Hi again. Having written Being Meiling and Pleasant Meadows, I've decided to go back to something fairly light and fluffy. This story is in the same continuity as the previous stories, so you might want to read them to have a clue as to what's going on:

>>/sdm/54956
>>/others/51333

Anyway, updates will NOT be daily. I'm taking some courses, so I might be able to update two or three times per week. Maybe.

With all that aside, let's see how this goes!

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"This is all a total load of bullshit!" I declare, folding my arms. "Always has been, always will be!"

Ichiro just stares at me with a raised eyebrow. Damned unflappable bastard. That always irritated me about him; no matter what you said, the guy was totally immune to it. Anything from insults to come-ons, he just reacted with a raised eyebrow, and not a whole hell of a lot else.

Gensokyo was known as a magical land, full of danger, mystery, and excitement. As well as its incidents which tended to directly, or indirectly, involve everyone. But it was also known for lapses in those incidents, and although it did mean the Hakurei maiden was free to lazy about her shrine all day, it meant Gensokyo as a whole tended to get... bored.

Which generally meant someone, somewhere, would throw some kind of party or get-together to temporarily relieve said boredom. As it so happened, today was one of those days. Some time ago, the youkai Yukari had organized a similar get-together at the Hakurei Shrine, and while there was a plan for another, Reimu had stubbornly refused, claiming she didn't want to clean up after everyone again, and all the youkai freely coming and going as they pleased, scared off any potential worshippers.

So instead, the other shrine of Gensokyo, the Moriya Shrine adopt the Youkai Mountain was to be tonight's gathering place. It probably, truth be told, would've been organized a lot sooner, but the ruling Tengu were always trying to keep outsiders away from the Mountain in the first place, so there was a lot of persuasion involved in trying to have them allow outsiders brought in for the party.

The night was to be full of food, drinking, and merry-making! In addition to cards. Specifically, cards used to play strip poker. As like the Hakurei Shrine, so to will the Moriya Shrine offer the same game! Why? Because why not. They had nothing better to do anyway.

- - -

Please select the roster! The teams are split into the Hakurei team and the Moriya team. However, this is mostly just for formality as the same rules as last time apply – the lowest hand loses, and it does not care for which team it is.

Each team will have four characters, totaling eight players in the end. Some characters can only be selected for one side, and will be noted as such, those who are noted as Neutral will play on either team.

Also note which character you want to be the 'main' character. This will just be whichever one will be actually controlled.

You are making the final preparations for the upcoming launch of colony ship Homeward Bound, the last checks being performed, the engines warming up; the slight hum of electricity fills the room. Standing at the bridge you find yourself looking out the front view port. The other forty-nine crew members settling into place, one announces, "All systems within operating limits."

The captain, behind you, calls out, "Good, enter the coordinates Fragile."

You interface with the computer as you devote the majority of your body’s processing power towards rechecking your thrice checked coordinates. You're already certain that you've perfected the math on the jump, but one final check isn't time wasted. Well, not more than point-zero-two seconds anyway. "Entering coordinates now." You inform the others vocally while logging the data in the group chat. Your dexterous fingers dance unnecessarily over the analog controls while you use your direct computer connection to input the data instead. Appearances must be maintained, of course.

"Jumping in five," Captain Sharp calls out, "Four, Three, Two, One."

The ship lurches forward, its engines thrumming into overdrive, pushing the ship into faster than light travel. Everything is going as expected until your optical sensors pick up an abnormality, a body you haven't seen before with blonde hair and a purple dress plastered on the front view port of the ship. Alarms go off, signifying atmospheric reentry detected, the safeties activate, engines go back to a quiet hum, and the ship is telling everyone you have 10km to impact.

You can feel a vaguely disapproving glance behind you as the captain says, "Does anyone recognize that body on the view port? Also, please initiate proper landing procedures."

You find yourself feeling rather annoyed at the implication that it was your calculations that caused this, which is completely impossible as you made sure that they were perfect for entire minutes.

"It is not a body in my database." You inform the crew over the logs and

"I'll be back in just a moment, then." She doesn't seem like she's here to cause harm, but that could change; Just because a law is abolished doesn't mean people stop following it. Then again, they probably don't care about all that if they're on the roof in clear daylight...Still, this is a matter of the shrine itself. Kanako should be there, at least. Unless...No. Stop. No time for this. They're adults, they can make their own decisions.

Informed decisions.

Can't afford to waste any time. My steps are light and measured for only as long as it takes to break from their sight – the second I'm sure I can get away with it they leave the floor completely, being tossed about with each strained corner. It's a bit dangerous, but by the time I know my path I've arrived. Just being here this fast is somewhat disorienting, let alone the ride over. I wonder how Daichi deals with it?

Peeking over the side of the roof proves a mistake. Don't need to see any of that, thank you. "Excuse me, sorry for interrupting." A pair of sighs, one deeper, longer, and a second later.
"Twenty-five minutes too much for you?" I understand your frustration, but this is kind of important...
"Yes." Wait! "No." Well... "There's complications." Stop stumbling over yourself and
"Spit it out, woman!" No need to get all hostile on me!
Kanako coos softly, trying to calm him in the second I take to collect myself. "There's a reporter here asking about what happened and I don't know what to tell her."
It takes a long moment to get a reply, made even longer by the fact that I'm looking away. It's a lot easier to wait when you can see someone's at least thinking. "...Is her name Aya, by any chance?" And it's Kanako that finally comes through.
"Aya Shameimaru?"
"Fuck." Is there just something about this shrine that makes people answer simultaneously? "We'll be down in a minute. Thank you, Hina." I wish I could take some

"Sanae! You're going to be late!"

Ah. That annoying voice that isn't real. I roll over in bed and ignore it.

"Hey, stop ignoring me! What kind of priestess are you? You're still pretending I'm not real? But whether you believe in me or not, time is marching on. You'll regret it if you don't get up now."

"Shut up! You're just an imaginary friend! Just drag me out of bed if you're really there!" I retort, grabbing the covers and pulling them over my head. As expected, nothing of the sort happens. There's just a sigh.

"You were better when you were a kid, you know. Never talked back, always paid your respects to your elders. I've never seen such an ungrateful shrine maiden! Slovenly, too! You know, if you abandon your gods, they won't be there when you really need them!"

Says the goddess- the imaginary goddess- who never did a single useful thing for me. And it's not like she hasn't had the chance, either. I don't say anything more; she usually stops bothering me for a while if I don't acknowledge her. By the time I throw off the covers and have a panic attack at the clock, she's faded away. I hope she fades away for good, because having an invisible woman berate you over everything from posture to diet gives you a complex, mark my words.

Don't get me wrong, having a god around to play with was great fun back when I was a kid, but I'm a senior now. A god who can't do anything but annoy me over trivial things is a god that shouldn't even bother to manifest.

Maybe you think I'm being harsh. Maybe you think I'm being delusional. I've seen Kanako, after all, a mighty storm goddess garbed in the ancient way; why should I ignore the evidence of my own eyes? But you don't live with her or know how she works. She's just sound and thunder in the end. She's got no bearing on my life, no way to effect it save with words. Even if I believed in her completely and made offerings, performed the dances and the rituals, she still wouldn't be able to do a single useful thing. She doesn't even

The journey felt like punishment, though I knew it was not.
Nevertheless, I continued trudging through the narrow, sinuous path overgrown with vegetation. My ankles and feet flared with the dull pain of walking through treacherous terrain for far too long. I feared to look downwards, as it felt like I'd be bruised and drenched in blood from the knees down. I stopped for what seemed like the hundredth time, leaned against a tree, and looked round yet again.

The Youkai Forest, I realized then, was named such not only for the obvious reason. Certainly many youkai lived there, but if you spend enough time in the heart of the woods, you can feel a curious effect: It's easy to imagine that entire forest itself was one enormous, malicious being. The trees were twisted abnormally like none I'd seen before: their blackened roots rose above the floor and made great arches large enough for a man to pass under, thick vines decorating them with colorful and enormous flowers. The canopy was so dense that a ray of light was a rare sight; it was not unlike traveling at night. Mushrooms of impossible sizes glowed, changed colors and pulsated according to some rhythm unknown to me; fruits and bulbs hanging from the contorted parodies of trees bloated and withered even as I watched, and of course, I cannot forget the incessant growling, snarling, screeching, and just about every other kind of noise the unholy youkai of the forest could manage to unnerve me. The scenery went against everything I took as normal. In an odd sort of way, it was quite beautiful, though I wouldn't realize this until I was safe and well outside the range of its horrifyingly large variety of poisons and dangers.
After resting and marveling at the shuddersome forest once more, I gathered myself and again took the same cramped path, assaulted on all sides by the hostile flora. The aforementioned youkai kept hidden well enough that I did not even catch a glimpse of them, thanks to a set of charms given to me by the village elders who saw me off. I had no doubt I would've been little more than a nice little snack as soon as I set foot in this place otherwise. Regardless, I stumbled along the trail. My mission was

>>21893

Thanks.

---

Fine. Why not? It's not like you have something to do here anyway.

“Well, okay...” Sanae takes a deep breath. “You better change your clothes first,” she adds, and signs you to follow her. Oh, right. Can't go anywhere in this sailor suit...

---

You enter Sanae's roo- Wait a minute... Modern desk lamp? You remember last night conversation about taking things from outside; You shouldn't be surprised in finding something modern.

“Uhm... Try this,” Sanae hands you a t-shirt; There is a big green frog picture in front of it. It suits her, with that frog hairclip on her head. She also takes long blue pants. They seems small; you don't know whenever they will suit you or not.

Gathered my guts and write.

Plot? Will think about that later.

----
"Where did you find him?"

Your head feels hurt.

"At the forest. Already like this when I found him."

Stratch that. Your entire body feels hurt. You can taste blood inside your mouth.

"Attacked by a wild youkai?"

A new CYOA. I won't say this is my first nor will be my last so I'll pretty much be depending on experience for this once. You can give some tips of course and I'd prefer that. Title may not have any relevance at all depending on where the story will go. Never mind, vote for the following first, before we can get the fun started.

[x]Name
&
[x]Gender
-> Gender will have great effect on how the story will play out.

Oh yeah, our MC's attitude and personality will be based on how this CYOA will play out.