[5] The one that seemed above her, with crisp, cold air coming from it.
[6] The one that was just a bit below her, with the boisterous noises of raucous streets.
[10] The one even further below, with lights glittering deep within.

To the best of her ability, Reimu tried to think it through. It wasn’t like she had a lot of time… for whatever sense that word was worth.

The high one made her feel like the… the tengu, maybe? And… no, no, that didn’t feel right. Sha, shamei… someone had always complained to her about how rigid the caste system was, and they were perpetual gossips. She’d just as likely be seen as some crazy wolf as someone actually worth listening to. And… and there were worse fates, to be fair, she’d always been a dog person, but she wasn’t suited to being some intelligence master. Leave that to Kosuzu or Akyuu, or even Marisa.

Then there was the raucous streets. Reimu couldn’t quite recall the name, but she did remember a place like that, with a lot of different youkai. And that town had the Komeiji living in it, didn’t it? Having mind-readers could be handy… but even if they could read her mind, would they really see her as someone to be taken seriously, or just as a delusional child? Not to mention, the underground had long been sealed… what if she couldn’t get where she needed to because of it?

For that matter, hadn’t there been a bunch of Buddhists there at the time? No, no, she was a Shinto Miko, she knew that much. Buddhism was a no go.

That left only one choice, and even though she couldn’t guess what it was, it seemed like the best choice. Maybe that was just the product of her negative mindset… but it was something she’d have to bank on.

Besides, her being unsure just meant she left it up to chance. And Reimu had a reputation for getting lucky.

She tried to move towards the glittering hole, with some difficulty, lacking any traction. Her ascot flickered back and forth between yellow and blue as she reached out, trying to grab onto something, anything -

Her hand caught something. A scaled green tail, ending in a tuft of fur.

She looked up, at the strange, blocky structures in the middle of the garden. They glittered and glistened with all kinds of lights, an almost hypnotic pattern. “Mama, what is that?”

Her mother reached down, gently picking up the young girl. She kept her hands on the tail she was holding, but Mama didn’t seem to mind.

“I… I have to admit, I’m not quite sure.” She narrowed her eyes. “Some new trick of the humans. And it’s growing fast.”

Reimu turned to her mother in shock. “You don’t know?! But you know everything, mama!”

Mama chuckled. “Not everything. Though I can’t blame you for seeing it like that with blockheads like Kurokoma and Toutetsu around.”

She kept looking out into the distance. “The humans are… unlike any other kind of beast. You can trust a bull to charge blindly, a dog to protect its pack, a kuda-gitsune to ply it's tricks. But humans are completely unpredictable, and change from moment to moment.” She sighed. “This could be difficult. Tell me, what do you think of that structure?”

Reimu looked over at the structures, idly playing with her mama’s tail. “...It looks pretty, in a way. Like stars on the ground. Did they actually capture stars to do that?”

Mama smiled. “I don’t believe so… but I think that’s a good point itself. Humans can do incredible, dangerous things like that.”

“Wow…”

“Still… we’re not like any other kind of beast, either.” Reimu turned to look at Mama, who’s smile had grown a bit… sharper. “Perhaps when we’ve shown the humans what for, we can keep just a little bit of their tricks and gadgets for ourselves.” She turned to look at Reimu. “Perhaps by the time your horns have grown out.”

Reimu leaned in, snuggling. “That’d be nice. The humans can do nice things, too. Like making nori senbei.”

“Nori senbei? Where did you hear of that?”

Reimu blinked, steadying her thoughts. “The- the Animal Realm!” Of course. She’d been thrown off by the direction, because getting there usually required going a long trip across rather than just down, but then she’d gotten to it from the Hell of Blood Pools before, so it must have been accessible from underground.

And the Animal Realm was perhaps the best place to be, if she could make it work. The haniwa and the sculptor goddess - they had to be able to do something to protect the humans, protect their souls. Reimu pushed herself forward, falling ever downwards towards the glittering lights. They expanded and surrounded her, a storm of different colours.

The Animal Realm she was stepping into now far dwarfed the one in her new memory - skyscrapers of every size and colour flew past her, unmaking themselves as she passed. Evidently the animals had failed to contain the humans, which made Reimu feel both a faint sense of pride and frustration, from intertwined hearts and heritages.

She was getting small now, very, very small. The skyscrapers loomed ever, ever higher, even though the number of stories decreased. Reimu found herself curling up her tail beneath her, for what good it did. Wait, her tail? She stared at the new appendage in confusion.

The skyscrapers had fallen back, into endless, lush plains, with a cresting sun in the distance. The light from the sun seemed to wipe everything away, and Reimu felt herself losing consciousness. Desperately, she tried to throw up a barrier - this one manifesting with a turtleshell pattern, instead of her usual square barriers - but with one last flash, her thoughts surrendered completely.

---

Reimu’s head bounced off the shag carpet, bringing a dull ache to it, only worsened by the alarm clock that had already been going off when she awoke. She groaned, slithering her body off the bed fully, and struggled to pull something that was keeping her head glued to the floor.

Slowly, her mind started to piece itself together. One by one, memories began to stir themselves. Of her past life. Of being a human. Of the apocalypse.

She looked around, with what she could manage of her vision, at the room she was in. It was… it was intimately familiar to her, and yet at the same time, it felt like she’d never seen it before. A lavishly decorated room, with a window drawn shut with exquisite curtains, and intricately carved mahogany furniture. The bedside table was the alarm clock’s perch, as it rang incessantly at her. Unable to reach it herself, she clumsily swatted at it with her tail, which knocked it to the floor and silenced the endless screeching.

…right, she had a tail now. That’d take some getting used to. Or… would it? She’d used it naturally enough just then. She didn’t have any extra limbs to get used to aside from that, either. Her eyes kept tracing the room, until she caught sight of a full-length mirror, which revealed the source of her trapped head. She carefully pulled back rather than straight up, freeing her small, stubby horns from the loops in the shag they had entangled themselves with.

Instinct set to +2.

She slowly stretched up, looking at herself in the mirror more closely. Her scales and shell were almost stark white, or, no - as she turned, only one side was white, the other was bright red, split with a wavy line down the middle of her back and tail. A couple of single scales were instead the colour of the counterpart side, giving her shell the impression of a yin-yang symbol. She found herself grinning smugly at that.

The next thing was the curtain. She walked over to it and threw it open, looking down at the animal realm below her. It was like all the lights in the night sky were now on the ground, arranged in square structures like they were being packed away. Reimu stared out in awe.

She eventually realised that she was looking down, which prompted a more careful examination of her more immediate surroundings. She was on a hilltop overlooking the city itself, in some kind of fancy house. Exotic plants dotted the fencing, and a pool just a little south of her position had a pond of some sort, with a couple of otter spirits slacking off in it.

Everything was in the hazy glow of nighttime street-lighting, which… why had her alarm gone off now? Searching her brain confused her, as part insisted it would always be this dark, and other parts that it should be lighter at some points. Eventually, a memory surfaced of a crow who became an underground sun; that must not have happened yet as of whatever time she was at now.

If she had to guess, by how old she looked - and assuming her new genetics hadn’t thrown her a curveball - this’d be, what, about the time of the Scarlet Mist Incident? Thereabouts, anyway.

She looked to see if there was anything else in the room. A not-so-small pile of plushies dominated the corner of her room, mostly otters but with a few wolves, eagles, and other things. The prize of the pile was definitely the turtle plushie, Genji. Reimu smiled as she remembered the name, the reawakened memories of her past life sourcing it at last.

Memories from her new life began to filter into her. Kicchou Reimu. Kicchou Yachie’s daughter, and the ‘princess’ of the Kiketsu Family. Which meant… which meant her mother was one of the animal gang-leaders who were fighting with Haniyasushin Keiki, over control of the human souls.

[ ] She felt a slightly-guilty sense of pleasure from it. She knew it was wrong, but after such a long time being a near-destitute miko, this life could be quite nice. (Sets Spirit to Youkai-2.)
[ ] She didn’t want to dwell on it. It’s not like she’d known what life she was stepping into, so whatever came from it was hardly her choice. (Sets Spirit to Neutral.)
[ ] She felt a sense of shame. She was supposed to protect humans, wasn’t she? Not use them as tools like her mother did. (Sets Spirit to Human-2.)

In Redo/Reimu, all characters will share two stats: Instinct and Spirit. Instinct reflects how comfortable the reincarnated is physically with their body, and - when multiple reincarnated are together - will affect how the others act. The more human-like their new body is, the higher Instinct will start. A bird girl with high Instinct will be better at flying than one with low instinct, but she’ll also be quick to panic if trapped in a room with a nekomata.

Spirit determines how a character thinks. One can be human-aligned or youkai-aligned in Spirit. Human-aligned Spirit will lead the character to resist their instincts and be less happy in their new form. Youkai-aligned Spirit will lead characters to embrace their instincts and their new form alike. Both have advantages and disadvantages depending on the situation.

Some characters may have other stats as well. These will come up when appropriate.

For reference, Reimu’s other options were -
- To be a Daitengu’s Daughter (5 votes, 0 starting Instinct.)
- To have a Kurodani Yamama (6 votes, -2 starting Instinct.)

[6] She felt a slightly-guilty sense of pleasure from it. She knew it was wrong, but after such a long time being a near-destitute miko, this life could be quite nice.
[10] She didn’t want to dwell on it. It’s not like she’d known what life she was stepping into, so whatever came from it was hardly her choice.
-[X]She felt slightly annoyed that they didn't come up with some sort of code phrase to identify each other in case (such as how it turned out.) Akyuu wasn't the only one to remember.
[5] She felt a sense of shame. She was supposed to protect humans, wasn’t she? Not use them as tools like her now-mother did.

It was tempting.

It was really, really tempting.

She’d long accepted that solving incidents would be the death of her eventually. Arguably, it already had been, and still she was out to save the world. Normally, weren’t you supposed to get to retire at some point before your body crumbled to dust?

But… no. No, this wasn’t the time to rest on her laurels just yet. That she’d rolled the dice and gotten lucky shouldn’t be treated like a reward, she shouldn’t stop and try to savour the roses.

The only reason she got this second chance was because she failed to stop the incident last time.

…

She needed to do whatever she could to work against the incident, starting now. And that meant not jumping back into bed and enjoying the thread count of her sheets… however tempting it might be.

She took a deep breath, clapping her cheeks to steady her thoughts. The noise rang out, sharp and clear, and it helped Reimu push down the very tempting thoughts to enjoy being treated like a crime princess.

Spirit set to Neutral.

…Right, though that was a question. Up until now, she had just been a yakuza’s daughter, hadn’t she? She certainly felt like this was the first time she was truly awake and aware of her past. But why?

Had Akyuu awakened her? Or had someone else done so? In hindsight, they really hadn’t planned it out all that much. She still looked like herself, and the yin-yang shell felt like a dead giveaway, but who knew if everyone would be that recognizable. Or easily found. They should have made a code word or something.

Maybe one of them had found her first. She tried calling out.

“Marisa? Kosuzu? Youmu? Akyuu?” No response. She took a deep breath.

“MARISAAA! KOSUZUUU! YOUMUUU! AAAAKYUU!”

There was a moment of silence, before the door spoke.

“...Bless you?”

She whipped her head around to the door. “Who’s there?! Show yourself!”

The door opened, revealing the ethereal green glow of an otter spirit.

“Rough sleep last night, young mistress?” The otter chirped, floating towards her. “You’re not hurt, are you?”

Reimu did her best to recover her composure. Of course. Her mother had never left her too much unattended - there was always an otter spirit or two around, and usually this one specifically. By her memory’s reckoning, this one was maybe a touch on the smaller side, and wore a collar with a green scale as the pendant - a personal mark of trust denoting them as part of the Kiketsu’s inner circle. Reimu vaguely remembered them as being more powerful than most spirits in her past life… but that was an extremely relative term. She’d still beat them in droves if she had to.

“Mmmm. I’m fine. Just some rough sleep, like you said”

The otter sighed in visible relief.

“Thank goodness! And it’s not surprising, what with how touch-and-go things got there. Don’t think many of us got much sleep last night.”

Reimu’s eyes narrowed. “What happened last night?”

The otter blinked, before coiling up defensively. “Oh, nothing, nothing!” It visibly squirmed under her gaze. “...Let’s get you fed and dressed first, shall we?”

Reimu glared, intending to give the otter the full force of the fury of the Shrine Maiden - and if that didn’t work, the full force of the Kicchou as well.

Something growled. It wasn’t the otter, and it wasn’t Reimu either. At least, not Reimu’s mouth. She felt her cheeks flush. The otter, initially intimidated, just smiled sheepishly..

“Let’s leave the discussions until after breakfast, okay?”

Reimu sighed, feeling her tail sag. “...Yes, let’s.”

---

The clothes that she’d picked for the day, and gotten dressed in with the assistance of the otter, were comfortingly familiar in style, if not entirely in make. It seemed that Reimu, no matter the species, would be forever classified as a red-white.

With a touch of black, in this case. It was a modern-world school uniform, her memory told her. White shirt, yellow ascot, black skirt, and a red jacket, topped with her second choice of one of her ever-so-classic red ribbons. (The first had been rejected when she realised, with no small amount of mortification, that its pattern was meant to make her horns look more developed than they actually were. Kicchou Reimu had wanted to insist on it, but Reimu the miko knew how deeply embarrassing such a childish choice was.) It was practical enough for her purposes, light enough to move in, fairly unremarkable in its own designs (jidiao shell and tail notwithstanding) and the jacket could be dispensed with at a moment’s notice.

It was a style of clothing her mother deeply despised as plain and ordinary, Reimu knew that much. She’d expected to have to argue with the otter over it, at least a little bit, but the spirit had happily complied. Maybe just… a touch too happily, in fact. Reimu’s intuition was tingling.

“It looks good!” The otter said, swirling around. “Love what you’ve done with the shell, by the way.”

“Mmm?” Reimu wasn’t quite sure what they meant, but they had already left to cook breakfast.

Reimu had spent a little more time gathering a few things around - mainly trying and failing to find anything that could work like her old talismans and needles - and soon enough found herself drifting down the steps, yawning.

The yawn caught in her throat when she heard two of the otters talking over the sound of sizzling egg. Staying just a touch airborne - was she still doing it the ‘miko’ way, or the way her mother did it? - she floated closer, and eavesdropped.

“I’m telling you, this was planned.” The otter acting as the cook said. “The wolves are onto us.”

Her guardian otter - Reimu was mildly impressed at her own ability to tell them apart - shrugged. “Kurokoma doesn’t know anything. She’s just chasin' a hunch.”

“It’s NOT a hunch! They’ve been walling us in for weeks!” The cook swung her cutely-sized spatula for effect. “They might not know what they’re looking for or where it is, but all the otters who retreated came here, and they will notice eventually!”

“That’s why the boss is talking to Toutetsu. We’ll just get safe passage through their territory, and we’ll be laughin'.” There was a notably more gruff choice of words when they weren't speaking to Reimu, she noted.

“You think Toutetsu won’t immediately try to take-”

The guardian otter smiled. “She will. But we’ve got lots of shiny baubles here. Those dumb eagles think everyone thinks like them, and the wolves let everyone else do the thinking. We’ll stick somethin' big and shiny in the centre of the motorcade and everyone will think that’s the prize.”

The cook didn’t look convinced. “And where will the actual ‘prize’ be, hmm?”

“She’ll be sleeping under a pile of clams or something. Packed in real neat and boring-like.” The otter smirked triumphantly. “Managed to get her in something real plain, too. Nothing the boss would mind gettin’ fishy.”

Reimu felt her breath hitch in her throat. The cook looked as shocked as she did. “I-what?”

Her guardian smiled. “We’ll get that really good driver who always looks like he’s about to piss the seat. At Yachie’s signal, he’ll scream out and ‘ditch’ us, and everyone will use their very best words to describe him, and by the time they realise he was the one with the actual prize, she’ll be getting the clamsmell outta her shell at the beach house.”

The cook looked impressed. “I-I see… but that’s assuming she’ll just let herself be handled like an ingredient.”

The guardian chuckled. “I don’t know, she’ll be veeeeeerrrrrry sleepy. The boss gave me one of her special blends for the tea this morning - she’ll be back to baku-land right after breakfast. Now, come on, let’s get all this plated up before it burns.”

Reimu, very quietly, pulled herself back, and scooted over to the dining hall. She pulled up her usual seat, and sat in it, waiting. After a moment’s thought, she hopped up to move a potted plant a half-step closer.

“Breakfast’s rea- oh, you’re here!” Her guardian carried a hefty platter that Reimu’s old life classified as “a whole day’s worth of food for a grown woman” and her current life classified as “a particularly hearty breakfast”. A few egg rolls, a bowl of steamed rice and a piece of grilled fish. And a cup of tea, already poured. Of course.

Reimu raised an eyebrow. “Where’s Mama?”

The otter waved it off. “Ah, she’s just making some negotiations. Just a few minor things, you know how it is.” It smiled, warmly and gently. “But if all goes well, she’s planning to spend the night with you and take a few days off the business end of things.”

Reimu nodded, picking up the tea cup. Her skin crawled just touching it. “Because we’ll be at the beach house, right?” She waited.

“Yes, you’ll be at the bea-uh-” The otter looked up, shock on its face. Now that Reimu had its attention, she slowly, deliberately, brought the cup over to the potted plant, and tipped it in.

“I don’t feel like a special blend this morning.” She said, keeping her voice just slightly more strained than level. “Can you get me another cup? And just green tea will be fine, please. I will know if you try something again. In fact - bring over multiple cups; our throats might get a little parched when we talk after breakfast, like we promised.”

The spirit went from green to the more traditional white, and scurried off to comply. Reimu took a moment to organise her thoughts.

All she'd done by the end of that moment was realise it was a much more cumbersome task than a moment would suffice for. There were things Mama - things her mother was keeping from her, but she was still a bit confused about her own mind. Spending a few minutes to clear her head and ask some questions to her own memory would do her good, and anything her own memory couldn’t surface, she could ask the otters instead.

[ ] But what sort of questions to ask…?

[X] What was her perspective and/or thoughts to her memories as a human Miko?
[X] How was she feeling about our mother situation? Both of them.
-[X] For that matter, does she have a father?

Reimu’s past life was still a mess in her mind. Perhaps the first thing to do was sort it out in her own head, while the otters reconsidered their plans.

It was… fragmented, heavily so. Whatever state they’d been in when those blazing people found them, either they had lost a lot of memories from the destruction of their bodies, or just existing like that had been causing their minds to degrade. Reimu could remember her work as a miko… but she couldn’t remember the shrine she served, or what her own last name used to be. Most of it just seemed to be on-the-job information, fighting various enemies and vague details on what felt like at least most of the incidents she’d lived through.

In the wake of Mama’s most recent acts, she tried to compare to her past life… and found nothing. No great sense of loss from having grown up alone, no fond memories of her past life’s parents… just a cavernous void where a part of her whole life should be. The fact that it was just… empty bothered her more than simply not knowing them would.

And to some degree, she knew that from experience. Reimu had never met her father in this life - by the time she actually had coherent memories, he was seemingly long gone. And Mama had beyond forbidden discussion on the topic. All Reimu knew for certain was that he wasn’t coming back, and Mama was nothing if not persistent in keeping things she cared about - whatever happened was beyond the scope of the Kiketsu to fix. The otters had done their best to compensate, and Reimu as a result really just treated it as… a fact of life. Nothing more, nothing less.

With that said, as she tried to reassemble what she had of her past life’s memories, she found some new ones surfacing. Ruminating on that moment of talking about Nori Senbei with her mother all those years ago allowed her to remember they’d been one of her favourite snacks in her past life. It was like trying to dredge a massive tangle of knots from a deep, dark ocean - most of it was too hard to pull, but if she found the right rope, she could surface that part, and that might make something else easier to surface. Perhaps when she remembered other important things, like what her true name was… she’d be able to start putting her mind back together more fully. At least, she’d have to hope that was how it’d work.

[X] That otter had commented on her shell. How did she normally style it?

She took a moment to scan the room, and found her eyes drawn in one location in particular. A few photos on the mantelpiece - she stood up and walked over to them.

There weren’t too many photos - there never were, aside from at the beach house - but they did paint a story. There were a few otters that absolutely loved taking photos, and their yakuza nobility were their favourite subjects. Images of her swimming, a birthday party, winning a genuine spar with one of the inner circle otters… she smiled at the memories.

Then her smile faded, as she looked at a colour photo. Her scales in that photo were on her red side, and yet… they were white. Right down to the tip.

She turned back to the black-and-white photos. Sure enough, where they did give a good look at her shell or her tail, it was pretty clearly a solid, pale colour.

Reimu inspected her own tail, pulling up one of the scales, and gave it an experimental scratch with a sharp nail. It was a deep red hue all the way through. …No, that wasn’t right. It wasn’t like this before.

Thinking back, she was fairly sure it had been plain white yesterday. So… that meant she’d woken up this morning with both a new set of scales and an old set of memories. They were undeniably related… but were the scales a sign of her awakening, or was her reawakening a consequence of whatever coloured the scales? She turned back to the table, and sat there, deeply troubled.

[X] Has Keiki appeared yet, and if so, what is she up to?
[X] Why were they going to the beach house?
[X] Who was Mama negotiating with? Be honest now.

Reimu looked up, as the otter guardian returned, carrying a fresh cup of tea and a rolled-up scroll. “First thing. What exactly is Mama negotiating that means she couldn’t face me herself?”

The otter paused for a moment. “...She’s negotiating with the Gouyoku Alliance for safe passage.” It was a simple question, but asking it at least told her if the otter was going to tell her the truth or not. She resisted the urge to give any indication of already knowing that, and instead leaned forward.

“Okay, and why is safe passage necessary?”

The otter unfurled the scroll across the table. “Perhaps this will explain it?” It was a map of the city. Green, red, blue and yellow splotches covered the map, marking territories and other key points of interest. The biggest area the Kiketsu controlled was along the coast of the Sanzu, a river big enough to have its banks treated more as beaches on this side.

But Reimu was nowhere near that. Her eyes drifted to their location, in the foothills of hell proper. A tiny nubbin of green no bigger than a guitar pick, walled in mostly by the blue and yellow territories, snaked towards by an aggressive and erratic expansion of the red zone.

...At first glance, it wasn’t as bad as it looked. The haniwa and the wolves were the only ones who needed their spots to truly be all-together. The Gouyoku could take to the sky en masse, and the Kiketsu would move using the river and the waterways. Even then, the ground-bound gangs could move in enough force to prevent direct confrontation if they were only passing through.

Which made it clear what the real problem was; the reservoir for this sector. Painted an earthen yellow. Reimu glared at the map like it could be changed just with her eyes. “...They’ve got us cornered.”

The otter nodded. “It’s Kurokoma who’s hunting us, but the source of the problem is the Sculptor Goddess.” It proffered another cup to Reimu. “She cut us off not long after you two came out here. And when the wolves discovered Yachie was staying on this side, they decided to see if they could find out why. The whole reason their incursion looks so messy is because they don’t care about keeping any of this territory if they can squeeze out what we’re hiding here.”

Reimu picked up the cup, and without breaking her focus on the map, tipped it into the plant as well. “But why are we trapped here? Couldn’t we just break through?”

“The problem is that… you don’t exist.” The otter said, bluntly. “Not to Kurokoma, not to Toutetsu, and hopefully, not to Haniyasushin either.”

Reimu blinked, looking up to him. “I’m sorry, what?”

[X] What has happened/what has Reimu done in the past month?
[X] Does she have a rival her age in the other families?

It took Reimu a few moments to process.

It wasn’t like she’d spent a lifetime in hiding, or anything. Her mother had taken her no small amount of places for sightseeing, though usually with some form of pretext and a small flotilla of otters in the area. She’d known for a long time that the pretexts were at least partially there to hide their family outings. She’d never considered that it was to hide the fact she had family to go on outings with.

Even this trip had been intended as one of those intertwined ventures. Her mother had been taking her out to see some of the local vineyards, while allowing her to manage their assets in this sector more directly. Reimu had wondered why they hadn’t gone back to their usual home, the eponymous beach house square in the middle of Kiketsu territory, sooner - Mama had been insistent that the problem was thornier than she’d initially expected.

At least on that, she’d been completely honest. She’d probably been fighting a war on all fronts.

“So…” Reimu searched for the right words. “They don’t know I exist?”

Her guardian shook his head, as another servant brought in a fresh teapot and a few more cups. He poured a cup for each of them. Reimu picked it up and, sensing nothing wrong, took a gulp.

“You're a rather unique case in the whole Animal Realm situation. Toutetsu and Kurokoma are known to have had… relationships, but those people are long gone from the animal realm, if they were ever here at all. Haniyasushin’s only relationships are either with her worshippers or with her damned Haniwa minions.” The otter looked at her evenly. “In that sense - in the personal sense - the only one with anything to truly lose is us, and more specifically Lady Yachie.”

The jidiao took another swig of tea. “So, that means… there’s no heirs to the Keiga family or the Gouyouku Alliance? They’re about the same age as Mama, aren’t they?”

The otter flicked his pendant. “Not that we’re aware of, and - let’s put it this way. Our investigation skills are better than our secret-keeping skills, and our secret-keeping skills are better than any of the other gangs. If we otters were outside the Kiketsu and trying to find a secret like you are in Kiketsu, we would know about it. So the fact we don’t leaves us pretty confident that there’s no pegasus foals or taotie lambs about.”

Reimu put the cup of tea down, having drained it faster than she imagined. Either the otters had brewed it to exactly the temperature she liked, or jidiao had good resistance to drinking hot liquids. Or she was just that thirsty.

The otter began to pour her another cup. She took one look at it and scowled. “You think Mama hasn’t taught me the trick of that teapot?” The otter twitched, before looking guiltily up and scurrying away with the pot and the cup both.

[X] Had anyone heard of a Marisa/Youmu/Akyuu/Kosuzu? The odds were low, but there's no reason not to check.
[X]Does the phrase "Da Ze" sound at all familiar to him?

Reimu considered asking more directly about her other friends. Even if they weren’t in the other gangs, they might still be around.

The problem was with Kicchou Reimu herself, or more specifically, the pile of plushies in her room. Her second life had not been spent with many people her own age for any extended period of time, and those that were around naturally handled her with a bit of caution. Which had, she realised with a bit of heat growing on her face, mixed poorly with her only slightly-remembered first life.

Because right now, at the beach house, there was a custom crow-coloured eagle plushie with a magician’s hat sewn on, one otter with two swords, another purple otter with a flower behind its ear, and a small wolf pup with a bell on its collar, among others that new perspective tied back to her past life, like a blue catfish and a pink snake. And if Reimu started asking the otter about Marisa, Youmu, Akyuu and Kosuzu, they’d assume that group of plushies was what she was talking about.

She’d much rather ask that sort of question to someone who didn’t know her too personally. Or, actually, she’d rather be dead than let anyone know that was how she remembered them at first.

[X] Why would Mama try to placate her in such a way? Had Reimu’s behaviour in the past indicated to her that she should?
[X] How did her relationship with Mama currently stand? Really.
[X] How involved was she with operations, if at all?

Reimu looked up, as a fourth teacup made its way to her. “So. That’s why Mama’s getting you to use the sleeping drugs on me?”

The otter nodded. “...Yes, young mistress. Lady Yachie figured that would be the best way to make sure they didn’t catch any sudden movements from your hiding place.”

“And that’s what Mama thinks is best?” She scowled. “Packing me up like luggage and rolling me around?”

His focus under her scowl was admirable. “Yes, young mistress. Because she couldn’t stay here to convince you herself. It’s less… refined than she’d want, but-”

“Don’t. Use. That. Word.” Reimu’s own mouth shocked her. Refined. It roiled within her, even as she took another sip.

‘Refined’ was the embodiment of the friction of the Kicchou family. It was only natural that Reimu’s mother had wanted her beloved daughter to take on the family business, and Reimu had shown herself an aptitude for it - in a certain sense of the word. She was particularly good at spotting flaws in other plans, and when they’d presented a plan for an assault to her, she’d usually be able to accurately guess if it would work or not. Even if the only reason it wouldn’t work was something she couldn’t have known at the time. She was also unusually apt at understanding human behaviours in relation to various events, and solving what schemes the other factions would attempt to use against them. And where her mother tended to stumble when caught off guard, or get down in the dumps, Reimu was much better at maintaining momentum.

This had convinced no small amount of the upper brass that she was a worthy successor to her mother’s seat… at least in theory. The problem was in execution, as she proved more of an aggressive tomboy than a femme fatale. When Reimu was asked to come up with a plan of attack herself, she usually wanted to charge in and lead it directly (which, to be fair, she could give any of the otters a thrashing any day, and they were roughly even in strength with the eagles and wolves). Her more Kiketsu-like schemes tended to be considered rather hairbrained, and her more successful ones were seen as being more like the Keiga family’s modus operandi.

Not to mention, Reimu never had been as attached to the wilds as the animal gangs had been. It was seen as a common problem among the younger generation. Many didn’t much care about the once-wilds of old hell, and instead to varying degrees happily enjoyed the more modern city, or respected the humans more than the animal gangs officially thought they were supposed to. In the latter sense, Reimu was especially notorious among the Kiketsu for being rather soft on them - and, with the knowledge she’d been one in her past life, who could blame her?

But that was fine, because she was still a child. Still… ‘unrefined’, was the usual euphemism. Reimu had endured endless tactical lessons. She’d been forced to play so much shogi that she could throw a piece and hit a bullseye at twenty paces, which was a good measure of how those games often went. She’d been drilled in exhaustive detail about how to keep up and maintain various front-businesses, use various types of traps, and maintain a whole variety of facades. And she’d been lectured. At exhaustive length. All for the sake of ‘refining’ her into a proper Kiketsu.

It wasn’t anything all that new, she realised. She vaguely remembered being lectured at length by various people in her past life as well, for one reason or another. Some for being too brutal, others for being too soft. But she’d had more reprieves in one sense of the word or the other, more chances to prove the positive qualities of her mindset. Kicchou Reimu was still to be protected.

It wasn’t that her mother didn’t love her. It was just that she didn’t trust her, saw her as a child to still be kept close, rather than a grown woman who could take care of herself. She stopped midway from taking another sip, and scanned the cup, her eyes flicking over to a small bit of powder on her guardian’s paws. The plant got another serve.

“Which is why you’re still trying to drug me?” She growled. “I can sit patiently, you know.”

The otter squirmed. “Your mother just… needs to be in a different location this time. She can’t guarantee your safety herself, so she wanted to make sure there were minimal issues.”

“So she’d use her power on me if she could?” Her guardian-slash-poisoner flinched. Right, that was the other thing. Mama’s power, the ability to make others lose their will to fight back. She didn’t often use it on Reimu, but ‘not often’ wasn’t the same as ‘never’. When it wasn't because of her asking about something like her father, it meant that she felt that her daughter wouldn’t understand, at least not in time, and she needed her to follow Mama’s plan exactly, with no deviations. And that was with the understanding that Reimu tended to be better at spot-thinking.

In other words, it was usually a sign that her mother was panicking. Not necessarily a sign that she was making a bad plan, but undeniably a sign that plan was made under duress. Perhaps this packing plan wasn’t how she wanted to get Reimu back to safety, but it was a way she felt would do the job, and do it quickly.

Which brought into question why.

[X] No, but seriously, what happened last night?

“...So. What’s got Mama spooked, then? Is it what happened last night?”

The otter nodded. After a pause, Reimu irritably gestured for him to elaborate.

“Oh, there was… some strange spell last night. It streaked over the sky and kinda… stopped right above the building.”

Reimu’s eyes widened. “This building? As in… it was coming for us?”

The otter gulped, clearly sweating. “It was like a bunch of balls of light. Came right over to the house and surrounded it for a bit. Real spooky.”

Reimu leaned forward. “And what happened then?”

The otter sighed. “We… don’t know. They dove at the house and just sorta disappeared. Nobody knows what their deal was. But! But, we’re fairly confident the other people around here weren’t involved.”

The ex-miko’s eyes flitted back to the map, and the little island of green. “And… what makes you so sure?”

“Because they actually came from across the Sanzu River.” The otter smiled reassuringly. “And we’re the ones that control the river beaches. So it must have come from the land of the living, young mistress.”

Reimu blinked. “As in from Gensokyo?”

The otter shrugged. “Possibly. Or from anywhere else on the far side.”

[X] What does Gensokyo have in the way of shrine maidens?
[X] Do they have any operations on the surface?

“Do none of the gangs have anyone there?”

The otter sighed. “The thing is, the Yama gets very angry if we start trying to cross in force. Any of the gangs would need at least a couple living operatives on the other side to actually… y’know, maintain a presence there.”

Reimu leant back, thinking. “Right. And the only people that could really do that are the bosses, and me.” Her mind was trying to convince her that there should be some living operatives - like some kind of monkey-girl - but that most likely hadn’t happened yet. She was fairly sure, at least.

Did that mean the lights were what revived her memory, then? It was a possibility. Maybe one of her friends had tried to find her. It’d make sense if at least one of them was in Gensokyo proper, and… pretty much anyone aside from Youmu could have sent something like that, depending on their species.

“How much do we know about the Gensokyo situation, then?”

The otter shrugged. “Not a lot. Until now, we haven’t had much reason to worry about it.” Her guardian patted her on the shoulder. “So it’s probably not something associated with anyone down here. Which… admittedly isn’t much better because that means someone else is looking, but the other gangs didn’t get anywhere near enough information to pin down what it was doing, so we think the exact house is still not known to them. They might even think that was trying to reinforce us. But it’s only a matter of time at this point, and Lady Yachie doesn’t want to give them the chance to get their nerve again. So… we’re heading out today.”

This was said with a tone of finality, and Reimu knew full well there’d be no debating him, at least - likely she’d just be told to ‘take it up with your mother’, which… was a fool’s errand against her mother's power. That didn’t mean the matter was settled, Reimu wasn’t exactly keen on the plan, but it did mean that she wasn’t going to convince him.

One more otter entered the room, holding another cup of tea. She gave him a glare. The otter took one look at her face, sagged with guilt, turned around and left.

She could just go along with it regardless, of course, albeit fight for her apparently still-in-debate right to remain conscious throughout. She may have misgivings, but this sort of situation was one where even she had to admit furtive, tactical planning might work better than her more usual strategies. And if she was allowed to remain conscious, that’d at least allow her to switch tack if the plan went to pieces.

But… she could also break out and make her own way across. Nobody actually knew what they were looking for, and they expected the otters to guard it fiercely; the idea of their prize taking off and running for the hills would surprise the other gangs as much as it’d surprise the Kiketsu. She looked at the recent extension of the Keiga, dividing the Kiketsu’s offshoot from its main. It was an overextended mess, and probably a very active warzone between the Keiga, the Gouyoku, and the Haniwa Corps. It wouldn’t be reasonable for the whole otter convoy to make their way through… but Reimu could perhaps sneak through it herself, then there’d be nothing stopping the Kiketsu from just breaking out with no holds barred.

If her goal was to break out at all. There was another option, one she’d have to get to eventually; talking to Keiki herself, and recruiting her Haniwa against the incoming apocalypse. And judging from the way the map was indicated, and the recent aggressive expansions, it seemed like Keiki was operating very closely to their little holdout here. Conversely, the beach house was a long, long way away from any important parts of Keiki’s territory. If her plan was to sneak out to Keiki, she may as well try it now; if she could get to the Sculptor Goddess, she could at least warn them of the danger… and… well, she’d figure it out from there.

So… those were her choices. Go along with it, or sneak out and try her luck?

[ ] She did know there was a secret exit hidden in Mama’s bedroom…
[ ] …No, this was a stupid idea. It was better to just go along with things for now.

[2] She did know there was a secret exit hidden in Mama’s bedroom…
[12] …No, this was a stupid idea. It was better to just go along with things for now.
- [10] Also take Genji with us. We need him for the coming troubles ahead.

Her thoughts of an independent escape quivered in the wind. She took a deep breath, and pushed the rebellious thoughts down.

“...I’ll go along with it.” She held up her fingers. “But! Three things.”

The otter’s hackles raised a bit. “Yes?”

"First, we need to trace the source of that attack. I trust that you're already on that part, though." The otter nodded firmly. "Good, I'd expect nothing less." She paused, taking a deep breath.

“Second: no drugs. I’ll climb in there myself and I’ll stay quiet myself. If this does go wrong, I want the option to improvise in the moment.”

The otter considered it, tilting his head. “...And the last request?”

She took a moment to take a breath. “Let me pack a small bag of things to bring in there with me.”

“Your belongings will be brought over-”

“With me, in the box. Not a lot. Just some water to drink and a few personal effects. I don’t even mean any electronics.” She waved away an incoming objection. “They’ll help me stay calm for the trip in lieu of going to sleep.”

They stared at each other, for a long, long moment. At length, the otter sighed, raising his hands in defeat.

“You have an hour. Don’t waste it.”

Reimu nodded stiffly. Swallowing down the last of her breakfast, she stood up and walked over to her room. The otter followed, close behind.

She gave him a glare as she stepped through the door. “Don’t you dare follow me in.”

He gave a glare right back. “I can’t trust you to-”

“Then stick a guard outside my window or something!” She snapped, slamming it shut in his face. She turned and shoved her back against the door, latching and locking it with her other hand.

She took a moment to survey the room. It was still the same as she’d left it. Pile of plushies, mahogany furniture, nobody’d even made the bed. She took a step towards her bed -

There was a sharp, high-pitched noise she didn’t expect. Instinct took over. There was the sound of ripping cloth and scraping wood.

When Reimu’s rational mind caught up, she was on all fours between the pile of plushies and her chest of drawers, breathing heavily. She looked down at the source of the sound. A wolf plushie lay in pieces in the middle of the room, gently being snowed on by pieces of stuffing, its squeaker forever silenced.. It’s head only managed to hit the floor after her jaw loosened.

The room’s shadows swam around, and as she sat back on the floor, her tail curled around her legs. She wished she could retract her head into her shell, like a real tortoise. Her collar scarcely sufficed.

The plan to go out on her own was foolhardy, she’d known that from the start. And she’d turned it down in her own head, even if at the time she’d still wanted to fight. But when she’d considered just how ill-conceived it was… the fear had begun to build in her, and it hadn’t stopped.

She’d long been comfortable in the sense that she was well protected. That, at least within Kiketsu territory, she could go where she liked and not receive any retaliation, and that a few escort otters would be enough if she went anywhere technically contested but not actively fought over. The idea that Kurokoma and Toutetsu could jump her at any time had long stopped crossing her mind.

She’d never, not once, considered that might be simply because they didn’t know to look for her in the first place. And now she was all-too-close to being revealed, to being exposed like she never had been before, and if that happened, what safety she’d thought she had would be gone completely.. She’d gone from standing comfortably on the ground to suddenly being thrust on a tightrope, dangling precariously over the edge of a life where she was at risk of being shot in any street she walked through.

Her hands reached out, blindly, until she found the Genjii plushie in her pile. She pulled it close, hugging it tightly. Her nails either found or tore a hole in the fabric, and she dug in deeper. Plushie Genjii had been stitched up from worse.

Some part of her screamed in fury. It was her reawakened, human self - ____ Reimu recoiled at the cowardice. She was a grown-ass woman in her past life, and in this one she’d spent more than a decade at the heart of a Yakuza organisation. She didn’t have time for this. She didn’t even have to fight them, or anyone, she just had to go out there and rush through to the other side.

Even at this age, she’d fought vampires, evil spirits, and god-knows-what else. She shouldn’t be cowering in fear. She shouldn’t be hiding in her room, curled up in a ball, clutching a plushie like a child.

But… Kicchou Reimu was a child. The closest she’d come to really, truly dangerous combat in this life was sparring with the otters and Mama, and they’d never hurt her in any way that could be permanent. In terms of power, she guessed she was… about as strong as her previous incarnation had been at the same age, but she was nowhere near as experienced with her new abilities. Hell, she didn’t know if any of her old abilities stayed or were merged in as well.

She found herself wishing, fervently, for the real Genjii, instead of the plushie. For the one who’d taught her to fly, who’d whisked her away from danger when she bit off more than she could chew. She wished for her friends, who’d all, in their own ways, either pull her out of an emotional slump or help her fight bad guys off.

And, most of all, she wished for Mama. To come home, and tell her it was all alright. That the threat had definitely passed, and that she’d be safe, and she could go back to pretending she was just a spoiled little princess again. To let her rest her head on her lap while she sewed up the holes in Genjii.

____ Reimu’s voice was little more than a single sail in a stormy sea of emotions, and what little it contributed to the maelstrom boiled down to just an extra layer of shame, of proven weakness. The jidiao quivered, with nothing but her own thoughts, holding the plush tight.

---

Reimu’s Spirit is now Youkai-1.

---

She wasn’t sure how much time had actually passed, soaking Genjii with tears. By the time she stood up again, the house already looked drastically different. Much of the furniture had been taken away or disassembled - they’d likely not wanted to alarm her before she knew - and where she had eaten breakfast not much more than an hour before, a box now lay, prepared for her.

It was only slightly bigger than her size, with cloth and cushioning lining the edges. The hinged lid had been cut in two parts, one only about the size of her head, and there were a series of handles around its sides, to be carried smoothly by a team of otters. It was all reasonable, practical concerns, done in her best interest.

Reimu took one look at it and wanted to scream. The Animal Realm, being largely populated by spirits, had few cases where one needed to dispose of a carcass. When it was necessary, a gang’s own jaws and stomachs usually sufficed to break it down into something unidentifiable. So it was, perhaps, understandable that they would assume Reimu couldn’t make the connection.

That she wouldn’t see the box for what it so undeniably resembled; a crude but sturdy casket. A coffin, hand-designed for her.

She clutched her bag tightly. She’d gotten herself a drink of water, and refilled it herself, just in case. There wasn’t too much in her bag besides, a few little finger-puzzles her mother had given her to master, and Genjii. A book wouldn’t be readable in the dark, and any electronics could give her position away.

She turned to her guardian, standing solemnly beside her. “As soon as it’s safe, give me the signal. I don’t want to be in there a second longer than I have to be.” Her voice quivered more than she intended, but her guardian dutifully gave no indication of hearing it.

She climbed into the box, lying flat on her belly - there was simply no other way for anyone with a shell like hers to lay in anything resembling comfort. There was a small peephole, right in front of her, which at least gave her some vision and light. The otter looked at her through it.

“I’m going to close the lid now, and we’re heading straight to the car.” Reimu nodded, and the coffin

went

pitch

black.

Reimu shudded. Her hand scrabbled into the bag, pulling the turtle plush close to her chest.

After a few seconds, the box lurched into motion, Reimu’s nails already digging into the cushioning. She was hoisted up high, onto what counted as the otters’ shoulders, and briskly floated out. There was a storm of activity in the courtyard of the hilltop residence. Just over a half-dozen people-moving cars, a few more glamourous vehicles, a couple of trucks.

The one she was carried to seemed largely arbitrary, at first. It wasn’t much distinguishable from the other people-movers, with the exception of its driver, who did look appropriately twitchy and about to wet himself. Some dull part of Reimu’s mind really hoped that he was more hard-driven than he looked; she did not want to add anything else to what was already shaping up to be the worst morning of either of her lives.

It was only once she was inside that its placement became clear. It was positioned such that, when Reimu’s casket was placed into its appropriate spot she could look out at the other cars. Particularly the ostensibly main transport, her decoy. Absolutely decked out to the nines, crawling with otters and covered with weapons.

Her guardian looked at it, cooing. “It was a tense debate on whether to put you in that truck or here. We ultimately decided that… the truck was definitely going to get shot at. And the last thing anyone wanted was to get to the destination and find you bleeding out in there.”

Reimu gave no response. Even if she’d seriously intended to, she’d lost all capacity for words. Her eyes were locked on exactly one thing. The one person in the sea of black cars and green otters with blue clothes, and yellow horns.

Kicchou Yachie was making a grand show of it. She was hurriedly rushing around the decoy car, barking pointless orders and flailing her hands at the otters in what appeared to be transparent panic. Mixed in with that were the few real, cold orders, the ones the otters actually listened to and acted on.

And even below that... Yachie's eyes would glance, every now and then, towards Reimu's confinement.

Her guardian sighed. “Hah… so she’s gonna keep her distance after all, huh? Listen, Reimu. Looks like she’s thinking the best she can do to protect you is stay away for now. But me and the boys are all gonna report that our cars are good shortly. You want me to carry over a message, maybe bring one back?”

Reimu’s heart was beating in her chest. Her throat felt dry already. What could she even say? There were a million thoughts whirling through her head, and her mother seemed so, so far away…

She had a growing dread about this whole situation. Something felt terribly, terribly wrong. But… but she wasn’t sure if it was truly something off she was spotting, or her own terror and confusion throwing her off. She took a shuddering breath, and tried to think of something to say.

[ ] "...We'll talk at the beach house. There's nothing we need to talk about before we go." Anything she actually said would feel too much like a goodbye, or could throw Mama off. She just had to steady her heart and put her faith in the plan.
[ ] (Write in your own suggestion here.)

[9] Something feels wrong, keep an eye out. And please be safe.
- [5] (Don't add anything more.)
- [6] I will be fine.
-- [3] ____ Reimu, pull whatever memories of fighting the other gang heads we can. Get Kicchou Reimu ready in any mental way you can, get her ready Now.

“...Tell Mama… I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

She heard the otter take a half-breath. “...Anything more specific about the bad feeling?”

Reimu shook her head. “...Not yet. Just… a bad feeling. Might just be the box… but please tell her to be safe. And… If needs be, I’ll be fine.”

The otter muttered half-under his breath. “Yeah, all that’ll get her not worrying. …I’ll tell her. You just try and figure out what’s bothering you.”

She nodded, before realising there was no way he could see it, and muttering an affirmation. A few seconds later, she heard the car door open, and after a moment, saw the guardian otter float towards her mother.

She clutched the plush turtle tighter, and tried to think back. For as much as she had misgivings about the tactical situation, this wasn’t the type of planning she normally contributed to the Kiketsu. She didn’t like it personally, but that was true of most plans of this style, and many of them worked more than fine. She… she wasn’t a hundred percent certain, but that just… didn’t feel like the problem.

So… was it something deeper, then? Something older? She searched through her memories of her previous life, trying to figure out what was gnawing at her.

She watched as the otter and her mother exchanged words. Kicchou Yachie listened, stiffened, asked a curt question. The otter shrugged, which brought out a visibly deep sigh from the Kiketsu leader, and finally, she looked, really, really looked, in Reimu’s direction. Thinking. Silently asking her daughter the question Reimu couldn’t answer.

Reimu wanted to jump out of the chest. To call it all off, and go right back inside. But she didn’t move. Not now. She had nothing she could tell her mother about why it felt wrong, just that it did.

After a long pause, Yachie turned back to the otter, and gave a short message. The otter nodded, and with a final call, everyone began climbing into their cars.

Reimu kept quiet as the door opened, and the otter buckled himself in. With a nod to the driver, their car began to move forward.

“Your mother… said she’ll keep an extra sharp eye out. And if you figure out what’s bothering you, let me know and I’ll page it through immediately.” Reimu murmured an acknowledgement.

With a stoic expression, he turned to the twitchy driver. “Now, let’s get moving - and take the bumps slow. Cargo’s fragile, after all.”

---

The trip was taking an agonisingly long time. The driver had drawn up the windows, which at least let Reimu talk to the otters.

“...How far along are we?”

The otter tapped the lid of the box with his paw. “We’re coming up to the bridge over the big canals. About halfway to Kiketsu territory when we cross it.”

The speaker system blared to life. “Look alive, wolves from the northeast flank.”

Her guardian nodded, picking up their microphone as the driver wound down the windows. “That’s always been expected. Waiting for the signal. Assuming Kurokoma sighting?”

“...Yep, affirmative. We're prepping to engage.”

A memory began to surface in the back of Reimu’s mind. She focused on it, pulling up phantom pains and old reflexes of having fought Kurokoma in a past life.

She was… a brute. A big, dumb brute, all raw power - a lot, a lot of raw power - and absolutely no brains. In her past life, Reimu had aligned herself with the Wolf Spirits when she first ventured to the Animal Realm, and Kurokoma’d attacked at the last, proving a very difficult opponent. She was more than Mama’s match in a fair fight - which was no small part in why Mama made sure to never actually have a fair fight with her. Case in point; the speaker blaring out that they’d managed to fire a net at her, and at least temporarily brought her to the ground.

Thinking back on the fight brought a question to Reimu’s mind. Spell card duels. Were they… still a thing? On a conceptual level, the Kiketsu were familiar with them - Kicchou Reimu had managed to turn no small amount of her sparring practice into pseudo-spell card duels, with her concious reasoning having been that the intricate patterns of weak danmaku were both safer, and allowed for practising dodging a lot of fire even from only one or two combatants. But did the Keiga or Gouyoku do anything similar? Was it being introduced on the surface, without Reimu there to create it? …Was Reimu there to create it?

She shook her head, slapping her cheeks to refocus herself. That didn’t matter right now… but it potentially could be useful to keep in mind. She wasn’t sure how much experience of fighting as Miko Reimu had carried over to her new body, but if she fought Kurokoma in a pure brawl, she may as well just jump off a building and save them both some time. But… if she could pique her interest with a danmaku duel, she might be able to at least make herself more interesting to the pegasus. She might spare her life, if she thought Reimu’d make for a fun opponent in the future.

There was a patter of magical bullets on the roof, nearly causing her to jump. “Aaaaand the Gouyoku Alliance is here, coming from the southwest. Look alive, boys!” Her guardian otter put the speaker back down, and nodded to the driver. “Wait for my signal.”

Reimu felt the pit in her stomach deepen. They were right in the enemy’s crosshairs now. And- and she couldn’t see, but the rain of danmaku seemed never-ending. She desperately, desperately hoped Toutetsu wasn’t there.

Toutetsu… even much older and stronger than she was now, Toutetsu had been rough. She was rather infamous among the gangs for just how unpredictable she was - in certain cases being even more shocking than the Kiketsu.

After all, the Kiketsu were crafty, but there was a certain, tarnished level of honesty in that craftiness. The Kiketsu were cold and cared little for any alliance, but still fancied themselves as professionals - they wouldn’t prolong suffering or be needlessly capricious or cruel. The Gouyoku Alliance were the complete opposite, underhanded and viciously so. Where the Kiketsu took pride in being noble rogues, the Gouyoku pride excused all of their ugly flaws.

“Yep, there’s a lot here, let’s do this.” At that signal, the driver screamed, and the whole car lurched forward, peeling away. The speaker blared up with prepared speeches (many of them rather coarse - the sort of words Mama had strictly taught her were ‘words to be used sparingly, for maximum effect’ when she discovered the ship on Reimu not knowing them had long, long sailed) as the car swung a corner, a flash of purple feathers bouncing off the windscreen.

“They’re getting away!” The speaker system blared out. “Let them!” Came another otter’s voice. “At least they’re drawing some eagles away - uh, at least they’re drawing a lot of eagles after them!” The two otters in the car cursed, and the rain of danmaku scarcely seemed to let up.

The jidiao thought back to her bouts with Gouyoku matriarch. Though her strength varied wildly, when she was glutted on the strength of the Hell of Blood Pools, even Miko Reimu in her prime hadn’t stood a chance. It had taken… one of the vampires, she thought, to actually fully break down her body, and then allow her to reform again with-

Reimu’s eyes shot open, and her heart sank.

“Oh no.”

Her guardian paused from firing a volley, pushing back the pursuing eagles. He leaned back in through the window, wide-eyed. “You think of something, kid?”

“When was Toutetsu last destroyed? When did she reform?”

The otter blinked. “Three weeks ago. Shortly after we came here, she got flattened by Kurokoma.”

Reimu gulped. “What’s she been feeding on?”

He never got a chance to reply. There was a sickening, metallic crunch. A metallic, rounded, trident-like weapon had stabbed into the front of the car, and brought with it an unmistakable figure.

Toutetsu Yuuma squatted down on the hood of the car, and gave a baleful grin.

The driver, at least, proved his worth. He swung the car around, smashing through a barricade Reimu hadn’t seen from her pinpoint view. For a moment, they were all in the air, and then they landed hard, Reimu losing her breath as she was thrown against the roof of her confinement. She agonisingly pulled herself upright, staring through the peephole to assess the situation.

The spork was still in the hood, only partially dislodged, but its owner was nowhere to be seen. They were down in the canal now, sharp slopes of concrete on either side of a channel of water. Her guardian was scrabbling for the speaker.

“BACKUP! WE NEED BACKUP! YUUMA’S LOCKED ON TO US!” He turned back to Reimu’s box. “You alright in there, kid?!”

Reimu gasped. “F-fine. Not good, but fine.” She did her best to refocus, resting a bruising elbow on Genjii. “C-can we take the waterway from here?”

Her guardian shook his head. “No, this’d still lead down to the same reservoir. Shit!” His eyes span around, looking for a way out. “Not sure how far we’re gonna get, there’s half of all the damn eagles in the city above us right now.”

The driver-otter’s head was turned directly ahead, and for all the chaos going around them, he seemed oddly calm. “Got a plan, but no-one’s gonna like it. Fold your seat forward, as far as it’ll go.”

The guardian otter complied, climbing halfway out of the car to hit the right level for the seat with his spiritual tail. When he climbed back in, he was nursing his shoulder in pain. The speaker flared up again. “Status report! Where are you? What’s going on?”

Her guardian reached over, ducking as a stray bullet struck the windshield. Another struck the spork, knocking it loose. “We’ve got birds all over us! We’re not gonna be able to get to the far side-”

The driver calmly pulled the microphone from the other otter’s hand. “We’ll be in the tunnel directly south of the canal bridge we were gonna cross. 'Bout two kays from it, you’ll know it when you see it.”

Reimu and her guardian looked ahead, as the latter crawled back to the passenger-side window. The tunnel in question was getting closer and closer, but-

The guard shook his head. “No way. We aren’t gonna fit through that. It’s got the height, but it’s too narrow.”

“But we can block it. And then all we need to do is make sure Reimu’s on the other side.” The driver nodded firmly. “It’ll be good cover, and no-one will be able to see through to the other side. You get to the window, and get ready to jump. ”

Reimu’s claws dug in deeper. They were slightly off-target from it, but the car was only going faster. “B-but then shouldn’t you slow down so I can get out the back?!”

The driver looked away from the tunnel for just a split second, flashing an ice-cold expression of complete calm, with only a slight hint of confusion. “Who said you were getting out that way? Better make sure you don’t bite your tongue off.”

The car swerved in preparation for a direct hit, tumbling Reimu’s box right behind the folded-up passenger-side seat. The driver otter kicked at her guardian at the same time, who fell out his side window, yelling profanities as he went. Then he turned to the box, saluted, and jumped out his side.

Reimu curled up, bit the plushie, and braced for impact.

The sound was incredible. Metal screeched, glass shattered, and Reimu felt herself crash against the front of the box, her horns tearing through the wood and slamming her skull against the frame. There was a moment of dreadful, hanging weightlessness, and then Reimu was thrown in all directions, knocking her senseless. Wall became floor became roof then floor then roof again…

She felt the box hit some of the water of the canal, sending a shock through her side, and then it plowed through, no small amount of water seeping in. The box slowed significantly, Reimu feeling the shock all through her back, and it finally hit something solid, tilting upright.

Reimu could barely make sense of the world spinning around her. Her whole body ached. Somewhat distantly, she heard the voices of the otters.

“If we make it through this, I’m getting you reincarnated so Yachie can kill you, then I’m gonna do it again so Reimu can kill you, then I’m gonna do it a third time so I can strangle the life out of you myself!”

“Worry about that after we get out of this! See Toutetsu anywhere?!”

Reimu slowly opened her eyes. Hell, youkai bodies were tough - some part of her human psyche noted that if she’d gone through that as a human, she’d be at least paralysed if not outright dead, but it seemed like her body, her shell, and some incredible luck had managed to reduce it from a crippling injury to just crippling pain. With every bone in her body aching, she pulled herself up, and looked through the peephole. Or, peepholes, rather, where wood had met horn and surrendered in defeat. The driver was crawling around the twisted metal of the car, while her normal guardian had already clambered seemingly underneath it, and was taking pot shots outside. There were constant flashes of purple, but they were bottlenecked from actually getting in by the few access points - no eagle could smoothly get inside.

“I-I don’t see Toutetsu! Is the cargo okay?” Her otter’s eyes flicked back and forth, torn between wanting to protect her directly, and wanting to guard the position so no one could get in.

“The box was made to keep it together, right? Worry about the damn eagles!” The driver roared, firing magical bullets at an optimistic eagle who tried to dive-bomb one of the holes in one smooth motion. She instead crumpled against the car with a sickening crunch.

Reimu’s heart pounded in her chest. Trying to twist her body around the right way, she curled up her legs, so she could get up at a moment’s notice.

[ ] She needed to get out of the box, now. She was a sitting duck in here, she needed to run.
[ ] No, there were eagles constantly trying to get inside, and she was going to be limping at best. Better to stay down, and wait for the right moment.

[X] Steady her breathing.
[X] Make sure the otters are holding up, in her own Tsundereimu way.
[10] She needed to get out of the box, now. She was a sitting duck in here, she needed to run.
[6] No, there were eagles constantly trying to get inside, and she was going to be limping at best. Better to stay down, and wait for the right moment.
- [3] You're Reimu. Float you numbskull!
- [6] Dive underwater to hide/get away.
-- [2] Don't forget Genjii.
-- [1] Leave everything in the box. Including the plush. Travel light.


She took a moment to steady her breath. She did her best to mimic one of the otter’s voices as she yelled out. “Cargo’s fine! Worry about your own ass, you idiot!”

Her guardian’s head momentarily jerked back, before nodding and returning fire again. "I'm at least good enough that the cargo's my top priority!" Reimu took another slow, steady breath, trying to think things through.

She took a look around her confinement. It was in rough, rough shape - her horns weren’t the only thing that that pierced through. The lid’s two halves had both been viciously perforated from her shell, leaving small holes all across them, and much of the stuffing was hanging loose on the cushioning. A tiny bit of light filtered through the holes, revealing the rather dire state of Genjii, who’d been torn by fang and claw alike. She put the two pieces of turtle plushie in her bag, and sealed it tight.

As she tried to steady her thoughts, one fact came through crystal clear; Yuuma had their number. It didn’t matter why at this point, the fact was that she did. Trying to hide in the box was pointless if they already knew where she was - it’d just be waiting for the enemy to sneak up on her or reveal her. She needed to hide somewhere else, to wait out Yuuma’s inevitable attack.

One of the otters took another potshot, yelling out to the group. “They’re starting to let up on this end… where the hell’s Yuuma?!”

She opened up the top half of the lid, and felt her breath hitch. There was a manhole cover right above her box, connecting to the street above. Every part of her intuition screamed at her - that’s where the Taotie would attack from. Not only would she be unable to hide, Yuuma’d basically land right on top of Reimu.

“There’s a manhole cover above the cargo!” The driver’s head whipped around, and he dived in the water, swimming over to cover the new entrance.

Reimu, for her part, slipped out of her box. It was hurried, but now that she knew for a fact it was the better plan, her thoughts had come into some kind of icy clarity. She checked in the box to see if anything would give her away, before making sure to pick up her bag with Genjii and the puzzles in it. Genjii was most important - for serious reasons, she assured herself. Finding a child’s toy in the box would be a dead giveaway as to its previous contents. Fortunately, any Kiketsu with half a brain only used watertight bags.

She slipped into the water not a moment too soon. Already, she heard the scraping of the manhole cover being moved, and she dove into the depths. Spotting a small grate in the dark water, she swam under it. Here, she’d be incredibly hard to spot from above, but still able to watch the entrance.

The driver was moving to use the box as cover, but a flash of light from the streets above blinded him. An unmistakable figure leapt down, her weapon gleaming as she struck him. He hit the wall hard, slumping with a groan.

Reimu felt her breath hitch in her throat.

Toutetsu Yuuma squatted on top of the box, grinning maliciously. “Hold fire outside the truck there! We got the box.”

Though she couldn’t see him from this angle, she heard her guardian sputter in fury. “Toutetsu… you bastard.” The taotie puffed up her chest, grinning like it was the best compliment she’d gotten all day. “How… how did we get found out?”

The Gouyoku matriarch cackled, bending over and screwing her eyes shut with her raucous glee. The guardian otter surged forward, but a swooping attack from an eagle through the manhole grounded him. “Ahaha… Let’s call it an educated guess. You puny little otters think you’re so damn clever, it was practically a given that the big prize wasn’t going to actually be in the big truck. The only question was which feint was actually gonna be the real one.”

When Yuuma’s eyes opened again, Reimu’s eyes went wide with them. The taoties eyes were glowing with a spectral, green glow.

A very, very familiar green glow.

“And if you wanna think like a Kiketsu… all you need is a little brain food.” She grinned with oozing malevolence. Without waiting longer, she plunged her spork into the top section of the box lid. “Now… let’s see what’s behind door number one, shall we?”

The otter roared in defiance, but couldn’t do anything to stop her as she slowly, savouring every moment, pulled the box open…

To find nothing.

There was a long, long pause. The eagles clustered around Yuuma. Her guardian looked around, confused, unable to see from the floor why they were suddenly hesitant.

Yuuma, after a moment, shut the box. Then opened it again, as if that would change the results. She briefly looked at the inside of the lid.

“Where…?”

She jerked upright, leaping down from the box and pinning Reimu’s guardian to the floor. “WHERE IS IT?!”

The guard coughed, but managed a weak chuckle. “Don’t… know what you’re talking about.”

“Eagles!” The various birds stood at attention. “Is Yachie still trying to break through to this spot?!”

“Y-yes lady Toutetsu! This must be the cargo!” One of the eagles spoke up, not flying out of Yuuma’s range fast enough. She pulled her spork from the otter, using the back of the oversized implement to slam the speaker into the wall.

“Then I want you dumb little tweety-birds guarding every entrance and exit to the waterway, and I want the rest of you to maintain that bottleneck so the Kiketsu can’t get in! We’ll either find Yachie’s secret or force whoever’s carrying it straight into Keiki’s reservoir!”

She stormed down the tunnels, muttering viciously. The eagles flew into a flurry of activity, with several swooping down on the otters to pull them away. Her guardian managed no small amount of choice words as he was dragged away, though they came with a triumphant tone to them.

Toutetsu paid the insults no obvious heed as she stomped into the darkness, growling. Reimu watched her pass closer and closer overhead…

Only to stop nearly directly above Reimu. The taotie’s nostrils flared, and she sniffed. Reimu heard a mutter of “Yachie…?” As the matriarch sniffed, trying to find the source of the scent.

Reimu kept herself as still as possible. She didn’t move a muscle. From above, she’d almost certainly seem to be little more than some debris beneath the grate, but if she moved, it’d all be over. She tried to be almost statuesque, hoping, desperately, that after all this Yuuma wouldn’t sniff her out.

An acrid smell suddenly filled the air. The taotie’s next sniff got a noseful of the scent, making her half-choke on it. “The hell? Is there a chemical leak somewhere? I swear, if that’s some new plot by Keiki…” She stormed off into the darkness, uttering various threats.

Eagles were swarming the entranceway now, with some flying deeper into the tunnel. Reimu wondered if the Kiketsu would be able to break through… and decided that, no, that wasn’t likely. At least not here. The Gouyoku had seized the bottleneck for themselves,

Which meant Reimu would have to find a new way out too. She took a deep breath, and dove beneath the waves.

---

The waterways had long been the Kiketsu’s preferred means of covert transport. Many of their species were aquatic, after all, and could move almost as fast or faster under the water than they could above it.

Kicchou Reimu wasn’t that good, but she did swim with natural ease. Swimming was… strangely calming, in a way that her past life had never experienced in the act. Her mother had told her it was something to do with Jidiao instincts, which slowed their heart rates to a crawl while underwater so they could stay down there for longer. Whatever it was, it was helping a lot to defray her nerves.

Reimu could stay in the depths for quite a while with no major issue, either crawling along the bottom, swimming full-bodied with her tail, or gliding along with just her eyes and ears above the surface, which left the pursuit of the eagles more or less resembling a bunch of purple-glowing headless chickens. That was another matter; most of her pursuers glowed bright purple, and the only one who didn’t was effectively having a giant tantrum at having been denied her prize. She could spot nearly every enemy from a good distance away, and gliding along with her ears cresting the surface was enough to spot the last of them.

Instinct has increased to 3.

Moreover, these waterways had been controlled by the Kiketsu before Keiki seized the reservoir, and were thus duly postmarked, with deep grooves well beneath the surface of the water acting as directions. Where the waterways were essentially maze-like to the Gouyoku, to Reimu it was like travelling well-signposted streets - still potential to get lost, but easy enough to pick a general direction or a desired landmark and move in that general direction.

She’d been drifting around, trying to find an exit near Kiketsu territory, and so far had no luck. The eagles seemingly had gone by air, and plugged as many of those holes as they could find from above. Reimu hadn’t found any locations where she was confident she could take out the guards without being spotted, especially as her pursuers may not be able to see her in the water, but did naturally assume she would come from the water. She needed something to draw their attention away, if only for a moment.

As it was, she was slowly being herded, closer and closer to the Haniwa’s reservoir. She was gliding along the surface, trying to think of a plan, when she heard a pair of voices. One had that ever-so-pleasant screechy quality characteristic of many of the eagles. “You! You’re the Kiketsu secret, aren’t you?”

The responding voice was male, old, and had a certain jovial quality to its timbre - Reimu couldn’t even see him and already knew the eagle was badly off-target. “I assure you, I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m here for other matters entirely.”

“A likely story! This is Gouyoku territory. What are you doing in the waterworks here, human?”

A gentle chuckle came in response. “Right now? My back is killing me, so I’m trying to rest it. You wouldn’t mind helping a poor old man, would you?”

Reimu rounded the corner. The greyed old man in question was leaning against the wall, breathing just a bit heavily. He was wearing green overalls, which Reimu presumed meant he was more likely an actual worker here, but the eagle flapping behind him took the green as proof of his Kiketsu allegiance. He kept his hair in a sizable bun at the back of his head, but he had a decent ghost-white beard and moustache to accompany it as well. The cement wall supported his weight as he tried to reach his back, unsuccessfully.

Reimu was quite certain she’d never met this old man in her life - in either of her lives. And yet… and yet. Something in her intuition was tweaking about the old man.

“Hah! You’ll not fool me with that ploy! Maybe I should get Toutetsu to come here, and really show you what for!”

The old man chuckled. “Would you? That would be wonderful. Her spoon should be good for my back.”

The eagle came in for a landing, on a small bridge behind the old man. “...What, you want Toutetsu to come?”

He turned his head, giving a grin with some difficulty. “Ah- pay that no mind, I’m just a regular old worker here.”

Mist seemed to be pooling around the eagle as it clicked its beak in suspicion. “Then where are your tools?”

He managed a weak shrug. “Unfortunately, I dropped them when I threw my back out. I think they’re in the water beneath you now. You could go down there and check yourself.”

The eagle immediately spread its wings. “Ah, so that’s your game! You plan to lure me into the water and attack me there- well I’m not fooled, Kiketsu! I’ll give you what for just by myself!”

Reimu surveyed the situation. It had been some time since she’d last seen anyone else (Yuuma, specifically, heading the opposite direction) and despite the ruckus the eagle was making, nobody else seemed to be coming close. The eagle and the old man it was harassing seemed to be the only people anywhere nearby.

Reimu’s tail flicked beneath the surface. All she had was one very distracted target, and one very debilitated potential witness. With that said, it was possible that the bird would see her in the scuffle, or there were other potential witnesses coming… but now seemed like it could be her chance for a little payback.

[ ] Save the old man. It was time for Reimu to do what she did best.
[ ] No, this was still too risky. Better to stay low...

[12] Save the old man. It was time for Reimu to do what she did best.
[0] No, this was still too risky. Better to stay low...
- [X] Retreat into her shell and spin like a top directly towards the eagle!

There was no debate to even be had. This was her chance to get a sense of how strong she was, to be a little bit more like her past self, to give the eagle the start of the payback the whole damn flock deserved for how her day was going. And the only reason the man was in danger was that the eagles were chasing her. She locked her eyes on her target, and began to drift over, silent as the grave.

A random memory from her past life surfaced - something one of her old friends had shown her, some clip from the outside world of a spinning, spiky turtle. It was a ridiculous, crude move… could make a good centrepiece for a spell card, though. Regardless, she needed one good, hard hit to knock the eagle out cleanly; it wasn’t going to suit her purposes here.

But she could do the next best thing. She kept up her steady approach, waiting until she was nearly at the bridge the eagle was yelling from. When she judged herself close enough, she dived, using her tail to slap the surface of the water as she swam beneath the old metal crossing.

The eagle spun its head towards the direction the noise came from, but saw nothing. Reimu quietly broke the surface on the far side, taking to the air and floating just a couple of inches above the surface. And then, she twisted her whole body, bringing her tail around at whiplike speed. The eagle had only just begun to turn around when her tail came, and smashed into his face.

It was immediately effective - far, far moreso than she expected. There was a bright flash of light, and the eagle was knocked far back, its spectral form immediately losing cohesion and dissipating into mist. He’d take a good long while to reform, that was sure. Reimu blinked - how had she done that?

That was just a physical attack, but the effects… the feeling…

It felt more like youkai extermination. Like a shrine maiden’s youkai extermination. And she’d done it with just her tail, without using any of her tools. How the hell…?

She blinked, refocusing. “Hey, Gramps, you alright?” She gently alighted on the surface of the bridge, looking him over. His clothes were torn, but there were few injuries that looked significantly concerning. He groaned, stretching up.

“Mmmmm… I’ll be alright.” He flexed his back, but didn’t turn. “In fact, I think that last peck hit just the right spot.”

Reimu raised an eyebrow. “...What’s so interesting over on that wall?”

“Nothing, lass. But… you’re the one they’re looking for, aren’t you?” …Reimu could have kicked herself. She’d gone into full on miko-mode and was now standing exposed, on the bridge, directly behind the old man like she wasn’t essentially a fugitive.

"E-err... I'm... I'm not..."

He began a series of stretches, his bones creaking. “You’re a young kid wandering alone in the waterways, despite them being occupied by a bunch of eagles looking for a ‘secret’ belonging to the Kiketsu. You’ve been swimming through them like a Kiketsu, judging by the fact you sound like you’re dripping wet, and you took out an eagle in one hit, meaning you’re no friend of theirs and fairly well trained.” He gave an affirmative grunt. “Most likely, you’re some secret child of a high-up Kiketsu. Considering that you’ve not managed to get to the surface despite being that strong, I’m guessing… that even seeing you would give away your secret identity, so you’re likely a very unique species." He raised a single finger. "Most likely Yachie’s kid herself.”

Reimu stuttered. Her brain consulted all of its resources to come up with a clear, concise and effective lie to cover all the evidence.

“N-no… I was… Just… Visiting.”

There was a long, long silence. The old man coughed, and cleared his throat.

“Well, you don’t have your mother’s silver tongue, lass.” He chuckled. “Regardless, the point is that it’s probably for the best that I stay facing this way so I can’t give an actual description, no? After all, if they weren’t pecking me, they’d be pecking you instead.”

She flinched. “Um… sorry. There were a lot of things, and… I didn’t want you to get hurt because of me.”

The old man gave another chuckle. “Just teasing you. Tell you what. You grab my equipment from the waterway for me, and that means I can probably get to where I need to go and back without being questioned. And I don’t think anyone will be asking me after the fact if I happen to know what Yachie’s secret is.”

Reimu nodded. “...Sure, gramps. I’ll take a look, at least.”

She dived into the water, looking around. There was something in there that did look interesting - two things bound together, long and thin. A mop, and a broom, maybe?

As she got closer, their shapes became a little more clear. They had a very gentle curve to their shapes, and had a roughly oval cross section. One section had what almost looked like… a handguard…

It was a katana. A sheathed katana. They both were. Reimu’s intuition roared.

She picked up the smaller blade, and pulled on the handle, unsheathing the sword. It was a perfectly maintained weapon, polished to a mirror sheen. She couldn't just see her own reflection, she could pick out individual branches of the gnarled tree behind her just by looking at it.

“So this is Roukanken? Pretty plain-looking katana, if you ask me.”

The owner of the sword groaned. “No, that’s Hakurouken. Roukanken is the katana with the white tassel, Hakurouken is the wakizashi.”

“Wakizashi are just stubby katanas.” Reimu retorted, sheathing the sword and handing it back.

Youmu sighed. “You really don’t appreciate a good weapon, do you Reimu?”

“If it works, it works.” She said, shrugging. “Though, frankly, I’m surprised you prefer the smaller one. Most people who like these swords seem to think the bigger the better.”

The half-phantom tapped out a list on her fingers. “Well, one, it’s a lot less unwieldy in tight spaces. Two, you can reangle it faster and I’m fast enough on my feet that the reduced range is negligible. And, while Roukanken was made for me… Hakurouken is a family heirloom.”

Reimu raised an eyebrow. “Really? Can only your family use it?” She vaguely remembered that some of her own family’s sealing gear worked similarly to that.

The gardener nodded eagerly. “Yeah, it’s a very special blade! It has the ability to cut confusion, and it can send spirits straight to Nirvana. But if anyone else tries to wield it, the blade passes through without cutting anything. It’s only in my family’s hands that it’s solid enough to actually cut anyone.”

Reimu immediately pictured Marisa promptly trying to slice Youmu with the blade, just to test it out. She tried to imagine how that conversation would go, staring at the hilt of the katana. Wakizashi. Whatever. “A half-ghost blade for a half-ghost family? Does seem to be pretty effective, though.”

Youmu smiled. “Yeah… it was passed down to me by my grandfather, just before he left. He was my teacher, as well.”

Reimu raised her head, looking at the girl’s wistful expression. “Your grandfather? What was he like?”

Reimu quietly sheathed the sword, returning to the surface. “Gramps… you're not working the waterways, are you?”

She didn’t feel afraid. Maybe it was her intuition, or maybe it was because she was holding his swords.

Or maybe it was because she was essentially certain who this was.

He chuckled, slowly turning. Reimu had a feeling that he knew full well he wouldn’t get questioned about Yachie’s secret weapon, anyway. Not when the man was practically a living weapon himself.

“Most certainly not. My name is Konpaku Youki. Gardener of Hakugyokurou, Manservant of Lady Saigyouji Yuyuko… and currently, Taotie Hunter.”

She nodded, offering Hakurouken and the other longer sword - not Roukanken, of that she was sure - back to him. “Why are you hunting Yuuma?”

“Lady Yuyuko and the Yama sent me.” He said, sheathing his blade. “Yuuma has made some… rather despicable choices recently, ones that could interfere with the cycle of reincarnation. And this blade,” He hefted the wakizashi, “could be just the thing to cleave the taotie from her prey.”

Reimu raised an eyebrow. “You mean the fact she’s feeding on otter spirits?” He nodded. “Can… can you save them?”

He gave a reassuring smile. “I imagine they’d be able to reform shortly if only Yuuma’s stomach was properly slit. It’s hard to completely kill a spirit, after all. Though… there is a possibility some of them would be sent to Heaven, instead.”

Reimu nodded. “That’s... better than them being stuck in her for all time... So… you’re looking for Yuuma, then?” She sighed. “And Yuuma’s looking for me…”

The old man smiled. “Quite so, lass. In a certain sense, our primary goals align, do they not?”

Reimu raised issue with one of the words in his phrasing. “...Primary goal? My only goal right now is to get out of here unseen. Uh, unseen by any of the Gouyoku. What other ‘goals’ do you have?”

He chuckled. “Well… I was given another task by Yuyuko. And I have my own reasons for wanting to get a good look at the Animal Realm, as well.” He shrugged. “But I doubt that either of those missions will be resolved running about the sewers.”

He smiled at the young girl. “However… I’m sure that we can find an arrangement that works in both our favours, no? Perhaps if I give you a chance to get away… Yuuma will come right for me.”

Reimu raised an eyebrow. “What’s your plan?”

He smiled. “Well, there’s two potential plans, the way I see it. Firstly, I believe Yuuma’s trying to force you into the reservoir. We could, quite easily, go along with it. Now I know what you’re going to say-” He put up a preventative hand before Reimu could object, “But Keiki let me pass as a representative of the Yama, and with a little more effort, we could work on your pretence a little bit better and say you’re just a civilian I rescued from becoming collateral damage. If I throw my overalls over you, that’d let you hide your tail and shell. Then it should be easy enough to get you into Kiketsu territory either from the surface, or through the waterways on the far side of the reservoir. They won’t question me anywhere near like they’d question you.”

Reimu paused, then folded her arms. “What’s the catch?”

He nodded. “Two catches. One, I’d like Kiketsu's assistance in all three of my tasks. I doubt I’d need to ask for their cooperation in hunting Yuuma, but the other two would be greatly enhanced by the assistance of the Kiketsu’s intelligence network. The other catch is… I’d need to cut off your horns, to sell your disguise to the Haniwa.”

Reimu blinked, pulling her hands up defensively. “These are my first horns!” Sure, they were going to fall out eventually, Mama told her as much, but they were supposed to get at least twice as long as this before they did. Her inner Miko cringed at the protest.

“Horns don’t have any actual nerves in them. And believe me, I’m quite certain that I wouldn’t damage a hair on your head, young lass.” He nodded firmly. “That is, of course, but one option.”

Reimu folded her arms irritably. “And what’s the other?”

“We find a spot where your Kiketsu family is grouped up and regroup with them. Yuuma will chase us down once she hears about the breakout, and we fight her with their assistance.” He nodded. “The risks with this one are that you’re much, much more likely to be spotted by Yuuma, and we’ll still have to make it through Gouyoku territory, with whatever otters we can find. It’ll be a harder battle on the back foot, and we’d have to do it now, in this situation. We wouldn’t get to pick a moment like we could if you snuck out.”

Reimu… thought about it. Long and hard.

Neither plan was all that great, honestly. They made good use of the resources they had, but it was still… incredibly dangerous. One involved sneaking through Keiki’s territory, and the other would be a probably-messy breakout through Yuuma’s. She somehow… felt that he was being honest about his intentions, that he wouldn’t try to rat or sell her out either way, but it wasn’t like Youki was the only person she had to worry about.

Still, he was leaving the choice to her. She could go with either plan… or try and find her own way out. She took a deep breath, and made her choice.

[ ] Go to the reservoir. It’d be much less likely for either of them to get hurt, and get her away from Yuuma. The horns were a small price to pay.
[ ] Go to the otters trying to get in. The last thing this whole mess needed was anything Keiki-related.
[ ] Look for another path, on her own. If this man was trying to fight Yuuma, she wanted no part of it. She’d just have to… find another way, somehow.

{ } Ask about his second assignment. What sort of task did Yuyuko want done in the Animal Realm?
{ } Ask about his personal reasons. What could a bunch of otters do that he couldn’t do himself?

[X] Wait no! There’s no need for amputation when you can just hide your horns under your ribbon.
A part of her pride as a Jidiao tried to stand defiant. The horns didn’t need to go, right?

She tried reaching up to get a sense of it… and could immediately understand the problem. Her ribbon normally sat at the back of her head, while her horns adorned the front, cresting her forehead. Even people who she remembered wearing it more forward, like that spinning green woman, rarely wore it anywhere near THAT far forward, and those who could hide their horns like Kasen both had horns in different places, and dedicated accessories for the job. Trying to just hide them would bring more attention than just not doing anything.

She felt… frustrated, both at the situation and herself. Her mother had told her, if she had to, it was better to lose the horns and grow them back next year. For Mama, while she bore pride in wearing them, losing them had long become a part of life. She’d celebrated Reimu’s first horns as a milestone while always making sure to encourage Reimu not to get too attached. But being a late bloomer on the matter meant that Kicchou Reimu had gotten very attached indeed, as a child did with any marker of growth.

Her past self, meanwhile, knew that there was no good reason to keep them. This was the part getting frustrated at herself, at both the obsession in general and prioritising it over anything else. Never mind the horns themselves, how could she expect to try and keep her identity secret around the Haniwa if she was this prideful about them?

Youki, politely, chose not to comment, and waited for her to come to a decision.

---

>>205666
>>205670

Pick one choice for primary question. By the time the conversation will circle around to the other one, you’ll be at the next decision point, especially with all the write-in questions.

[15] Go to the reservoir. It’d be much less likely for either of them to get hurt, and get her away from Yuuma. The horns were a small price to pay.
[1] Go to the otters trying to get in. The last thing this whole mess needed was anything Keiki-related.
[0] Look for another path, on her own. If this man was trying to fight Yuuma, she wanted no part of it. She’d just have to… find another way, somehow.

{6} Ask about his second assignment. What sort of task did Yuyuko want done in the Animal Realm?
{7} Ask about his personal reasons. What could a bunch of otters do that he couldn’t do himself?
-{X} Ask about his weapons. Do they have names?
-{X} You look too old to be doing this, don't you have a disciple or something? Someone who could do this job instead?

No… there was nothing for it. Yuuma was on the warpath, and the sooner she was out of her territory, the better. She pushed her more childish pride down, sighed, and looked at Youki directly. “I guess we’re going to the reservoir. You promise it won’t hurt?”

He jostled the shorter blade in his hand for a second. “Oh, I’m quite certain. You won’t even know it’s happened.”

Reimu nodded. “Then let’s just-” Two gold things dropped past her eyes, being caught by the old man. She stared at them, mouth agape.

He gave a hoarse chuckle as he handed her horns to her. “I trust that will suffice for your purposes? May want to just make sure what’s left is hidden by your hair, though.”

Reimu, a bit stunned still, walked over to the water’s edge, looking at her reflection. There was a little bit of stubs remaining, so she ruffled up the front of her hair a bit, to hide them better. …Looking at her reflection without them, though, she found it somehow more unsettling than looking at her face with her horns. In a certain sense, her face was noticeably closer to what it once had been, but that just made the more subtle differences all the more stark - the slit pupils, the slight sharpness that her human face had never had. What was the term for it, where something being close to right made its smaller problems all burst out? The uncanny volley, or something like that? Whatever it was, her own face was giving that impression, now.

Spirit is now Neutral.

She looked up at him, scowling. “You know, I still look like a Youkai.”

The old man chuckled. “Well, I’m much more likely to have come across a living youkai than a living human in the afterlife, after all. What’s important is you look less like a dragon-turtle. Now, let’s be off, shall we?”

---

The eagle backed off, quivering with fear. “D-don’t come any closer!”

Youki, his ghost half floating calmly around his shoulders, paid the eagle’s command no heed. “Well, we needed to get through here, and you ruffians wouldn’t let us pass. This was the only option we had.”

“W-we? You have an-” The eagle disappeared beneath the surface. Youki walked over, and waited for the purple glow to fade.

He didn’t have to wait more than a few seconds. Reimu surfaced, nonplussed. “Really not getting how this is working this well. Either the otters are way, way tougher than I thought or there’s something weakening the eagles.”

Youki shrugged. “There’ll be plenty of time to discuss that on the far side, lass. Let’s just focus on getting you safe for now.”

Reimu nodded, floating along the surface. “There’s not much else but a bunch of straightaways to the reservoir from here. Should be smooth sailing, gramps.”

He nodded, walking along the waterside next to her. “Glad to hear it. Hopefully that means we have a chance to chat.”

“Mmm.” Reimu turned over, letting the water take her on her back. “So, what brings you here personally? You said you had like three reasons, and I agreed to them all, but I’m curious what a great swordsman can’t do that our otters can.”

He smiled. “Well, mostly, I want access to your Kiketsu information network. That might help me find what I’m looking for in Lady Yuyuko’s stead, and who I’m looking for in my own interests.”

“So… you’re looking for someone, specifically?” Reimu rolled onto her stomach. “Is it a disciple? You’re kinda old to be running about the sewers hunting taoties.”

He grumbled. “I’ll STRONGLY object to your remark about my age… but yes. I’m hoping for someone who can learn my techniques, and carry it on to the next generation. The next person to take up Hakurouken.”

Reimu raised an eyebrow at that. “Isn’t that… a hereditary blade? One that doesn’t work if the wielder isn’t a Konpaku?” From the moment she’d touched the weapon, she’d found herself remembering Youmu’s past life, frankly, better than she remembered her own.

He chuckled a bit. “Ah, were you trying to swing it when you picked it up? I thought you were down there for a long time.” He began to talk at length, before Reimu could correct him and dig her hole any deeper. “Yes, the Hakurouken will only recognise a Konpaku as its wielder currently, but there are two exceptions, with hereditary weapons. First, a current wielder can perform a ritual to essentially invite an outsider into their family. Depending on the weapon, this can be as simple as a sharing of blood with the appropriate intent to performing a very, very particular wedding ceremony. That’s the most common way that a person not bearing the name can wield a weapon, by a long, long margin.”

Reimu nodded. She vaguely remembered an ancestral weapon in her family, too, though she couldn’t remember what exactly it was. Something round, to be used with her gohei? …a ball and chain, maybe? “What’s the other method?”

The old man was quiet for a moment. “...Tell me, what’s your name, lass?”

“It’s Reimu. Why do you ask?”

He paused, mulling on it. “Tell me, Reimu. Do you know of the Immaterial Children Incident?”

Reimu floated into an upright position, looking at him directly. “...No, I don’t. Never heard of it before.” Not in her past life, either.

“There is… a certain village, across the Sanzu, that had a terrible affliction befall it.” He said, his voice darkening. “In the span of a few years, there were four false pregnancies, experienced by four very different families.”

Reimu’s eyes widened.

“The first was a merchant family, that most at the time assumed to be a prank of a local youkai - there are quite a lot of them in these parts, after all. Then the next was the local shrine maiden - and most assumed that the merchants had just been the unlucky testers for the prank on the shrine maiden.” He growled. “Of course, the families themselves were anything but laughing.”

“Then… then the Child of Miare went missing.” His expression got even darker. “Rather than being reincarnated in the family she was supposed to, her soul just… reincarnated elsewhere, and nobody knew where. That caused quite a panic, of that you can be sure.”

“The Child of Miare…” Akyuu. This was about Akyuu and the rest of them. It must be. “So is that true of all the kids? They reincarnated in the wrong spots?”

Youki nodded. “Yes, all four of them, they’re fairly sure - though no one knows where, last I heard. Of course, that was only found out after the fourth official victim, who was almost as benign as the first. So many children, disappearing like mist into the breeze…”

Reimu mused. “...Four official victims?” It was pretty obvious what he was getting at, even if she didn’t already know. “Your family experienced something similar?”

He sighed. “Yes. Very similar symptoms, some twenty years before the other victims. And without knowing why it happened, it broke my daughter’s heart to pieces.” He folded his arms. “So, my true mission… is to track down my missing grandchild, and bring them home. Whoever they are.”

He pulled out Hakurouken, inspecting the blade. “See, the other case where a blade can recognise an owner under another name… is when the person is a reincarnation of someone who was part of the family, and maintains some spiritual link to their past self. We’ve never had a case like the Immaterial Children, but my theory is that the principle will hold - if I find someone who can wield the sword, then I can bring her back, to meet the Konpaku family.”

Reimu steadied herself in the water, and opened her mouth.

“Of course,” The old swordsman said. “There have been far, far too many people claiming to be the Immaterial Children over the years. Humans, youkai, demigods… quite frankly, the next person who tries to tell me they’re one of them I’ll cut in half on the spot if they don’t have some good evidence.” He turned to notice Reimu’s slackjaw expression. “Sorry, were you going to say something?”

Reimu shut her mouth. And shook her head, for good measure. “N-no, nothing. So… that Hakurouken must be pretty impressive… What’s the other sword like? Does it have a story to it too?”

The man chuckled, drawing the second katana. It was almost impossibly long, with a rose-gold blade down to its very hilt, and a strange blue tint to its sheen. “No, Hyakunentou isn’t a storied blade. Not yet, at least.”

Reimu looked up at it. Even the normally skeptical miko had to admit it looked impressive. “What, so it’s name is… Hundred Years Sword?” The swordsman nodded, giving it a few gentle swings. “It se / ems pre tty sh / arp… woah. How did you do that?”

Youki smiled, sheathing the sword and folding his arms. “...I started learning the blade when I was a bit older than one hundred years old. They said that it takes thirty years of learning the blade to cut rain. I mastered it at thirty-five years, myself. They also say it takes fifty years to learn how to cut the air. That, I learned right on schedule.”

He hummed to himself. “Lady Yuyuko gave me Hyakunentou on my one hundredth anniversary of learning the blade - already named by herself, of course. And with that name, she gave me a challenge. It takes two hundred years to learn how to cut time… and when I master that skill, Hyakunentou will be the edge with which time itself is split.”

“Like a clock counting a century…” Reimu mused. It was certainly an impressive boast. And it felt a lot more real coming from a wizened old man than it did from a gardener shorter than she was. “So, how close are you to cutting time?”

Youki smiled. “Oh, it shouldn’t be too long now. A matter of years, rather than decades, at least.”

Of course, Reimu immediately did the maths. “So you’re like three centuries old? You really are ancient, gramps.”

He sputtered, but the sound of murmuring voices broke his focus. Reimu straightened up, peeking around the corner. Two figures - quite literally - clad in earthen yellow guarded the primary entrance to the reservoir. “Ah, time for us to change.”

Reimu was relieved to find the man was actually clothed underneath the overalls, having light clothes clearly designed for combat. She was less pleased to discover that the overalls had quite a musty scent to them, that almost made her gag. She quietly wished that she had some spare perfume from home, to try to repress the smell. Surely what she’d put on this morning had completely washed off by now.

…At least she was getting used to the smell quickly. She could almost imagine that perfume on her now.

Otherwise, it was just big and baggy, which admittedly was the point. She could curl her tail around her midriff and no signs of it would emerge beneath the folds of the heavy cloth. The problem was she wasn’t nearly as graceful as either she or her mother would have liked with it on. She couldn’t even reach the sleeves with any ease, so she wore it like a big poncho, with her arms having to reach between the buttons to reach anything. If she had to make a quick escape, it’d have to be dumped.

To be fair, she dryly observed, if I have to make a quick escape from Keiki, my cover’s probably already blown. The overalls’d just be in the way. If anything, not having her hands in it just made it easier to ditch if she had to.

Once they were dressed, they began to make their way over to the guards. Reimu gloomily stuck her hands in her pockets…

And felt her hands clasp around her horns again. She’d pocketed them, in the end. And now that she was walking up to Keiki’s territory, her mind was racing.

Someone finding cut jidiao horns would be a death sentence to her secret. Keiki or Yuuma seeing them would immediately figure things out. But she was too close already to subtly toss them away now. She just kept her hands in her pocket, hoping there was nothing that’d see through the overalls.

Though, again, if they could see through that, it’d already be over.

Youki waved to the Haniwa guards.

“Ho, lads. I’ve ended up finding a bit of a stray in the tunnels.”

The two haniwa - one male, one female, for whatever it was worth - nodded, stepping apart to let them pass. “Did you find Yuuma while you were down there?”

He shook his head. “It’s chaos down there. Eagles everywhere, otters all around the edges. We haven’t managed to have our duel yet.” He chuckled. “Most of the damage I took was from when I threw my back out and an eagle had a good peck. Little Reimu was the one who saved me.”

Reimu looked around the reservoir’s facility as she entered. It was coming up to about noon by what counted as the Animal Realm’s clock, but the facility could have been in the dead of night for all she could see of life around it. The only person who wasn’t literally statue-still, aside from the ones they were talking to, was a softly-snoring adult-sized figure collapsed over a table, still holding a can of some energy drink. Someone had tossed a blanket over them to give them at least some form of comfort.

The male haniwa - Reimu was quite sure she’d never met either of them in her previous life - stared her down, near-expressionless. “… I see. If a youkai child is saving you, I believe that rather proves Keiki’s point about your health.”

Youki’s wrinkles went from friendly to furious in a blink of an eye. “I told you, I was fine-”

The female haniwa, a model with a long ponytail, scowled at him. “You just said you threw your back out. Were you even fighting anything at the time?”

He began to interject again. “I was fighting the eagle-”

The haniwa lady just folded her arms. “When you threw your back out? Or after?” That shut him up, and he settled for glaring.

Her partner offered up a conciliatory hand. “Regardless of how the injury occurred, the point is that your back has taken significant damage. At least let our medics take a look at it - you want to be in peak condition when fighting Yuuma.”

This earned a grumble from Youki, but he settled for being lead away by the female Haniwa. That left Reimu with the stern male, who just… stared at her, unblinking. She stared right back, doing her best not to look intimidated.

“…What?” She was the first to break. “What do you want?”

The Haniwa remained quiet for a few moments longer, before rumbling out the obvious question. “Are you the courier of the jidiao’s secret?”

Reimu shook her head. “N-no, I was just… um…”

He leaned in closer. “Then are you her secret yourself? Some kind of bioweapon or powerful youkai, maybe?”

Reimu stepped back. “L-look, I’ve had a bad enough day already this morning, I really don’t need-”

“That is not an answer to the question.”

Reimu flexed her claws. “I’m just trying to get home. That’s all that I’m-”

His fist pounded the wall behind her. “That. Is not. An answe-”

“Wha-what time is it?” The haniwa turned his head. After a moment, Reimu did the same.

The blanket had vaguely straightened up. A head of blue hair had crested said blanket, and was now looking around, still half-dazed.

The haniwa saluted. “Lady Keiki. It is currently 11:49 AM. Konpaku Youki has returned without confronting Yuuma, and delivered a youkai child named Reimu here.”

Keiki got up, tossing off the blanket. She was wearing the clothes Reimu recognised from her previous life’s trip, though currently they were covered in creases. “Two whole hours? Ugh. I can’t afford that.” she pulled herself up, trying to stretch out a crick in her back. “What’s the sitrep?”

“Tactically speaking, little has changed as of yet. The otters have been driven increasingly back over the period, and the Eagles are still rampant throughout the northwestern waterways. However, there have been increasingly frequent and aggressive attacks on the reservoir gates. It is likely that the Gouyoku are increasingly certain that the Kiketsu prize is within our quarters.” He turned back to Reimu. “And indeed, at this point they may be correct.”

Reimu stuttered, trying to think of something, but the sudden appearance of the sculptor goddess had thrown off her train of thought. “N-no, I’m not… I’m not…”

The goddess in question wandered over, stifling a yawn. “Bishop, there’s no need to loom over her like that. You’re scaring the poor girl.”

“I-I’m not scared!” Reimu declared, earning a vaguely snort-like rumble that was the closest thing to an emotion the Haniwa had expressed yet. Keiki waved him off, crouching next to Reimu.

“Don’t worry about him. Bishop’s just doing his best to keep all of us safe.” She gave a warm smile. “This morning must have been stressful for you, no?”

After a long, long pause, Reimu nodded. “...Y-yeah, it’s not been great. Those eagles have been chasing me all morning.”

Keiki nodded, holding a hand up to prevent Bishop from interjecting. “Yes, I’ll bet they’ve been pecking anything they can reach. Tell you what - I need a refill, and you probably need some lunch. How about we head over to the lunch room and talk about some things there? Maybe there’s some info about the eagles you can give us.”

---

Walking through the reservoir was a strange experience. She’d been here before with her Mama, but that had been when it was staffed by humans and otters. Now, most of the usual staff had seemingly been evacuated for Haniwa guards to take their place in case of an attack from one of the gangs warring in the sewers, giving the place an entirely different feel. Where once Kicchou Reimu had scarcely been able to tell the difference between the facility and a train station, now it felt like she was moving through an enemy fortress. She jumped at any unexpected noises, and tried her best not to attract attention.

Attention came to her, regardless. She was a kid moving with the sculpture goddess, in ill-fitting overalls through a facility preparing for a gang war to take place through its halls. She stuck out like a sore thumb.

It didn’t help that Keiki was doing a fair bit of sticking out herself. She was exhausted, that much was clear. She was practically falling asleep on her feet, and at one point walked straight into a pole.

“Are you… alright?” By the time Keiki had managed to all-but-sleepwalk her way over to a vending machine in the lunch room, Reimu found herself somewhat worried for her nominal enemy.

Keiki shook her head. “I’ve been managing. The truth is that I’ve rather overstretched myself recently - we’re working on a rail line for the eastern district.”

Reimu cocked her head. “But you’ve done rail lines before, right? What makes this one so bad?”

She sighed, dispensing a small pile of drinks. “The wolves, mainly. The Keiga are convinced that the rail will be used against them, and are harassing everywhere they can. Trying to keep the railwork progressing forward has been a nightmare, and I’m just doing my best just trying to tread water. And of course, I don’t have time to finish the haniwa who’d actually be able to manage some of these tasks in my stead. So… to maximise my time efficiency, I do this.” She cracked the top of one energy drink and downed the whole can in one.

Reimu stared at her. “How much sleep have you gotten in the last week?”

The goddess returned a strained grin. “Well… if my maths aren’t wrong, let’s say about… two hours?” She sighed. “I meant to get some real sleep last night, but then all this happened…”

The goddess sat at a table, waving over some food from the haniwa operating the counters. It wasn’t like they had many other flesh-and-blood creatures to serve; from what Reimu knew, the Haniwa could eat, but didn’t have to, and none of the haniwa in the facility at the time seemed to have the time to spare. “But… enough about me. Reimu, was it? I wanted to ask you a few… questions.”

Reimu’s nerves immediately went on edge. “Questions? What sort of questions?”

The goddess chuckled. “Come now, Reimu. You think someone like you could pass unnoticed right in front of the Idola Deus?”

The jidiao quivered, which Keiki took as permission to keep talking. “I suspect you weren’t in the waterways just for any reason. You were trying to get to the beach of the Sanzu River, weren’t you?” She smirked mischievously. “And there are very, very, very few cases where one would find a youkai like you, after all.”

Reimu tried to speak, but her throat was drying on her, and no words came out. Keiki folded her arms. “Now… I believe it would be best for everyone if you came clean about it, no? So come on, let’s have it.”

[ ] She’s onto you. Run. Run.
[ ] Confess to the truth.
[ ] Play dumb. She’s just shooting in the psychological dark.

New thread is up at >>205720!

You've all agreed to confess, now it's time to figure out exactly WHAT you've confessed to.

...While I'm at it, if you're curious what Bishop was a reference too, Check out Ceramic Boy Third by Vanilla_Enthusiast: >>/others/69194

And if you don't mind me doing a shameless self-plug, and you like 40k, I've got another story about Reimu as an Inquisitor right here: >>/others/69334