For the sudden stop of updates, I have fallen into depression because of my mood swings. A friend of mine decided to treat me well and cheer me up. So I am doing well now!
Also, I decided to increase the word count to 3k maybe 4k in the future
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After they got home, Shuten decided to make something to ease Marisa's hangover while Ibaraki decided to clean Marisa's entire body so the stench of alcohol will disappear
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Ibaraki can be seen supporting and feeding Marisa, while the latter is very happy with such treatment.
When Shuten sees this, she could only shake her head and intend to ask Marisa if she finds the feast suspicious.
"Marisa, do you think a second feast is normal?"
Her look can only convey her unhappiness after she was interrupted by Shuten.
"Of course, it's suspicious after all it's Reimu we're talking about, but it's free foods and drinks! I can't say no to that".
Ibaraki can only express exasperation since she underestimated Marisa's shamelessness, while Shuten goes speechless after a blunt confession of true intentions.
"That reminds me of something!"
She suddenly exclaimed, and she suddenly looked at Ibaraki with sparkling eyes.
"Give me a love bite!"
Ibaraki suddenly becomes blank and Shuten suddenly got surprised as she is not expected Marisa to go further beyond what she thought.
Ibaraki scratches her head as she can't deny the request from her cute girlfriend.
"Fine, where do you want me to bite you?"
Marisa smiled after hearing Ibaraki agreed with such a request, so grabs the collar of her clothes and exposed her fair skin to Ibaraki.
Ibaraki gulped as she restrained her desire and imagine the human centipede quenching the burning desire in her.
But it only added to her excitement, Shuten noticed this, so she suddenly open one of her gourds and make Ibaraki drink it.
Marisa suddenly got confused by the Duo's actions, she wanted to ask what happened, but Ibaraki return to normal immediately.
Shuten noticed Marisa's confusion, so she decided to explain.
"If I let her, we won't have the strength to get up the next three days once again"
Marisa let out an Ohh~ as she suddenly blushed, remembering what Ibaraki did to them.
Ibaraki, slowly approached Marisa as the latter closed her eyes.
Ibaraki opens her mouth and reveals her sharp fangs, but suddenly Shuten decided to smack Ibaraki in the head.
"Ouch!, what's that for?!"
Ibaraki glared at the perpetrator while rubbing her head.
Shuten suddenly shakes her head and explains how love bites work.
"Love bite occurs when you suck the skin, not you bite them!"
Ibaraki spaced out for a moment before letting out a fake laugh.
"I know what love bite is... I am not that stupid"
Marisa's sweat dropped and shuddered to imagine what will happen to her if Ibaraki bit her.
Since the air is dead, Ibaraki decided to recreate it by kissing Marisa deeply and letting their tongues interlock as they both panted for breath.
She gently sucked Marisa's nape as she let out a moan, making Ibaraki want to continue further than requested, but the waft of sweet wine makes her restrain herself.
In the end, Marisa got several kiss marks on her entire body, meanwhile, Shuten is jealous of it but because they are made of mana the kiss mark will fade immediately after their mana will be refilled.
"Jeez... you are lacking self-control Ibaraki"
Marisa said helplessly, but her tone is filled with joy despite what has done.
"It can't be helped, you are beautiful, and I am deeply attracted to you"
Marisa smiled happily and decided to hug Ibaraki tightly.
"So, what is your plan, Marisa?"
But as usual, Shuten decided to intervene and destroy the moment making the two deadpanned and stare at her.
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Marisa discusses how would she find the culprit by beating everyone in the feast.
The two Onis looked at each other and agreed that it was better to see something interesting rather than to intervene.
Marisa heard that the next feast is in three days, so tomorrow she will start finding the culprit.
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Early in the Morning, Marisa started to find the first victim-the first suspected culprit.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to her, the two Oni decided to follow her in their spirit form as they looked forward to the grand battles of the natives here.
Marisa started flying towards another house in the forest of magic, and you could see some dolls cleaning up the surroundings.
She rudely enters it, making the owner of the house angry at her.
She is currently facing a blonde hair girl that wears blue clothes and red ribbons.
"Alice, are you the one who is manipulating Reimu to initiate this feast?"
Marisa cheerfully asked making Alice massage her head because it was early in the morning and someone destroyed her peace.
"I have no idea what you are talking about, why not head to the Scarlet Devil Mansion or the Hakurei shrine for clues?"
Alice said tiredly while she tried to shoo Marisa away.
"You are right, but I doubt Reimu wanted someone to suspect her so that I will sneak in by night"
Seeing Marisa leave made Alice sigh in relief, but Marisa comes back with a more serious expression.
"Alice... Are you the one who cursed Ibaraki?"
Ibaraki is calm by the revelation since she already figured out who it was, meanwhile, Shuten almost cancels her spirit form in a fit of anger, but Ibaraki made her calm down
Alice is hesitating whether to lie or tell the truth, but she thought that Marisa will hate her if she said the truth.
"I don't know what are you talking about"
After she said that, Marisa's expression become darker, and she sighed heavily.
"I thought you understand how Ibaraki is important to me since you are my closest friend"
"I know that you lied since I know what you do when you are lying"
Alice after hearing that become angry and raised her voice
"Then do you know what I felt for you?!"
Marisa become stunned and looked at Alice in surprise.
Alice seeing Marisa has no idea despite her aggressive approach tears up.
"Leave..."
She tells Marisa to leave as she pointed to the door.
Mariswantedts to console her, but she stopped herself since it will only worsen the problem. So she decided to silently leave, making Alice cry audibly and her puppets stopped working.
Ibaraki and Shuten discussed what happened and Ibaraki tells her the full story.
"I see, so that's why... I think I could relate to her.
Shuten says while looking at Alice's house. And then she looks at Ibaraki, who seemed struggling with what to do.
"What are you thinking of, Sofie?"
Ibaraki snapped out of her thoughts and tells what was on her mind.
"Friendship that goes beyond friends is hard to salvage"
"That's why they either stopped being friends or go beyond friends"
"But the moments you had together are very memorable and non-erasable"
"That's why it's very painful if you suddenly part..."
Shuten knows what Ibaraki is feeling as she expresses her guilt in destroying a friendship that could last forever.
But Ibaraki knows she can't help, since her understanding of friendship is based on books.
She started to leave, intending to console Marisa and try to fix what she destroyed, but Shuten blocks her from it.
"Where are you doing?"
"I wanted to help..."
Shuten sighs exasperatedly and looks at Ibaraki's eyes.
"Didn't I say you could live selfishly, and you should not blame yourself?"
"Listen, what happened is a natural happening on any kind of bonds, and it's not your fault that they become sour"
"You could help her, but do not make it sound like it's your fault since the gap will probably widen"
Ibaraki nodded and they decided to walk home.
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They entered the house and sees Marisa is kind of Melancholic and somewhat not in an upbeat mood as she usually is.
Ibaraki decided to sit beside her silently, while Shuten decided to make something they could eat.
Marisa looked at Ibaraki, who is looking at her with a worried gaze. But it seemed she is hesitating on what to do, so she stayed silent.
"Am I a bad person for not realizing it much earlier?"
Marisa asked what plagues her mind, and Ibaraki defended her.
"Not at all because I believe that you can't develop feelings for someone if you don't see them romantically at all"
"That's why we should tell how we feel and not give false hope towards the person"
"I mean! I'm sorry-"
Ibaraki remembers what Shuten said and managed to prevent blaming herself.
"What I meant is, you should say what you feel and let them know what are your thoughts also you should hear theirs as a return"
Marisa closed her eyes and gets up from her seat.
"Sorry, I have something to do, I will come back shortly!"
Marisa immediately goes outside, intending to have a deep talk with Alice.
Shuten appears with a dessert and drinks in her hand, As she sees, Marisa is not beside Ibaraki anymore.
"I think I succeeded in making her make a move."
Ibaraki continued to look at the table, and her hand could be seen to be clenched as the lines of mana could be visibly seen on her hand.
Shuten noticed this and put her hands on hers, making Ibaraki flinch and look at her.
They both become silent as Shuten wipes the tears in Ibaraki's eyes.
'I sometimes forget Sofia is just a 16-year-old teen, I hope I could help her develop a stable mentality since she got matured so fast
'and I'm also part of the blame for it since I didn't guide her, I just control her'
Shuten thought while partly blaming herself since Ibaraki has experienced difficulties because she is not thorough in her teaching and just lets Ibaraki do the rest.
"Am I a bad person?"
"After Alice declared her intentions, I should've just made my distance more apparent"
"I should control my desires, so I don't hurt anybody"
Ibaraki said while tears started flowing down from her eyes
Shuten could only hug Ibaraki since she had no idea what happened before because Ibaraki refused to say it.
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a while later Ibaraki calmed down and got a hold of her emotions.
"What's wrong with me, I got more and more emotionally sensitive lately"
Ibaraki said while trying to laugh it off, Shuten is concerned about Ibaraki's well-being and wanted to know what happened.
"Sofia why did you blame yourself that much when it's not truly your fault?"
Ibaraki stayed silent and she softly said the reason why.
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A blond-haired little girl is sitting on a chair near the window in a room full of kids.
Despite the cheerful surroundings she stayed silent and keep looking outside of the room watching the birds fly freely.
The kids are talking about how that girl is weird, unsociable, and emotionless.
"But I wanted to play with her!"
A silver-haired girl chimed in and lots of kids dissuade her but she did listen and walked towards the blond-haired girl.
"Hey! What is your name?!"
The silver-haired girl cheerfully replies but she got surprised when the blonde-haired girl faced her.
Her blue eyes have been blurred greatly and it looks like she isn't alive, her entire body is filled with bruises and marks.
But in the next second everything disappears and the girl in front of her becomes normal, there are no bruises and her eyes are crystal blue.
The silver-haired girl is thinking that she just hallucinates or something so she just lets's pass by.
"Sofia"
The blonde-haired girl said flatly while she started looking at the outside once again.
"Sofia huh... My name is Index by the way!"
Index replied cheerfully but Sofia is very disinterested in it and she perfunctorily replied.
"Ok.."
dissatisfied with her reply, Index wanted to continue their conversation.
"Let's play Sofia!"
Sofia just nods making Index happy.
The entire class is surprised by Index's managing to invite the unapproachable Sofia and they decided to be okay with it.
But Sofia is very weak with physical games and she ended up a deadweight instead, she got hit by a dodgeball in the chest and her slightly closed wound has opened once again. pain has overloaded her senses as she shrugs it off she just left while leaving the others silently.
Index tried to hold Sofia's hands but Sofia suddenly looked bleeding all over and her clothes stained with blood.
She stopped and her vision was restored and the blood she sees is only sweat, she stared at Sofia's back and didn't see her at school for two days.
She got a suspicion that Sofia is hurt and not fine but she has no evidence of it being real.
When she saw Sofia in the classroom she approached her and she saw on Sofia's face another bruise making her cheeks dyed violet.
But when she tried to ask what happened the bruise disappears revealing Sofia's perfectly normal face.
She continued to pester Sofia and she manages to get Sofia's trust.
"Sofia I wanted to ask you this?"
Index hesitatingly asked the question that had plagued her mind.
"what is it?"
Sofia replied body.
"Why do you have so many injuries?"
After she asked that Sofia becomes wide-eyed and a whisper from a device on her ear resounded.
'Ohh... so this little girl could detect illusions'
Sofia didn't hesitate to rip the devices on her entire body making her bleed and decided to drag Index to protect her if possible.
"Sofia! what is happening!"
Sofia didn't say anything but when they get out of the front gate there is a group of people wearing formal clothes.
"Sofia..."
Sofia knows she can't do anything to save her first friend nor she could do something since her father's influence is already been deep in the government.
They grabbed Index and she can't do anything but helplessly watch as Index screamed her name.
A person with a suit crouched down to her and whispered.
'It's because of you she will lose her future.
she looked at the person who is smiling sadistically and she could only cry.
and it ingrained to her that she lost her friend because of her, because she got close to her, if only she didn't meet her.
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"That's the most hidden memories I got, and no matter how many years have passed its still fresh in my mind"
Shuten can be seen hugging Ibaraki while she retold her short story.
"Sofia, Index is fine I have heard that she got into a church but now she is living happily in Magical Academy in Japan"
"Also I heard she had a caretaker named Kamijou Touma who take care of her"
Shuten softly said, making Ibaraki look surprised.
"That means!"
"Yes, Index is fine thats why you could stop blaming yourself"
Ibaraki cried in happiness as that guilt that has been instilled since then was lifted and disappeared for good.
Shuten finally feels relief because the problem she thought is hard to deal with is very easy after all.
'i don't know if it's just a coincidence or the gods decided to pity Sofia, but I'm thankful for what happened because she could be herself now.'
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Shuten and Ibaraki are eating the desserts and having fun.
"You guys have started eating?!"
Marisa appears and questioned the two Onis.
"Well you didn't say when you are going back so I thought it will be late so we decided to eat first"
Shuten said nonchalantly, Marisa looks at Ibaraki who eats the dessert with relish, and saw a perfectly intact one beside Ibaraki's plate
"Sit beside me and eat Shuten's dessert!"
Ibaraki said cheerfully and it looked like she is happier than before
"Alice come here!"
Marisa suddenly called out someone and the two Oni suddenly stopped eating.
Alice emerged from the door and she seemed to look at the floor instead of looking at the people
"Alice!"
Marisa urged Alice to talk
Alice sighed as she looked at Ibaraki and she bowed her head
"I apologize for what I have done towards you..."
Ibaraki sighed and she looked at Shuten and signals her to not do anything
Shuten obeys it and lets Ibaraki do her thing
"I accept your apology, but..."
They looked at Ibaraki to know what's her Deal
"You should eat dessert with us"
Alice is surprised by Ibaraki's nonchalance it's like death is trivial for her
Ibaraki sees this and smiled
"I'm not completely forgiving you if I'll be honest but what I want is not words but actions..."
"and to judge it will take time"
Ibaraki said gaining the approval of Marisa and Shuten
And so they decided to eat dessert and relax for the day
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it's already night and Marisa decided to sneak out to find clues in the shrine whilst Ibaraki and Shuten are tailing her
They arrived at the shrine and it seemed very quiet Marisa encountered someone
She dodges the knives and retaliated with her magic as the two of them see each other
"what the heck! Why do you suddenly attack me out of nowhere?!"
Marisa said while she scolded the silver-haired maid in front of her
"I thought you were an intruder so I apologize for that"
Sakura puts her hand on her padded chest and bowed elegantly to show her sincerity
"Cut the crap! why are you here?! And also you are an intruder too since you don't own this establishment!"
Marisa angrily replied meanwhile the maid maintain her coolness despite Marisa's sparkly mood
"I am conducting my Investigation and it seemed the shrine maiden isn't here"
Sakuya informed Marisa. After hearing it Marisa complains
"what the heck... I just completely wasted my time going here"
"unless you are the true culprit!"
Marisa shot a burst of stars toward Sakuya but suddenly the same amount of knives appeared and cancels the attacks
"I guess we have the same train of thought"
Sakuya suddenly regained her knives in her hand as Marisa grabbed a wooden trigram in her pocket
They both clashed as the two Onis decided to eat popcorn on the sidelines