> Chuckle.
> "Very well. Have a good night and pleasant dreams, both of you."
> Retire back to our room.
>You head back to your room, as Futo goes back to hers. You barely have time to lay down before you are out like a light.
>YOUMU
>After the initial awkwardness, things progress reasonably well. You have to walk on eggshells with Kotohime, but given that she?s had an awful day, you try not to get too upset with her. It doesn?t take her too long to drift off to sleep. Thankfully, she was optimistic enough to prepare a futon for you before you returned, and you are able to get to sleep yourself without any difficulties. In truth, her little bunker is surprisingly comfortable, given the fall chill outside.
>The next morning comes all too quickly, but you awake refreshed and ready to tie up the last loose ends.Kotohime decides to stay behind, saying that she is too drained to attend any events. You make your way to Hakurei Shrine, and find that a few people have already gathered. You check with Reimu and see that she is well, and in fairly good spirits after someone was kind enough to donate breakfast to the shrine. Meira lingers around as well, saying nothing and seeming unhappy with the world in general. You consider speaking with her, but decide against it for now, there are other matters you need to focus on. Yuyuko soon joins you, and
>Seiga comes with the rest of the Taoists, and the two of you waste little time in getting down to business. It?s difficult, to say the least. Whatever that wand is, it?s not to be trifled with. While your original battle with Seiga was complicated, she depended on her servant as much as her own skill. The wand is more than enough to close that gap, and some of the patterns she is able to make are outright vicious things. Perhaps you would struggle less if you hadn?t gone through so much yesterday, but that is academic at this point. You cannot allow yourself to lose, and after the initial shock you play things safe, keeping your distance and learning what she is capable of bit by bit. These lessons are painful, but spread out enough that you can handle it. Using your ghost half as an additional focus, you are able to chip away at Seiga bit by bit, until you are able to move in and strike her from the sky. You claim the wand, and Komachi is happily in attendance, allowing you to give it to her. The shikigami is more than delighted with your donation, and helps you find a bed to collapse into.
>Afterward, you retire for much of the day, having taken enough of a beating that you have little choice. Honestly, you almost prefer it to the tournament. By the time you wake up, the tournament is done, and the drinks have come out, which you?re all too happy to join. You reflect it may be best that Kotohime did not come, not only are you unsure how she?d take to liquor at this point, the fact that several Eientei residents are here might have made things go poorly for her. In this time, you get to talk with Meira a little. She takes her loss philosophically, you think, and doesn?t seem to harbor much in the way of a grudge toward you. She doesn?t seem to think that she lost any personal control in the battle, and you frankly don?t feel like arguing it, preferring to let bygones be bygones.
>In the days that follow, winter continues to approach, and an incident erupts in the human village, centering around a curious mask youkai and things coming to a head regarding the various religious sects of the land. It is not your problem, and you?re all too happy to join in on the wagering that follows.
>You encounter Kotohime a couple more times during these events, and it?s hard to tell how things are now. She is definitely still friendly and chatty as always, but you feel a guarded air around her, as if she is unwilling to say too much. She never mentions that night again, for certain, or anything pertaining to it. You can?t help but wonder if she?s uncomfortable being around you now, she doesn?t seem to follow you around as she did before. Did she lose interest? Is she afraid of alienating you further? You aren?t certain you want to ask, you definitely don?t want to prod at any wounds. You don?t think she hates you, at least, she certainly talks more than what politeness requires.
>However, it doesn?t seem to affect her work on the upcoming play. You arrange for the use of an empty barn as a place to meet and practice, and hire a group of rabbits to build the stage. Miko and Byakuren are a worry at first, but it seems they have been able to set aside what differences they had and come together for the play. Kotohime proves to be surprisingly good at memorizing her lines for someone so normally scatterbrained, but stage direction can be a difficulty for her. Utsuho, on the other hand, needs a lot of coaching. Yuyuko?s patience seems infinite, and you are all too happy to let her handle this. Reimu, as it turns out, has precisely one line in the entire play, simply informing Utsuho?s character to ?Live not on evil,? in a manner promising a future threat.
>As winter wears on, your dueling society has its first meeting. After some thought, you host it where the rehearsals are held, which is convenient enough without a worry of Tenshi suddenly appearing. You try to set an agenda of comparing techniques, then holding a few small matches to try to practice a few moves. In particular, you are eager to try out some ideas you had gotten from the scroll you had won off the deva. What ends up happening is that said deva brings a generous amount of liquor, and the rest quickly buy some food to go along with it. Stories and boasts are swapped; as much as an oni and Miko are prone to boast; and little in the way of serious dueling happens. But as disappointing as that might be, it?s a fun gathering and you find yourself looking forward to the next one. You and the oni do spent a bit of time comparing the nature of her sudden angle shifts with your own techniques, but that it gets inceasting hard to compare technique while holding chicken skewers.
>MIKO
>Morning in Eientei turns out to be surprisingly hectic. You are placed well away from where the majority of the rabbits live, and the hubbub can be clearly heard. You are soon served a breakfast of rice porridge. Properly humble for a Hermit such as yourself, but still somehow kind of disappointing. You are markedly less sore than the previous evening, and after some examination you are given the Doctor?s reluctant blessing to participate in the mahjong tournament.
>Your journey there with several residents of Eientei, and have a fairly pleasant time of it. The Princess is a pleasant conversationalist, and Seiga is more than happy to facilitate introductions. As you arrive at the Hakurei Shrine, you find that quite a few people have arrived, including Youmu. It does not take long for her and Seiga to move toward settling matters. Seiga claims an early advantage in the battle, but she isn?t able to pin Youmu down decisively enough. While Seiga holds herself up well, she doesn?t manage to give as well as she gets, and eventually falls before Youmu?s measured counteroffensive. With Seiga momentarily unavailable, you award Youmu her prize. She politely rebuffs your offers to help her seek help, and leaves you and the others to move Seiga somewhere to rest before the tournament starts.
>The Tournament itself is something of a mess. A number of random youkai invite themselves to join, as does Yuyuko, Remilia, Patchouli, and a few important-looking faces you do not recognize. Within the first round, a number of people get ejected for cheating, detected by a nine-tailed fox youkai who seems to be working for Yukari. Yukari herself seems to be content to observe things. The crowd is a mix of curious villagers and seemingly random youkai; though you do note Kagerou is among them. Some seem to be seriously interested in the game proceedings, but most seem to be more interested in sore losers and angry outbursts, or the bird youkai serving various skewers. The latter group certainly get enough in the early rounds, as some people react to losing or taking a bad turn with less than grace. As for yourself, you and Futo do well in the earlier rounds, working together with your draws and methodically taking your opponents apart.
>As you make your way to later rounds, you are pitted against Patchouli and Remilia, who quickly put to the two of you on the ropes with their own coordination. However, you soon find their weakness in a willingness to make rash and risky moves that leave them open while they are ahead. Exploiting this, you and Futo are soon able recover and methodically work your way toward victory. Patchouli takes the loss less than well, storming off and grumbling, in contrast to Remilia?s gracious and perhaps not-complete-sincere tact and well wishes.
>The final round pits you against Yuyuko and a tall red-haired woman with two pigtails. Something about her puts you ill at ease, but you cannot quite put your finger on it. If nothing else, she is quite friendly, and seems almost too relaxed for what is going on. You quickly determine she doesn?t care about winning or losing, she just wants to play the game. She and Yuyuko certainly work well together, and while they do not manage to force you into a bad position as quickly as Remilia and Patchouli did, they are difficult to make gains against. In the end, really, it comes down to luck more than anything, as Futo manages to get just the tiles she needs, and you manage to play off of them to take a small lead and successfully defend it. Unlike before, your victory is met with grace from your opponents; the remaining audience cheers wildly, as Yukari presents you your prize in a small wooden case worthy of gracing your old palace.
>With all that excitement over with, and after a discussion with Meira, it is finally time to return home. Returning to the mausoleum, you quickly find where the horns have been secreted away, and can finally examine them. Frankly, had you found these during your reign, you would have had them declared a national treasure. Then you would have likely been fairly worried that it might have encouraged the mainland dynasty to invade and take them. There is a great deal of mystical potential in these horns, you would have to spend some time studying to pin down what all they can do, but you are confident that you will not be disappointed.
>Studying, however, becomes a secondary concern as general sort of listlessness you observed in the village becomes more and more pronounced. You get drawn into the events surrounding that, accidentally becoming the center of a gambling ring and getting to know a particular menreiki composed of masks you had almost forgotten you had made ages ago, ending with you having to join forces with Byakuren and Reimu once again to try to keep her from getting out of hand. But you do manage to smooth that issue out.
>Once this is squared away, you have a promise to keep to your followers. The mountainside forest has grown only more lovely in the intervening time, and the lunch that Tojiko has prepared equally delicious. You invite Seiga and Yoshika to come along; the latter being distracted from taking more than her share of lunch with some bamboo stalks, and then some fallen sticks from the forest floor. While Shizuha does not join you, you can feel that she is around, basking in the event. Deciding it best to let a deity tend to things as she prefers, you simply do your best to enjoy the arrangements of red and gold. It is a pleasant afternoon, and precisely what you need to unwind after everything.
>Soon afterward, you have play rehearsals to attend! There is some residual tension between you and Byakuren, but in light of recent events, it?s not difficult to be civil, and she seems to have no issues with it herself. As for Seiga?s suspicions, nothing manifests of them. The play itself is kind of a confusing mess at first, until Yuyuko is able to provide you with the whole script and you unlock the key to the whole thing: It is written as an immense palindrome. With that in mind, the strange and non-sensical lines begin to make sense, and you find it significantly easier to to proceed.
>The crowd reaction is mixed, to say the least. Some people seem to pick up on what is going on as the play progresses, and many are quite amused by it. Others never seem to. Still more seem to be amused by the borderline non-sensical nature of the whole thing. You wonder about those last people at little bit. From rumors that your followers and fellow actors gather, the general reaction is one of befuddlement, but it seems to be a more amused kind of befuddlement.
>The question of Meira is a bit more difficult. Having met with her her, you are certain she is sincere in her willingness to take up the Tao herself, even if her motives may not be as pure as you would like. If nothing else, you imagine she wouldn?t be worse than Seiga is. After some discussion, Futo volunteers to help Seiga train her. Tojiko is a bit more reluctant, but eventually decides she can help fill in where neither of them are available. Content to leave it to the three of them, sometimes they go to her home, and sometimes they bring her to Senkai. Spending more time with her, you find that that lessons make up the most social interaction she?s had in a long time. Now that she?s had time to recover from the incident, she is a bit more polite and less blunt, but her manner is still fairly unrefined, if restrained. You aren?t quite certain what drives her, but you suspect that it is frustration at the disparity between her birth status and her actual conditions more than anything. It will be difficult to temper those feelings into an effective hermit, but you suspect it?s possible. If nothing else, she seems eager to learn, and doesn?t seem to complain much when you find that many of Futo?s lessons seem to coincidentally involve repairing her boat from the damage that the behemoth did to it.
>BOTH
>The winter passes peacefully by, as you tend to your affairs. The Dueling Club is reasonably successful, and Meira slowly shapes to to be a passable student, and perhaps a decent addition to the team. Perhaps some elements could have gone more smoothly, but overall you have gotten a
Good End!>Original Inspiration: TranceHime
>Programming, Music, Typos, Database Errors: Purvis Hobotech
>Title Art: Past Himiko
>Ending Art: Current Himiko
>Supper Player: You!
>When you stare into the ages, one can only wonder if the ages stare back...
