> Welcome back, it's been quite some time since you last did anything. In fact, you've managed to occupy a space on Satori's couch without moving at all for over 4 months and have yet to perish! But rather than try to explain that mystery, let us instead deposit you back into action.
> What's this? You'd like a recap of your previous adventure? That can easily be arranged; after all, you have been immobile for far too long.
> You are Toshiro, a human who has just started working for the Gensokyo Delivery Corps, where the motto is ?Delivery at any cost!?
> Your day began with an encounter with a cat-like youkai named Chen who had lost her hat. You agreed to help her find it after completing your first delivery to Sanae at the Moriya Shrine. On your way through the Tengu Village, the two of you were stopped by Momiji, a tengu guard who insisted that Chen was not permitted to pass through the village before dropping Chen off at the Kappa Village much to your dismay. Ensuring that Chen was not hurt, you set off back to the Shrine, with Momiji as your forced escort. The two of you discussed philosophy and the purpose of Rule of Law, as well as what force dictates the behavior of mankind; Momiji eventually became overwhelmed and burst into tears. You were able to assure her that her blind duty had not been for naught, but that she needed to respect others more in the future. As a penance, she traded her sleeves at Kourindou for Chen's hat; she also gave you her tokin as a token of her appreciation. For some reason, you have odd feelings about Momiji.
> Your delivery to Sanae revealed that she dyes her hair green when a gust of wind blew over the package you had delivered. You managed to obtain one of the bottles of hair dye. You also asked Suwako to have a good day, to which she insisted that she would try her best.
> You encountered Hina, the curse youkai, who insisted that a grave misfortune was imminent in your future.
> Aya the spaz gave you a package to deliver to Satori, which you have successfully completed.
> Nitori the Kappa requested that you deliver a set of strings to Lunasa Prismriver, the ghost Violinist, for an unknown reward.
> You had morning tea with Reimu and met Mima the ghost and the oni Suika. Reimu explained some of the basics of the spellcard system over tea, and you made note of her beauty. She also gave you a ?read? which revealed that you have a great amount of potential, possibly to use magic. You are unsure how to harness this potential yet and will require more research. Mima offered to accompany you to the Poltergeist Mansion to search for the Prismrivers.
> You encountered your former teacher Keine having tea with the youkai Ran, who is apparently a good friend of hers. Ran requested that you deliver a pie to Eientei for her. Keine showed you to the edge of the Bamboo forest suggested you ask Mokou for guidance through the forest. You were not able to resist looking at her breasts, which were somehow even more impressive than when you were young.
> Mokou was quite gruff, but guided you to Eientei for a fee.
> Eientei's massive size was shocking, and the amount of rabbits inside was daunting, but Reisen guided you to Princess Kaguya's chamber, where you delivered the pie. Before you were able to taste any, you reveled that you had been guided through the forest, and Kaguya ran off towards the entrance. Reisen led you back towards the gate and managed to pass Kaugya on the way in an attempt to get you away from the impending battle.
> Outside the gate, Mokou was unsuccessful to lead you away before Kaguya appeared. The two of them fought a very grisly battle: Mokou somehow set Kaguya's clothes on fire which spread across her body rapidly while Kaguya attacked Mokou with a hatchet, scoring two very wounds into Mokou's back. For some unknown reason, you lent Mokou your knife, which she used to slash out Kaguya's throat. Kaguya expired from the strike and the immolation.
> You used Mokou's shirt to tie a field bandage around the deepest gouge while she led you back to her shack. After arriving, you were able to apply a better bandage to her entire torso; Mokou informed you that she and Kaguya were both immortals that engaged in a fight-to-the-death nearly everyday, and that they are able to feel pain and die, but death is not permanent and they are able to recover. While washing up behind her shack, you considered the reality of what you just witnessed, and that your knife was used to injure someone, a wound that would have killed anyone else. Mokou gave you a ribbon of hers, charmed to resist fire, as an expression of gratitude, which you tied around your shirtsleeve.
> On your way from Eientei to the Underground you encountered Aya again, who reveled her spastic mannerisms to be a farce. She also warned you about two youkai near the Eastern fields, Yuka and Medicine.
> Underground, you encountered two youkai in the path down, one in a bucket, with a very odd manner of speaking. You also met Parsee, who guards the bridge to the Oni Village. She requested your company later for a visit.
> In the Oni Village, you were forced into a ?party? with the Four Devas of the Mountain, one of which was Suika. It turned out to be a highly unpleasant experience, but Suika promised to give you something to prove that you were able to party with the Devas. You will have to meet with Yuugi to obtain it.
> Finally, you arrived at the Palace of the Earth Spirits, home of Satori the mind-reader. She questioned why you were so apprehensive about using your knife after it had been used to inflict injury, as well as the relations between youkai and humans in Gensokyo and the effect humans can have on youkai.
> The previous thread can be found
here> We now return to your discussion, already in progress.
>Speaking of which, the locals mentioned a 'bad person' named Yukari. Information on this person couldn't possibly hurt.
> ?You can't seem to focus on the subject at hand, can you? Oh well, I might as well indulge you a bit.?
> ?I assume you're talking about Yukari-denka? Keeper of the border and manipulator of boundaries? Queen of gaps? I don't believe there is anyone else with that name. She's arguably the most important person in Gensokyo, since she can control the Hakurei border as well. She tends to sleep a lot though, days at a time, so she likes to live it up when she comes around. That fox with all the tails you saw earlier is her shikigami, basically a servant tied to her forever. Both of them are pretty powerful. Probably best to avoid her unless you have to meet her. She's not usually dangerous, but she's not someone you want to mess with. She's probably asleep right now. I don't know too much, her power doesn't affect much down here, and she only comes around as a guest for meals and feasts. Good company though, far better than the oni.?
>Sport a grin as you continue the conversation.
>"I would say I'm enjoy the conversation. It's nice to match your views of the world against someone else's to see how they match up with one another. One needs experience and conflict in this world to grow."
>Get a bit relaxed as you continue the conversation.
>"Too tell you the truth I'm not exactly show how shaken up chen was by having momiji carry her away from the kappa village. I see the reasoning behind it but it's just not fair for the tengus to say who or who can't enter their village just based their race. Chen had done nothing wrong in that situation and was behind harassed for no good reason."
>"I suppose I can see what you mean when it comes to the whole Mokou and Kaguya feud. I don't really know much about them and I reacted to what came natural. AKA, freaking out that I might have been an accomplice to a murder. I suppose I'm still a bit shaken up from the event but I'm sure it's something that I will eventually grow accustomed too."
>Quirk an eyebrow as you begin your next little speech.
>"Where do you happen to be pulling all this "ready to change the lives of the heathen youkai!" garbage from? The fact that I tried to talk to momiji about fighting for what she believes is right rather then blindly listening to orders? That's a bit far-fetched and it would almost seem like you're slapping a label on me before you even get a chance to know me. Also, even if I didn't change anything about Momiji I believe it's the effort that counts in the end. Momiji saw a human or maybe just a person that cared about her and wanted her to live a happier life. Even if she goes back to being a stubborn girl following the law to the letter the memory of what I said to her won't just disappear."
>"Also, if you would be so kind as to tell me, what is my place in life. Where do I stand in this world? You seem to have all the answers do you not?"
> ?Back to this then? It's interesting to get someone's opinion about things. Yes, I agree that one needs experience, especially in Gensokyo, to learn how the world actually works. You'll be in for quite a surprise for sure.?
> ?Again, the tengu have their own society and, until that shrine appeared at the peak, that entire mountain was their's. They'll enforce whatever rules they like-?
> You hear a crash from the kitchen and Satori's head pivots to glare at the doorway, her eye affixed as well. A cat screeches and hissses, but eventually emerges. It's the same black cat from earlier, being held by the tails by a small girl. Her outfit is yellow, but reminds you strongly of Satori's outfit, with hair a noxious shade of gray. Luckily, it is covered by a large brimmed hat.
> ?Koishi? What are you doing out?? Satori asks.
>"Oh. Well...not gonna lie and say I enjoyed that, but I guess you didn't mean to be mean about it. You want to know why I do it? Because because if people don't try, nothing improves. I think we can agree that trying to make it so pain and suffering is an improvement, right? Maybe it is a purely human way of thinking, I don't know. If it is, I suppose you could argue it's trying to convert others and resisting natural impulses and all that, but...well, I'd say that's fine. I mean, they don't have to listen to me, I can't force them in any proper way. But if I can convince someone else to feel that way, even a little, it tells me that it's not just a purely human thing. And even if it is, it's still worth trying.
>"So, even with all that stuff you said? I do it because I think it's worth it."
> ?Sachi, who is that?? the little girl asks with an obnoxiously high-pitched voice.
> ?This is Toshiro, he's here to deliver a package.?
> ?He's bad.?
> The cat continues to squirm in her grasp.
> ?He isn't bad, why would you say that??
> ?You two are fighting, anyone that you fight with can't be good.?
> ?We're not fighting Koishi, we're having a conversation.?
> ?But why are you getting angry Sachi??
> Koishi moves closer to the two of you.
> "I guess I was being a bit overkill on the knife topic, but then again that was the first time I have been involved in lethal combat so that is probably why I am so stuck on the knife topic."
> Try as hard as possible to stop making a big deal over the knife.
> ?Sometimes discussions can become a little heated Koishi, that doesn't mean it's a fight.?
> ?But he's a bad man, I can tell.?
> ?How can you tell? He's not even moving.?
> ?Because the two of you are fighting! And he's strong! REALL STRONG!?
> ?Koishi, he doesn't even know how to use a spell card.?
> ?SACHIIIIIII!? Koishi screams and runs closer towards you, dropping the cat.?
> ?What are you doing Koishi??
> ?ANYONE THIS STRONG THAT FIGHTS WITH YOU CAN'T BE GOOD!? She reaches her hand into a pocket on her blouse.
> ?Koishi, what-stop! Koishi put that away! Koishi! KOISHI!?
> Koishi pulls a slip of paper from her blouse and shouts out ?SYMBOL SIGN: DANMAKU PARANOIA!?
> Suddenly the subtle lighting that had filled the room completely drops away, leaving the room to be very dark. However, you are able to see Koishi take to the air. Satori remains seated and looks on grimly.
> An eerie red light begins to glow around you from all angles. You glance around and realize that you are surrounded by tiny red orbs of light, pulsing very quickly. It sounded to you like Koishi just pulled a spellcard and engaged you in combat, it seemed to fit in with what Reimu had mentioned. These must be bullets then?
> The ring begins to spin and move to the right. Unable to track the movement of the bullets, you are forced to follow it.
> White light overhead breaks your concentration. You stare upwards to find a large white orb.
> No, two.
> Five.
> Nine.
> More and more of these orbs appear and begin to move towards you slowly. The ring grows tighter around you as you frantically try and figure out how to dodge the white orbs. You're supposed to dodge them, right? Reimu said that spell cards have to be survivable!
> You move backwards as the first of the orbs buries itself into the ground. Hey, they're moving pretty slowly, you should be able to dodge them fairly easily.
> The ring constricts even tighter as the overhead barrage continues. More and more orbs fill the room, soon coming from all sides and moving faster and faster. You continue to dodge as best you can, moving left and right and ducking whenever, trying to avoid touching the ring.
> Without notice, the speed of the orbs doubles, and orbs you had not seen assault you from all sides, you continue to desperately dodge them.
> However, it becomes too much, and you stumble and fall through the ring. A searing hot pain slices through your body, and you are unable to move and you crash into the earthen floor.
> Before you can process the pain of hitting the ground, a new pain assaults you from your back: a white orb has struck you. The pain is immense and you are unable to think. Are you going to die?
> Another orb glances through your head and your vision goes dark. Did it hit? The pain throughout your body is unimaginable, you cannot tell if you're bleeding or even in one piece. Is this the end?
> You are vaguely aware that the barrage has stopped, and can hear Satori's voice screaming at Koishi, but as your consciousness fades you cannot make out her words.
> The floor is warm, is it blood? Your blood? No idea.
> Hands. Delicate but strong hands pluck you.
> You're flying.
> Through the air.
> It's so wonderful.
> You could be like this forever.
> ?..fuel for the fire!?
> You collapse, folded up.
> In some kind of box.
> Are you moving?
> Fading. Where are you going?
>
>
>
>
>
> You begin to come to your senses. You feel an oppressive heat surround you. Everything is on fire.
> Just ahead, you can hear the sounds of shouting, but the voice isn't familiar.
> What's going on?
>_
