It's been ten minutes now and neither Alice nor the white haired woman have spoken a word. By now, both of them were seated in the kitchen on opposing side to one another with Alice not even bother to keep eye contact with the woman as they've both just remained silent all the while me and Flandre watched collectively with dumb founded looks on both our faces.
"Hey, uhh, Flandre? Who is that woman?" I whispered at Flandre as both of us continued staring at both Alice and the six winged woman with confusion.
"I dunno." Flandre replied as she put up her hands to gesture further that she had no idea.
"So how did you meet her then? Actually. I better question I should be asking right about now is where 'd you run off to to begin with." I asked, somewhat convinced with Flandre's answer and for obvious reasons too before asking the real question of where Flandre wondered off to.
"Well you were sleeping so I went to take a stroll!" Flandre tried to talk her out of this by sounding as childish as possible but I had my doubts and for good reasons but right as I was about to press Flandre further, the white haired woman spoke up.
"You know, it's rude to ignore your guests." The woman broke the silence with a calm and collective voice but Alice continued to ignore her completely, just who is this woman? Taking note of Alice ignoring her comment, the woman puffed as she finally decided to have a look around the room for herself and it didn't take long for her eyes to be met with mine resulting in me quickly shifting my focus away from the woman.
"Ah, so that's how it is~" The woman smirked with a oddly mischievous grin as she looked back at Alice and I could already tell where this was going and I didn't like it one bit.
"Did I interrupt something by any chance? If so then I could always go and leave you to it." The woman laughed and for a moment Alice spaced out for a moment after hearing that before breaking the silence almost instantly after she finally caught on to what the woman was alluding to.
"W-WHAT! I'D NEVER DO SOMETHING AS INDECENT AS THAT! ESPECIALLY NOT WITH A RANDOM HUMAN I BARELY KNOW!" Alice retorted with a face that could compete with a tomato from how much she was blushing at that very moment and that only made the woman smirk, though as harsh as it sounded, I guess I was with Alice on this one but Flandre on the other hand didn't seem to understand what the woman was referring to.
Flandre:"I don't get it."
Y/N:"And it'd be best that it stays that way."
"I see then what might a random human be doing here so late at night? Let alone, a human that you know nothing of." The woman curiously inquired as all attention shifted onto me for better or for worse.
"He's a human from the outside world, apparently he was attack by a youkai and ended up breaking his ankle so I decided to look after him until he recovered." Alice explained as the woman continued inspect me closely before glancing back over to Alice.
"So that's the human that Flandre told me about? I must say, I thought that he'd look more damaged than he actually is from the way I heard about him." The six winged woman commented, leaving me to stare over at Flandre for one obvious reason, just what kind of stroll did Flandre take and better yet, just what did she tell this woman?
"Well that's not important, what's important here is why you're coming here so late at night." Alice asked with a strict tone as she gave the woman a ice cold gaze which would have been strong enough to pierce through paper if Alice were to make her gaze even a tad bit stricter.
"I believe it's four in the morning now." The woman correct Alice but all her correcting ended up doing was annoying Alice further.
Alice:"Well that's besides the point, why did you even come?"
???:"It's just that I'm worried about you Alice, you don't write, call or even come to visit and every time I come for a visit, I find out you aren't even home."
Alice:"Only because I'm busy, I can't dedicate my time to you plus makai isn't exactly a place place that's easy to enter."
???:"I see, but if I may, is something bothering you? Alice, if there are any problem your dealing with then I could always help."
Alice:"It's... Complicated. You wouldn't understand so it'd be best you just leave."
The whole situation felt stuffed and and the glances that Alice and the woman exchanged amongst each other wasn't helping but I didn't say a thing as I watched to see how this would unfold and that's when an idea sparked to my head.
"Flandre, try telling them a joke." I whispered to Flandre who just stared at me with a confused look before whispering back to me.
Flandre:"Huh? Why should I?"
Y/N:"Because you're good at it."
Flandre:"Well if you put it that way... Alright!"
I sure as hell wasn't going to be the one to make a fool out of myself so having Flandre do me a favour of this kind didn't seem all too bad, hopefully her jokes can stick the landing and not worsen the situation.
Flandre:"Hey, what did the tringle say to the circle?"
. . .
Flandre:"You're pointless!"
Nobody said or even utter anything in response.
Flandre:"Ok, uhm... Ah, I got a good one! Why did the chicken cross the road?
. . .
Flandre:"To get away from the shrine maiden! Or was it to get to the other side? Actually why would a chicken even cross a road to begin with?"
All Flandre's joke managed to accomplish was leave me dumbfounded at how poorly executed they were, she didn't even know the punchline for the second joke.
The mood clearly wasn't improving and the situation itself was just worsening with the woman looking as sorrow as ever and Alice appearing to be frustrated with her but I was slowly starting to get the gist of things now that I've heard enough of their conversation to piece together the whole puzzle. Moving closer to Alice, I began whispering to her in hopes of getting some light shun on all of this.
Y/N:"Uhh, Alice. Is everything alright, you seem to be seriously getting worked up."
Alice:"It's nothing, besides you should be resting right about now."
Y/N:"I know, I know but who is that lady? Is she a family member of yours or something?"
Alice:"Something like that, now you should go rest since Flandre is back here now."
This whole thing felt like a mother and daughter bickering back and fourth since the woman wasn't backing down in hopes of helping Alices all the while Alice tried to just make the woman leave her alone which only resulted in both of them going in circles and I couldn't just sit and watch so the least I could do is help calm the situation down.
"H-Hey, how about we all calm down and talk things over like the rational people that we are." I intervened as I moved a step closer to the two of them to catch their attentions.
"That won't be necessary, we were just finishing talking here." Alice replied, moving her gaze away from the woman and towards me and it was obvious that Alice wasn't having none of it as dolls flooded the room to look at the woman in disappointment.
"I think that this might be a good idea, so let's give it a try." The woman spoke with a hopeful voice, ignoring Alice's decline to my offer but Alice wouldn't budge until I joined in to look at Alice and before long, she finally gave into the pressure and gave in.
Alice"-Sigh- Very well, what do you have in mind?"
Y/N:"Well, I'm not exactly good at this whole talking thing but I was thinking about therapy."
Alice:"Therapy? And what's that exactly."
Y/N:"Let's just say, it's a nice way to vent and cope with your problems, I think."
???:"Splendid! So how do we start this therapy thing?"
"Alright, so Alice will go first and explain why she's annoyed with you and after that, you can explain your side of things so that both of you can reach an understanding." I explained to both the woman and Alice whom both stared at each other with uncertainty in my proposal before collectively nodding their heads in agreement.
"Alright Alice you go first." I instructed right as Alice took a deep breath and locked her gaze onto the woman before finally speaking up to her.
Alice:"Well... I don't even know where to start, I've been in makai for most of my life and looking back at it, I never experienced anything real during my time there, there wasn't much for me to experience while I still lived in makai. Everything in makai felt artificial, none of it felt real. The youkai there were fake, the objects there were fake, even the landscape was fake. Nothing felt real, I didn't feel real and what didn't help was that you were practically trapping me in there by providing everything I ever wanted.
It all felt undeserved. I wanted to feel the hardships of life, I wanted to feel the beauty of a world that wasn't made by a single god but I didn't know how, I didn't even know that if I really wanted those feelings, those challenges. Not until you started that incident, the incident that resulted in me leaving makai.
At first I felt alienated, it felt like I was living on a different planet filled with creatures I knew nothing of but I quickly adjusted and before I even knew it, I learnt many things and experienced things I never knew were even real. It made me feel a peculiar feeling, a feeling of happiness I never felt before."
"Alice, I didn't know..." The woman looked like she was about to start crying after hearing this as she lowered her head for a moment before back at Alice to say something but no words came out of her mouth.
"I don't need your sympathy." Alice cut the woman off mid speech but her voice felt hurt after having to recollect her past so I decided to move things over to the white haired woman.
Y/N:"Alright now it's your turn... uhh..."
???:"Shinki."
Y/N:"Right, Shinki. Your turn."
Shinki:"I suppose I best start from the start. As a goddess, I used to watch over humans and occasionally lend them my help and after many years of doing that, I came to understand something. The world can be a cruel place, it's filled with misfortune and helplessness. It was something I could not stand but what was there for me to do? Well, create makai of course! Makai is a world I created to let the unimaginable to finally become possible. A world I could make and have full control in hopes of harmonizing everything I create in it to achieve my goal, a land where mortals and gods can all get along and be equal to each other as well as eliminate the hardships that were plaguing the outside world.
Sure there were many hit and misses during the creation of makai but after trail and error, I created a world that was free from the issues that the outside world had... Or so had I thought. Everything appeared fine, everything but one thing which was Alice. She always seemed keen on the idea of the outside world having many untold mysteries and I tried to put those thoughts to rest by expanding makai in the vision Alice was seeking, all for the sole goal of keeping her from having to suffer the same fate that those living outside of makai had to suffer if she were to ever leave makai, I even went as far as to keep the truth from her to protect her. Soon word spread however and more youkai started to appear interested in going to the outside world so I eventually had to resort to fulfilling their desire, letting them loose onto the outside world temporarily which led to the incident that took her away...
After that, things didn't change, humans started to use makai as a dumping ground for any wicked youkai to be sealed in though that isn't always the case, I even met a youkai Buddhist once but just wasn't the same without her around anymore."
Thing went relatively silent after that, nobody bothered to say a word for all sorts of reasons which varied depending on who you asked.
Alice seemed to have calmed down considerably enough to take Shinki's words into consideration.
Flandre wasn't bothered paying attention as she grabbed two dolls and seemed to be messing around with them in the most destructive way imaginable.
Shinki seemed like she could start breaking down crying at any given moment after having to recollect those events.
And as for me, I spaced out for a moment.
I couldn't make heads or tails as to what makai was exactly but it sure does sound like paradise, minus the part where humans apparently turned it into a dumping ground for dangerous monsters but what stuck with me most was that Shinki was a goddess, but the question here was what kind of goddess was she suppose to be?
Regardless, this whole idea of therapy wasn't exactly going like how I expected it to go, then again I'm not therapist so I should have expected as much to have happened by now.
"Shinki..." Alice uttered but something didn't sound right, the way Alice said it made it sound different compared to her previous words.
"I know what you think of me and I apologize for that." Shinki replied her head staring down at the ground with no emotions being present anymore as all of us watched her.
"That's not it, I don't want you to apologize but... I want to apologize." Alice said, her voice finally softening up as Shinki suddenly glanced up at Alice in a daze upon hearing Alice utter those words out.
"At first I didn't know why you always treated me like a child, I always thought it was to satisfy your own needs but now I get it and even though I'm still having trouble getting over my past experiences in makai, I take back most of the things I said..." Alice went on admitting without any hesitation let alone resentment, all that could be heard in Alice's voice now was regret and sorrow.
"You don't need to apologize either , Alice. All that matters to me is that your safe. I'm not going to force you to come back if you truly find joy here." Shinki smiled as she got up to hug Alice who seemed rather embarrassed about it but didn't bother to resist.
Guess therapy really can do miracles sometimes, even when you have no idea how to do therapy but I'm not gonna complain since everything seems to have worked out in the end.
"Don't think I forgot about you. I'm rather surprised that a method thought up by a human could yield such results." Shinki thanked me, placing one of her hands on my shoulder once she was done hugging the life out of Alice. After saying that I could feel a sensation I never felt before emanating from my shoulder where Shinki's hand was resting.
"I hope this will make up for the trouble you had to go through to help." Shink thanked me with a smile but all I could do was give a confused look as she finally lifted her hand off my shoulder before pointing down to my broken ankle.
Directing my eyes at my ankle, it quickly began apparent as to what had just happened, my ankle was no longer broken. It was almost as if leg was somehow healed.
Y/N:"Huh? how'd you-?"
Shinki:"Come now, I am a goddess of creation, all I did was simply created a connection in your ankle to fix it."
Alice:"You can do that?"
Shinki:"Well, this is my first time recreating something inside of the human body so it won't be a spot on repair. In that regard, you could say I'm a novice at this but it all appears to have worked out in the end."
Taking a few test steps, my ankle felt awfully stiff as I tried moving my leg around but at least I could freely move my leg around again so I guess that's a good start.
"Well then. I suppose I should be taking my leave then, I've wasted enough of everyone's time already." Shinki said with somberness as she began making her way towards the front door but before she could even reach her hand out to the door handle, a small army of Alice's doll stopped her by blocking her path.
"Y-You know, since your already here, we can talk for a bit before you go back... If that's alright with you." Alice chimed in with embarrassment and a little uncertainty which made Shinki turn back to Alice with a smile on her face.
"I'd be glad to." Shinki replied without even the slightest bit of hesitation. Noticing this as an opportunity for both Alice and Shinki to talk things out, I began whispering to Flandre.
Y/N:"Come on, let's give them some space and outside."
Flandre:"Huh, outside? Where are we going?"
Y/N:"On an adventure."
Flandre:"Wait, really!"
Y/N:"Yeah... Now let's go."
Usually I'd be against the idea of going out to mess about in the middle of the night thanks to monsters lurking around, not to mention Junko but by now, I didn't have much to loose, plus there was something I wanted to talk to Flandre about and now was as good of a time as any to get that out of the way before tomorrow rolls around and now seemed to be like the perfect opportunity to do so though I have some doubts about the outcome of all this.
Making our way pass Shinki and Alice, neither of them seemed to have taken note of me or Flandre as we left and they seemed to really be enjoying each others company despite all that had just happened and by this point I couldn't care less than to be happy.
Once we were outside, both me and Flandre began journeying out to the forest with Flandre watching out for anything that interested her but to me, I didn't mind going along with whatever Flandre wanted to do, after all this was technically my final adventure so the least I could do was let Flandre enjoy herself before I break the news to her.
"Hey, there's something I wanted to know for a bit now." Flandre spoke up as both of us walked side by side in the forest, each of us keeping a keen eye around us as we ventured through the forest with no real goal in mind, well for the most part anyhow.
Y/N:"What is it?"
Flandre:"Why did you help them? You don't even know those two then why help them? What if they betray you?"
Y/N:"Those two? Oh, you mean Alice and Shinki. Hearing them go back and fourth like that reminded me of something, it reminded me of the conflicts I saw in pasts and it made me want to help. It just felt right to help them so I went with what my gut told me and before I knew it, things just blew over. Besides, I can feel like they are the trust worthy types. If they weren't then I probably would be here with a fixed leg, now would I?"
Flandre:"Does that mean you care about them?"
Y/N:"Well.. Hey, wait a moment. Why are you asking these weird questions all of a sudden?"
Flandre:"I... It just reminds me of meiling and the others, and how they'd usually resolve things every time I felt like nobody could help me... They were just there to help me, they always made sure that I felt wanted."
Y/N:"I-I see."
Flandre:"There's also something else I wanted to know."
Y/N:"Which is?"
Flandre:"Do you care about me...?"
Y/N:"Care about you? What's that suppose to mean?"
Flandre:"It's just that... Every time something happens, you tell me to run or don't fight back. Do you really think that little of me? I'm not a child, I can fight, I'm strong and yet you treat me like a helpless child. Why? Why do you always do these things? It just makes me wonder if you care for me or not."
Upon hearing that, I couldn't help but let out a small yet audible sigh as I looked up at the sky, searching for a response in my head before finally answering Flandre's question.
Y/N:"It's not that I think little of you, Flandre or that I think that your weak. I know you'd win in any battle we'd face but sometimes, it's better to resolve things without the need for violence. I'm not sure if killing is a common means to resolve conflicts here but from where I come from, we resolve conflicts with words, not violence. Besides, I want to protect you Flandre. I don't want it to be the other way around."
Flandre:"So... You really do care about me? Even after everything that happened, you don't hate me?"
Y/N:"You're really over thinking things aren't you? Of course not, being mad at you would be the last thing I'd be thinking right now. Sure you caused me some trouble but all of that was just you being at the wrong places, at the wrong time so in the end, it's not your fault. It was mostly just fate running it's course."
After hearing that, Flandre's mood seemed to have improved as a genuine grin appeared on her face. Things went relatively silent after that for a moment or two and things appeared to be getting somewhat lighthearted for a change.
"You always wanted to know what happened between me and sis, right?" Flandre questioned, breaking a calm silence as she looked over at me, her grin slightly worn down by sorrowful look as she waited for me to respond though all she received was a confused look from me. by now, I had already accepted the fact that Flandre didn't like talking about her past and soon I forgot all about it but after hearing Flandre just bring it up from the blue like that took me completely off guard.
"Well... At one moment but that was a long time ago." I replied wit honesty and Flandre didn't seem to mind much to what I just said.
"Well then I can tell you." Flandre confessed as she looked away with uncertainty as to hat she just said.
"Flandre, you don't have to tell me. It's alright if you don't want to talk about it." I reasoned with Flandre but she didn't seem to be having any issue with finally opening up about her past now.
"I don't mind anymore, not if it's you." Flandra admitted as she halted to a stop with me soon stopping to look back at her. I didn't even utter a word, on one hand I didn't need to hear it but on the other, I wanted to hear what it was that even lead to things being this way.
Flandre:"It all began a couple of weeks ago."
---------- Flashback ----------
Roaming the halls of the mansion, I tried to find something to entertain me but no luck. Meiling was busy sleeping on the job, Patchy was too invested reading her books to even bat me an eye, Sakuya was preparing dinner, sis preparing to have guests come over for dinner and my toys were destroyed "accidentally" and what wasn't helping me cope with my boredom was that I was not to come to the dinner party under any circumstances or whatever sis said.
There were special guests coming over to the mansion and she didn't want me to ruin the dinner party by attending. Usually I'd protest against such an idea but the way she put in into words made the dinner party sound like it'd bore me to death so I was fine with passing up on it just this one time.
"This sucks." I sighed to myself, maybe tomorrow things will be different? It better be, how could anyone live in a world with so little options? If I didn't know any better, I would have just broken out already and went on my own brand of what it means to have fun but I doubt that'd last long with how strict sis is when it comes to letting me go outside.
Turning around, I finally made up my mind and decided to spend the rest of the night in my room in hopes that maybe one of my toys were still intact and right as I turned the corner, I spotted a small group of fairy maids entering the dining hall and that was enough to attract my attention as I trailed after them before stopping at the door leading to the dining hall.
Poking my head into the hall, I took a good long look at the hall and from first sight, all I could see were fairies flying all over the place, some fairies were setting up the dining hall while others were cleaning it with bleach, mops and other cleaning products being held in their hands. The hall was practically packed with every single fairy maid we owned so it was obvious that I couldn't see a thing but amongst small gaps between the maids, I could see a large table that had a fancy table cloth laid out on it as well as antique plates, utensils and drinking glasses laid out in a perfect and elegant patter, something I'm not used to seeing.
Seems like the maids were actually taking their jobs seriously for a change, is that dinner party this important to sis?
Loosing interest in what I saw seeing, I slowly poked my head out of the dining hall and back into the hallway, ready to follow through with what I had in mind just a moment ago, a voice called out to all the fairies, capturing my attention in the process.
"Hey, everyone! Look at me!" The voice of a fairy proudly exclaimed as I poked my head back into the dining hall and what I was met with couldn't be described with words because what I was staring at was a fairy maid dressed in sis's clothes.
"Look at me, I'm the mistress of the mansion. I will guess that your fate is to scrub the toilets for all eternity! Sakuya, praise me for how elegant and awesome I am! Go go gun spear thingy! Hey mister, will you give me your blood before I kill you?" The fairy maid mocked in a high pitched voice as she danced about the place which made all the fairy maids laugh without a end to it, none of them caring in the slightest of the consequences of what would happen if they were to be found out by Sakuya or anyone else.
"Hey, won't you get in trouble for dressing up as mistress Remilia?" One of the fairy maids asked as she wiped away a tear caused by her hard laughter but the fairy posing as sis just smirked for a moment before respond.
"Nooope, she has so many identical outfits that she'll never find out! Besides, we still got an hour before she shows up with the guests. Now where was I? Ah yes! Pour me some fine wine you fairy maid low life scum or I will throw a temper tantrum to Sakuya that you weren't being nice to the mistress of the mansion, aka me!" The imposter explained triumphantly before continuing her annoying impersonations as she grabbed one of the drinking glasses and held it up, waiting for one of the fairies to pour something into it and soon one of the fairies ended up pouring bleach into it, thinking that the fairy was going to only pretend to drink it but the fairy dressed up as sis ended up actually taking a big gulp out of it, seemingly unaware that it was bleach.
After a moment or two, the fairy threw up on the floor once she realized that she just drank bleach which annoyed some of the fairies since she just ended up causing them extra work and after taking a moment to clean the mess, the fairies continued their game of play pretend.
"Do some other impersonations next!" Some of the fairies encouraged and that seemed that idea was quick to rail up the dressed fairy as she responded back, asking for suggestions.
Imposter:"Alright then, give me some suggestions!"
Fairy Maids:"Do Sakuya!"
"Alright then, ahem." The fairy exclaimed as she began to clear her throat before talking in a oddly elegant yet smug voice to represent that she was pretending to be Sakuya.
Imposter:"You better clean those dishes four times EACH, not three each! You better work twenty four hours a day and try to be like me! I work twenty four hours a day and use my remaining time to rest and I totally don't wear pads! I clearly am the mistresses favorite because it is my job as her lap dog to bark at her command!"
This representation of Sakuya felt somewhat accurate but it still annoyed me as I could feel my blood heating up slowly out of anger as the fairies continued laughing and things didn't stop there as they went on to impersonate patchy next and the fairy imposter made sure to give her the nerdiest voice that she could come up with.
Imposter:"It's obvious that my opinion matters more than your whole life because I have lived for many years and have acquired all forms of knowledge but I don't know how to stop a wannabe witch from stealing my damn books! Oh no, my asthma is kicking in. KOAKUMA, where's my inhaler!?"
And from Patchy they moved onto Meiling next as the fairy took a deep breath and began talking in a low accent that sounded nothing like Meiling.
Imposter:"Haha, it is I! China girl and I will strike you down! Oh, you came to burn the mansion? Ok, but you better not wake me up, kay? I know all forms of martial arts like kung fu and kung fu, did I mention I know kung fu? I even developed my own martial art fighting style called sleep kwan doe!"
After the fairy got her impersonation out of the way, she seemed to stop there but the fairies wanted her to continue with her awful imposter acting.
Fairy Maids: Do Flandre next!"
Imposter:"Alright. Ahem, will you play with me and try not to die? If you don't die then I will make you into my next toy, sound fair to me! Hey do you like my wings, they're just branches I found but they look funny, just like me so they fit like a glove! Oh, and the jewels? Those are just rock candies! I wonder what would happen if I squeezed my hand while pointing it in your direction. Now if you don't mind, I'm gonna go play with my friends which I got none of cuz they're all dead, haha!"
Hearing all that made my blood boil and I could feel all my sense of reason just chip away at itself from those insults but I managed to hold my blood thirst with my remaining sense of reasons but even then that was proving itself to be harder than it sounded. And right when I began to think to myself that this poser couldn't think of anything dumber, the fairy posing as my sister decided to propose a idea she thought up on the spot to all the fairy maids.
"Hey, I just got a brilliant idea for a prank! What if we put bleach in mistress Remilia's drink! Then she's going to make a fool of herself in front of the guests!" The fairy proposed as she held up her glass which still had some bleach left over in it and at first none of the fairies seemed keen on the idea with some even voicing their concern.
"But... Wouldn't that kill her?" Some of the fairies questioned but the fairy quickly shut down their worries.
"She'll be fine, if a fairy can survive by dying just once to drinking bleach then she is going to be A O K. After all, she IS Remilia Scarlet." The fairy explained to the fellow fairy maids and that alone was enough to convince most if not all of them that this was totally safe as all of them began cheering in unison.
It was at this very moment that my remaining restraint snapped and the next thing I knew, I lightly pushed open the door and began walking slowly to the large group of fairy maids.
I could barely keep track of what I was doing, it felt like my body was acting on it's own and my mind was letting itself into blood lust. Once second I could hear the gasps of the fairies as they all watched me and the very next second all I could hear was pain and anguish of the fairies as I began slaughtering each and every one of them. Blood splattering all over the place as I laughed at their misery, I could barely understand what I was doing it let alone why, was it because of how they taunted me? How they made fun of my friends and family? How they wanted to poison my sister? I didn't care for the answer, all that matter was that I was having fun with nothing to stop me, let alone restrain my lust for violence.
"Anyhow, welcome to the scarlet devil mansion, I am glad you could attend. I had my finest chiefs prepare the most astounding of cuisines. Now how about we get- FLANDRE!?" The shocked scream of my sister snapped me out of my frenzy as I regain my sense again. Looking around the dining hall, every single bit of it was covered from head to toe in the blood of fairies that laid slaughtered on the ground. Looking over to my sister I could see her along with Satori and her two pets standing at the door.
"SAKUYA!" sis barked with rage in her voice as I tried thinking of something to say but nothing came to my mind at first but if I didn't say anything now then I'll surely be done for.
"Wait, sis! It's not what it-" I tried reasoning with sis but before I could finish, I could feel a swift neck chop to the back of my head, Sakuya had struck me from the back out of nowhere which resulted in me stumbling for a moment as I watched the distorted image of my sis and Satori watch me loose my consciousness before I dropped to the ground, motionlessly.
---------- End of Flashback ----------
"After that, I woke up locked inside of my room." Flandre finished off her recollection as she looked down in sorrow as to what she did but to me, sorrow should have been the last thing Flandre should be feeling right about now. She practically saved her sister from being unknowingly assassinated by a bunch of fairies, her own workers no less.
"Did you try explaining the situation after that to your sister?" I asked, knowing full well what the answers was but for my better moral judgement, I decided to ask away regardless to the answer being obvious.
"I did... But she never listened to me, she always cut me off right as I tried and went on talking about how I just damaged her reputation with my little stunt..." Flandre replied, feeling more guilty than ever now that she revealed pretty much the sole reason we came to meet each other, it was all because of a single misunderstanding that brought about all the events that had played out since the day I met Flandre.
"Sometimes I wonder if maybe sis was right. Maybe it really was all my fault." Flandre went on to blame herself as I stood in silence for a moment as I listened to Flandre as she began to doubt her past actions.
"It's not." I uttered out, almost in disgust as I looked back at everything that had led to this point before comparing it to what Flandre had just told me and it was obvious that I had to voice my concern.
Flandre:"Huh? But it's because of me that-"
Y/N:"What you did doesn't matter and what your sisters say also doesn't matter. All that matters is that you did the right thing whether you knew it or not. You saved your sister from being poisoned and though your not being praised for doing the right thing by them, you are a hero in my opinion, Flandre."
Flandre:"You... You really mean it?"
Y/N:"Obviously. Now stop devaluing yourself and let's get going, the sun might appear soon."
Flandre:"Alright!"
Hearing my small pep talk was enough to spark up a flame of joy in Flandre as she cheered on almost as if nothing had just happened. Sometimes I wonder how Flandre can get over topics like these so easily.
Well it didn't matter now since we were finishing up with what we were suppose to... Actually, why did we even come out here, I know it was to talk to Flandre about something but I couldn't exactly put my mind on what it could have been, well whatever the case might have been, it shouldn't have been so important if I ended up forgetting. Turning back to the direction we came from, we both began making our way back to Alice's house but that plan was short lived as three figure sudden lunged in front of us, blocking our path as the tree shadows covered their identity for a moment or two.
???:"We found you, faker!"
???:"Thought you could get away from us then think again!"
???:"So get ready to fight us!"
Hearing those three voices felt like being called out to fight in a crowded area, it sounded unpleasant. As the three figures landed, it soon became obvious who they were as the trees finally stopped covering the three figures revealing that it was the three wolf tengus from the youkai mountain that I met while pretending to be a youkai myself but it appeared that Momiji wasn't amongst them surprisingly considering that she was there with them when they came to warn her about me.
Wolf Tengu 1:"Prepare for trouble!"
Wolf Tengu 2:"And make it triple!"
Wolf Tengu 3:"To protect the world from devastation!"
Wolf Tengu 1:"To unite the youkai of our nation!"
Wolf Tengu 2:"To denounce the evils of truth and work!"
Wolf Tengu 3:"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
Wolf Tengu 1:"Wolf Tengu number 1!"
Wolf Tengu 2:"Wolf Tengu number 2!"
Wolf Tengu 3:"Wolf Tengu number 3!"
Wolf Tengu 1:"Surrender now!"
Wolf Tengu 2:"Or prepare to fight!"
Wolf Tengu 3"That's right!"
Once the three wolf tengu were done giving their odd introductory motto speech, both me and Flandre just stared at them while trying to hold ourselves back from repugnance at what we just heard.
"I'll have fun with these ones!" Flandre smiled as she began approach the three wolf tengu but before she could get close to them, I raised my hand in front of her, preventing her from getting any closer to the three youkai.
"I'll take care for this, they came to "talk" to me." I sighed as I looked at Flandre with an assuring face. This was a bad idea and both of us knew that but I didn't want to let Flandre fight them, if I did then one of two things will most likely happen. Either Flandre will kill them or she will get hurt trying to kill them. At first Flandre wanted to object but before she could even protest, she simply nodded her head which made me smile lightly before I turned my attention back to the three youkai.
Y/N:"Hey, wasn't there a fourth wolf tengu with you three?"
Wolf Tengu 1:"Yeah but that isn't any of your business, human! If that what you claim yourself to be!"
"Um, alright? So, what do you three want this time?" I asked as I tried to pull off the most menacing accent I could come with in hopes of somehow scaring them off a second time.
"We came to get our revenge for how you humiliated us!" The first wolf tengu angrily growled at me as all three of them unsheathed their swords and took a stance.
"Now we are going to beat you like there's no tomorrow and get our honour back by force!" The second wolf tengu added on with a hostile grin now that all three of them were ready to attack at any given moment.
"Is that so? Well unluckily for you, I still have this kappa tech!" I laughed as I pointed to my watch and that alone was enough to make two of the wolf tengu uneasy but the third tengu however didn't seem phased by my threat in the slightest.
Wolf Tengu 3:"Hahaha, you think your gonna scare me with that empty threat?! We both know that won't work this time"
Wolf Tengu 1:"Hold up, the hell are you doing? do you want him to blow us up?! How can you be so sure about that?"
Wolf Tengu:"Don't you see it's all a big bluff, that's just a mere watch! Kappa tech or not, there's no way a small wrist watch like that could be filled with enough explosives to actually harm us, plus we aren't anywhere near the youkai mountain so the surrounding shouldn't be our concern."
Wolf Tengu 2:"Hey, your right! That means that he has no chances of winning against us three!"
"I know. Now then, human. We will give you a single chance to prove that your claim isn't a bluff, we will even sweeten the deal and not move from this spot so do your worse! And don't think about running. We will kill you if you do anything but fight us!" The first wolf tengu snarled victoriously as the other two wolf tengu nodded their heads in agreement.
"Tch!" I scoffed as I began to sweat. They saw through my lie and there was nothing better that I could come up with to avoid the inevitable fight that was to come and someone was going to die here and I had nothing to avoid that outcome... Or did I?
"You sure you don't need help? I can take them out all in one go." Flandre offered to help but I ignored her as I looked down at my wrist where my watch as the words of what Nitori told me echoed to my head, reminding me of a certain app she warned me about when we first met and now I was curious about it.
Taking a quick look down at my watch, I quickly began scrolling through the apps that were on it before stopping on a peculiar app that I was searching for.
The app with no writing on it, it was just an app with a generic icon. That's all it had and yet Nitori made a big fuss out of it so let's hope it lives up to my expectations. It was do or die and I sure as hell don't like the sound of the second option.
If what Nitori said was true then this app might save me and not wanting to waste even a second more, I clicked the app and was quickly greeted with a line of text with two options under it.
"Do you want to end your user agreement?"
"[YES] [NO]"
For a moment, I hesitated since I had no idea what would follow before taking another look at the three wolf tengu, all of which were proudly standing there, ready to slice and dice me into minced meat and me having no other option, I quickly pressed yes and was quickly greeted with text saying
"USER AGREEMENT TERMINATED, THANK YOU FOR USING NITORI-WARE 1.0
DEVICE UPDATE IN PROGRESS. . .
UPDATE PROGRESS : 0%
PLEASE DO NOT TURN OFF YOUR DEVICE WHILE UPDATING"
As the words flashed on the watch, I could feel it heat up intensely as it rose in percentages one by one, slowly burning my wrist and I quickly caught on to what was going to soon followed as I struggled to take off the watch.
"UPDATE PROGRESS : 30%"
"COME ON YOU STUPID THING! HOW THE HELL DO I TAKE THIS THING OFF?!" I growled to myself as I struggled to rip the watch off my wrist not matter how hard I tried
"UPDATE PROGRESS : 60%"
"JUST A LITTLE BIT MORE, COME ONE!" I continued to snarl as the watch slowly got unhooked off my wrist albeit not completely and by now all the wolf tengu and Flandre began watching me intently, waiting to see what would happen, let alone what I was doing.
"UPDATE PROGRESS : 90%"
"THERE! IT'S OFF!" I celebrated briefly as I coiled my hand back and not wasting a single breath, I tossed the burning hot watch towards the three wolf tengu before jumping away now that I had a good understanding of what was most likely going to follow.
"UPDATE PROGRESS : 100%
UPDATE COMPLETE!"
As the watch got closer and closer to the three wolf tengu, none of them seemed phased by it flying their way with one of the wolf tengu even reading itself to just slice it mid air but as their blade got closer to the watch, it suddenly burst out into a strong yet small explosion that sent the three wolf tengu flying off into the sky before all of them yelled.
"TEAM WOLF TENGU BLASTING OFF AGAIN!"
"Woah, you had fire works this whole time?!" Flandre asked in awe and amusement as I got up from the ground dusting myself off slowly before replying.
"Yeah... Sadly I only had this one." As I said that, I took one final look behind me where I watched my watch explode just moments ago. At first I thought that I wouldn't need much use for it but now that I don't have it anymore, I feel kind of empty without it and it hasn't even been a minute yet.
"Alright, let's go Flandre. Alice must be waiting for us by now." I muttered as I began walking with Flandre who seemed to be having fun watching me face off against those three youkais.
"Alright!" Flandre cheered from behind me as both of us went on a one way course back to where we came from.
"I wonder what sis is up to now." Flandre sighed under her breath as both of us began walking back the way we came from without any more interruptions getting in our way anymore thankfully.
---------- Remilia Pov ----------
Walking down the hall of the mansion, I could sense the fairy maids looked at me from behind me as I tried walking as elegantly as I usually did but today I was having problems keeping my posture straight due to the stress of constantly being watched by those good for nothing rats.
It didn't take long before I finally found the door leading to my room and quickly rushed inside to get some privacy.
"DAMN THEM, DAMN THEM ALL TO HELL!" I thought myself as I slammed the door to my room shut behind me before throwing my hat to the ground and proceeding to stomp on it multiple times out of pure frustraion.
It's all her fault, she is the root of this whole problem, she got them all to turn on me somehow but how?
Or maybe they did it out of their own free will? No, they wouldn't turn on me like that, I am THE Remilia Scarlet and they know that turning on me is a fate worse than death.
As my mind pondered as to how things got this way, I quickly took note of a mirror I never used that was hang up on the wall. Making my way towards my mirror, I stopped in front of it to stare into it but all it reflected was my room and nothing else, I was nowhere to be seen in the reflect.
"Is this what they call irony?" I asked the mirror as I placed my hand on it for a moment before letting go, leaving behind a smudge where my hand was laying for a moment.
"mirror oh mirror. Show me the fate that I was bestowed with." I joked to myself, usually this joke would make me smirk at the very least but today, that joke felt out of order, almost as if I messed up the punchline despite me saying this same joke to the very same mirror for hundreds of years on end and that infuriated me and I knew why that was.
"THEY ALL THINK I'M CRAZY, THEY ALL THINK I LOST MY DAMN MIND!" I yelled at the mirror, waiting for a response but the mirror remained silent as it continued to project the reflection of the room but not me.
"THE FAIRY MAIDS THINK I LOST MY SANITY, PATCHY THINKS I'M BEING CHILDISH, MEILING IS CONSTANTLY NAGGING ME TO GO REUNITE WITH "HER" AND EVEN MY LOYAL MAID SAKUYA THINKS THAT I NEED TO CALM DAMN, WELL THEY CAN ALL BURN IN THE LOWEST DEPTS OF THIS MANSION'S ROTTEN HELL!" I yelled even louder than before as I clutched my fist, making sure not to break eye contact with the mirror as I raised my fist to towards it before inevitably throwing my strongest punch at the mirror.
"USLESS! USELESS! USELESS! UESLESS!" I repeated as I punched the mirror repeatedly before stopping as the sharp pain of the glass shards which were lodged into my fist were known.
Once I was done destroying the mirror, I took a deep breath before looking over to the window sill at the corner of the room and that's when I saw it.
The rose Flandre had given me for my birthday.
By now it had completely withered away, it's lifeless husk laid there in the flower pot as rage began to swerve inside of me.
Walking out into the balcony leading out of my room, I stared up at the moon which shined at it's peak. It was a full moon which made me smile as I slowly took a deep breath before slowly laughing at the irony of the situation that I was faced with.
"Hahaha..."
This is funny.
"HAhaha..."
This is your fault.
"HAHaha..."
This was all apart of your games, no?
"HAHAHAha..."
Your just messing with me, you want me to fall.
"HAHAHAHa..."
But I'm still standing, your tricks won't work.
"HAHAHAHA..."
Not anymore.
"HAHAHAHA!"
But then again...
"IS THIS WHAT YOU WANTED FLANDRE?! DO YOU WANNA SEE MY DEMISE THIS BADLY, THEN COME AND SEE IT WITH YOUR OWN TWO EYES! I'LL BE WAITING!" I yelled out as I watched the full moon, almost as if I was talking to it.
"I'LL EVEN ROLL OUT THE RED CARPET IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO FACE ME." I continued to trash talk to the moon, expecting a response but just like with the mirror, I heard no response unfortunately but I was past caring for a response.
Once I calmed down, I walked back to my room and stopped momentarily to look at the mess I caused before calling for Sakuya.
"Sakuya, bring me my handkerchief. There's been a small accident. And get the maids to clean up this mess while your at it." I called out calmly, making sure to also knock over the dead rose off the window sill as I left the room, leaving Sakuya to clean the mess up with her maids as I went on to roam the halls of the mansion, passing by Sakuya and her maids who all stared at my bloodied hand before looking up at me but I paid them no attention.
"Ojou-Sama..." Sakuya tried talking to me as she extended her hand to hand me my handkerchief which I swiped out of her hand without saying a word, not interested in talking to her as I passed her and the maids while humming to myself innocently as my mind continued to looked over the whole issue with Flandre being out there somewhere.
How long has it been now, Flandre? A week? Two maybe? I must say you have gotten good at being independent or whatever it is that is currently keeping you alive outside the mansion but the very moment you make the tiniest of slip ups, I'll know and I'll be there to laugh as I watch you fall right back down to earth.
I'll even make sure to teach you the pecking order so you know your place at the bottom of this mansions hierarchy.
You think you can win by laying low, don't you Flandre? You may have turned everyone against me but let's see how long you can keep up this game of hide and seek before one of us ends up cracking...
FLANDRE SCARLET!
---------- Y/N Pov ----------
Arriving at Alice's house, both me and Flandre were now somewhat exhausted with everything that had transpired not too long ago but at least that was all behind us now and we could move on with things but it felt like I was forgetting something important.
Taking one last looking behind us, I could see the sun slowly raising so I guess I'll have to say goodbye to any hopes of getting some proper rest but at least we were safe once again.
"And Sariel then tried to kill everyone in the room, can you believe it!?" The voice of Shinki laughed alongside Alice. Were they seriously still talking after all this time?
Heading towards the kitchen, I quickly noticed both Shinki and Alice still sitting in their original positions as they were from before me and Flandre left but now they both seemed to be on extremely good terms as they recollected past events together and laughed together about those events.
"We're back." I yawned, catching both Shinki's and Alice's attentions as they both gave me confused looks, seemingly unaware that I was gone in the first place.
"You two were gone? When?" Alice asked as both me and Flandre stood on the other side of the kitchen.
"I don't know? An hour or two ago." I replied trying to remind myself at what time we even left to begin with.
"Interesting, come have a seat. You must be exhausted from journeying out so late at night." Shinki offered and I was quick to accept that invite without a second thought.
"You two seem to be having fun, huh?" I joked as I took a seat at the table to chat for a bit, all the while Flandre just stood nearby, seemingly dozing off as she tried to stay awake.
Shinki:"I must say, it still comes off to me as a surprise as to how a human is capable of resolving conflicts like these."
Y/N:"I just did what I felt was right to be perfectly honest with you."
Alice:"Well you're certainly better resolving conflicts than most incident solvers I know."
Y/N:"I uhh... I don't think I follow."
Alice:"Oh, it's nothing, so what were you two doing outside so late at night?"
"I originally wanted to cheer up Flandre and things went south." I explained bluntly as I rubbed one of my eyes from how tired I was.
Alice:"Things went south? And by that you mean what exactly?"
Y/N:"It's a long story but I guess it begin when I got Flandre to come an adventure with me..."
After that I began explaining everything in detail, everything but what Flandre told me about her conflict with her sister since I could tell that she wouldn't be happy with me if I told anyone about what she had told me back there and judging from the death glare she was giving me, I guess I must have dodged a bullet by doing so.
Alice:"So you fought three wolf tengu and won? That's uhh... Something I wasn't expecting to hear."
Y/N:"Same here."
"Fascinating! A hand held explosive, that sounds like it'd make a nice addition to my danmaku patterns." Shinki commented, clearly entertained by the idea of what the watch was capable of doing and I couldn't blame her in the slightest, in retrospect, that watch did have some amazing features that I never used enough but that's when an idea struck my head.
"Hold on, I got an idea! You said your a god of creation, right? then could you make me an identical watch to the one I described?" I asked, my mind filled with the hope of her saying yes but it should have been obvious that the answer wouldn't be a simple yes.
Shinki:"In theory I could but that would require me to see how this watch would look like, I need a visually to create something and what you described to me sounds like something straight out of a unimaginable fantasy so I'm afraid not."
"Oh..." I was disappointed to hear this but it was worth a shot. Sadly nothing remained of the watch so I couldn't ask Nitori to repair it let alone make an exact copy of the destroyed watch which added on to the ruined mood.
"Oh this reminds me of something, Y/N." Alice chimed in with a oddly serious tone that quickly caught my attention.
Y/N:"Yeah?"
Alice:"Since your leg is healed and it appears that the sun has finally risen, are you ready to go now?"
Y/N:"Go? Go where exactly?"
Alice:"To shrine maiden who can deport you back to the outside world."
The outside world... I forgotten all about it! It was also the main reason I went with Flandre on that adventure for just so I could explain to her that I was going to leave but I got so side tracked that I've forgotten all about telling her.
Turning my head towards Flandre, I was met with her staring at me with a blank expression, her eyes fully widen as she watched my every move.
"You're... Leaving...?" Flandre asked, seemingly fully woken up after hearing what Alice just said and from first glances, Flandre looked like she could break down crying any moment now.
She didn't seem like she was planning on doing anything like running away or letting into her anger, she just looked at me with disbelief as tears formed in her eyes
"Wait Flandre, this isn't what it sounds like... Ok so maybe it is but please just understand that... I just need some time to think this over." I finally confessed. The more I watched Flandre breaking down emotionally, the more uncertain I got about wanting to leave Gensokyo but I couldn't just leave Flandre like that. Not after all the things that we've been through.
What am I suppose to do now?
"Don't worry, take your time. You ARE about to ask a shrine maiden for help. Just know that they are nothing more than the worthless dogs of gods who aren't fit to hold the title of gods." Shinki voiced her opinions but nobody took note of a word she said, I needed to make a decision but I couldn't make up my mind
If I said yes then I'll be leaving Flandre behind, she can't come with me for a multitude of reasons but if I say no then I don't think I'm gonna last much longer in this land of lunacy so my choices were going to end badly no mattTer what I chose.
"Well, have you finally made up your mind?" Alice asked, pressure me into saying something as her, Shinki, Flandre and Alice's dolls all stared at me which was only making things worse for me.
Taking a deep breath I closed my eyes before exhaling and opening my eyes.
"Alright, I..."
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From here on out, you have a option of four scenario endings with each ending affecting the outcome you get so make sure you pick wisely as each ending is drastically different from one another.
Pick your ending :
[SCENARIO A - YES]
[SCENARIO B - NO]
[SCENARIO C - YES BUT FIRST]
[SCENARIO D - . . .]
Good luck.
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Author note :
Sorry this chapter took me so long to write and publish, since schools over for the summer holidays, I got promoted from part time to full time (from working on the weekends to 7 days a week) and haven't been able to find much time to write anymore.
Sadly that means that the ending chapters won't be coming any time soon with the way things are right now though I hope to release them by the near end of summer before school starts back up.
Incredibly sorry but I hope that you all had fun reading the story up until now.
Hope you all are enjoying summer more than me.
Apterix signing off