the other children.

"Hello miss."

"Hi, I'm looking for my friends. Their names are Satoru, Suguru, and Mairsa."

The small girl shook her head. "Sorry, I haven't seen anyone by those name. My name is Eika."

Remi nodded. "Nice to meet you."

"Do you want to stack some stones?"

Reimu shrugged, she had nothing better to do. "Sure."

He fell alongside the spirits, carefully stacking stones while taking sequitous routes to avoid knocking any other towers over. It was rather repetitive and Reimu found her heart rate slowing. The new yin-yang orb following her made it a bit awkward, but she made it work. Slowly she became aware that she was falling asleep, she supposed she was pretty young, earning her a pat on the back from Eika. Then, a loud voice called out over the Sanzu.

"HEY! HEY! YOU! RED-AND-WHITE GIRL!"

Reimu stood up, as the little ghosts around her and Eika scattered. Floating towards them on a boat was a pink haired woman who Reimu supposed was a shinigami. Really the woman didn't look like anything she suspected. Just what she was looking for, a way across the sanzu.

"Sorry Eika, I have to go."

"It's okay, Reimu."

She nodded and trotted to the edge of the water where the pink haired woman met her.

"Where'd ya' get those swords?"

"Konpaku."

"I'm guessing he didn't exactly hand you those."

Reimu rolled her eyes. "Obviously."

The pink haired shinigami leveled her scythe at Reimu. "So, how about you hand over those and come with me, the Yama wants to see you."

"Okay." After all there was no reason to exist, and the Yama probably knew what was going on. Besides, it had been a long day and she was awfully tired. She climbed into the Shinigamie's boat and fell asleep.

Really, you could get used to sleeping anywhere after one lifetime of fighting youkai on multi-day to week-long investigative missions.

Several hours later Reimu trotted out of the Yama's office with just as many answers as she expected but not as many as she hoped. She had more or less figured out the difference between this world and hers, namely that–aside from no cursed energy–the Yukari of this world wasn't a failure who had gotten herself turned into a piece of living infrastructure. Instead she was some annoying lonely old youkai woman who had succeeded in creating Gensokyo.

While interesting it wasn't immediately relevant, the more important facts were that Yuyuko wasn't a bad guy, on the bright side she had ended up slitting open the taotie anyways–thinking about that was making her hungry for goat–Reimu hadn't cared to argue about the swords and handed them over to the Yama to give to Yuyuko. Now she was stuck with just these annoying go-shintai, which apparently she wasn't allowed to dispose of.

After that they had gone to hashing out what exactly this 'immaterial and missing children incident' was about, and telling the Yama who exactly had come along with Reimu. Marisa was more or less expected alongside her–apperantly–but Satoru and Suguru weren't. The latter was especially worrying for the Yama, Reimu didn't really understand that. From what she had seen of him his behaviors were the least disruptive, sure the ability to consume and manipulate youkai was dangerous but Suguru had it and even when he was a human consuming youkai didn't seem to have any drawback.

Eiki has mentioned sending her back to 'her mother', but at Reimu's protest about going back with that woman, being raised by a youkai criminal, Eiki relented, after all it was the only point she cared to argue. Although it wasn't like she particularly liked or disliked that woman, they just didn't have a relationship and Reimu preferred to avoid her. So she was given a new pair of clothes and told to wait until Eiki got off work. Really the Yama seemed quite resigned to taking care of Reimu, not that she expected anything else, she knew that she had been a constant source of stress Yachie–that woman–so it wasn't surprising she'd be a pain in the side for the Yama as well.

As she looked back at her old life, Reimu couldn't help but wonder if she had been a burden to the others either. True Marisa was the first to die and she was the last, but there was a niggling doubt in the back of her brain that she couldn't quite shake.

Soon enough Reimu found herself at the court's dock, facing out towards the waters of the sanzu. She sat down on the edge of the dock, her feet dangling above the sanzu, the wet air hitting her face. Aside from the hustle and bustle of the damn this place really was quite relaxing and there were plenty of unused rooms in the court to slink away into. She decided that if she didn't have any direction to move she'd just have to keep an eye out while relaxing in the Yama's court. She'd spent sixteen years as someone else's weapon and now twelve years as a doll. Now if only she could do something about being a turtle.

Well she supposed Marisa and Suguru would be able to do something about it.

"I wonder what the others are doing?"

Freeloader in the Yama's Court
Reimu
Humanity: high (self proclaimed)
Instinct: -5

I only read the first arc of R/R so I'm not sure if this is the right amount of instinct for her, but the point is she rejects the circumstances of her birth totally.