>>24010 Depends on who you ask
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[x] Leave Suika alone
I stayed still and said nothing as Suika slunk away in the distance.
"Well that should keep her busy for at least fifteen minutes." Reimu mused out loud.
"What does she have to do?"
"Oh, not much. Just wax and polish the wooden floors for a bit. Hopefully she'll do most of the shrine, these floorboards have been looking dull lately."
"I see." Not really. I didn't know Suika that well, but I thought that that was a silly punishment for her. She would probably sneak off and get too drunk to function properly.
"It's enough that she thinks that she's being punished." As if reading my thoughts, Reimu told me what she thought of it. "It's a start. And with her, that's all that I can hope for really." Then she smiled mischievously, "If she ends up making things worse somehow, I've always got this." She shook the gourd. "She can't hold out forever without it."
Something about the way she put it made me believe that she was the type of person that would stick to her methods to the bitter end. Must be how she copes being on her own.
"Well," I started to change the topic, afraid that it might drift into my own responsibility for this situation, "when does this party start? Suika's made me work, but she's left out the most important detail."
"Who knows?"
"Huh?"
"People in Gensokyo have the worst timing. It could start in the early evening or it could have started yesterday. And if Suika's the hostess, then it gets even worse."
"Well, it is your shrine, isn't it? I suppose you set some limits and standards on them."
"You'd think so," Reimu looked at me with a bitter look showing this was a sore topic, "but it wouldn't change anything. They wouldn't listen to anyone in this world but themselves. I just draw the line at not having my shrine destroyed. Anything less than that I can deal with as it comes up."
She sighed. Then she offered me some tea, and I agreed. I was beginning to suspect that her 'quiet time' sitting alone and drinking tea were a way to deal with the unpleasantness of daily bothers.
"Free food and drink isn't so bad though." Reimu stated a bit more cheerfully after taking her first sip from a freshly brewed batch of tea. We were sitting in the same room as before, alone. "I make sure that nothing comes out of my pocket anymore. Otherwise I'd have to eat dirt and rocks with the way
they consume."
"Heh." I laughed politely, but I could tell that there was a tiny grain of scary truth behind her words. "Who's coming tonight anyways?"
"Ah, I don't really know to be honest. But let's see...."She paused, taking another sip from the tea; I took a sip from my own, "Marisa is definitely coming. And if I know her, she'll probably bring along company. Then there's Suika's other friends. I suppose they're coming. I know that that nosy bird will probably be along, calls this type of event 'vital to the society pages' or some rubbish like that. I tell you she should spend more time getting actual content than interrupting other people's..."
Reimu went on in what I felt was a rant borne out of muted frustration. I didn't have the slightest clue who she was talking about, most of the time, but I did get a couple of key points. They all seem to be acquaintances of Reimu as well, they're important people as well, and they're probably going to raise hell. I estimated, based off of her rant, that around ten people would be here in total. The amount of booze in storage made me shiver when I thought about it; Suika had implied that all of it would be drunk before it was over.
"Ahaha." I laughed off her rant like it was a joke. "It'll be a lively bunch then."
"Now there's an understatement if I ever heard one." Reimu sipped her tea, playing down her anxiety.
"All done!" Suika barged into the room, looking triumphant. "Now where's my gourd?"
"Done already? My that's impressive." Reimu teased her.
"Yup! It couldn't have been easier! It's all sparkling clean now."
"That really is something. Don't you think Arc?" I nodded out of reflex when Reimu looked at me. "You won't mind then if we take a look at your handiwork before returning this, right?"
"O-of course not! I'm proud of my work!"
"Hear that Arc? She's proud! That means that we can judge every single nook and cranny of the shrine at our leisure."
"Um..."Suika looked a bit worried as Reimu and I got up. "That won't be necessary. Really. Just looking at one part you'll be able to see what it's like everywhere else."
"No, nonsense. You worked so hard, so it's only fair that we admire your hard work. So what if we take our time, right? It's not like you've got anything to do right now? Or anything to hide, right?"
"N-nope! Free as a bird!"
"Let's go then."
"There's just one thing though!" Suika stopped us from exiting.
"Yes?"
"Well, you know how we're having a party later right? I was thinking of taking a nap soon. And telling Arc to do the same, since we need to have lotsa energy for the evening."
"You can take a nap after I look around. I'm sure Arc doesn't want to miss this rare sight either, right?"
"That's fine! Or would be usually, that is." The oni looked increasingly agitated. "I need my gourd first though. I need to practice party tricks with it. I can't do it with the bottles, or I might break them. Or finish them off before the party begins. You've got to understand..."
"That's rather important, isn't it." Reimu seemed to be venting some of her frustrating in getting back at Suika. She looked happy. "What do you think Arc? Do you think we should cut her some slack and let her prepare and whatever now? Are you feeling sleepy? Or should we insist on some standards here?"
They both looked at me expectantly. I thought about what I was going to do.
"I.."
[] Play along with Reimu
[] Bail Suika out