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THE STORY SO FAR:
The world has ended, but five (well, four and a half) humans get a chance to do it over, and make things right. Only problem is, for their second go around, they're not going to be 'human'...

The chronicler-turned-moon rabbit, Inaba Akyuu, is teetering on the edge of disaster. Her act of escape from the moon came with open assistance (and not-so-open trickery) from Sagume, leading her to bring a small item down alongside her and without her knowledge. Eirin panicked upon finding that the item’s purpose was to capture two people and bring them to the moon, and started the Imperishable Night on the same night of the Scarlet Family’s arrival.

Instead of protecting Eientei, this has brought them into conflict with two forces at once. The Shrine Maiden of this time, Hakurei Haru, came to Eientei at her shikigami Aunn’s guidance. The Scarlets, meanwhile, just rampaged around the bamboo forest until they found their prey.

Now Eientei is under siege, and its defenders find themselves drawn into battle with the Scarlet Devil herself. And all the while, the shinigami Komachi Onozuka stalks ever closer to a confrontation where lives are on the line…


Previous Threads:
Redo/Reimu >>205449 >>205720
Again/Akyuu >>206017 >>206302 >>206595
Epilogues and Shorts >>/shorts/2804

Or read the story archive on Ao3:
https://archiveofourown.org/series/4062991



Akyuu and Reisen were running at top speed. In Akyuu’s case, faster than she’d even thought she could go. Smoke was beginning to plume from Eientei’s grounds, and the figure in the false moonlight was even more clear now, with glowing, red wings behind her.

The reached the gates of Eientei, and ran around it - through a whole in the wall. Akyuu glanced down at the grounds, seeing a few burnt and scorched guns, and terrified rabbits. It looked like a lot of the old weapons had misfired or failed in the critical moment.

As they cleared the wall, Akyuu’s heart stopped. Where the psydar building had once stood, there was only rubble, and a glowing red spear. Reisen gasped. “L-lady Eirin must have been caught in… oh no…”

The vampire’s glare oozed contempt as she glared down at the grounds. Behind her, Sakuya stood impassively, hefting a wriggling something over her shoulder. In the silhouette of the moonlight, Akyuu couldn’t quite see what it was.

When the vampire spoke, her voice reverberated throughout the grounds.

“Residents of the forest enclave.” Akyuu felt the vampire’s booming voice vibrate through her teeth. “My name is Remilia Scarlet. And for me, this was meant to be a special night. A night where I, the Scarlet Devil, made my mark on Gensokyo. Where I made measure of myself against Gensokyo’s finest.” The vampire put her hand on her chest. “It was going to be a grand night, one filled with bloody reverie.”

The vampire balled her hands into fists. “So why are you all RUINING MY BIG ENTRANCE?! Do you know how many YEARS I spent planning this?! How long I subtly pulled at the strings of fate to get an unimpeded march of glory across this bubble-world?! And how am I supposed to do that without a glorious, true red moon at my back?!” She flailed her arms, furiously. “Idiota! Porca! Cazzo!”

The maid made a gesture to cough into her hand, and the vampire regathered herself. She paused, before spreading her wings. “Something - someone - has ruined my magnificent debut. Something has managed to steer fate against the course I have painstakingly laid out for it. I suspect that for most of you, your actions are only the result of this person’s interference. Maybe even the burr in my path is unaware of their effect.”

The vampire conjured her red spear, looking at it venomously. “But it matters not. I will not suffer this burr’s interference without challenge. I pulled on the strings of fate to decide my path, and it lead me here - the culprit is somewhere on these grounds. You will present them to me in the next three minutes… or I will burn this entire forest to the ground. Those are your choices, rabbits. Reveal the culprit and be spared… or be consumed in the blaze of the Scarlet Devil’s fury.”

The vampire’s head began to turn, and Reisen pulled Akyuu aside, behind the cover of a small building. The younger rabbit was despondent, starting to tear up.

“I-it’s my fault, isn’t it?” The younger rabbit slumped behind the wall. “That’s why all this is happening! It’s all my fault…”

Reisen knelt down, trying to comfort her. “Akyuu, you couldn’t have known…”

“No! I should have guessed something! Why else would Sagume have tried to help me? Why-why would - I should have tried harder to convince Eirin to stop, or, or…”

“Akyuu.”

The two rabbits looked up. The shrine maiden was looming over them, and her familiars hung just behind them. “Now is not the time for tears. There’s no need to cry until everything is over.”

“B-but-”

The shrine maiden took a knee. “Nobody can know the full effect any of their actions can have. It matters not if you’ve made the right choices leading up to any given moment. What matters is what you do now.”

The shrine maiden looked up. “All that was, was a long stream of that brat’s unchecked vanity. She’s long overdue for a humbling.” The shrine maiden slammed her gohei into her palm. “And that is exactly what I excel at.”

She turned to Reisen. “You. Can you fight? Aunn said you were the strongest of the rabbits.” Reisen blinked, but nodded, firmly. “Then… you and Aunn focus on that bodyguard, take care of them. I’ll take the vampire on myself.”

The komainu’s eyes fell. “Lady Hakurei, you can’t-”

“Then you two need to finish that maid off quickly.” The Shrine Maiden stood up. “And you, Akyuu - do not engage.”

The younger rabbit looked up at her. “N-no, wait, I’ll-”

You will stay back. You are the first lead I’ve had on the Immaterial Children case in years, and I will not lose you.”

Reisen looked over at Akyuu. “Akyuu, go look at the psydar ruins. Get Lady Eirin and the Princess out of the rubble - even if they won’t be good to fight, they’ll still be able to help.” The rabbit stood up, preparing her rifle. “Well? Shall we make our entrance, Lady Hakurei?”

The miko nodded, turning back and boarding Genjii again. “Yes… let’s teach this brat her place.”

The group left, leaving Akyuu alone. She took a deep breath, trying to regather her thoughts.

The fight against Remilia directly seemed grim. They had the numbers advantage, but it was a complete mess. Could Akyuu help, by stepping in herself? Perhaps not directly, but her trickery would be of use.

The other option was freeing Eirin and Kaguya from the rubble. Even just one would be a big help, and if the battle over Eientei turned out for the worst, then maybe the doctor’s assistance could prove vital. The question was time - if she couldn’t find the doctor quickly, the chance of someone getting seriously wounded only increased.

Akyuu gulped, and made her decision.

[ ] Join the fight.
[ ] Free the Immortals.




Just in case you missed it, the last thread got an update after it’s autosage: >>206891

All I’ll say is that, either way, neither is instantly disaster. We’re picking 6A or 6B here, people.
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It makes sense to follow Reisen's instructions, no...?
But... common sense never really did exist in Gensokyo.

[x] Join the fight.
-[x] Where's Tewi?
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Kaguya could be useful just for being able to cancel any time shenanigans Sakuya might do. Also, there's a non-zero chance of Eirin being able to do some miracle work for Haru in case she get shredded.

That being said I'm not voting yet so I can hear other people out.

Also, Akyuu or Reisen should warn them about Sakuya and Remilia's powers.
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[X] Free the Immortals.

We have our orders. Let's get to it!
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[x] Free the Immortals.

Gonna be honest, Eirin and Kaguya put up a pretty poor showing if Remilia stomped them that quickly. Regardless, I don't like Akyuu's chances against Remilia or Sakuya, and I think Reisen/Hakurei's desire to keep us out of the fight is reasonable.
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[X] Free the immortals
Akyuu is a support, not a line combatant
And even if she were, the immortals are far heavier hitters
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[x] Free the Immortals.

I'm betting on Deus ex Moku popping up at some point.
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> neither is instantly disaster.
Remilia has already lost control of the situation AND of her composure. I'm not too worried about her fate abilities just yet.

The immortals are in no real danger. They are immortal. However, we could make Remilia's odds worse by getting them involved. The problem with this comes from leaving the Hakurei to her devices, but she's at least got Genji's support and Sakuya is tied up with Aunn and Reisen. So 6B is chancing the already screwy fate (to no immediate disaster mind you, but that doesn't mean it can't lead to disaster) to try and get a lot of leverage on Remilia. Who knows how long it will take for us to find and get the immortals out. The thing is with this is that this is probably more likely to eventually lead us to having to stop Komachi from doing her job if we screw up (IMO) which will be difficult and make Eiki pissed.

On the other hand... 6A. We can support the Hakurei and let the immortals sort themselves out. The immortals could join us eventually anyway. They're strong, they can probably pull themselves out fine. As long as we are careful, we greatly increase Haru's survivability.

Either way seems fine, but I see no reason to get the immortals. I'd rather fight. I just hope Haru doesn't go ahead and fuckin restrain us if we try to fight cause then we can't do anything.

[X] Join the fight.
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>>My psychologist: Italian Remilia can't hurt you, she's not real.
>>Italian Remilia:

I agree, we should

[X] Free the immortals

Akyuu was panicking, she needs more experience if she wants to fight against Gensokyo's heavy hitters.
Better to help than to hinder the fight.
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from the end of the last thread:

>“If her fate’s this twitchy… maybe I won’t even get a chance to reap. Or maybe…” The shinigami grinned. “Maybe we’ll be able to have a bit of fun. And I can test that komainu’s theory for myself.”

Reads to me like the options are Remilia as the 'final boss', or Komachi as the 'final boss'.
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[X] Free the Immortals.
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Well, if Remilia wants a show, a show she shall have. If no one remembers the rules:

-We have 3 lives, so does Remilia. Whoever depletes the other first wins.

-This can happen depending on the choices presented.

-Specific additions can be made and if it address a valid concern or consequence, the strike can be negated.

-Additions can be rendered invalid if it includes uncreative ways to do both actions.

That's the rulebook I remember. Most of the decision making is up to the author. As for our choice...

[X] Free the Immortals.

We can take a hit, and having extra firepower and healing can help in the long run. Remember, the only point of hp that matters is the last one. (Let's hope that this doesn't bite me in the ass.) On other additions...

(X) Think of a countermeasure against Time Stop. If Remilia wishes for an uninterrupted fight, Sakuya will make it so.

Unfortunately, we haven't addressed DIO in a maid costume. Sakuya is a big problem, and though she's occupied, time stop exists. So if we show intent on turning the tide drastically...yeah, no. We have to deal with her somehow.

Let's begin this fight. We owe a lot of answers to people, and they all need to live to get them.
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My last post was just talking about how Aunn isn’t too weakened from our fight and she could more easy protect Haru as a result, why don’t we trust her with that?

[X] Free the Immortals.

I do not expect Aunn to completely follow these orders at all. She’s totally got a clone hidden in the bamboo specifically to protect Haru, doesn’t she?
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Benefits of going after Remi:
- A reincarnation's worth of dirt on her collected for the chronicle, for the social game
- Reduced probable harm to our allies
- We know how they fight, they don't know how we fight
- If we have any good memories related to the SDM, we can probably seriously throw them off
- We're a trained soldier who is probably in shape, so we're likely to put up a decent showing
Reasoning against it:
- We are putting ourselves in front of two of the higher-end foes on the danger spectrum.
- Decent to high odds that Haru gets distracted trying to get us out of the fight or trying to save us. C'mon, law of drama practically demands it.
- If someone does get hurt, the doctor is unavailable.
- Messing with them is likely to draw a lot of aggro, and we aren't using spellcards.
- We were explicitly not included in the battle plan, so we'd be an unprepared element for our allies to work around.

Reasons to rescue the immortals:
- Hopefully better in a fight and just were caught unprepared, somehow
- Reduced casualty rate if Eirin has her supplies on her
- Win some goodwill, always a plus
- Might cross some useful rubble along the way
- Working with the plan of two good strategists
- Lessened chance of personal injury
- Worst case scenario repel: We can theoretically try stealing one of their livers to make a new immortal. (This is only a very technical plus.)
Reasoning against it:
- Leaving the others to deal with a threat they don't have much intel on
- Eirin is a super-doctor but is not guaranteed to be able to pull off miracles on a whim
- They got hit once and might not be fully battle ready
- We have no idea how long it might take to find them, even if we have a perfect mental map of the layout of the area.


I think I'm leaning towards the immortals, just because it doesn't cause problems for the other fighters, but I'm willing to hear out the battle side if someone has a good plan.

Oh, and remember folks: we can't expect to be perfect. If we do fail to change fate, it's not the end of the world, and we'll have chances to redeem ourselves.

[X] Free the Immortals
- [X] If there's any significant and useful info we can give to Reisen that she can use and/or relay to Aunn, psychically yell it out now. If we don't have anything off the top of our head though, get moving!
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[X] Free the Immortals.

How did Eientei even get sieged in the first place? They had the home field advantage, they had the psydar, they had intel on the main gimmicks the Scarlet Duo use (Fate Manipulation & Time Stop), and the so-called Brain of the Moon didn't plan for contingencies or to intercept them?
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>>206914 here


>>206919
Yeah. I think I did forget. That's pretty good justification for getting the immortals. Though I am still not keen on moving away from the fight to help people who could easily help themselves.


>>206921
>Oh, and remember folks: we can't expect to be perfect. If we do fail to change fate, it's not the end of the world, and we'll have chances to redeem ourselves.
Hush. That is cope.

That aside... Erin being able to play field medic is the only appealing thing here. Haru getting distracted... is that really likely? The big bad shrine maiden?

>I'm willing to hear out the battle side if someone has a good plan.
I'm a plan as I go person, obviously. I jomped on my choice and everyone else found the finer details. But... fighting doesn't have to mean fighting head-on. I was thinking we could annoy and distract the shit out of Remilia or Sakuya. Maybe throw some illusiory fighters or something their way. Hit them with some embarrassing memories we have of them from our past life?
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> The vampire conjured her red spear, looking at it venomously. “But it matters not. I will not suffer this burr’s interference without challenge. I pulled on the strings of fate to decide my path, and it lead me here - the culprit is somewhere on these grounds. You will present them to me in the next three minutes… or I will burn this entire forest to the ground.

Sooo is it still too late to ask for those three minutes? We could just get a 4 (5 with Akyuu, 6 with the presumably accosted Tewi?)

> Behind her, Sakuya stood impassively, hefting a wriggling something over her shoulder.

That's almost definitely her right?

There's also the problem of the funni moonarian device that yoinks two people back to the moon. It was supposed to be locked down but it might be concealed in the rubble and still active.
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>>206923
>>It looked like a lot of the old weapons had misfired or failed in the critical moment.
:/
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[X] Free the Immortals.

I'd do as I'm told and not join. Remi is not to be messed with and is way outside of Reisen and Akyuu's battle experience and power levels. So, instead, let's get some good will and help the people we care about and, THEN, with their help, we can have a chance.
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[X] Free the Immortals
- [X] If there's any significant and useful info we can give to Reisen that she can use and/or relay to Aunn, psychically yell it out now. If we don't have anything off the top of our head though, get moving!
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[X] Free the Immortals.

We could help by joining the fight, but we'd also be distracting for our allies, both of whom are extra invested in our safety; putting ourselves in danger is a liability for everyone. If the immortals can get into play that would contribute at least as much without the added risks. (Besides, presumably we'd still be trying to help as well afterwards.) Plus, with all the distrust and uncertainty going around it's nice to be cooperative.
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X] Free the Immortals.
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[X] Free the Immortals
- {X} If there's any significant and useful info we can give to Reisen that she can use and/or relay to Aunn, psychically yell it out now. If we don't have anything off the top of our head though, get moving!

if our goal is to save haru, then eirin's our best shot at doing so.

remilia's pretty fucking pissed at whoever fucked up fate. which is akyuu. joining in might make her more pissed and aggressive. without the spell card rules, sakuya's time powers don't really have anything to keep them in check. haru is very interested in keeping us alive since we're a lead on the immaterial children incident (which she has every right to be invested in), so the chance of her diverting attention to keep us safe if we join the fight is very high. and remilia's a lot of things, but she's not dumb- she'll notice if haru switches goals from offense to trying to defend us, and who knows what she might do to take advantage of that.

better to prepare for the aftermath and make sure eirin can fix them up.
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[x] Free the Immortals.
We're not fighter.
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[X] Free the immortals
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The only way I'd even consider having Akyuu join the fight is if she snacked on an immortal's liver before doing so. It'll also turn Akyuu into an unkillable time-travelling messenger if we ever go for round 2 so I'm actually tempted.
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[x] Free the Immortals.
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[x] Join the fight.

As much as I don't like the idea of going against Remi, I like the idea of Haru dueling Remi with minimal support less.
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[X] Free the Immortals.
- [X] If there's any significant and useful info we can give to Reisen that she can use and/or relay to Aunn, psychically yell it out now. If we don't have anything off the top of our head though, get moving!
-[X]Grab whatever rabbits that still have some nerve to help!
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[X] Free the Immortals.
- [X] If there's any significant and useful info we can give to Reisen that she can use and/or relay to Aunn, psychically yell it out now. If we don't have anything off the top of our head though, get moving!
-[X]Grab whatever rabbits that still have some nerve to help!
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[X] Free the Immortals.
- [X] If there's any significant and useful info we can give to Reisen that she can use and/or relay to Aunn, psychically yell it out now. If we don't have anything off the top of our head though, get moving!
-[X]Grab whatever rabbits that still have some nerve to help!
—[X] If we’re going’s in that direction send one bunny to deal with Scarlet
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Counting to >>206940:
Main Choice:
[3] Join the fight.
[21] Free the Immortals.

Potential Additions:
[1] Where's Tewi? (>>206908)
[1] Think of a countermeasure against Time Stop. If Remilia wishes for an uninterrupted fight, Sakuya will make it so. (>>206919, )
[6] If there's any significant and useful info we can give to Reisen that she can use and/or relay to Aunn, psychically yell it out now. If we don't have anything off the top of our head though, get moving! (>>206921, >>206928, >>206931, >>206938, >>206939, >>206940]
[3] Grab whatever rabbits that still have some nerve to help! (>>206938, >>206939, >>206940)
[1] If we’re going in that direction, send one bunny to deal with Scarlet (>>206940)
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>>—[X] If we’re going’s in that direction send one bunny to deal with Scarlet

Unless the one Akyuu sends turns out to be the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog, I don't think this is happening. The remaining earth rabbits are too weak to deal with the vampire and too timid to even try in the first place.
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>>206942
100% agree, it's much better to just evac them from potential harm, especially since their weapons malfunctioned.
On that note, where's Tewi?
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>>206943
>The vampire’s glare oozed contempt as she glared down at the grounds. Behind her, Sakuya stood impassively, hefting a wriggling something over her shoulder. In the silhouette of the moonlight, Akyuu couldn’t quite see what it was.
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>>206944
Oh, I feel bad for her.
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>>206942
It would be really funny if a random earth rabbit was just a absolute unit with a sleeper build. But yeah, probably will get walloped.
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>>206945
She kinda reaped what she sowed.
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File 171344381854.png - (1.98MB, 2000x2000, ScarletDevil.png)
ScarletDevil
Ok, this one is cheating since I drew her for last year's inktober but it does kinda fit here.
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>>206946

And considering that the bunnies are neither hourai immortals nor fairies it would be risking their lives for a negligible increase in firepower (if anything at all.) So digging with them, yes (though that's if any of them are interested in hearing us out, but at least worth a try.) Fighting? Heck no.
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>>206943

Maybe we can get some rabbits to help with the rubble to get Eirin and Kaguya faster and then evac them?
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>>206943 here:
Just realized that >>206950 has a better idea and that it has already been written as a write-in:
>>[X] Grab whatever rabbits that still have some nerve to help!
:o
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Screenshot 2024-04-19 012239
[3] Join the fight.
[21] Free the Immortals.
-[X] If there's any significant and useful info we can give to Reisen that she can use and/or relay to Aunn, psychically yell it out now. If we don't have anything off the top of our head though, get moving!
-[X] Grab whatever rabbits that still have some nerve to help!


She was on her feet in seconds. She looked around, at the cowering earth rabbits.

“Anyone that can still stand, follow me! We’re going to free Lady Eirin and the Princess!”

A few of the rabbits looked around hesitantly, but came to their feet. About a half-dozen rabbits, when all added up, followed Akyuu in her run towards the psydar ruins.

+Reisen, Sakuya has a limited number of knives. Try to break them, if you can. And pass that and any other info on to Aunn as well!+

+Ten-four. Wish us luck.+

One of them still had their weapon, seemingly intact. Akyuu turned to her. “What the hell happened to all the guns?”

“Tewi said your instructions-” The rabbit hesitated under Akyuu’s glare in response. Earth it! That damn cotton-brained fuzzball…

As they rounded a corner, they found several rabbits and the cotton-brained fuzzball in question, all trying to shift part of a radar dish. Akyuu’s small team stepped in as well, finally managing to dislodge it.

Beneath the dish was Princess Kaguya’s head, her body buried deeper. She looked up at the rabbits. “I-inaba?”

Tewi knelt down. “Princess, any rabbits buried under here, or just you and Eirin?”

“Just us, I think. We thought they were too far away to attack… that vampire’s got a hell of a throwing arm.” The princess shifted. “I-I think Eirin managed to avoid the worst of it, but… Tewi, if you would?”

Tewi nodded. “You, the one with the working gun. Restart her, would you?” The rabbit’s face blanched, but she nodded. “Everyone else, with me!”

The white hare closed her eyes, then picked a seemingly arbitrary direction to hop across the rubble. Akyuu was only a few steps behind her, barely hesitating at the sound of a gunshot.

“Eirin! Eirin! You alive under there?” The rabbits began to heft the beam. Akyuu assumed Tewi was using her power of luck to guess where to pull, and was indeed rewarded with the face of the doctor. Looking more carefully, it seemed she had dived under the central table’s lip when the building had collapsed. “Come on, up you get…”

The doctor was pulled out, groaning. One leg was bent in an awkward way, and there was a massive gash on her right arm, but as soon as her left was free, she was ripping up her sleeve to bandage it. “Tewi. What’s the situation?”

Tewi looked up. “Hakurei’s helping us, it seems. No idea how the vat-bunnies managed that.” She looked at Akyuu for explanation.

“She says I’m her lead on the Immaterial Children Incident. Right now I think she’s thinking you kidnapped my spirit or something, but-uh-I didn’t get time to explain it.”

The doctor groaned, continuing to tie up her arm. She pointed at another of the mob. “You. Look for the first-aid kit in the hospital. If you don’t know where that is, Tewi, charge her up with luck.” She flexed her fingers experimentally, before stretching her arm with a wince. “No using my bow… but I can still stitch someone up.”

Akyuu looked up. “Hopefully you won’t have to…?”

The battle between the Hakurei Shrine Maiden and the Scarlet Devil was going poorly. Haru was being pressured back, further and further, with her supplies of vampiric equipment dwindling. Her orbs formed a defensive constellation around her, keeping the worst of the attacks away from her and Genji’s head, but many blows glanced off his shell, knocking vampire-hunting equipment loose. It was clear Remilia was trying to strip her of her equipment, and it seemed to be working.

Fortunately, the other fight was even more one-sided in the opposite direction. There were about five illusory Reisens and two very real Aunns surrounding the maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, forcing the maid to have dropped whatever it was she’d been holding. Her throws were getting more and more frenetic, but also more and more sparse - the two-slash-seven pressuring her were trying to knock her daggers away, or break them apart, leaving her with less and less ammo. She could stop time to move around them and attack again, but both were able to dodge away, and half the time she’d skewer an entirely holographic Reisen.

At a particular moment, one Reisen surged forward, grabbing the maid into a chokehold. The two Aunns leapt in to assist, seizing the maid’s other limbs and holding them against her. Sakuya struggled, but slowly, her movements began to slow. The three restraining her exchanged words, and once the Maid had lost consciousness, Reisen left her to be brought to the ground in Aunn’s care, and rushed to the Shrine Maiden’s aid.

Akyuu began to run to assist, as the vampire yelped from the sudden interference. Haru grinned, and pressed the attack with Reisen - now putting the vampire on the defensive. Remilia hissed, flicking her wings back, and trying to get a better sense of the battlefield, searching for an opportunity.

And then… Remilia saw it. From over a hundred metres away, the vampire’s eyes went from searching wildly to laser-focused on one target.

Akyuu.

“So… It’s you.”

The vampire folded her wings, and dived.

Akyuu’s brain just shut down. As what felt like certain death barrelled down to her, she couldn’t muster a response. She heard yelling, distantly. Reisen, and Eirin’s, and even a bit of Tewi’s. But something about the vampire’s eyes had her trapped. She knew why, some part of her desperately screamed the reason - the power of mesmerizing, like the vampire had done to keep their chupacabra. Remilia wanted her to stay there, stay stock still and take her punishment, as the Scarlet Devil dived down, flashing red claws.

Akyuu saw something lunge in front of her. Something wearing red and white.

With the eye contact broken, and the Shrine Maiden’s body slamming into her, Akyuu’s mind surged up from the hypnotic haze. She gasped as she hit the ground, looking up… to see something utterly nightmarish.

Cracks.

Cracks in the sky.
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They were jagged and erratic, a furious red, forming lightning-bolt patterns all across what Akyuu had once thought to be empty, endless blue. They traced the shape of an enormous bubble, one around all of Gensokyo, and each and every fragment produced by the cracks looked nothing like its neighbors. Autumn skies, littered with orange leaves. The lanterns of midsummer festival. A snowcloud tinted red by an unconnected sunset. A full moon. A new moon. Three different suns.

Akyuu heard a groan, looking down, and gasped. “L-Lady Hakurei!” There was a massive gash through her chest, and blood was flowing out like a river. The rabbit tried to stem the blood, but there was too much, too much-

She heard irregular but rapid footsteps. Eirin suddenly appeared beside her, holding a flask. She grabbed the Hakurei’s mouth, forcing it in. The doctor began muttering a spell, and a small bubble formed from her fingers, expanding slowly. As it expanded around her fingers, they went from muddy and bloody to perfectly clean.

“Akyuu, can you stand?” The rabbit scrambled to her feet, pulling herself out from under the Shrine Maiden. Any dust she kicked up soon vanished under what was presumably a sterilization spell. She glanced around - Reisen was also running to her side. Many of the rabbits were in a complete panic, and Genjii was roaring at them. Both Aunns were at a full sprint running to help - some dim part of Akyuu’s consciousness noted an unceremoniously-dumped Sakuya folded up on the ground, next to her sack.

And in the center of it all, staring straight up at the sky, was Remilia Scarlet. Her face was utterly distraught, and while her wings had been spread up before, now they shriveled around her. She slowly sagged, staring at her bloody claw.

“I-I…” The vampire gulped. “I-I didn’t mean to…”

There was a storm of yells and screams. Tewi was trying to get the rabbits back in some semblance of order, grabbing anyone she could and trying to get them to fetch some sort of medical equipment. Reisen and an Aunn were both leaping down to Haru, trying to assist with patching up the grievous wound. There were bodies running, flowing around everywhere, and Akyuu felt like a lone island in a storm of chaos, helplessly caught up in its vortex.

And yet. Her eyes refocused. There was someone, stepping through the crowd. It wasn’t as if she was doing so in some particularly graceful manner - it just seemed as though nobody happened to get in her way as she walked forward, at an easy gait. It was a tall, curvaceous woman, with red pigtails, and wielding a scythe with a blade that wavered like a flag in the wind.

She waved, casually. “Heya, kid. If you are who I think you are... long time no see, huh?”

Akyuu’s hands were up before she knew it. Some instinct pushed her forward, and she fired off a round from her psychic weapon. Komachi stepped aside, letting it shoot past easily.

“SHINIGAMI!” Aunn’s yell was furious, and desperate. “STAY BACK! I WON’T LET YOU TAKE HER!” One of her bodies rushed at the shinigami, leaping to tackle her. Despite seeming to have already been in the air before Komachi focused on her, she still wasn’t fast enough, getting the hilt of the scythe in her face and knocking her sideways.

At the yell of shinigami, the mood had changed. Now anyone who could stand was looking at Komachi - only those tending to Haru’s grievous wound didn’t look up, too desperate to try and patch it.

The red-haired woman looked around, sighing. “Never gonna get a nice welcome, am I?” She shrugged. “Yeah, yeah, you know what I’m here for. The Hakurei’s my target tonight.”

Tewi surged up, to block the shinigami’s path. “Don’t you dare. Don’t you see the sky?”

Genjii nodded furiously in agreement. “You take her life now, and all of Gensokyo will-”

“That’s none of my business.” Komachi shrugged, airily. She stepped through a gap between the two of them that seemed a mile wide, even though they’d been side-by-side before. “I ain’t the one who decides how fate will turn. It’s just my job to clean up each piece, and leave other matters for another time.”

The vampire rushed forward, trying to pull on Komachi’s sleeve. “No! Stop! I-I can change fate, I can-”

The backhand sent her sprawling, directly into a patch of ground lit by a sunny sky. The shinigami tched, shaking her arm. “You’ve done quite enough, Scarlet. It’s your manipulations of fate for your grand entrance that are what penciled in Hakurei’s death date. And it’s your own power that’s given the Hakurei the hole in her chest, you know.”.

Akyuu stepped out in front of her.

“N-no…”

Komachi looked down, her expression utterly unreadable. “No?”

Akyuu shook her head. “I-it’s my fault. It’s… it’s all my fault. I was the one who - who caused everyone to panic. I was the one who made everyone come here. Who caused this whole disaster.”

She looked up at Komachi. “...It’s my fault, Komachi. That’s why the Hakurei’s dying, isn’t it? That’s why Gensokyo is falling apart. It’s… it’s all my fault.”

There was a long, long pause. Komachi looked her down. Closely, and quietly.

Then pulled out a strange pocketwatch. “...You see, it’s funny you say that, kid. Because, if anything, you’ve already given her more time.”

The rabbit looked up, slowly. “W-what…?”

Komachi gave a mischievous grin. “Well, see, there’s a real strange thing about tonight. Originally, Hakurei was supposed to die about an hour ago, bleeding out on the grounds of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. It would have been a long, epic fight I believe, but the results would be as you see behind you - only much, much further away from any useful medical experience.”

She turned to the crowd. “Then, she went out and met the Hakurei directly. As a result, rather than Remilia and Haru meeting outside the grounds, they spent some time talking to her, giving her a few more minutes again. And it happened a third time only a few minutes ago - when the battle between Hakurei and the Scarlet began. Perhaps if this little bun had intervened, and failed, the vampire would only have been more desperate, and launched an attack even the doctor couldn’t heal. You can heal it, right doc?”

Eirin bristled, but didn’t look up. “...Given enough time, yes.”

Akyuu looked up. “Wh-what are you saying?”

The shinigami chuckled, turning the pocketwatch around. Akyuu had seen the make before, and read it instinctively, noting the many jerking hands.

There were only two positions it was twitching between. One with only minutes to go. And one with entire decades.

“I’m saying… you have a chance. To save her, even now.”

The shinigami raised her hand, expanding the distance between the two of them and all the others. She looked around, before spotting her target.

“Ah, this might be good.”

She knelt down, picking up a broken paper door. She turned the gridded frame over in her hands, judging the width of it's sides and frame.

“Okay, kid, I’m gonna give you the situation. Hakurei, right now, is for nearly all intents and purposes a dead woman. The only thing keeping her heart from stopping is a combination of her spiritual power and pure stubborn defiance. The reason I’m here is to make sure to cut her off from her body before it actually fails completely, as without doing so, she could become a terribly powerful spirit, puppeting her own corpse. Nothing good for anyone involved. So if I get to her, I have to do it. No questions asked.”

The shinigami waved her hand. A part of the shrine maiden’s pooling blood lifted, breaking into numerous dots. “But, see, she’s currently under the care of a very, very good doctor, and to me, that signifies there’s a chance she could make a recovery. Maybe even a full one, with enough time. So, while I will have to cut her down if I get close enough to do so… perhaps there’s a distraction that can keep me busy juuuuuust long enough.”

The shinigami twirled her blade. Excess pieces of broken wood fell off from the sides, leaving only a square grid of the paper door’s frame. “My boss, the Yama, has been looking for the Child of Miare. Desperately, like the Child was her own. And I’ve been told to investigate and report any possible sightings. I was originally kicking my feet about it a bit, I wasn’t gonna chase any old rumor. But then… I remembered something.”

The drops of red blood sunk into the paper grid, each drop staining the square it touched red. It formed an alternating grid, eight-by-eight. Komachi reached into her pocket, pulling out a small pile of gold and silver coins. “The Child of Miare… is an excellent chess player. So, kid - do you fancy a game?” She hefted the makeshift game board, grinning.

Akyuu stared at the board. Though it wasn’t strictly supposed to be done, Komachi always did like indulging with the old story, of playing a game against the reaper. And even outside of that, when Komachi came over to laze around, but wasn’t tired enough to doze, she’d challenge Akyuu to a game, and see what happened.

Not that what happened ever surprised either of them. Komachi didn’t just indulge in the myth, she embodied it. Her play was utterly flawless, as far as Akyuu could tell. She’d tried, valiantly, many, many times, against the shinigami, and failed, every time. She even had her own journals attest to it, and journals of Aya and Anana and all the rest attested to the same hopeless struggle. As inexorable as death itself.

…But there was one conflicting account. One small, humble journal, that idly noted a decisive victory against the red-haired shinigami.

A journal older than the very first edition of what would become the Chronicle.

At length, Akyuu shook her head, doubtful. “...There’s no way I’m gonna beat you, Komachi, if that’s what you mean.”

The shinigami chuckled. “No need to flatter me, kid. Besides, you don’t need to beat me; you just need to stall me out, fair and square; you manage to last that long without wasting my time, and even that will be worth investigating further.”

Akyuu took a long, long slow breath. She could feel dozens of eyes on her back. Right now… all of Gensokyo felt like it hung in the balance.

And yet…

The young rabbit let out a chuckle, looking at the shinigami. “Man… you’ll do anything to avoid doing your job, won’t you Komachi?”

The shinigami chuckled back. “That, I cannot deny.”



From here on out, making the correct choices will earn strikes on Komachi, and help save Haru’s life. You need three strikes on Komachi to win.

Make the wrong choices, and Komachi will win the game early, and reap Hakurei’s soul. She’ll take no pleasure in it, but it’s just business, after all. However, calling in the other rabbits to help got Eirin up a little quicker, and as a result, she was able to tend to the Hakurei more quickly. The odds trend, ever-so-slightly, in your favor, giving you an additional strike worth of wiggle room.

And after all, four is the number of death, is it not?

Update will come in the morning, once again.

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...any Anons good at chess?
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>Komachi, not understanding how she's losing.
>Akyuu, who's been eating her pieces and replacing them with illusions when she's not looking.

Anyways, we could totally turn this moment into a spellcard at some point later on. For now, though, it's time to plot. I don't think Aunn can run stockfish, and getting help from the others would be poor form. So the question is: Do we try and go for a victory, against a perfect player? Do we try and stall as long as we can, giving as little ground as possible? Or do we try and achieve stalemate, with no legal moves, and reach a draw?
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Just wanna say that this is absolutely brilliant
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>>206955
She had specifically said that we only need to stall as much time possible so...
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File 171345646939.png - (294.77KB, 591x446, Screenshot 2024-04-19 020520.png)
Screenshot 2024-04-19 020520
>>206954
>>206955
I'd recommend y'all not jump the gun too quickly until you see the options. I'm not a terrible chess player myself, but the chess will largely be a framework for a more abstract discussion.
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>>206955
We stall her. No question about it. Doesn't mean don't try to win, but we're doing this to buy time.
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We got a decent "fighting" chance. Even if we end up losing... if we spend enough time, we win.

>> "You, the one with the working gun. Restart her, would you?"
Percussive maintenance on Kaguya. Grim, but kinda funny not gonna lie.

What's in the sack anyways?
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>>206960

probably Mystia if i had to guess, its the only other person that we know Remilia and Sakuya have run into tonight.
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>>206958
What about time control? We can't just stall for time by not making any moves, can we?
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>>206962

>The shinigami chuckled. “No need to flatter me, kid. Besides, you don’t need to beat me; you just need to stall me out, fair and square; you manage to last that long without wasting my time, and even that will be worth investigating further.”

We cannot. Or... at least it would be frowned upon and maybe make us less credible.
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>>206964
>Stall
>But don't waste my time
Does not compute.
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>>206958

I honestly wouldn't mind just having it be straight up chess questions. I'm good enough at chess that I fancy my chances.

But with all that said, I completely understand not doing that. I know most of the anons aren't dedicated chess players.
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>>206961
I hope

>>206965
Just play without distractions or things like taking an hour to think a turn, etc.
A fair but long game.
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>>206965
I take this to mean 'stall her, but don't do it by fucking around taking ages for your turns or just half-heartedly moving pieces around the board.'

I imagine that Komachi's looking for a good measure of Akyuu, and she wants it by seeing how Akyuu tries to play the game. Obviously there's probably a lot of metaphorical stuff to this game and if Akyuu does things like rush ahead blindly, it'll lower Komachi's opinion of her, or if she plays it too safe, it'll affect how Komachi views her in some other way. We want to play well, but probably keep as many of our pieces as possible so Komachi doesn't assume Akyuu to be the foolhardy type.
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80ec259d6c1845aa0cabfe4f65ee9579
[X] Make the objectively best move every time and just win.
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File 171346703163.png - (117.97KB, 1535x693, reimu.png)
reimu
I have been making two logos for the story in these free days I had, I would have liked to make something like a cover of a light novel with the characters and that but I am terrible at drawing
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File 171346710267.png - (110.20KB, 1535x693, akyuu.png)
akyuu
this one for the akyuu arc
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>>206970
First of all, that looks really cool!

Second... wait wait wait asutnima, the asutnima I know from lost branch of legend? In the translation team? Or is that just a coincidence?
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Okay someone grab the Chess computer buttplug. We are doing this Niemann style!
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>>206972
yep the same guy
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>>206970
>>206971
I'm tripping this one just to say I think those beat my Lost Bees logo. Really cool stuff.
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>>206969
Just use AlphaZero.
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>>206974
Cool, nice to have you here!
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>>206970
>>206971
These logos look Siiiiick!
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>>206978
In a good way, of course!
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>>206979
>>206975
Thanks! Although I will fix a couple of small errors probably in the logos, I will also do the next arc.
the story is soo good
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Just chiming in to agree that those logos look amazing.
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Fixed, I leave it in a link and sorry for posting several times
https://imgur.com/a/M8fQbde
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Oh damn those are nice.
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>>206958
We're gonna argue philosophy with her?
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>>206967

though if it is Mystia stuck in the sack... does that mean that Remilia was pulling a Luffy?

"Congratulations! I have picked you as my new cook! please do not resist! Sakyua? put the new cook in the sack!"
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Not very good at chess myself but mixing up stalling her and striking when the opportunity present itself might be good although she may set up traps so before sticking check if the piece your going to take can either be taken once they take their place or can form a fork between two piece(note: a fork in chess means that you threaten two pieces of varying importance which forces you to choose which one to save)(note 2: I had just heard these terms as well as common sense so if any anons have better ideas tell them in the comments as we h do have a possible fate changing chapter on our hands
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File 171347833584.png - (319.41KB, 482x779, cirnowithtimbs.png)
cirnowithtimbs
>>206969
Ah are we using the infinite Cirno Theorem, where if you put infinite Cirnos in an infinite room with infinite chess boards they'll eventually find the brilliant move?
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>>206987

Cirno’s not a monkey, you silly nineball🤪.
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Screenshot 2024-04-19 081401
>>206970
>>206971

Now we got a guy doing logos? These blow the pants off of anything I could have done!

Are you fine with me embedding these in the Ao3 versions? If so, how would you like to be credited?

>>206960
Someone who would have been more immediately relevant if y'all chose to fight Remilia directly. After all, the Scarlet team is much more exposed to night blindness than their opponents...

Contents of the sack will have to wait until after the chess match.

>>206967
>>206968
These two are correct. Komachi's trying to judge Akyuu's character through a chess game, a pasttime she's shared with numerous Miares. Just trying to stall her out, or avoid her completely, would reflect poorly on Akyuu.
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>>206989
Sure! also use this version which is better done
https://imgur.com/a/M8fQbde
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Hey, we got a 1UP.

Time to play solid chess. Our job is to tie Komachi up, with class. The fight is on the chess board, not on the clock. So while I do not recommend fast openings... anything goes as long as it's good.

Not much to say this time, the Hakurei Maiden got turned into a Jojo reference, and Remilia is sulking in a corner somewhere. Will be waiting for the next update. (If you get the myth the title references, good for you.)

>>206970
Logo cool, keep it up

>>206987
Wouldn't work, Cirnos have enough ego to make the experiment biased (probably type out 'the strongest fairy' or something lol)

>>206960
It's a surprise tool that'll help us later.
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__onozuka_komachi_and_hieda_no_akyuu_touhou_drawn_
A few minutes had passed. A couple of the rabbits had brought out chairs, and given Akyuu and Komachi a place to sit. Haru was still in the dirt - nobody wanted to risk moving her - but efforts were being made to clean and sterilize the area around her.

Rabbits were trickling back into the complex, now that the fighting seemed to be over. Remilia was timidly watching the unfolding game, while Kaguya had reincarnated atop the rubble, and sat herself next to the vampire. She’d tried to protest the shinigami, but Komachi had resolutely ignored her existence completely. Apparently freeing oneself from facing death also freed death from facing you.

There were dozens of eyes watching the game, but that wasn’t anything new to Akyuu. The games had often been a spectacle for the Hieda estate in her last life, as well. She’d taken the gold coins and was going first; Komachi had the silver, and was taking second. Thirty seconds for a turn, no more.

Akyuu began to move. It was a more defensive opener - harder to break. After all, the goal wasn’t to win - it was just to lose slowly enough. Slowly enough for - no, don’t think about it. Don’t get distracted.

Unfortunately, distraction seemed to be all that was on Komachi’s mind.

“So, kid… Akyuu this time, right?” The shinigami muttered, in a low voice as she moved the first piece. The only ones who’d be able to hear her were the surgery team and Akyuu. “What’s the story? Why are you a moon rabbit, of all things?”

“...Kamishirasawa Keine changed my history. And the history of the other Immaterial Children, with our permission. …It was absolutely necessary.”

The shinigami hummed. “With your permission…? Does that mean…?”

Akyuu nodded. “We’ve actually come from… a different timeline. A very different timeline, already.”

Komachi tilted back, thinking. “Really, now…”

Akyuu looked up. “Yeah. And in that timeline-”

“So.” The redhead’s interjection slammed against her like a coffin door. “Hakurei Haru. In the last timeline… was she still alive by this point?”

[ ] “No… she had already died.” Tell the truth.
[ ] “Yes… she was still alive.” Lie.

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alright, here we go...

if we end up going lie and it turns out to be the wrong choice, Tewi is going to be the most scathing glare she's ever seen... and it will be deserved

though with that said... I'm not going to vote for that. If Akyuu lies, then it looks like Komachi is going to rapid-fire follow up questions, ones that we have to focus on to come up with a lie to keep the story up and thus end up distracted. with the truth its something Akyuu can retrieve and dispense (and in some cases even comment on.) with far less effort, and more effort instead to be spent on the game. The past timeline is the past one, being held up by one change kinda doesn't hold water compared to the heaps of changes that have already happened.

[X] “No… she had already died.” Tell the truth.
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[X] “No… she had already died.” Tell the truth.

The obvious follow-up would be too talk about Reimu and the incidents in the other timeline.
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And the duel begins. We really shouldn't lie, because...what's the point? Even if Haru died in the last timeline, that wouldn't justify taking her life now, where everything has changed immensely. It would also reflect pretty badly on Akyuu.

[X] “No… she had already died.” Tell the truth.

On additions...

(X) Eat a stick of dango. We are going to run out at some point...but the sugar might help us focus a bit more.

Dango. Yum. We've eaten like...3 sticks in a day, jeez.

(X) Focus on the game. Don't let the question throw you off.

Don't get flustered, she works on this timeline's fate, rationalize that this won't make her change her mind immediately.

In all sense, we shouldn't lock the position until we have an advantage. Keep looking for openings, and we should win. Or, at least give her a hard time.
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[X] “Yes… she was still alive.” Lie.

We really have to stop being too honest, as much as I am not at all onterested in lying to Komachi.

...I can see her already trying to get under Akyuu's skin, though. I can see what was meant by discussion.

I don't like where this is going. I feel like she's gonna get Akyuu really thrown off balance if we tell the truth, but this is such a disgusting lie that it's not funny.
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[X] “No… she had already died.” Tell the truth.
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[X] “No… she had already died.” Tell the truth.

>>206993

I agree with this. It will be much easier to answer any follow up questions without coming up with lies and half truths, at least for now.
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Could go either way. That's what worries me.
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>>206991
nut and khonsu, right? knew that title seemed familiar.

what would hieda no akyuu do.... we know she lies. the gensokyo chronicle is full of misinformation, whether intentional or not. akyuu has a chance of bluffing. but while our first goal is to stall for enough time to save haru, our secondary (and arguably more important) goal is to convince komachi that we're actually the child of miare in order to have the yama on our side and aware of the threat to come.

i'm having trouble choosing here, jeez. gonna wait for more arguments to trickle in before committing. i'm not that confident in my knowledge of akyuu as a character to be able to act like her "intended" self. combat analysis is more my forte than mind games against death....
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[X] “Yes… she was still alive.” Lie.

As much as telling the truth will prove that we're the Child of Maire, immediately telling the truth as Akyuu has gotten us screwed over so many times thus far and has shown to people (or at least Tewi) that we will immediately crack under pressure and we cannot afford to crack under pressure now.
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[X] “Yes… she was still alive.” Lie.
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>>206998

We also know that the timepiece tracks when Haru is going to die. It's possible that when history was changed, the timepiece changed with it for the first time. And if Komachi knows that... she'll immediately know we're lying.
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>>207003

while I am going truth, the "she'd know it was a lie anyway. (or at least with minimal effort.) was my argument for telling the truth to Tewi, soooo might not be the best one to use? Granted we are talking with death rather than luck so different circumstances could mean different viable approaches.
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>>207003
It doesn't matter if she knows or not. The point is to have a backbone for once in this story and lie. To have thick skin so we can actually do this.

We can tell the truth later. We need to succeed now.
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[X] “No… she had already died.” Tell the truth.
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Akyuu could definitely get away with lying. There is nothing stopping us from doing so. Let us assume we could get away with it: What does that say?

If we tell the truth, then our incident has already prolonged her life and given her an extra chance. Should we really be further interfering to draw out her life unnaturally?
If we lie, then our incident would have cut Haru's life short had we not interfered. Do our actions in one timeline deserve to harm others in this one?

We are the only one with perfect memory of the past, at this point. We decide what is true. Is this game an unnatural extension, or an attempt to prevent an unnatural end?

We can say whatever we please. Until the game is over, our only goal is to continue the discussion. And death is the ultimate ending. If we want to keep it running, our path to keep the conservation alive is to give the idea that she was alive as well.

[X] “Yes. She was still alive.” Lie, and don't hesitate in the slightest.
- [X] If it would be hard to mask a tell, say it as we move a coin. That way, we're too busy making conscious movements to make any unconsciously.

Small question: do these coins have actual symbols on them to distinguish them? I don't think it matters since both players will know what is what (perfect memory vs very good skill) but I'm curious.
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>>207006 here
Plus, just cause we are lying here doesn't mean we're gonna lie for every choice. We just need to lie for the ones where she could fuck us up otherwise.

We still want to look good and have a good standing, so I understand why people want to tell the truth. But we have been burn so many times. We're practically being begged to lie here. We should probably listen for once and deal with the consequences later.

We can lie and still look good. Be that because Komachi wants and expects us to lie sometimes to show a backbone or because we don't lie for every choice and still tell most of the truths.

We can amend this shit later.
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>>206996 here
Add write in
- [X] If it would be hard to mask a tell, say it as we move a coin. That way, we're too busy making conscious movements to make any unconsciously.

Nice thinking.
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>>207009
I don't get where you're getting that we got burned for telling the truth multiple times. It was only the once where that happened, with Tewi - and that was because Tewi was expecting us to lie at some point. you're framing it like Akyuu's constantly been getting socked, but telling the truth to eientei was successful, wasn't it?

Besides, the other points stand. the goal isn't to tell the truth or to lie, it's to not get too distracted. And it will be easier to just recite what Akyuu knows from the past - it's literally her divine blessing - than it will be to maintain a lie under pressure.
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Yes, telling the truth has screwed us in the past a couple times, yet at the same time, saying the truth gained us the respect of Eirin and Kaguya.

This is a game, and we have four strikes. Let's say the truth first to see what does Komachi want from us.

[X] “No… she had already died.” Tell the truth.
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Lie about Haru not being alive? What are you talking about? She never died in the first place.

Have you forgotten that Setsubun where she fought off Suika, Kasen, Yuugi, and Zanmu with just one bean?
Or what about that time the Jailbreak King escaped and was possessing people left and right, but Haru had a plan that managed to trick her and get her recaptured?
Surely you know about how she was the one who swore in the wedding between that celestial and the poverty god?

We can say whatever the hell we want. Nobody knows how far the butterflies are. Maybe she died three weeks before the apocalypse. Maybe she was on a diplomatic mission to one of the many other dimensions tied to Gensokyo. Haru was totally alive, and the Immaterial Children don't deserve to cut that short through their decisions. Also, Komachi probably has a list of other questions she wants to ask. If she asks us more questions about Haru being alive, that's valuable extra time we're winning by keeping her talking. And if we do end up fumbling the lie because we're focused on the game, so what? We aren't trying to actually trick her long term, we just need her to keep playing this game. If we get caught in the lie, all the better! She needs valuable seconds to actually make the accusations, and our confessions back earn even more.

[X] “Yes… she was still alive.” Lie.
- [X] If it would be hard to mask a tell, say it as we move a coin. That way, we're too busy making conscious movements to make any unconsciously.
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>>207011
I feel like telling them about Sagume's involvement caused us trouble.

But, yeah. I am also a idiot with shit memory, you're right.

I'm not saying the goal is to tell a truth or lie. I'm saying to not crack like an egg like we were lectured for doing. I know that was in the context of Tewi again, but we were literally fed by the author that Akyuu can "word goodly". She's also an author. Who lies in her main publication. She can probably maintain a lie while doing this.

REPOST: I hate my goddamn phone keyboard so much lol but I don't want to use Google or Microsoft's shit just to prevent embarrassing typos and autocorrects. I wish I was as fast as you people so that I didn't come up with rushed posts full of rushed arguments rather than the slow person I am. Lol
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>>207011 here, I’m also gonna add there may be an entirely meta reason for this question: OP may want an excuse to talk about why the Hakurei is still alive in this timeline.
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[X] “No… she had already died.” Tell the truth.
Lying wouldn't provide any benefit in this situation, and would naturally lead into more questions about what Haru did. Akyuu would then have to run constant damage control making up more lies instead of focusing on the fucking game.

Tell the truth, keep it simple, and dedicate all focus on the actual fight: stonewalling her in chess
At this point, lying would just be petty and compulsive
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>“...There’s no way I’m gonna beat you, Komachi, if that’s what you mean.”

So we need to distract her with our answers? If we lie and she finds out, she can stop asking questions and focus solely on the game.
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I just had a great idea on how to make this choice a freebie, but it feels metagame-y and would likely get noticed by Komachi.

Assuming that Remilia's still blasting her fate manipulation at max in order to save Haru, Akyuu can take her gold coin, arbitrarily decide which face is for truth and which is for lie, and flip the coin.
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>>207020
And it will give "best" answer?!
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>>207020
That sounds fun just for how weird it is. I don't think anyone else will go for it, though. Probably also not a good idea to play with Haru's life like that.
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[x] “No… she had already died.” Tell the truth.
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[X] “Yes… she was still alive.” Lie.

Fuck it, let's try blatantly lying for once. We aren't Reimu, so this is actually an option that matters.
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I love reading everything that everyone has to say.
If we were to vote for "No... she had already died", we would be freed from the potential burdens of Komachi asking up follow-up questions and be able to focus on the game.
If we were to vote for "Yes... she was still alive", we would be forced to confront any follow up questions and be unable to focus on the game. But...
>>One small, humble journal, that idly noted a decisive victory against the red-haired shinigami.
How did Akyuu win? Was this her first life? Is this game a metaphorical example of Akyuu herself & how readable Akyuu's soul is to Komachi? Can we actually win? Am I potentially overanalyzing this? (Probably)
Regardless... There is an additional benefit to lying. Komachi is a shinigami, not a shikigami, which means that she may make mistakes based on what we say... but "may" is a lot to ask for...

>>207020
The issue of that is that we would have to directly ask Remilia to do so and tell her which coin means what (which ruins the choice as Komachi could potentially overhear them talking).
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[X] “No… she had already died.” Tell the truth.

Not that I want to throw away lives, but we do have four of them. Playing it safe for the first bout shouldn't hurt us too bad, and if it looks like that's gonna get Haru killed we still have room to pivot.
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>>207022
We're literally playing a chess game with Death. That boat has already sailed down the Sanzu river.

>>207025
Remilia didn't need to know the intricacies of Lunarian weaponry in order to make them fail at a critical moment, nor did she did to know the existence of Eientei in order to get there, and compared to those two, a coin flip is downright basic. It's likely she just chooses the goal and her fate hax autopilot guides her there.
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[X] “No… she had already died.” Tell the truth.
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[X] “Yes… she was still alive.” Lie.
- [X] If it would be hard to mask a tell, say it as we move a coin. That way, we're too busy making conscious movements to make any unconsciously.

The two main reasons I'm seeing not to lie are "we'd have to continue coming up with lies" and "I want to see what happens if we tell the truth because we have an extra life anyways."

You're telling me we couldn't just literally pick somebody and pretend like they were Haru? If she asks us anything, just pick a random person and plagiarize their actions. We have a perfect memory, remembering somebody who did something close enough to whatever Komachi asks should be just as fast as if we were actually remembering the things we'll say themselves.

As for the people who want to see what happens... I mean I respect the curiosity but you need something better than "we have wiggle room, so why not"
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[X] “No… she had already died.” Tell the truth.

She doesn't care about Haru, she cares about us. She won't think that Haru should die because she died in the past timeline. Lying about her living will just get us caught in a contradiction and make us seem untrustworthy. If we lie, It should be about our feelings towards being a moon rabbit, or something else we might want to hide.
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[X] “No… she had already died.” Tell the truth.

Every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess.
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[X] “No… she had already died.” Tell the truth.
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[X] “No… she had already died.” Tell the truth.

This isn't Tewi. And Akyuu literally just said it was absolutely necessary to change history. Let's not contradict ourselves this early.
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>>207020 here.

I still think the coin flip is a good idea, but we could save it for the harder questions. I did a coin flip IRL and landed on truth.

[X] “No… she had already died.” Tell the truth.

I wonder what would happen if Akyuu just ignored Komachi's question entirely and went with "As I was saying, in that timeline...". Because truth or lie, she would be letting Komachi dictate the flow of the conversation if she just answered diligently.
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>"The biggest thing this should be telling you is Akyuu is not Reimu, she's not doomed to nat-1 any deception check. There will still be lots of times where she'll be better served by being honest than deceptive, but she's a professional writer. She words goodly."
Reminder of the WoG comment, since both sides should keep it in mind.

I'm on team lie. I genuinely don't think there's any way for there to be consequences for it, and >>207015 brings up a good point: we aren't trying to persuade Komachi that we're a good person, or that we made the right decision by reincarnating. That might be what the conversation is about, but the actual goal is just to spend as much time playing as possible. If she does try and go down a line of further questioning, Haru has more time to stabilize. Unless you think she'd have more to say if we said she died, there's no reason to even entertain telling the truth.

[X] “Yes… she was still alive.” Lie.
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[X] “No… she had already died.” Tell the truth.
Zzz...
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[X] “Yes… she was still alive.” Lie.
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>>207000 here, made up my mind.

[X] "Yes... she was still alive." Lie.
- {X} If it would be a hard to mask a tell, say it as we move a coin. That way, we're too busy making conscious movements to make any unconsciously.

>>207008 has good points. additionally:

komachi knows akyuu is a strategist. a politician. the child of miare guides the hieda family through everything- there's no way akyuu hasn't picked up how to lie and bluff to further her own ends. she's not honest, even in the chronicle. she tries to convince kosuzu not to question the status quo of gensokyo, not to investigate and realize the careful balance between humans and youkai. she lies when she needs to, and this feels like one of those times. ironically, lying would be a point to akyuu's honesty about being the child of miare.

primary goal is stalling. if akyuu says the shrine maiden died, then that discussion's over. she died, so the next questions would be about what happened after she died, how was her successor like, etc. if we lie successfully, we can give half-truths about reimu's early days as an incident solver, say that her mother was guiding her from the shrine while she gradually weakens or something. add that to how reimu would come to develop the spell car rules and discuss those as well, and we've got enough topics to stall.

we have one extra strike, but that's no reason to waste it. we need to use every advantage we can get.
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>>207030

I think this is less us not wanting to continue coming up with lies, and more that needing to do so would distract us from the game, thus making it end quicker. That was certainly my thought process when selecting to tell the truth.

We have a perfect memory, not perfect multitasking. There’s no reason to assume there won’t be questions on a different subject after this, and our goal is to stall this game out as long as possible. Making a blunder early because we were to busy weaving our story could be catastrophic, and frankly the whole “gaining a backbone” and “we’re the ones who remember” reasonings everyone is going on about just feel too symbolic and nonsensical to use as justification for the current situation.
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>>206991
[UNDO] “No… she had already died.” Tell the truth.

>>207040
Fine, you've convinced me.

[X] "Yes... she was still alive." Lie.
- {X} If it would be a hard to mask a tell, say it as we move a coin. That way, we're too busy making conscious movements to make any unconsciously.
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[X] “No… she had already died.” Tell the truth.
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>>207040

would the conversation be over though? if we said that she had died, that could lead into a discussion over why should she live this time around, and why Akyuu want to change this particular fate, the topic will hardly be over with just the initial answer. but since these answered are from things that Akyuu know about then it won't require her to focus on creating and propping up the lie.

also a important part of being good at lying is knowing when to lie, lying right at the getgo because we can isn't the best use of when to lie, there will be other chances to bluff or decive, no need to do it to prove we can here.
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Counting to >>207044:
Main Choice:
[17] “No… she had already died.” Tell the truth.
[10] “Yes… she was still alive.” Lie.

Potential Additions:
For "Yes... she was still alive":
[6] If it would be hard to mask a tell, say it as we move a coin. That way, we're too busy making conscious movements to make any unconsciously. (>>207008, >>207010, >>207015, >>207030, >>207040, >>207043)

Other Additions (>>206995 additions fit for both choices):
[1] Eat a stick of dango. We are going to run out at some point...but the sugar might help us focus a bit more. (>>206995)
[1] Focus on the game. Don't let the question throw you off. (>>206995)
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[17] “No… she had already died.” Tell the truth.
[10] “Yes… she was still alive.” Lie.

Akyuu lifted up a coin. It had an image scratched on it, to mark it as a representative for a pawn - this clearly wasn’t Komachi’s first improvised game. And she just as much doubted it would be her last, either.

She was trying to distract her. And it was hard to ignore the words of the reaper.

“No… by this time, she had already died.” There was no point in lying about death to a shinigami. She tapped the coin down with a clack.

Komachi seemed momentarily taken aback. “Eh? You're n- when?” Clack.

“What, surprised? If you had such an issue with her living past her date, we wouldn’t be playing this game.” Clack. “She died about a year back - a few months after what’s known as the Makai Incursion Incident here.”

“I see… and how did she die?” Komachi lifted up her own coin, hesitating for a second on where to put it. Akyuu waited, until her hand started to move.

“That’s classified.”

The clack was more of a clatter as the coin slipped from Komachi’s hand. Hieda no - Inaba Akyuu paid it no obvious mind, dropping her own coin into place.

“Even from me?” The shinigami’s voice had a tone of mild disbelief. Akyuu nodded, firmly. “But I’m the ferrywoman around here…” The clack was a little quieter than usual.

“Apparently Eiki had to step in herself - the cause of death probably got her involved. And when it was over, Yukari employed a suima to obscure the memories of half a week, for all of Gensokyo.” Hieda no Aya-Akyuu paused for just a second to properly place her coin.

Komachi picked up her coin. “You mean the sage? There’s no way the Yama was-”

“Nope. She was fully on board. Apparently they even worked together on the spell.”

Komachi looked up, in shock. “What?!”

If there was one thing Ananakyuu had learned, it was there was no point in lying about death to a shinigami. Not when the truth was stranger than fiction, anyways.

She smiled at Komachi. “I’m serious. As a result... Even I don't remember the truth of her death. It was because of the potential consequences, I think.”

Komachi tilted her head. “Consequences…?”

The chronicler looked up at the shattered sky. “...This isn’t the first time I’ve seen a sky like this, you know. I remember it happening once before, when - in the last world - Haru lost her leg to the Youkai of the Dusk. That time, it was caused by no more than pure distress of the heiress.” She looked at Komachi. “Most people assume hiding all memory of Haru’s death… was to protect the heart of Haru’s daughter.”

The was a half-breath from Haru, behind Akyuu. The group trying to patch her up began to whisper to each other, first in confusion, then in excitement. Komachi stared at the moon rabbit, lost in thought.

Those thoughts ended when she realized, belatedly, it was still her turn. At the last second, Komachi threw down the coin she’d grabbed on the first place she could think of, leaving it badly exposed. She almost moved to correct herself instinctively realizing her mistake, but her opponent was faster, slamming a gold coin atop the hastily-placed silver.

There was a murmur among the audience. In particular, Remilia seemed to whisper something to Kaguya. Chess was generally a western game - perhaps she was fond of it as well, and was explaining the damage of that move.

The chronicler picked up the captured coin, smiling. A rook - a noticeable loss. “That game nearly ended quickly. Almost as quick as the ones we had after the fire.” There was… something in her reflection on the coin. Something purple and crystalline. She paused for a moment, trying to see what it was.

Komachi tilted her head. “...You mean when you were Amu? Yeah, but… I thought you forgot about that?”

Amu - Akyuu blinked. Whatever she’d been trying to see - vanished? Retreated? No, hold on, Komachi was right, how had she- not important. Not now. She took a deep breath. “...Good question. No idea on that one… but something about this is making me feel… nostalgic. Your move, Komachi.” The shinigami nodded, placing a coin into position, and the game continued.

Clack. Clack. Clack.

+Akyuu, do you read?+ Akyuu blinked, before sending a confirmatory ping to Reisen. +Got something for you.+

+Right now?+ Akyuu clacked down a coin.

+Absolutely. It concerns Haru’s condition. The shinigami’s not lying about her holding on just from force of will - she’s actually conjuring barriers within herself to block blood loss. They’re not perfect, but they’re buying us time to stitch up other wounds while they lay loose.+ Komachi’s move in response was mildly frustrating, but it wasn’t aggressive enough to warrant action. +And something you said there… I think it made her make them even stronger.+

Akyuu nodded, without looking at her sister. +Keep in mind that she’s listening. Got it.+ The young rabbit took a deep breath to steady herself, assessing the situation on the board. Something was giving her a bad feeling.

Komachi spoke up again. “So… tell me something, Akyuu.” The rabbit looked up, moving a piece as Komachi responded. Her bad feeling didn’t fade. “Let’s imagine a hypothetical situation. Let’s say that the barrier didn’t depend on her.”

Akyuu tilted her head up. “What?”

“Well, maybe it’s not too much of a hypothetical?” Komachi hummed. “The only one here who is likely to die tonight is Haru. I assume that means that, whatever is happening in the sky right now, there’s probably some form of countermeasure those Sages have cooked up to minimize the damage.”

Akyuu narrowed her eyes. “Are you certain of that?”

The shinigami placed down her coin, and Akyuu almost cursed. This position… was all too familiar to her. Komachi’s knight was about to run rampant on her side of the board, if she didn’t do something to stop it.

“Only enough to ask the question. Say the world didn’t depend on this little game. Would you still do it?”

Akyuu nodded. “Yes, I would. If I can save someone, I have to try. And besides… I know it’s trite to talk to a shinigami about what should happen, and what people deserve, but… still…”

[ ] “She deserves to know the truth about Keine.”
[ ] “She should get to meet Reimu, at least once.”

{ } Try to take the knight directly. It would require playing dangerously and aggressively, but some of Akyuu’s closest games had come from direct attack.
{ } Try to ward off its attack. She could minimize the immediate damage, but she found it only seemed to seal her fate in the long run.




A: 0/4 K: 1/3
The strikes are split among the two choices, this time. Both of you could get a strike, or neither, depending on your choices.

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Is the optimal play here to get as many strikes spread between them as possible? Like ending with a (A: 3/4 K: 3/3) in order to prolong the game as much as possible?
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Hm. Should have trusted my choice.

And we land a blow. +5 points. On the first choice...do remember she can hear us. She seems to be very receptive to hearing about her daughter. The thing is, will she recognize the name. I'll wait for now on this choice.

On the position, seems like Akyuu remembers that playing defensive would just lead to a slow death. So, we strike. We're up material, so we can afford it.

{X} Try to take the knight directly. It would require playing dangerously and aggressively, but some of Akyuu’s closest games had come from direct attack.

On additions...none that would suggest anything major. Remember, sometimes in chess, the best move is the one that seems unreasonable. (see: the Scandinavian.)
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>>207048

Don't think so. Winning the fight seems like the best out. Having 30 seconds per move for both of them means based on the 50 move draw rule, we can at best stall them for an hour. Also, Komachi already remarked on stalling too much. We're here to fight, that's it.
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Ah, I see. I think we were all to focused on stalling for the most time possible that we failed to realize the opportunity to knock Komachi off balance. As for this vote…

[X] “She should get to meet Reimu, at least once.”

This one feels obvious to me. If Haru has been listening in for this match than it’s likely she’s already figured out the truth about Keine’s involvement, plus we’re largely doing this to get them to meet in the first place.

As for the second vote, I’m open to suggestions otherwise, but for now I’m going with…

{X} Try to take the knight directly. It would require playing dangerously and aggressively, but some of Akyuu’s closest games had come from direct attack.

The primary reason for this is simple math. If we get both options right, we could end this right here, so it feels more natural to pick the more aggressive option. Plus it’s possible Komachi’s still off balance, and if she is, it would be foolish not to capitalize on that.
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Just noticed, this is 2 updates in a day. Gooboi, thanks for that. Very cool.
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>>207051
Just clarifying that the four options here are:
You get both choices right: Another strike on Komachi, no strike on Akyuu
You get one specific choice right, but the other wrong: Both sides get a strike.
The second scenario reversed: Neither gets a strike.
You get both wrong: A strike on Akyuu, no strike on Komachi.
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[X] “She should get to meet Reimu, at least once.”

I don't think the truth about Keine is what Haru needs to hear when she's literally fighting for her life. Even if Keine had a reason, she did still ensure Haru never got to meet her daughter yet. And Haru seems to have reacted to Reimu being mentioned, even indirectly.

{X} Try to take the knight directly. It would require playing dangerously and aggressively, but some of Akyuu’s closest games had come from direct attack.

I'm going aggressive for both choices.
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[X] “She deserves to know the truth about Keine.”
{X} Try to ward off its attack. She could minimize the immediate damage, but she found it only seemed to seal her fate in the long run.
The other question seems like he's going to die anyway in the future, plus Haru has a lot of questions, one of them especially about his friend Keine.
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0.5*0.5= 0.25

1/4 chance to bite the dust.

1/2 chance to keep advantage.

1/4 chance to dust Komachi.

I like those odds. Just hope we don't choose wrong.
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>>207055
We also only have to prolong and distract it to be able to take advantage and win the game.
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We can safely assume (thanks to >>207053 clarifying) that the options are:
1) +1 & 0
2) -1 & 0
Or vice versa.

[x] “She should get to meet Reimu, at least once.”
[x] Try to take the knight directly. It would require playing dangerously and aggressively, but some of Akyuu’s closest games had come from direct attack.
We need to trade down towards a victory.
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Akyuu already talked about Keine a bit during the opening moves.

>“...Kamishirasawa Keine changed my history. And the history of the other Immaterial Children, with our permission. …It was absolutely necessary.”

Conversely, Haru's barely heard anything about her daughter at this point, and giving her a name to hold on to is likely to strengthen her force of will.

[X] “She should get to meet Reimu, at least once.”
{X} Try to take the knight directly. It would require playing dangerously and aggressively, but some of Akyuu’s closest games had come from direct attack.

Is vampirification/Hourai immortality a viable emergency alternative for quickly healing Haru in case Akyuu fails to stall for enough time?
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>>207059
Don't try it. Yukari still exists.
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[X] “She should get to meet Reimu, at least once.”

{X} Try to take the knight directly. It would require playing dangerously and aggressively, but some of Akyuu’s closest games had come from direct attack.

As a chess player, it's better to take the risk than to slowly bleed out. When a good player has a superior position, you'll find there's absolutely nothing you can do until they finally drop the hammer. (Admittedly, this depends a lot on the individual game. There are positions where you have very little chance of winning but can nevertheless drag the game out for a long time.)

As for the other vote... hm. While I personally lean more towards telling Haru about Keine, the problem is that her dying isn't really a barrier to that. Eiki or Komachi or someone else in the afterlife hierarchy could probably pass on that message even after she dies.

Meeting Reimu, on the other hand, is something that requires a living and breathing shrine maiden.
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damn, i chose wrong. well, good thing my side lost then.

[X] "She should get to meet Reimu, at least once."

haru is, above all, motivated by her daughter. it's why she chose to save us from remilia's attack in the first place. we're her chance to learn more about the daughter she never got to meet, answers about why this incident happened in the first place. from what we got from the geidontei regulars, it seems like she didn't even want to blame keine in the first place- they were very close before the whole incident happened. maybe she's forgiven her former best friend deep down, and just wants answers.

or maybe not. it's been years, and grief does things to people. she's had all that time to mull it over and reflect on it, and maybe she wants justice.

either way, it's clear she values reimu a lot. maybe hearing proof that we really know reimu (like how youki listened and was fully convinced when he heard youmu's name last arc- she must've had a name in mind, and she wasn't likely to share it with anyone, especially not a random moon rabbit) would give her more motivation to keep fighting. just so she can hear about her daughter.

and... i hope the anons who knows how to chess give their opinions on this because i have no idea which one is best. but for now (and this is subject to change!) i'm going with:

{X} Try to take the knight directly. It would require playing dangerously and aggressively, but some of Akyuu’s closest games had come from direct attack.

sometimes offense makes for the best defense, and it's proven its worth in the past. hopefully it pulls through again.
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[X] "She should get to meet Reimu, at least once."
{X} Try to take the knight directly. It would require playing dangerously and aggressively, but some of Akyuu’s closest games had come from direct attack.
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>>207049
[X] "She should get to meet Reimu, at least once."

Fair. This is the obvious answer.
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[X] "She should get to meet Reimu, at least once."
{X} Try to take the knight directly. It would require playing dangerously and aggressively, but some of Akyuu’s closest games had come from direct attack.
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[x] “She should get to meet Reimu, at least once.”

{x} Try to ward off its attack. She could minimize the immediate damage, but she found it only seemed to seal her fate in the long run.
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Give her hope. She's so close to knowing the truth and maybe finally meeting her daughter.

[X] “She should get to meet Reimu, at least once.”

Also, I suck at chess and I would personally play defensively, so...

{X} Try to take the knight directly. It would require playing dangerously and aggressively, but some of Akyuu’s closest games had come from direct attack.
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[X] “She should get to meet Reimu, at least once.”

I hope it's alright that I don't vote on the chess move, I'll leave that to the grandmasters.
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wait a minute. wait a fucking minute.

> “That game nearly ended quickly. Almost as quick as the ones we had after the fire.” There was… something in her reflection on the coin. Something purple and crystalline. She paused for a moment, trying to see what it was.

> Komachi tilted her head. “...You mean when you were Amu? Yeah, but… I thought you forgot about that?”

now this is familiar. something crystal-like and glowing in the color that represented the little fragment of soul that the hourai immortals (and keine) stumbled across in the last timeline, appearing during the final encounter of the arc, while the protagonist of the arc is using all of her skill and ability to change fate...

it seems like if we keep making the right choices, akyuu is due for one hell of a power-up. one that, by the looks of things, would allow her to recall all of her past lives, even the memories that she'd lost.
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Counting to >>207068:
Main Choice #1:
[1] “She deserves to know the truth about Keine.”
[12] “She should get to meet Reimu, at least once.”

Main Choice #2:
[10] Try to take the knight directly. It would require playing dangerously and aggressively, but some of Akyuu’s closest games had come from direct attack.
[2] Try to ward off its attack. She could minimize the immediate damage, but she found it only seemed to seal her fate in the long run.
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>>207069
Makes total sense. Reimu unlocked the powers of her past life, and Akyuu has more past lives to unlock from ^_^
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[X] “She should get to meet Reimu, at least once.”
{X} Try to take the knight directly. It would require playing dangerously and aggressively, but some of Akyuu’s closest games had come from direct attack.

In my experience, I find that I don't want to stay on the defensive too long, it's best to look for a way to turn things around on your opponent, keep them on the defensive.
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Now I see how we're playing. I'm not sure which choice would be more of a bombshell to Komachi, though. We've already implied that Reimu is out and about, so all I could see reiterating it do is make Haru hold on more. That may be really good, though.

On the other hand, I don't think that Komachi would care much about this since we already implied it. I could only see it having an impact on Haru.

At the same time, I doubt Komachi cares much about Keine, either. It's not impossible, though. Plus, Haru has already made the barriers protecting against bloodloss stronger. I doubt that she'd overdo it, but I don't know if they need to be any stronger than they are now, either.

Regardless, I am late. Choosing to chance talking about Keine instead of the more immediately obvious choice would just be piss against the tide.

[X] “She should get to meet Reimu, at least once.”
- {X} Try to take the knight directly. It would require playing dangerously and aggressively, but some of Akyuu’s closest games had come from direct attack.

If we get both of these wrong, we're in deep shit. Think carefully.
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>>207073 me :)
And, in all honesty, this choice is more truthful than the other one anyway. The reason we care this much about saving Haru is because we are a little spooked by what could happen if she's not here for Reimu to meet her.
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>The chronicler looked up at the shattered sky. “...This isn’t the first time I’ve seen a sky like this, you know. I remember it happening once before, when - in the last world - Haru lost her leg to the Youkai of the Dusk. That time, it was caused by no more than pure distress of the heiress.” She looked at Komachi. “Most people assume hiding all memory of Haru’s death… was to protect the heart of Haru’s daughter.”

I just realized that we may have fallen for a trap... Why would Reimu want to go back to being human if it means her mother will die for it? What happens if Reimu remembers what Yukari and Eiki made everyone forget for her that night? I don't think it'll have an irreversible impact if I'm somehow right about that, but... oof.
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Huh, so the Works of Misumaru are canon to Redo/Reimu

though, it seems(?) would be a separate timeline version of TWoM to the one connectable to A Young Girl’s Name. As far as I can tell anyways.

I was doubting that Haru had been killed by Remilia in the previous timeline, spellcard rules or not, I doubt Reimu would even consider allowing Remilia anywhere near the shrine, much less relaxing and partying there if that had been the case.

As for the vote, I’m probably going to go with mentioning Reimu and aggression, but our point last time was gained by throwing Komachi for a loop, now on the other hand one of the votes is directly a chess choice… hm

Hm so one choice could get us a point by strengthening Haru thus cutting down the time needed to stabilize her. The other will be how long the game will last. or we might win it, if we manage to solidly enter the super mode, we might be remembering how that game went in the old journal

[X] “She should get to meet Reimu, at least once.”
- {X} Try to take the knight directly. It would require playing dangerously and aggressively, but some of Akyuu’s closest games had come from direct attack.


>>207075

Ehhh, for me it's only a little bit of that, my reason(s) partially are because it's been decades since Reimu had seen her mother and it would be happy for her (and Haru as well.) …and slightly connected to it, it does give Kicchou Reimu a chance to teasingly grumble back at her for all the times H.Reimu was annoyed at her during tomorrow night.
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[X] "She should get to meet Reimu, at least once."
{X} Try to take the knight directly. It would require playing dangerously and aggressively, but some of Akyuu’s closest games had come from direct attack.

Agree with everyone regarding the Reimu connection. As for the knight, I think that aggressively playing might be able to keep Komachi on the back foot, if we can keep her unbalanced mentally too.
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Just in case the horse is one of those i know you know sort of things and Komachi is using the familiar set up of the horse as a trap...

>>207077 here to add to my vote

--{X} glance quickly at the whole board to check if the knight is bait for a trap, if one is spotted, attempt counter trap.
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[1] “She deserves to know the truth about Keine.”
[16] “She should get to meet Reimu, at least once.”

{14} Try to take the knight directly. It would require playing dangerously and aggressively, but some of Akyuu’s closest games had come from direct attack.
{2} Try to ward off its attack. She could minimize the immediate damage, but she found it only seemed to seal her fate in the long run.

“She should get to meet Reimu, at least once.”

Komachi raised her eyes at that. “Is that…?”

Akyuu nodded. “The next shrine maiden, or… she should have been. Hakurei Reimu.”

She looked down, focusing on the game for a moment. The knight would run roughshod over her, and she moved quickly, to take it before it could cause too much damage. Komachi saw her reaction, and began to respond in kind.

There was a brief flurry of movement. Akyuu’s rook surged forward to take the knight, but Komachi managed to take one of Akyuu’s own knights while the rook was getting in position. It did successfully manage to take the knight, but it was taken in turn.

Akyuu grimaced. It hadn’t exactly paid off - Komachi had caught up on her brief advantage in material, and in only a couple of turns, too. Bitterly, she reminded herself, all too late - winning might well be impossible. It would have been smarter to take the slow death, and keep her away longer.

Komachi looked up, as the exchange of coins started to slow again. “This… Hakurei Reimu. Can you tell me about her?”

Akyuu nodded, slowly. She took a deep breath. “Where to start, where to start…” There was a lot to talk about, when it came to Reimu. “She’s… always been an interesting person. Very easygoing, to the point I think a lot of people would think Gensokyo would fall apart around her… but that wasn’t the case.”

“She came up with the Spell Card System - at least in our world. She wanted battles to be beautiful, and for everyone to at least have a chance to win. Watching spell card duels play out… they’re rather beautiful displays.” Agokyuu hummed, thinking back. “And because one can fight without being overwhelmed… Gensokyo became a lot more lively.”

Ak-Ayo looked up. “All sorts of… unbelievable events happened. Everyone stepped in to cause trouble… but everyone stepped in to help, too. I’ve heard even Remilia’s little sister, Flandre, managed to help with some problems.” The chronicler sighed, closing their eyes. If only she could have seen it - a world where a vampire and a shrine maiden could fight side by side…

“And there’s other things, too. There was a punk rock band started by a yamabiko and a night sparrow. It’s not to everyone’s taste, but… I’m quite fond of their music, myself.” Ami smiled, thinking back on the memories.

When she opened her eyes, there was something like a pane of purple crystal over her left eye, shaped… perhaps like a flower petal? Forming around her ear? And through that, she could see a whole different world. The world through the crystal was - similar, but different, made of disjointed parts, like a collage of moving photographs. The Genjii through the crystal was without his saddle, and the sky was unbroken, showing a festive night. Rather than the grounds being in ruin, it was the height of the lunar exhibition. And the board before her was a proper one, albeit with an old, old style of pieces.

Longer fingers than she actually had moved a piece, frustrating her opponent in the crystal… Komachi? Or maybe her daughter? She looked like Komachi, but… she was young, younger than even Ami remembered. And she was tearing up at an imminent defeat - she’d never seen a game where Komachi looked that frustrated. …Or had she?

And behind her, there was a small youkai; specifically a youkai r-

“Akyuu?”

The lunar rabbit blinked, and the crystal disappeared. A half-dozen voices whispering in her ear, that she hadn’t even realized she was hearing, were suddenly silenced. She blinked, the game before her coming back into focus, almost automatically putting her piece down into place.

Earth it. Earth it. She’d been close, there. So, so close. To what, she didn’t quite know, yet. But something was pulling at her. Stirring in her, something dormant so long she hadn’t even known she had it.

Komachi tilted her head. “Seriously, kid, what is with that?”

Akyuu sighed. “There’s - something about this situation. Something - I don’t know what.”

The shinigami was hesitant. “Are you sure you’re good to play…?”

Akyuu nodded. “You’re gonna have to reap if I’m not, right? And I don’t… I don’t think it’s a bad thing. It’s something to do with the blessing, maybe.”

Komachi hummed. “I don’t know… I don’t think I’ve seen anything like that crystal thing.”

“No… there’s something about it that’s tied to the reincarnation.” Akyuu racked her brain, trying to think of what it was. What was stirring that power…?

“Komachi… can I tell you a little more?” The shinigami nodded. “Then… let’s talk about the last Gensokyo…”

[ ] “...and how it lived.” She was nowhere near short on wild tales to tell, after all.
[ ] “...and how it died.” Was there something she’d missed, in that brief conversation at the very end of that time?




A:1/4 K:2/3.
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[X] “...and how it lived.” She was nowhere near short on wild tales to tell, after all.

Obvious correct choice, we need to prolong the game.
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[X] “...and how it lived.” She was nowhere near short on wild tales to tell, after all.

These crystals appear to happen when we act particularly close to our original selves in a time of need- acting as a force of discipline as Reimu, and now telling the stories we recorded as Akyuu. If we want to try and lean into it, we should continue the chronicles of the old world.

I still think aggro was the right choice, by the way. Even if we lost tempo, we pushed the advantage.
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It worked. Let's finish this.

[X] “...and how it lived.” She was nowhere near short on wild tales to tell, after all.

What kind of chronicler would we be if we didn't remember those good times. Tales of incidents and all the people we met, wild parties with all the youkai, experiences we've seen through all our years of life. Gensokyo if beautiful. It deserves to be remembered that way.
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[x] “...and how it lived.” She was nowhere near short on wild tales to tell, after all.
Would be funny if we lost at this point.
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[x] “...and how it lived.” She was nowhere near short on wild tales to tell, after all.
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damn, we traded blows. still have the advantage, though, so that's that. one more move and we've won.

i'm guessing the power-up is a culmination of all of the children of miare, avatar-state style. first, ago blending together with akyuu (agokyuu), that's the 5th child of miare. next one is ayo (4th), which cuts off akyuu, and then it moves on to ami (3rd), no longer blended with akyuu. not to mention being referred to as "the chronicler"- which akyuu is, but the fact that this title is the one used instead of something like "the moon rabbit" or something utilizing a physical description stands out to me given the pronoun switch to what seems to be a plural they, likely referring to all of the children of miare. we seem to be moving back, here. and if we move back further enough, beyond even hieda no aichi, beyond the gensokyo chronicle like what was mentioned earlier, all the way back to who i assume to be hieda no are...

well. the journal that recorded their one decisive victory against komachi predated the gensokyo chronicle, which was started by hieda no aichi. by all means, hieda no are should be the only one among akyuu's past lives to have beaten komachi in chess. if we manage to access those memories...

speculations aside, we're chroniclers. we preserve the stories of the present for future generations. the gensokyo of the past was... truly a special place. somewhere where humans and youkai and gods lived in relative peace, where they could laugh over drinks together and spend entire afternoons watching flowers and celebrating festivals. the gensokyo we saw earlier is a far cry from all that. we don't know if the gensokyo of the past can ever live again. the least we can do to commemorate such a special place is to tell its tale and make sure its remembered, even if it's been wiped from history.

[X] "... and how it lived." She was nowhere near short on wild tales to tell, after all.
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[X] “...and how it lived.” She was nowhere near short on wild tales to tell, after all.

Is that an option to throw for the sake of additional insight that will be of use later?
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[X] “...and how it lived.” She was nowhere near short on wild tales to tell, after all.

Don’t lose the forest for the trees. Keep on doing what we’re doing, and victory will be ours no matter how the game turns out.
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We'd have to make 3 wrong choices in a row to lose, but we only need to get lucky once to win.

[X] “...and how it lived.” She was nowhere near short on wild tales to tell, after all.
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[X] “...and how it lived.” She was nowhere near short on wild tales to tell, after all.

Komachi might be interested in her life in the previous timeline too. Or Eiki's.
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[X] “...and how it lived.” She was nowhere near short on wild tales to tell, after all.

Girls are stalling...
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[X] “…and how it lived.” She was nowhere near short on while tales to tell, after all.

I feel like if we choose the other option. Komachi might cut the game short and reap Haru early so she can tell Eiki just how serious the situation is. Something interfering with the cycle of reincarnation is grounds for the Yama to make a move. But obliterating every human soul in Gensokyo. I don’t want to know what that will do.
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>>207087
Starting to get why this battle is called Count/Down? It's not just the Hakurei's death timer...

>>207093
It would take one hell of a shitty write-in getting absurdly popular for me to give you three strikes in one go. Like you'd have to actively piss me off as a community.
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>>207094
Good to know that shooting the Hakurei Miko is an option. We ain't doing it. But we could.
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[X] “…and how it lived.” She was nowhere near short on while tales to tell, after all.

Looks like stalling is the only thing we can do.
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[X] “…and how it lived.” She was nowhere near short on while tales to tell, after all.

Maybe we can get the old Gensokyo back, someday.
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[X] “...and how it died.” Was there something she’d missed, in that brief conversation at the very end of that time?

I know you guys think that the other option will stall and want to be all "remember the good times" gushy, but it won't throw her for a loop or distract her much. It certainly doesn't have much a chance to help Haru beyond potentially making her hold on more.

THIS will. This will catch her fucking attention real good. Honestly don't understand why you're all picking the other option.

In fact, I think this would stall her much longer if she takes the bait.
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[X] “...and how it lived.” She was nowhere near short on wild tales to tell, after all.
-[X]say it loud enough for the audience too

let's let them know what were are going to bring back, this is what we came back for, why all those there didn't find a way to solve the incident then and there, it was so that these stories can come back. and create some more along the way!

Anyone have some favourite wild tales? the band of fairies, forming Gensokyo's first Fae court, facing down a hidden God to rescue the rest of the fairies, and solving the incident (despite getting absolutely trounced.) there was a couple that aren't currently named, I do hope we might get some names for them sometime...
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[X] “...and how it lived.” She was nowhere near short on wild tales to tell, after all.
always think about the good moments in life of what you have met someone
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I hope this isn't a mistake, 'cause I'm clearly not gonna sway any of you.

We shouldn't burn our strikes just because we have 3 to spare. It's foolish and needless.
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>>207104
You can always vote for the other option and give an explanation.
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>>207105
I did.
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Pros and Cons for each option (in my personal opinion):

[] “…and how it lived.” She was nowhere near short on while tales to tell, after all.
- stalls for time
- thematically in line with the Chronicler thing and might help Akyuu remember her other lives
- tells a story of 'what could have been':
--- might make others feel a bit disappointed of the current timeline
--- might make others feel hopeful for a better future

[] “...and how it died.” Was there something she’d missed, in that brief conversation at the very end of that time?
- would grab Komachi's attention, especially at the mention of souls being destroyed
- lets others know of their reason for traveling back in time (Eientei group already knows)
- might induce a feeling of helplessness for Gensokyo's residents
- might induce a sense of urgency:
--- for Komachi (game ends faster)
--- for Haru (tries to recover faster)
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Honestly, I just think picking Komachi’s brain about what could do something like that to every human in Gensokyo is more worthwhile than reminiscing.

[X] “...and how it died.” Was there something she’d missed, in that brief conversation at the very end of that time?
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[X] “...and how it lived.” She was nowhere near short on wild tales to tell, after all.

There will be other opportunities to talk about the end of the world in better circumstances, either with Komachi or during the inevitable talk with the Yama (maybe during the flower view incident?)

I just realized maybe the end of the world event was related to the Saigyou Akashi. Either way we should try to talk to Yukari.
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[X] “...and how it lived.” She was nowhere near short on wild tales to tell, after all.
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[x] “...and how it died.” Was there something she’d missed, in that brief conversation at the very end of that time?

It is a trick option. If we weren't playing with a reaper, it would have been fine to reminisce. However, reapers are used to slow, bittersweet memories. To reject her is to mean purpose, something that must be done, her thing be damned. This option offers this.

Also, it is thematically relevant.
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[X] “...and how it died.” Was there something she’d missed, in that brief conversation at the very end of that time?

As gravity pulls the earth to its core, the voices cast their choice. I see the flow of the tides. Unerring, constant and strong. And even then... Even if the enterity of the River Sanzu, and were to bear down on my person, I. Would. Stand. And against its tides, I. WOULD. PISS.
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>>207113
THE TIDEPISSER RETURNS!
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aw hell nah who invited him back
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>>207115

My thoughts exactly
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Counting to >>207113:
Main Choice:
[17] “...and how it lived.” She was nowhere near short on wild tales to tell, after all.
[4] “...and how it died.” Was there something she’d missed, in that brief conversation at the very end of that time?

Potential Additions:
[1] Say it loud enough for the audience too. (>>207101)
To be fair, everyone is probably already listening to us.
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[x] “...and how it died.” Was there something she’d missed, in that brief conversation at the very end of that time?

I agree with the point that Komachi, as a reaper, is used to bittersweet memories like the ones we have of our old Gensokyo. And I'd think "every human in gensokyo immediately got fucking atomized" would throw her off real quick.
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> frustrating her opponent in the crystal… Komachi? Or maybe her daughter? She looked like Komachi, but… she was young, younger than even Ami remembered. And she was tearing up at an imminent defeat - she’d never seen a game where Komachi looked that frustrated. …Or had she?

Funny theory

Komachi is someone close (daughter or childhood friend) of Aichi (the first Miare)
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[UNDO] “...and how it lived.” She was nowhere near short on wild tales to tell, after all.

[x] “...and how it died.” Was there something she’d missed, in that brief conversation at the very end of that time?

The shock factor is real
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[x] “...and how it died.” Was there something she’d missed, in that brief conversation at the very end of that time?
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The tides are turning... but will it be enough?
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>>207087 here, fuck it, i'm joining the tidepissers.

[UNDO] “...and how it lived.” She was nowhere near short on wild tales to tell, after all.

[x] “...and how it died.” Was there something she’d missed, in that brief conversation at the very end of that time?
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…This cannot seriously be happening, right?

>>207121

Yes, the shock factor is a tangible thing in this option. But that’s all it offers, shock value with no real payoff. There’s no way we’re going to be able to capitalize on it to stall because we know basically nothing about what happened, and I find it very unlikely that looking at that conversation will offer anything for unlocking the Crystal form.
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>>207125
you cannot know this for sure
also, you ignore this, but our goal is also to motivate the Hakurei Miko, who is listening to everything we say
it's far better for her to hear this than some happy-go-lucky future times
I piss against the tide and so should you!
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I will watch as the collective snatches defeat from the jaws of victory knowing i helped precipitate that outcome
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>>207125

the thing is though, we can captalize on it. we might be able to pick komachi's brain, see if she has any theories on what would be able to cause such catastrophic damage. the previous gensokyo took care of so many potentially world-ending (for them, at least) problems. sumireko trying to break the barrier from the outside, lunarians trying to invade gensokyo, the spring snow incident... they had a good track record. and suddenly, something just. ends it all. who- no, what could have done something like that? as a shinigami, komachi has a lot of experience in the matters of death. we could distract her with the possibilities of who could be behind such an incident, and the shock value of something affecting the cycle of reincarnation on such a large scale would be more than a sufficient enough distraction in my opinion.
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>>207126

Ok, that’s just wrong. Sure, motivating the Hakurei Miko helps, but our goal in playing this game is explicitly to stall Komachi until Haru recovers. Which, come to think of it, is an entirely separate matter I should bring up. For the people who think Komachi is trying to pull out bittersweet memories in order to distract us(No one explicitly stated that, I’m just drawing my own conclusions)… why? Legitimately, why would Komachi try to manipulate the game in this fashion, she’s outright stated she doesn’t want to reap Haru! If anything, she’d be trying to rig the game in our favor if she could.

And yes, there is no way to know whether the Crystal form will be unlocked by this option. But as stated by >>207083 the form has been appearing when we’ve been acting closer to our past lives. I can take a guess that retelling the stories of Gensokyo, referencing our lives as a chronicler, will end up unlocking it.
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yeah, what is going to win here (the objective mind you.) isn't shock value, look at the previous two times that we hit Komachi with a strike

>>207047

> but something about this is making me feel… nostalgic.

>>207080

>The Genjii through the crystal was without his saddle, and the sky was unbroken, showing a festive night. Rather than the grounds being in ruin, it was the height of the lunar exhibition. And the board before her was a proper one, albeit with an old, old style of pieces.

we aren't trying to throw her off here, right now we're trying to invoke whatever this is. and what is triggering it is like another voter said, acting as the previous life, Akyuu is a chronicler. telling the story of the past. there is a lot of stories of gensokyo that was... but also akyuu... and her past selves are still playing as she is doing this and seems to impacting her moves as well at this point, and we are rapidly approaching the one that had apparently ran roughshod over young Komachi, (heck its probably her that taught Komachi most of the moves she has been subsequently used on the later Miare children.)

so yeah, I am definitely sticking with the Gensokyo that lived. we can tell Eiki about how it died when we report in after this (getting Eirin and finding Kiene to help speculate what their mindsets might be or reasonings that we missed would help to.)
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[15] “...and how it lived.” She was nowhere near short on wild tales to tell, after all.
[8] “...and how it died.” Was there something she’d missed, in that brief conversation at the very end of that time?

“...and how it lived.” Trying to wrack her brain about that brief encounter at the very end would do nothing to help. It’d just take away brain-power she already couldn’t spare.

But talk about the past? That, she could do all day. Akyuu smiled, gently tracing a path with her hand along the board. “With the advent of the spell card system, it became easier for people to start trouble, but it also became easier to fix it. As a result, Gensokyo started to get a steady trickle of people in, from all walks of life.”

The chronicler felt her memories pick her up like a tide, thinking back. “A bunch of… youkai buddhists, on a flying ship, came in to Gensokyo, and started preaching acceptance. Then, they accidentally raised no less than Prince Shoutoku, completely by accident.” Ani kept grinning, remembering the two leaders squabbling.

“Oh, and then there was the market goddess!” How could she forget someone like that? “All in rainbows, selling cards that gave people the abilities of others. She partnered up with the tengu, and even an oomukade, to do it.” Aichi smiled, thinking back.

“It was… a wild place. A place where youkai, gods, and humans all mingled. I… I haven’t seen anything like it, not in any of my other lives.”

Komachi sighed. It didn’t seem to induce much more than a bit of wistfulness in her - she’d probably heard a thousand such stories in her career. “It sounds hectic. It’s not my speed, maybe, but I can see a chronicler loving it. But… Gensokyo isn’t like that. Not these days.”

The shinigami looked up, and her jaw dropped.

“Now, now.” Hieda no Are smiled back. “It’s not like the game is over yet, kid.”

“What do you mean the game isn’t over?!” The little girl growled. “You’ve totally got me trapped!”

Are just kept chuckling. “Well, I can see a way out of it, kid.”

“Nnnnnngh…” The girl grabbed her pigtails, pulling on them. Her face was pouting furiously, and Are couldn’t help but chuckle at the display. “Stop laughing, Are!”

“I’m sorry, it’s just… surprising you’re so passionate, Komachi. Lady Eiki was saying you were on the lazy side. Just try to take it in good stride.”

The apprentice shinigami groaned, sitting back down and slamming a piece into place. It wasn’t a bad move, actually - but it wouldn’t be enough.

Rather than responding immediately, Are turned to the third person in the room. The little youkai, pouting at the board like she could turn the tables by scowling. “And speaking of taking it in stride… you will still honor our bet, won’t you?”

The youkai bristled. “...You know, when I challenged you to beat a shinigami, this wasn’t what I had in mind.”

“I know. You were hoping to see some life or death struggle, weren’t you? …I suppose you weren’t expecting some random nosy human to be connected to the Yama?” Are chuckled. “I’ve heard that’s something of a pattern for you, isn’t it?”

The flicker of embarrassment was a rather enjoyable reward for the needling. “Hey, she’s not lost yet, has she? The interview comes when she loses, no sooner.”

“Is that so? Well, I suppose I better speed up.” Are took another piece from her beleaguered opponent, drawing out a noise of despair.

The youkai scowled. “And why did you have to go and import some game from a place I’d never heard of?”

“Well, it’s a strategy game. Chance doesn’t factor into it at all. And I needed something that wouldn’t be affected by chance, if I wanted to have a chance of winning a bet against the famous lucky rabbit.” Are smiled.

Tewi folded her arms. “Hahhhh… dammit. It’s all over, isn’t it?”

“Like I said, Tewi… the game’s not over yet. Any situation can seem like a losing prospect, but the right pieces at the right time, and it can turn in the blink of an eye.” Are smiled. “And even if the game was all but over… there’s always a way to have another one.” She looked over at the anguished Komachi. “I’m sure you’ll be wanting a rematch, won’t you kid?”

The shinigami-in-training’s growl was utterly adorable. “Oh, you bet! I’m gonna train up on anyone I can. Lady Eiki, other shinigami, the spirits I’m ferrying… I’ll play over and over and over, and next time, you won’t stand a chance!”

Are’s chuckles broke out again. “As long as you don’t do it on company time… oh, and Tewi; if you don’t want to talk about yourself too much, maybe… I could hear about this Lord Daikoku of yours?”

That did bring a grin from the small rabbit. “We-ell… I guess I could talk about the time we first met, usa. If you really want me to.”

Are nodded. “I do. And if our terms of discussion are settled… I think it’s time I wrap this up.” She turned to her opponent.

“Onozuka Komachi? I’m sorry to cut this short,
but… there’ll always be a next time.” A… Akyuu smiled at her. The last coin landed in place.

“Checkmate.”
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so that's why tewi hates our guts... i guess the lucky rabbit losing a bet is enough grounds to hold a grudge.

small komachi is adorable, though. and no wonder why aichi and all the rest kept losing- she had one hell of a training arc, by the looks of it.

seems like akyuu's countdown is over, at any rate. we've won the game, but whether or not haru's own countdown is over remains to be seen.
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Hmm... If this becomes permanent and Akyuu fully remembers her past lives, will she usurp the title of 'Big sis' from Reisen?
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I hope everyone didn't forget that we where specifically doing this to buy Haru time so that she doesn't die and not necessarily to actually win the game.
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It’s definitely going to cut it close, but I don’t think we angered the author enough for him to give us 3 strikes, so I’m pretty sure we’re in the clear.
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__kawashiro_nitori_inaba_tewi_and_kasodani_kyouko_
Fun facts:
- Chess was first invented in the seventh century. Hieda no Are was presumably alive right at the end of such, to pen the Kojiki in the start of the eighth.
- Hieda no Are's work in real life, the Kojiki, is the earliest known recording of the Hare of Inaba version featuring Daikoku-sama.
- I did not plan for these factors in advance.

>>207132
Actually... the tewi thing I'll explain more clearly very, very shortly.
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>>207135
I think we're fine.
>>“Checkmate.”
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>>207136
>>I did not plan for these factors in advance.
:o
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>>207134
it was either to buy time or have something so interesting to investigate it overrode the importance of reaping Haru.

>“No need to flatter me, kid. Besides, you don’t need to beat me; you just need to stall me out, fair and square; you manage to last that long without wasting my time, and even that will be worth investigating further.”

Stalling out was the minimum, we surpassed that.

Though we did end with the total amount of strikes being 4... <.<
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beautiful, absolute peak, i am at a loss of words
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...I hope we bought enough time.
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__hieda_no_akyuu_hieda_no_are_hieda_no_amu_hieda_n
As she lifted her hand from the last piece… Akyuu felt her mind refocus, drawing back to the present. She looked down at the coins before her, taking note of her reflection.

…It was quite a sight. The loose sleeves she’d worn in her past life, and many lives before it, were now returned to her, in a purple, crystalline form. But even more striking was the crystalline flower that had grown to a magnificent size, replacing the physical one that she’d always worn. And it wasn’t the only thing that had grown; she looked… older, arguably even closer to Reisen in body shape than she’d expected (albeit, still not quite as much as she wanted). Her hair had grown out too.

And her head - her head was buzzing. Previously, it had been quietly organized, like a study all to herself. Now it was more like… a communal office. Not just her own mind, but it felt like there was… all of her. All of them. Aichi and Amu and Anana and everyone else, in her mind. Talking, endlessly.

But… but she could tell, this wasn’t something she could just… maintain. Just listening to ten voices in her own head was overwhelming. As if on cue, they began to recede, quieting down, bit by bit, the memories she could have pulled on but hadn’t specifically recalled being filed away in the depths of her mind. She felt her body shrink, and saw the crystals disperse around her.

With the… crystalline state dissipating, Akyuu finally managed to get enough brainpower to look around the situation more fully. Kaguya and Remilia were applauding Akyuu, the former with restraint, the latter with eagerness and self-obvious relief at her recklessness being salvaged. Tewi was staring at Akyuu, bug-eyed, with a contingent of rabbits whispering amongst themselves. Genjii was watching the sky, noting two small blurs - one blue and yellow, the other red and green - zipping along and causing the limits of the cracks to recede. Most likely Yukari’s shikigami.

The two Aunns were rushing along a stretcher, while Eirin and Reisen were preparing to move Haru. Reisen saw Akyuu looking over, and gave a tired thumbs-up. +We’re all good to move her here. Just gonna get her to the heavy-duty equipment.+

Akyuu nodded, and turned back to her opponent. Komachi had leaned back, and appeared to be… conflicted. Relief, intrigue, and excitement were all tracing across her face, and all three were doing a poor job at hiding one particular fact; Komachi in this day and age was nearly as much of a sore loser as she had been all those years ago.

At length, the shinigami pulled herself together, and gave Akyuu a small grin. “...Well. Looks like I’ve got some places to be.” She stood up, stretching.

Akyuu stood up, too. “You sure you don’t want a rematch, Komachi?”

Komachi shook her head. “Don’t have time, sorry. Eiki’s orders were clear; report straight back to her if I found any evidence of the Child of Miare. And I think I more than did that, myself. Besides…”

The shinigami opened up the pocketwatch. It had finally settled to a single position. One a long, long time in the future. “I don’t seem to have any more business here tonight, otherwise.” The shinigami turned, hooking her scythe on her shoulder.

Akyuu nodded, sitting back. “Then… we better get to work patching things up around here. See you around, Komachi. And send Eiki here, when you can.”

The shinigami turned her head back, nodding. “Oh, I bet she’ll be here by the time you wake up tomorrow. Make sure that Shrine Maiden’s fully back from the brink when she is, yeah? See you around, Akyuu.”

In a moment, she was gone.



There’d been a flurry of activity since Komachi had left. The psydar building had been the most notable casualty, but Remilia had caused other ones, most notably one of the general rabbit dormitories. Akyuu had ended up in charge of redistributing the affected rabbits to other rooms where necessary.

She hadn’t tried to end up in charge. She was already exhausted, and wanted nothing more than a nice hot bath and a chance to sleep. But she’d stuck her nose in when she’d heard two rabbits arguing over who should take a third friend for the night, and somehow that had escalated to a middle management position. She supposed that ‘she’s friends with a shinigami’ was more than enough for the rabbits to just let her do whatever she said she wanted to.

She’d hit on a plan that seemed to satisfy the vast majority of them, when she heard someone approach. She turned, to see Eirin making her way over, and bowed.

“Lady Eirin. How’s Haru?”

The doctor smiled. “She’s stabilized. And for someone with a hole in her chest, she’s certainly feisty - she’s been lecturing me at length about the false moon spell.”

Akyuu looked up. When the sky had been repaired, it had been the real moon that had taken its place among the stars. Akyuu supposed that it had gotten torn up with the barrier. Either that or Hakurei had browbeat her into removing it.

…After a few moment’s thought, Akyuu looked over at Eirin. “Wait, she’s still awake? I thought she would have passed out from exhaustion at least.”

Eirin’s face turned into a grimace. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. She says she wants to speak to you, and won’t go to sleep until she gets a chance to do so. Something about a plan of hers.” The doctor looked at Akyuu, pleadingly. “Mind if I take you over? If she stays up much longer, her anesthetics are going to wear off, and she’ll be in for a rough night.”

Akyuu nodded, passing the clipboard she’d been working on to another of the rabbits. She followed Eirin away from the crowd. The doctor’s gait was slowed, slightly, by the splint she was wearing - she’d heard that Eirin didn’t want to risk unexpected complications in her patients during her resurrection, and was thus hopping herself up on painkillers until she got some time to rest. “Lady Eirin, I wanted to ask… did you see that… crystalline thing?”

The doctor shook her head. “Not really, but I heard bits and pieces from the princess. Something about you reliving the whole of your past lives, briefly?” At Akyuu’s nod, she hummed. “...I’d say you’d have to ask the Yama about it. If it’s got something to do with reincarnation, it’s definitely a matter she’s aware of.” Eirin finished her comments with a one-handed shrug. “After all, I’m only a specialist in everything that comes before death, not what comes after.

Akyuu nodded. It made sense - if anyone would know, it was lady Eiki.

“But… I wanted to ask you something, Akyuu.” The young rabbit looked up at the doctor, curious. Especially about the small, knowing smile on her face.

“Do you know how your sister got her names?” Akyuu shook her head. “Well… her first name was with her from birth, and Inaba is just what we call all of the rabbits in Eientei.” The doctor hummed. “But Udongein was a name I gave her myself.”

Akyuu looked at Eirin, surprised. “Really?”

Eirin nodded. “It comes from the Lunar Udonge - a particular tree that sprouts beautiful jewels when it detects impurity.” Eirin looked up, in the direction of their destination. “I don’t know if Reisen’s fully realized it yet… but she’s a better person, for having stepped on to the impure earth.”

The doctor turned to Akyuu. “Akyuu… you’ve got some interest in flowers, don’t you? I’ve certainly never seen a rabbit swap out their carrot iconography for flowers before.” Akyuu blinked, but nodded. Eirin hummed, as if deep in thought, then gave Akyuu a small, sly smile. “...Do you have a particular favorite flower?”

[ ] Ume - Plum Blossoms. (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/File:ZCDS-0005~6.jpeg)
[ ] Tsubaki - Camellias. (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/File:FS_Tankebon4_cover.jpg)
[ ] Ren - Lotuses. (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/File:Akyuu_Whos_Who.png)

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[x] Ren - Lotuses.
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[X] Tsubaki - Camellias.
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[X] Ume - Plum Blossoms. (https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/File:ZCDS-0005~6.jpeg)

Anything with potential purity symbolism would immediately go against what Eirin just told us. Based on a brief google search (which hopefully did not invoke any misinfo mischeif) this fits the current situation most.
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I'm not exactly being subtle here with this choice, am I?

I'll talk through my entire logic for why the given choices were right... some time tomorrow. I'm very sleepy now.
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[X] Ume - Plum Blossoms.

If we pick Tsubaki, I'm not going to be able to think of anything other than the guy from Fire Emblem Fates. And that's going to ruin literally every beautiful scene it can.
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[X] Tsubaki - Camellias.
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[X] Tsubaki - Camellias.

I want the guy above to think above Selena's husband/grand-dad through reincarnation.
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I ended up missing the voting in the last update. Even if the chances were with us, I'm glad Haru is safe.

For this vote, I'll go with:
[X] Ume - Plum Blossoms.
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[X] Ume - Plum Blossoms.

I'll be honest, I just like how Plum Blossoms look over the other two.
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>>207142
>>GG no Re
You thought we wouldn't notice that?

As for the choices... Eh...
[x] Ren - Lotuses.
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[X] Ren - Lotuses.

It can only ever be this considering the circumstances.
Lotus flowers are central to buddhist (and hindu) lore.
They represent spiritual awakening, enlightenment and traditionally buddhas (enlightened beings) are depicted sitting on a lotus pedestal.
Akyuu quite literally just became temporarily "enlightened" in a way when she transcended her lives and was the entire lineage, at once.
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[X] Tsubaki - Camellias.

contrary to my usual intense research session/justification whenever i vote, i'm going purely for the vibes and which one combined with her other names rolls off my tongue best here. i'd normally go research flower symbolism, but i know enough about that topic to know that it's going to be a lot of sources and cross-refrencing which... yeah, not feeling up to it right now. maybe i'll change it when i have more energy in the morning.
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hm, hard choice, I am split between Ume and Ren, Ume has meanings of:

>endurance, perseverance, renewal, and rejuvenation.

while the lotus has the symbolism of:

>rising above despite challenges and moving towards the light of wisdom.

whelp, coin flip, landed for

[X] Ume - Plum Blossoms.

also, found a picture for Tewi's face during the update
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So we’re two for two on strange, age progressing, crystalline power-ups huh.
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[X] Tsubaki - Camellias.

I don't think this will have an effect at all on the story. So, I just chose that one because I think they were just my favorite all of the 3.
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[X] Tsubaki - Camellias.

Don't know, just felt like it.
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[x] Ren - Lotuses.

I like lotuses, and I like how "Ren" plays with "Akyuu" and "Inaba" better than the other two.
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Thisis totally a spirit check, right? So the real question ishow much we want Akyuu to be in tune with her past life (lives?).
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[X] Ume - Plum Blossoms.

Plums are purple. Purple is a nice color. That's about the extent of my thoughts here.
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[X] Ume - Plum Blossoms.

Okay, next qustion:
There is a lot of heated discussion at the local tavern over a group of people called 'Satori'. They have been hired by certain Sages. Rumor has it these Satori read a person's mind and tell their lord whether a person is telling the truth or not.

( ) This is a terrible practice. A individual's thoughts are his own and no one, not even a Sage, has the right to make such an invasion into another person's's mind.
( ) Loyal denizens of Gensokyo have nothing to fear from a Satori. It is important to have a method of finding assassins and spies before it is too late.
( ) In these times, it is a necessary evil. Although you do not necessarily like the idea, a Satori could have certain advantages during a time of incident or in finding someone innocent of a crime

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That choice seems a little sus.
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>>207162
This choice only affects one thing, and it’s what Eirin blatantly implied. No effect on spirit or instinct or anything

I was just torn on which flower to use for a name that brings Akyuu’s name closers to her sister. Ren’in, Tsubaki’in, or Ume’in
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>>207172

People really being sus about obvious things, huh?
Well, I voted Ren for the symbolicism already (and the fact it sounds better as a name combined with her other ones, imo).
Knowing an "in" gets attached after makes Ren an even better choice compared to the others.
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[X] Ume - Plum Blossoms.
Maybe tsubaki but ume sound cute
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>>207172
I cannot accept this explanation. Nothing can be that simple. Everything has a greater meaning.

[X] Ren - Lotuses.
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>>207150
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH
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[X] Ume - Plum Blossoms.
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[X] Ume - Plum Blossoms
I just like the sound of Udonge and Ume
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[X] Ren - Lotuses.
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>>207161 Speaking.

I still like Ren more in principle, but >>207178 has sold me. Udong & Ume is too cute to pass up, so I'm changing my vote from "[x] Ren - Lotuses" to "[X] Ume - Plum Blossoms"
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>>207180

don't forget to use [UNDO] when undoing a vote!
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[X] Ume - Plum Blossoms
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[X] Ume - Plum Blossoms.

It's the prefect name. First in irony, since the first thing that comes to mind is pickled plum. And the second is theme since you can't spell Gensokyo without Alcohol if you are not drunk enough.
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I said I would trust myself more. Yeah, that didn't happen.

Hey, we won. Near flawlessly too. Its neat to know that small bit of history, winning a bet against Tewi, and igniting Komachi's passion for chess.

For names...

[X] Ume - Plum Blossoms

Big sis Udonge and li'l sis Ume. Adorable.

On other additions...the arc is closing, we probably should...

(X) Think of what to tell Haru. She probably needs an explanation.

Yeah, we probably should say what happened to Reimu.

(X) Dango.

It's been a day. Eat chewy thing.
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>>The front-runner was Aunn. It was a slightly smaller, more puppy-like Aunn than Akyuu remembered, but it was still unmistakably her.

>>Behind her floated Genjii. Normally, his shell was completely blank... but not tonight. He appeared to be equipped with a war-saddle of some kind, one Akyuu was sure she’d never seen in her past life.

>>And in the center of the saddle was the seat of its sole rider.

>>Akyuu took a deep breath. “That’s definitely her. That’s definitely… Hakurei Haru.”

Phew, this one took way longer than I expected.
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>>207184
at this point, akyuu's gonna run out of it...

anyways, >>207156 here, adding this to my vote:

(X) Think of what to tell Haru. She probably needs an explanation.

> "She says she wants to speak to you, and won’t go to sleep until she gets a chance to do so. Something about a plan of hers."

this is probably haru sending the go-shintai off to the animal realm and kickstarting the first arc. good to know that yachie's guess in the epilogue was wrong. and... i really hope one of the epilogues planned here is haru and reimu's reunion. might be a bit awkward, but here's to hoping seeing her first mom + akyuu reawakens more of reimu's memories.
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[X] Ume - Plum Blossoms.

>>207185 Excellent Art!
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>>207186
Kicchou Reimu has Yachie as her mom and Keiki as her dad. It's definitely going to be more than a bit awkward.

As for my vote:
[X] Ume - Plum Blossoms.
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>>207188
Reimu has 3 known mommies now, how long before a 4th shoes up?
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>>207186
>>207188

"what do you MEAN my daughter is now the kid of a yakuza boss and a goddess who are currently in the middle of a custody battle over her?"

(ik it's not an actual custody battle but i don't think it's out of character for one to happen between the two of them... speaking of, yachie/keiki is something i was partial to, but yachie and keiki having a custody battle over reimu just elevated that ship up a couple of ranks in my list)
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>>207189
We've still yet to meet Yukari. Who knows if she also time-travelled?
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>>207189
Keine made Kicchou Reimu existing possible and a thing so.....mommy Keine?
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>>207191

its been heavily hinted that Aunn somehow has, either she is shikigami'd by her future/alternate self somehow, orrrr maybe when Yukari popped the shrine out of the gap she had a piece of Aunn's statue on one of the heroines... we'll hopefully see soon...
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>>207187
Hey, thanks!

By the way, before I forget again
(X) Check the sack to see what's inside...
Just in case we want to apologize to whatever is inside ^_^U
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>>207194

I'll join that vote!

(X) Check the sack to see what's inside...
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OP said this at >>206989:

>Contents of the sack will have to wait until after the chess match.

Sucks for Mystia that she spent a whole prolonged chess match trapped inside.
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>>207196
That would be funny. Imagine if Remilia and Sakuya completely forgot about Mystia and we just focused on the chess match.
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Counting to >>207195:
Main Choice:
[16] Ume - Plum Blossoms.
[6] Tsubaki - Camellias.
[6] Ren - Lotuses.

Potential Additions:
[2] Think of what to tell Haru. She probably needs an explanation. (>>207184, >>207186)
[1] Dango (>>207184)
[2] Check the sack to see what's inside... (>>207194, >>207195)
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>>207173
Tbf we just got over a few tense series of choices (getting jumped by tewi and escorted back, the fight, the chess match). We need to relax, but it shouldn't be suprising things are still gonna be under a lot of people's microscopes (including mine) for a few updates.
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>But… but she could tell, this wasn’t something she could just… maintain. Just listening to ten voices in her own head was overwhelming. As if on cue, they began to recede, quieting down, bit by bit, the memories she could have pulled on but hadn’t specifically recalled being filed away in the depths of her mind. She felt her body shrink, and saw the crystals disperse around her.

Isn't there a certain Taoist prince whose main gimmick is the ability to listen to ten people's conversations all at once? Maybe she could help train Akyuu here.
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>>207200
Now THERE'S an idea...
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Finally, plot relevant Kyouko, not just pictures
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>>207174
Since eientei is half destroyed....
(X) Sleep with Reisen
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>>207205
In a platonic way, right?
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>>207206
Platonic, also I always imagined that the rooms have an average space
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>>207205
Nah, she should stay with Tewi. It will be so stressful her ears will wrinkle.
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>>207206
pillow fight (platonic)
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New thread over at >>207202! and it's the last thread for Akyuu's arc!

Once again, I'm gonna do a shoutout. I actually missed it last time, so I'll do a double!

Firstly, Songs of a Serpent Flying Eastbound! A very unique story for a 2hu one! You can find it over here: >>204727

And then... I'm actually gonna suggest a fan game! Touhou Lost Branch of Legend is a deckbuilding rougelike that both asutnima and Kosuka have been helping translate, and that got me curious enough to check it out for myself. In practice, it clearly takes elements from both Slay the Spire, and Magic the Gathering (and isn't ashamed to admit either part) but they and the touhou elements blend in shockingly well, to make a really fun experience if you're into the genre. You can find Lost Branch of Legend on Steam!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1140150/Touhou_Lost_Branch_of_Legend/
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>>207219
Lost branch of legend mentioned!!! Solid game. Worth picking up. Would recommend.
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[X] Just try to bury the proverbial hatchet. It can always be dug up later.

I don't think it's the time for more drama...

{X} Get some mochi out for Mystia.

She got it rough - especially when you accidentally crushed her business. And, hey, it's just a nice gesture.
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