[X] Did something just phase through the shrine wall?!

You blink and look again...mmm...you could have sworn you saw... You quickly shift through the few ofuda you have on you and bring out a detector one. This style of ofuda was one of the first that mother showed you how to make, you place it on a surface and the symbol on the paper changes a different color depending on what type of energy it feels. You march over to the shrine wall and slap it on...ahh damn it! Dark blue...a spirit. Dealing with spirits is a tricky business as until you can identify why it is hanging around you are always flying blind. You duck back into the shrine to gather some things.

The back door opens a few minutes later and you step out. You are in full shrine keeper mode, the modified keeper outfit (for close combat fighting) mother made for you is spotless and your hands are wrapped and ready for use. These are not just any hand wrappings however as these are the same wrappings that mother used when she was learning the first fighting style of the Hakurei, also know as the Hakurei Divine Motion style. When she judged you competent enough in Divine Motion these hand wraps were her gift to you. You lift a fist in front of you and smile. What a gift! These wraps had been soaked in 2 generations of Hakurei blood and now were now stained blood red beyond cleaning and they had holy properties. Simply touching these wraps would burn lesser youkai and a normal human using them could leave damage on even the thickest hide. When in use by a Hakurei like yourself the effect become largely amplified...still you hoped you could deal with this spirit without violence.

You set up a small ring of 5 stones and place an ofuda on each one, Haven, Earth, Holy, Youkai, and on the stone in front of you you place the now blue detector ofuda. You place a blank ofuda in the middle and start to pray. This is a simple summoning ritual but rather then trying force the spirit out of hiding it is more of a soft tug. If this doesn't work you will have to more on to stronger methods. You keep this going for 1 minute...then 2...then 5. And you never halt in your praying, just pray and wait. Many spirits are often shy or suspicious s

Home is where the Donation Box is

So this is my first story here so let me give you a little info. My stories will have a simplified skill system that is based on what you encounter in the story itself. After all no point in spending points in paper mache if you never get the chance to use that skill right? Let me show you how it works.

At the start of any story I make something like this will show up.

Name: (What they are called)

Gender: (Male, Female, and so on)

Age: (How old they are)

Description: (What they look like)

Personality: (How they act)

You are stepping off the bus, you have arrived at the college campus you will be teaching history classes at for the year. As you walk among the buildings trying to recall the lecture hall you were given your mind wanders. You remember the events leading up to this point.

You recall acing your SAT s in sophomore year of high school and getting bumped up a grade. You remember the countless hours of studying you dedicated to the history of the world. You remember denying yourself a social life to further your goals. You remember working your damnedest to get into Yale and graduate on the dean's list.

You remember the soul encompassing feeling of satisfaction when you graduated a year early and on TOP of the deans list. Now here you are. At the same place your grandfather taught history for thirty some odd years. You fulfilled your promise to him. You took his place so he would always know the students he cared so much for are getting the quality education they deserve.

… so why do you feel so…

disappointed?

After all, you're the youngest overly qualified teacher in this school's history. That's a hell of an accomplishment… right?

As you ponder your emotions you find your lecture hall. 'ah well.' you think to your self. 'after I teach for a while I’ll probably get right in the swing of things. I'm just a bit jittery on my first day.' when you open the doors an unexpected sight greets you.

A woman in a rather poofy dress is sitting by your podium. Before you can say anything she looks at you and stands up. She strides over to you in a way that you might call predatory. She looks at you strangely, her eyes almost seem to glow. After a while you decide to speak up but she interrupts immediately. “when your students arrive I’m going to help you play a prank on them.” she says in a casual manner. “what do you mean?” you ask.

Hey folks! New here to Touhou-project, and I've been sitting on this idea for a while. Will be posting it here, hoping for some good fun. Now sit back and enjoy the show!
______________________________________

Leaves crunched under my feet. I held my head up, staring straight on, looking for some kind of path to follow. Anything to take me back the way I came. A few glances around. No, nothing. The only way to go was forward.

The dark forest taunted me. Each passing second stretched on for an eternity. My shaking body never stopped. Fear and anxiety overtook me.

“H-hello?” I tried to yell. I wanted someone to come save me. “Is there anyone there? Hello?”

It felt like there was someone there. Someone beyond the thicket that had their eyes on me. If I didn’t keep walking, if I didn’t say anything, whatever was there was going to devour me.

Keep walking. Had to keep walking.

My legs moved, but my eyes didn’t. They were still fixed on the black between the leafless trees. Autumn air assaulted my face.

I am Kogasa Tatara. I am a karakasa. I have a serious issue.

I stand before the Myouren Temple today. There's this person I like, you see. but I don't know who to turn to for advice. Who should I ask?

[ ] The pretty Head Nun(Priest? Priestess?) Is always so helpful with these things, but can she really help with romantic advice?

[ ] That plain girl is nice, and she might be able to help. But that big, scary pink guy is supposed to be really nice, too. I might learn how to be scary AND get romantic advice if that's true!

[ ] The sailor girl is usually really fun to talk to! The thing is, I have no idea what her romantic advice would be like. It might be bad, but it also might be REALLY good, though.

[ ] Kyouko is a rock star, so she's surely had to deal with romance at some point. The 'sex, drugs and rock' lifestyle she leads might actually help here!'

[ ] There's supposed to be another girl here. She's kind of mysterious, though. I hear she's actually a mother, though, so she might be of help here, since she apparently knows enough to have a kid.

[ ] The big-sis tanuki is always giving me advice! And alcohol! A great combination! Maybe I can learn something from her AND get the confidence I need!

Not another story. But not exactly a one-shot.

====

“Oh, Myouren? What are you practicing now?”

Byakuren peeks over her brother’s shoulder, hunched over his own hands.

“Byakuren? I’m practicing some new magic for the upcoming journey. Some of the monks have been wondering what to do if some of the men in the village get lost.”

Stretching his prayer beads over his two forefingers for Byakuren to see, he wraps the beads over his ring finger and pinky. Then, he lets go of the beads with his other hand. The beads seem to jump from the first two fingers to the others.

Byakuren laughs. “That’s just a silly trick, isn’t it?”

Her brother does, too. “That might be. But this isn’t.”

It's been three months at least, I've been pestered with ever dwindling hope and enthusiasm, and I myself doubted I would continue this. And yet, here in /shrine/ I find myself posting a long-overdue update! Now try not to cuss me out for being slow too much.

---

I find myself waking up in the arms of a beautiful, naked woman after a night that felt more like a dream than anything else. In my case I'm being dead serious. The pleasure I felt and the fact that I was going at it with Letty really did feel like it was little more than a pleasant dream, especially since my sleep schedule is only now starting to shift to something more along the lines of what a normal person might have. ...Then again, the exertion last night might account for why I'm feeling sleepy and unproductive. I try to get out of bed to get myself cleaned up, but find that there are two problems with this: One, I apparently managed to join together with her in my sleep, and two, she's got a tight hold of me. I can't argue with the sensations and find myself wanting to sleep a little longer in her arms, but at the same time I can't just let myself be bound up in a pot of honey all day, no matter how nice it feels.

I shift my weight to at least roll myself toward the edge of the bed, but all that does is put her on top of me. Her soft body is pressing down on mine even harder than before, what with gravity assisting her own unconscious physical force, which is complicated yet further by the fact that she's running her tongue along my cheek. She nuzzles my neck a little bit after that and sighs in contentment. All that combined with her radiant warmth makes me wonder how in the world I'm supposed to get up from this.

...Though when I try to think about it, I can't recall anything pressing planned for today. I think I can let myself be swayed just this once...

...

Alight on the front porch, knock once, twice, three times~ "Ivan!" I call out to that leadhead once I do, and find that after a few minutes there's no sound of footsteps coming up to the door. I put my ear to the door just to make absolutely sure, and sure enough all I

"Hey, Sekibanki!" I call, spotting a familiar face in the crowded market street.

"Oh, uh... Kogasa, wasn't it? It's been a while," the floating redhead replies. I fall into step beside her, my umbrella shading us both from the hot afternoon sun.

"What happened to the rest of you?" I ask. She sighs.

"To make a long story short, I got in over my head," she says. I resist the urge to roll my eyes. "Dr. Yagokoro told me to take it easy."

"That doesn't sound too bad."

"In Eientei. For a month."

"Wait, seriously!? What did you do to yourself!?"

"...I'd rather not talk about it," she says with a grimace.

Day in, day out, it's always the same thing.

At the crack of dawn you're already up and en route to the village. It doesn't take long to get there when you can fly, though you try to stay low to the ground as you draw closer so as to not attract attention. Before entering the village you hide any obvious signs you don't belong and amble towards the store.

The man in charge is a geezer, as far as you're concerned. He always insists that he has a lot of life left in him, but you know better. People all die eventually, though you hope he hangs around for a while yet. After all, if he dies then you'll need to find a new job!

Anyway, after running into the old man and getting your morning greeting you get straight to work. It's not easy work, though the only hard part is settling for something so boring. These days you have the whole thing down to a routine, where you sweep after every ten or so customers that come through.

Occasionally the old man breaks his routine by having you sweep after a particularly messy guest, or by interrupting the constant breaks you allow yourself by having you help a customer get something off a shelf. Sometimes he even has you load what they bought into a cart for them, or sends you to help them carry it to their house!

None of that matters, though. The only thing that matters is when she comes through.

Every other day she stops in, usually carrying meat and vegetables she already bought elsewhere. Most of the time she'll just look at the old man's wares while talking to him, only occasionally buying something. Those are the best days, since you get to volunteer to help her carry whatever she bought.

Today is one of those days.

“Hey~”

I continue to sweep the path. The newcomer’s voice is a routine and, as usual, she’ll swoop in and start talking whether or not I acknowledge her greeting.

“Hey!!”

She crashes right next to me. Leaves, branches, and other oddities in my neat pile are spread all over the path. My work is gone, but I don’t even blink. I’m used to it.

“Hi, Marisa,” I mutter, beginning my sweeping anew.

“Reimu, have ya heard about the ghost girl?”

I shrug noncommittally. Her greeting is abrupt, and follows a train of thought that I am not privy to; however, I have no need to ask questions, because she’ll just tell me everything.

“A little girl ‘as been showin’ up at night, terrorizin’ villagers.”