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starlight-ascension · 5 years ago

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Area 51 raid fanfic

Hikaru took in the guards, standing outside the base with large guns. With their powers, the PreCures who had gathered at this campsite could bulldoze through them no problem- it was not getting shot that’s the hard part.

It was almost 6am, and several dozen teenage girls were gathered at a campsite far enough and hidden enough to not be noticed by the guards, but close enough that Hikaru could easily see the defenses standing between her and her teammate. Lala, who had been taken away in the night, becoming the reason why there was now dozens of superpowered teenage girls preparing to raid Area 51 to get her back.

“Hey Hikaru! You gonna come over here?”

Hikaru turned. Kirara was standing a couple meters away, holding a can of some energy drink Hikaru didn’t recognize. Behind her, the campsite was making final preparations.

Rin was showing Haruka how to Naruto run. Elena and Madoka were going over the plans with Komachi, Reika, Aguri, Nao, and Ciel. Hibiki and Yuko handed out energy drinks, while Urara, Makoto, Emiru, and Ruru sang ET by Katy Perry to pump up everyone else. Mirai and Riko were nowhere to be seen, they were either practicing magic that would be useful during the raid, or they had snuck off to make out in the bushes. Everyone else was either discussing strategies, placing bets on what else they’d find when searching for Lala, or posting memes online.

Hikaru figured she should prepare too and returned to the center of the campsite with Kirara, taking an energy drink along the way. “You know, when I met up with Hana to discuss saving Lala from Area 51, I didn’t expect this many people to show up.”

“That’s because you’ve only met teams HugTto and KiraKira. She’s met all of us, and we need everyone we can. They can’t stop all of us, but they can definitely stop an army consisting of three teenage lesbians wearing stars, an anthro Nyan Cat who’s supposed to be in there with Lala as far as they’re concerned, a preteen weirdo and her robotic friend, a group of 3 more teenagers who are trying to be adults, and six furries dressed up as diabetes.”

“Interesting description... Speaking of furries, where’d Yuni go?”

Kirara pointed to an area of the camp next to the Alexa device, where Yuni was chatting with Yukari. Hikaru hoped the guards wouldn’t recognize Yuni- she had been captured along with Lala, and she was how the others had come to know about Lala’s whereabouts.

Hikaru couldn’t forget how she had been up at midnight from stress and fear over Lala’s disappearance, when Yuni had climbed in through her window and dragged her outside to meet up with the others. How Yuni had told them that she and Lala had been taken to Area 51, how she had impersonated a guard and escaped but had been unable to get Lala out, and how they needed to storm Area 51 to get their friend back.

She remembered contacting Hana, who had contacted Kirara, who had recruited a bunch of girls Hikaru had never met who apparently were also PreCures. Emiru had somehow managed to provide a plane ride to right by Area 51, and now all these girls were gathered to storm the base.

Hikaru was snapped back to reality by the sound of Elena turning on a megaphone. She was transformed into Cure Soleil, standing in front of the others. Anything the girls brought that they wouldn’t need for the raid had been stashed away, and everybody who had come was standing together, facing Area 51, ready to charge at it.

“All right, ladies. As we all know, our friend Lala, a.k.a. Cure Milky, is being held captive in Area 51. Remember the strategy: transform here, then run in that direction and charge Area 51 from there while they’re distracted by the bright lights and colours that just appeared here. Now, does everyone have energy drinks? Raise your hand if you don’t, everyone else, drink up!”

No one’s hands went up. Dozens of girls opened their energy drink cans at once. Hikaru took a large sip from her drink, feeling her energy pump up at once.

Cure Soleil put down her can, and as the sun began to rise over the top secret base, she turned on the livestream GoPro, carefully angled to not show the true identities of anyone present.

“Remember, lesbians, they can’t stop us all.”

“Go.”

“STAR PENDANT! COLOUR CHARGE!!!!!!”

Hikaru was surrounded by brilliant pink light, sparkling and mixing with the purple and blue lights from Madoka and Yuni next to her. She ignored the other girls shouting their transformation phrases, focusing on her song, and her clothing appearing on her- the light pink dress with the feathered sleeves, fluffy skirt, and massive ruffles over the fluff, the glittering golden stars all over her dress, shoes, sock, jewelry, and hair, her fluffy faux fur wristbands, the glow-in-the-dark rings around her now knee-length hair, all appearing on her in an explosion of light, until the song ended and she made a perfect landing on the ground, surrounded by girls in equally elaborate, ruffled, glittering outfits.

No time to spare, no time for post-transformation name announcements or any more talking and glitter. The guards’ attention had been drawn entirely to where there had just been a massive burst of blinding rainbow-coloured light and glitter.

A dozen PreCures grabbed onto Cure Passion’s dress, and she teleported them all to the location they’d be charging Area 51 from. Cure Marine sprayed herself and everyone nearby with perfume from the red Heart Seed, giving everyone who’d been sprayed a massive speed boost, before Naruto running to their location, trying her best to not be noticed. Meanwhile, team Star Twinkle and their ability to jump into the stratosphere came in handy to get themselves and 4 other Cures to the others. Star grabbed Yell, Soleil picked up Beauty, Selene carried March, and Cosmo held on to Macaron, as all 4 teammates leapt above the clouds and landed in the midst of everyone else.

“Dangit, Macaron, you’re heavy... Why couldn’t Muse and MaCherie be among the ones to hitch a sky jump with us? I shouldn’t have to carry someone three years older than me-nyan.”

Cure Twinkle giggled next to Cure Star. “Turns out those 2 do have limits... they’ve been inseparable friends since they first met on raid prep.”

“The way you and Star have?” asked Cure Muse, standing next to Twinkle.

“Well, STAR TWINKLE-”

Twinkle was interrupted when Cure Star stepped up in front of the raid party, with Soleil and Selene standing to her right and Cosmo on her left. Her shadow looked like a path to charge down, the sunrise behind her making it long enough that she could barely see the end of it. And at the end of that path, was Area 51. The place where secrets had been held for decades. The place where her teammate had been taken. The place that was about to be stormed and revealed to the world.

“Let’s go, lesbians.”

“CHAAAAAAAARGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

In an instant, everyone was running towards the fence. Marine sprayed red Heart Perfume at anyone who wasn’t already glowing red, speeding them up. Star leaned forward as far as she could, her arms extended behind her for balance in the Naruto run she had drilled so many times. She felt herself speeding up as the Heartcatch speed boost hit her, causing her to glow red.

The guards had caught notice, and the sound of gunshots began to fill the air. The PreCures had planned this raid so the sunrise would be behind them, causing the guards to have a disadvantage with the blinding sun in their eyes, but this wouldn’t last forever. They were missing for now, but it was only a matter of time before someone got shot.

Immediately, Cure Whip and Cure Happy shouted at once: “Shields! NOW!”

Cure Mint got to it first, pulling out her section of the Symphony Set and casting a shield over everyone she could. The bullets hit it and either bounced off or evaporated, Star couldn’t tell. She kept running alongside the others, focusing on what was right ahead.

Just then, Cure Miracle crashed right into the shield.

“Um, Mint, is it possible to move this shield any faster?”

“I don’t know! I can’t hold it up forever!”

The shield broke. The girls ran faster than ever, but Star heard a shriek.

She almost stopped. “Did someone get hit?”

Cure Lemonade got up from the ground. “I’m fine, just got shot in the arm, I won’t die. Come on, we’ve gotta get in!”

“Well, that’s one too many people who have been shot! My turn!” came Cure Twinkle’s voice from next to her. “Glitter, O Moon! PRECURE FULL MOON HUMMING!!!!”

A new shield appeared, causing the bullets to evaporate into glitterdust. “I guarantee I can move this one, I’ve done it! Parfait! Distract them!”

Cure Passion helped Lemonade catch up with the others, teleporting the two girls to the front of the group. A new wave of adrenaline surged through Star, the sugar from the energy drinks powering her, and she charged faster than ever.

The sun was almost finished rising, and Star could see everything around her now. From the corner of her eye, she saw Cure Parfait performing her over-the-top flashy rainbow attack, firing it off away from the raiders to distract the guards, which seemed to be working. She saw Cures Selene and Ace ahead of her, glowing with the red Heart Seed’s speed boosts, and she could see that they had tied up their hair so as to not get in their face or get caught on something, and that Ace had done the same with her long sparkling white jacket-like dress covering.

As Muse added another shield to protect from the bullets, Star leaned further forwards in her Naruto run, nearly tripping in the process. Cures Dream, Rouge, and Flora passed her as she regained her balance, Naruto running fast enough that they could probably break down a fence. Star could see that Flora had tied up her skirts and shoe flaps to prevent tripping, and done the same with her hair so it wouldn’t get caught. Meanwhile, Dream and Rouge were wearing bike helmets and protective gloves, elbow pads, and knee pads, which had probably been borrowed from Rouge, what with her sports capability.

Practicalization. A skill that many a PreCure overlooked, but one of the most vital ones if you practiced it. It wasn’t uncommon for a Cure to resort to what could be considered prison tactics in order to make her clothing practical for combat, but they weren’t required right now, what with the days of preparation, a marked change from enemies springing attacks on them without warning. Star lowkey wished she had done something to make her outfit convenient. Well, too late for that now. She was a few meters from Area 51-

She was a few meters away from getting in!

It felt like everything in her had suddenly passed a mark and hit a power boost, causing her adrenaline to skyrocket. She charged, leaping into the air with a burst of energy, her heart racing as she saw Selene clear the fence, about to land on the other side. She looked behind her and saw everyone capable of casting shields creating a barrier that blocked the bullets, with Ace and Amour preparing to destroy the fence. Just as Star cleared the fence, it came crashing down in an explosion of dust, debris, and huge amounts of red and purple glitter, leaving a massive hole bigger than a house.

As Cure Honey used her Sparkling Baton attack to stop the guards, chosen for its capability to purify multiple enemies at once, and the PreCures started rushing in, Star landed on the ground and stared in amazement. She did it. She was in Area 51.

She was in Area 51!

“KIRAYABA!!!!”

Cure Star couldn’t contain her excitement. She had done the impossible! She had gotten into Area 51!

“Yes! Yes! It’s kirayaba! Now come on! We have to get Lala and bust her out of here!” said Cure Sword next to her.

“We should split into teams. I’ll go with Dream, March, Miracle, and Magical, over that way. Does anyone have Nerf ammunition? Leave a Nerf dart in every room you go so we’ll know that’s already been checked and she’s not there.”

Passion spoke next. “Cosmo, Marine, Macaron, you’re with me. We can teleport between the rooms. If anyone finds her, shoot your attack into the sky!”

The next team formed was Muse, Soleil, MaCherie, and Amour. Hurry up and finish splitting off... Honey can’t hold them off forever...

Beauty stepped up. “I’ll go with Star, Melody and Rhythm, and Twinkle. Okay? We’ll go over there.”

Star went with them at once, not staying around to see who else was forming teams. Lala, we’re going to bust you out.

The first two places they checked didn’t contain any living things, but there was some other stuff that looked interesting. Star wanted to check it out, but Rhythm dragged her out of the room.

“Hey listen, once Lala is found, we’ll steal everything we can on our way to her location. And if we find her, we’ll steal everything we can on our way out! So let’s prioritize her first, and the cool secret stuff next, okay?”

Star nodded and tossed a Nerf dart into the room. Probably for the best, the place was full of cameras. She’d be caught on them no matter what, best to move fast.

The girls went from room to room, searching for Lala. Every time they broke down another door, they would call out her name, saying it was them and they were here for her. When they got no response and didn’t see her, they’d move on to the next. Star was just beginning to wonder what happened to the guards when she heard them behind her, and spun around just in time to catch them.

“Uh, girls? The guards have finished reloading.”

Cure Beauty instantly began to fight, summoning her ice swords to fight the guards and knock the guns out of their hands. Melody and Rhythm got into it, unleashing punches and kicks and yeeting several guards as far as they could. Star followed their example, hurling a guard through a wall before picking up his gun and tossing it aside. Twinkle provided their shield, as well as tripping a guard or three. While Star wasn’t having a bad time, she was somewhat annoyed. Dangit, this wasn’t the time for combat! They had to find Lala as soon as they could!

“Isn’t there some way to freeze them in place? Man I wish Shiny Luminous was here right now-”

She was interrupted by Cure Beauty. “You may have given me an idea.”

“PRECURE BEAUTY BLIZZARD!!!”

Sparkling blue ice covered the entire targeted area and more, destroying part of the walls and ground and leaving the guards frozen solid. Beauty ran, and the others followed her.

“Are the guards alive?” asked Melody, without looking back.

“Most likely yes. I’d be surprised if they were dead, given that time with Wolfrun and- oh, forget it, less talking, more searching for Lala!”

Rhythm stopped. “Hold on.”

Everyone turned. Rhythm picked up a rock from the ground and yeeted it at the camera as hard as she could. The camera broke and fell on the ground.

“Hey, good idea! Come on, let’s go!”

Star rounded a corner and crashed into someone else. She looked up at fluffy faux fur trim, cat ears and a cat tail with a glow-in-the-dark ring, light blue braids with streaks of pink, a sparkling rainbow skirt, glittery gold triangles... Cure Cosmo!

“Cosmo! Oof, did you find anything neat?”

“I’m leading Passion, Marine, and Macaron to the zone where they put me. Lala would be around there, I know that, I saw her when I was in here. You gonna come with us?”

Star turned to the others. “You heard her, she knows where Lala is! Follow that furry!”

“I’m not a ‘furry’, I’m an alien catgirl from Planet Rainbow where everyone is like this!”

“Whatever, just get us to Lala!”

Cure Cosmo led the eight teenagers through the facility, keeping an eye out for cameras and hiding from the occasional guard or agent. Whenever there was a camera and something to yeet at it, they would break the camera, which resulted in broken cameras on the ground all over the place. The lead duo from Team Suite hummed the X-files music, several of the Cures stole everything they ran across that wasn’t nailed down, and before they knew it, Cosmo was telling them to stop.

“Hey Lala Hagoromo! You still here, or did they move you? It’s us, the other precures! We’re here to bust you out!”

Lala’s voice came from behind a door to Cure Star’s right. “Yuni? Is that you? You came back for me-”

She couldn’t finish her sentence before Cure Passion kicked down the door.

There she was, standing next to the wreckage of what used to be the door, with her antennae and pointy ears, wearing the same shirt she had on when she was taken to Area 51.

“You guys! You came-lun!”

Cure Star tackle hugged her, nearly crying. She had been scared that she’d never see Lala again, and now here she was, standing in Area 51 with who knows how many other aliens around her. It took all of Star’s self-control not to kiss her.

She stepped back and summoned the first Princess Star Colour Pen that she thought of, before looking up and drawing a star above herself. It turned pink and she screamed the attack name, thrusting the star into the sky as a signal to everyone in Area 51 who wasn’t supposed to be there, that they found what they had come for.

A minute later, PreCures started running to them, sparkling from sweat and glitter and carrying things they had stolen. “We... actually did it!”

“Not yet we didn’t. Still gotta get out.”

Passion stepped up. “I’ll teleport us next to that plane Emiru used to get us here one cluster at a time. Hey team Star Twinkle, can you do the jump thing again?”

“Sure thing, besides, there’s more of us to carry you guys. Milky, transform!”

A few words, a song, a burst of light and sparkle that everyone had to back up from, and a few minutes later, Cure Milky was wearing a teal outfit with puffy shorts, transparent sleeves and a sheer skirt layer, sparkly purple loops, even sparklier gold streaks, stars in her hair and on her antennae, and a single blue ombre glittering sock. She broke off the tracker tag on her wrist and gave a thumbs-up.

Passion began teleporting the first group of Cures out of Area 51. Just as she returned for the next ones, the sound of footsteps came, the guards shouting they had found the intruders, and Star knew she had to get out of there.

She instantly picked up Cure Muse, and Cure MaCherie held on to her like a backpack. She briefly ran for momentum and leapt into the air, above the clouds, towards the place where the girls had made their campsite. The plane wasn’t too far away, they could make it if they kept Naruto running, even though the speed boost from the Heart Seed had worn off. Star quickly looked around for the others, and saw Cure Milky with Cure Miracle, Soleil with Twinkle, Selene with Whip, and Cosmo with Magical.

“Okay, is that everyone? Come on, it’s that way!”

The girls took off like bullets, Naruto running through the area towards their exit, careful not to drop the things they had stolen. The plane was in sight, and everyone was there, talking, squealing, pointing, high-fiving, and checking the live stream comments. The running girls leapt at their comrades, landing among them.

We did it.

We busted Cure Milky out of Area 51.

Hikaru de-transformed and high-fived the first person she saw. Around her, the girls were returning to their civilian forms and boarding the plane, ready to leave for home and check out all the stuff they had stolen. Hikaru got on, pulling out her activity book. She planned to use the games in it to decide who would keep what stolen items.

“Whew... I’m EXHAUSTED after all that running... Someone give me a cold drink.”

“One soda with ice cubes, coming right up!”

Once they were sure everyone was on, the plane took off, and several of the girls on it flipped off the guards one final time, even though they were too far away to actually see it. A couple of them got out the first-aid kit, given that, alive as everyone was, Urara, Hana, and Hibiki had still gotten shot, thankfully only in the arm or leg rather than anywhere fatal or permanent.

Hikaru sipped her soda, checking the Internet for comments on the memes she had made.

Next to her, Kirara fired up Minecraft on her tablet, and Lala watched, fascinated by the game. Hikaru noticed what Kirara was building. It looked like an alien spaceship right out of the movies.

“Hey, nice Minecraft build!”

“Got the idea when I first found out we were going to Area 51. I’ve been working on it for a while now.”

“I can’t believe we legit managed to storm Area 51 and make it out alive...”

“Well, we’re PreCure. With our powers, we’re almost impossible to kill. Besides, Lala was being kept in there, and heck knows if one of our friends is in trouble, we are an unstoppable force.”

Hikaru grinned and high-fived Kirara and Lala. In unison, Star and Twinkle spoke the motivational reaffirmation that they had not twenty minutes ago proven right.

“They can’t stop all of us.”

And the Pretty Cures talked and played games and airdropped each other memes on the whole trip home.

#precure fanfic #area 51 #precure #pretty cure #star twinkle precure #cure star #hikaru hoshina #cure milky #lala hagoromo

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crystalelemental · 4 years ago

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Voting is complete. Now to wait a week for results that will be utterly predictable, in which no major shifts in popularity occur at all, and not a single one of the new characters, who all seem really cool, will break top 20 because god forbid the fandom collectively stops sucking EoSD’s dick for one year.

Anyway, my picks for everything’s under the cut.

Characters:

Okina. I really love Okina. I don’t get how she’s so (relatively) unpopular. Like I really don’t. She’s so much fun! Like, every time she’s in the spotlight, you’re constantly caught between what she’s telling you and what you think her hidden motivations are. And oftentimes, I think both are true. I also just like how she operates. She’s drawn to ambition and willpower. It’s why she likes Marisa so much and is determined to get Marisa to work for her, and why she’s so insistent that Aya take pride in beating her, even when she was holding back. It’s why she helps Sumireko in Violet Detector despite having nothing to gain from it. She love ambitious, strong-willed people, and seems to motivate those qualities in others. She wants to see people overcome hardship on their own merits, which, after the reveal in Visionary Fairies that she is disabled and sometimes needs a wheelchair to get around, adds a great new layer of context to this aspect of her character. Okina is a fantastic character, and my only wish for future works is to see her play a bigger role.

Keiki. Surprisingly, I adore Keiki too, despite not having played WBaWC. Keiki just...hits right, you know? You have this world where everything’s fucked, and humans are used more as resources than as people by the powerful beast youkai in charge. Keiki’s spawned into existence by their desperation, but all she can think to do is fulfill her role and turn everything static. I honestly enjoy how she’s super well-intentioned, but her actions are questionable over whether they’re effective or the right thing to do. Plus she was adorable in the Komachi manga.

Kanako. Look, we all know I’m a Mountain of Faith person at heart, and especially love the Moriya Shrine, so I’m not gonna waste too much time here. Kanako’s awesome, she’s the lowest ranked of the three, this had to happen.

Mamizou. How a character who’s so routinely important to the stories and plays her role this well is so low ranked is beyond me. Mamizou is such an interesting character. She’s like this sweet old grandmotherly figure up until she reveals her master plan and desire for power. She’s like an active version of Yukari and Okina, out in the open and pulling off her grand schemes, and it’s a ton of fun to watch.

Doremy. My blood pact to vote for her aside, Doremy does sustain as one of my favorites. She’s just...I don’t know how else to describe it but “unique.” She’s different from a lot of the cast, in that she’s overall just really nice. Like she genuinely seems to care about people, and her dream people especially. She’s got her job to do and will carry it out, but mostly stays out of the way otherwise. She’s a bit mischievous, but this is Touhou.

Junko. I like Junko. Vengeance mom who won over a part of Hell by swearing to bring chaos to the Lunarians. I don’t have a ton to say, because unfortunately she doesn’t get much play. I wish she did. Maybe in the next Fairy-focused manga. Everyone goes for a sleepover at Clownpiece’s mom’s place, and has to travel into hell and Junko’s just around. That’s all I really need.

Sumireko. While Sumireko’s fallen a bit as a favorite, and is almost certainly going to continue falling, I do like the kid. She’s a bit of an obnoxious dingus at times, but I find her antics funny. The way she sometimes just goes off on a ranting tangent that’s spot-on is just...it’s very in line for a super smart teen who’s just disillusioned with everything. I dunno, I just enjoy her a lot.

Music:

Concealed Four Seasons. Turns out, Okina’s not just a great character, but has a kickass theme song. I love this battle theme, I think it’s my favorite. It’s got such a good energy to it.

Desire Drive. Best stage theme in the series. It’s so catchy.

Lullaby of Deserted Hell. I love this one entirely because it’s this soft, gentle music that plays as you’re traveling through hell. And I mean that in the literal sense of it was once physically hell, and also this stage is a fucking disaster and I love it. It’s like why the sixth stratum theme from Etrian Odyssey 2 is good. Nightmare land with the most calming theme imaginable.

Heartfelt Fancy. Listen, SA did good music. I actually like the stage theme more than Satori’s boss theme.

Lost Emotion. Kokoro’s theme is great, and one of exactly two themes I remember from the fighting games (the other is the Yorigami sisters’). Fight game music tends to not be very good, in my opinion, but Lost Emotion hits all the right notes with me.

Shining Needle Castle. Fun fact! I don’t like DDC. At all. I think the cast is pretty boring, especially in the second half. I don’t like the collection system. The only cool thing visually, for me, was fighting music-themed enemies in a thunderstorm, which is cool as shit. But goddamn this song is good. It’s one of the few highlights of the game for me.

Dream Palace of the Great Mausoleum. I really like just how grand it sounds. Like it sounds awe-inspiring, and fits the area you’re in well. I like the track on its own, but I really like when a track syncs up with the atmosphere of a place.

Fires of Hokkai. Speaking of, good god this song. This is probably the single best establishment of atmosphere in the series. After everything else in the game, and all the craziness of the last stage, you hit the final destination and it starts out with a quiet heartbeat sound. Then it just builds and builds into this powerful, driving theme that loops perfectly back to near silence as you encounter Byakuren herself. Stage 6 is so fucking good, shame I suck at this game too much to ever get there.

Beast Metropolis. This is purely off sound, since I haven’t played the game. But you may notice that, thematically, it fits in with a lot of my favorite tracks. Softer vibe, stage theme setting the mood of an area that you’d expect to be crazy but turns out to be eerily...not that.

Faith is for the Transient People. This was a toss-up, with a lot of options I was considering, but Sanae’s theme won out. I do like it a lot, and I didn’t vote for Sanae in characters despite her being one of my long-standing favorites, so she got this one.

Works:

Hidden Star in Four Seasons. Okay listen. I get that this game is not popular among fans. I do not get why. Are you seriously going to look me in the eye and tell me this game wasn’t a relief to play? After the last four games had bullshit collection systems for resources, having a game that just played lives based off score again isn’t a good thing? Yes, it was easier. Good. Did you miss how bullshit LoLK was? Sometimes you gotta backpedal, right into the range of things I can actually play. I know some people don’t like the cast at all, some nonsense about “Why are they so familiar with characters if I’ve never seen them” or something. But the cast is spectacular. Eternity Larva’s a fun new fairy to add to the group, and her short-lived stint in VFiS was great, proving that she’s the only fairy who has her own reserve of braincells. Aunn is precious and wonderful. Okina. OKINA. This was easily my favorite cast since Subterranean Animism, and that was a strong cast. I just do not get the dislike of this game at all.

Mountain of Faith. Hey, look at that, I like the games that are simple and fun for me to play. What a surprise. MoF was the first game I beat, because Suwako was the first character I encountered and I had to one day git gud enough to beat her. So I did. After like three weeks. That was an adventure. Anyway, I think MoF holds as one of the best in the series. Aside from simple gameplay that’s actually fun instead of painful, it had a great cast of characters, and honestly the best environments. Like, this game just looks good. Maybe that’s personal bias because autumn theme and autumn is the best season, but I loved the backgrounds in this game.

Forbidden Scrollery. Hey, it’s the thing that got me into the written works! Yeah, I really like Forbidden Scrollery. It’s a fun exploration of things from within the human village, from the perspective of a human who lives there. Plus we got some of the more interesting lore bits for the series from this work, which is valuable. And of course...human disguise Mamizou. 10/10.

Visionary Fairies in Shrine. While there are many fairy-focused manga, this one’s my personal favorite. Because it’s got Clownpiece. No really, that’s it. I like the general fairy shenanigans that the trio gets in to, but I really enjoyed how this one almost focused on Clownpiece’s integration into Gensokyo. I think it’s a lot more compelling to have that sort of arc for the character, and it really endeared Clownpiece to me as a whole. My only complaint with it is that Eternity Larva didn’t stick around too. I know she had less to contribute and that Clownpiece is the central focus of this one, but it would’ve been nice to have Larva stick around and get a bit of development herself. Maybe next manga, eh?

Subterranean Animism. I debated this and Cage in Lunatic Runagate. I actually regret my choice. Subterranean Animism won out based on my enjoyment of the music and characters in the game, and (if you can believe it) my enjoyment of the gameplay. Yeah, it turns out when the game rewards just surviving, even if resources are more scarce, I do like 10x better than when resources are only obtained through flying headlong into a storm of bullshit like the next four games demanded. FUCKING IMAGINE THAT. Anyway, CiLR was a serious contender that, again, I kinda regret not picking. Bougetsushou in general was a strong compilation, but CiLR is the one that made it really stand out. SSiB was a fun silly story, and Inaba was hilarious, but CiLR was by far the most serious and poignant of the works. It focused really strongly on the characters, something Touhou...hadn’t really done at the time, and still doesn’t always do, and expanded them beautifully. We get a lot more insight into Kaguya and what her life is like, we get the backstory for the new Reisen, we get background on the Watatsuki sisters, we get the Mokou chapter, arguably the best character development in the entire series. So it really comes down to a game that I like because I can play it, or a written work that also did a lot for the characters in it. Both excellent but I locked myself into one or the other.

#touhou #touhou popularity poll #touhou popularity poll 2020 #long story short vote Okina

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kaitoujokerscans · 5 years ago

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Showdown in the Dark Night! Joker vs Shadow CH6

<6> The Angels Come Down

"What? That hairpin isn't Komachi's Gilded Chrysanthemum!?" Oniyama's bellow drowned out the 12:30 bell toll.

Hayami gave a deep nod. "Yep, you got it. That hairpin's just tha key to th' real Komachi's Gilded Chrysanthemum. Th' Gilded Chrysanthemum that Joker and Shadow are chasin' can be found by solvin' the code engraved on the hairpin. Innit right, Joker?" Hayami turned around.

Behind him was a cage set in the middle of the open room, Joker trapped inside. Joker was seated on a plain wooden chair, hands cuffed behind him, even his ankles clapped in irons for good measure. It was set up so one touch would send an electric current through the giant cage. Oniyama had brought this special cage expressly for this situation. "......"

Joker was silent. Hayami began to slowly wheel himself around him. "When you and Shadow stole the Opal in Singapore, tha owner's notebook in the same room also disappeared. Th' notebook had the password ta the owner's online diary written in it. Tha diary was accessed twice after the incident. By you and Shadow."

"......"

"Tha owner was the very same as the master of these Cape Gardens who died one year back. His manor and gardens were here in Japan, but owin' ta that his job was in Singapore, he didn't have any outside contact when he was in Japan. Hence the online diary would tha only way ta know tha truth behind it."

"......" Joker silently listened to him speak.

"Ya both learned of Komachi's Gilded Chrysanthemum through tha online diary. But ta find where it was, ya had ta steal tha hairpin with tha code hidden on it. Hence ya tried to take it, lettin' the police think the hairpin was the Gilded Chrysanthemum."

"......"

"Then what is the real Gilded Chrysanthemum, Hayami-kun?" Oniyama asked out of curiosity.

Hayami spun his wheelchair around to face Oniyama. "Tha Gilded Chrysanthemum is a bona fide, literal plant. And it's growin' somewhere within these Gardens!"

"What!?" Oniyama yelped in surprise. Come to think of it, just because it was called a "Gilded Chrysanthemum" didn't necessarily mean it was a chrysanthemum made out of gold. It could be the name of an actual chrysanthemum. But the phantom thieves, chasing after a chrysanthemum plant...?

"Inspecter, ya seem to be wonderin' if the Gilded Chrysanthemum is really such a rare and valuable flower. Tha Gilded Chrysanthemum is an exceptionally rare strain that the master of this place spent all his life tryin' ta breed. Supposedly it blooms just for a moment on dark, moonless nights, and not only is it beautiful, the moment ya get a whiff of its fragrance, you'll be whisked off into a deep slumber..."

"A deep slumber... so it's like a sleeping pill?" While Oniyama seemed to take interest, Hayami was fixed on Joker.

"You were after that rare chrysanthemum, weren't ya?"

"......" Joker took a quick breath after he spoke. "I just can't fool you, can I."

Oniyama stepped toward Joker's cage and yelled. "You imp! You tried to pull one over us again!"

"Not really~♪ I didn't say anything about that hairpin being the Gilded Chrysanthemum." Joker whistled and faced to the side.

"Mmmrgh..." Oniyama glared at Joker angrily.

"Calm down, Inspecter. We have Joker under lock and key now. He won't be able ta find the real Gilded Chrysanthemum. Once we get the hairpin back, it'll be case closed."

"No!" Oniyama turned back to face Hayami. "Arresting Joker was definitely a relief, but it's another story entirely if he hasn't gotten the treasure yet!" An intense light rekindled itself in Oniyama's eyes. "This man isn't the sort to give up on treasure so easily. He'll keep coming up with trick after trick until he finally gets ahold of it. We have to assume that he has some ulterior motive to sitting here patiently!" Oniyama spoke firmly and with confidence. He had his many years of single-mindedly chasing after Joker to back him up.

"Wow, Inspector. You go~" Joker said, acting impressed.

"True, people act diff'rently when their jobs are at stake."

What Hayami said shocked Joker. "What!? Inspector Oniyama, you're going to quit the force?"

"Ha ha ha! I won't have to, if you've been caught! You're already in my grasp. I know everything you're thinking!"

"Then what do I plan to do now?"

"Simple. You're going to solve whatever that code is hidden in that ornament and try to get at the real Gilded Chrysanthemum, obviously!"

"Sure am, but the problem is that code~. I'm the only one who knows it, and the only one who knows where the hairpin it's written on is. Hey, I wouldn't mind telling you if you untie me, okay?"

"Hmph, that's no trade I'm willing to make!"

"Come on~ meanie~" Joker pouted, and just as he did, Hayami opened his mouth. He spoke deliberately, as if he were reciting from memory.

'There is a time when three onces follow each other. Between the first once and the next, the flower blooms.'

Once he finished, Hayami looked at Joker and smiled. "Well?"

"That's...!"

"Exactly, from tha gold hairpin -- tha phrase finely engraved on the backside of the chrysanthemum's petals. I took a gander at it before Shadow stole it."

"You what..." Joker bit his lip in frustration.

"When did you..." Then Oniyama remembered how Hayami had handled the hairpin right after he arrived. Hayami had been aware that it was the key the whole time, ever since then.

Hayami spoke quietly. "This is the code for the Gilded Chrysanthemum's whereabouts -- specifically, the place and time. The Gilded Chrysanthemum doesn't bloom for long, so spotting it is extremely difficult. Thus in order to find it, you have to be waiting for the flower to bloom at the right time and right place."

"So these words hide the secret to when the flower blooms. Mmmrgh..." Oniyama pondered. But soon enough, his eyes were gleaming, and he burst out. "Aha! I know!"

"Ha ha ha, with my years of honed police senses, this is no challenge whatsoever!"

"Really?" Hayami looked at Oniyama, intrigued.

"Oh, way to go, Inspector! Let's hear it!" Joker encouraged him from within the cage, eyes gleaming.

Oniyama puffed out his chest and explained proudly. "Ha ha ha! Oh, it's simple! Imagine a digital clock. 'When three ones follow each other' refers to when the time displays '111', three ones together. In other words, 1:11! That's when the Gilded Chrysanthemum blooms!" Oniyama declared, raising his index finder.

Oniyama's voice echoed in the room to no effect. "......" Joker and Hayami stared at Oniyama, almost stupefied.

Eventually, Hayami asked Oniyama. "W-Well, supposin' so... Then, Inspecter, what does tha 'first once and next' mean in the second line?"

"Huh? W-Well... I wonder...?" Oniyama stumbled. Following up, Joker joined in from the cage.

"And what about the place? He said it was both time and place, didn't he?"

"Uh... d-did he now?" Backed into a corner by their questions, Oniyama played dumb.

"Looks like tha Inspecter's deductions aren't fully-baked yet."

"Don't just spout off any old drivel~"

The two genius boys mercilessly antagonized the lone, normal adult.

"Ghh..." Just as Oniyama was at a loss to answer, his radio beeped. "W-What's happened!? This is Oniyama!" Saved by the call, Oniyama shouted back into the radio. Ginko's voice came from the other end.

"Inspector, intruders! It's Queen and her crew!"

"What!?" Oniyama roared back even louder than usual.

§§§

As the alarm rang ceaselessly, Queen, Ai, and Rose ran. Once they had let go of their Balloon Gum and landed, they ran breakneck through the gardens. As soon as they had passed through the donut-shaped hanging garden, Spade and Roko's voices came from a device set in their ear.

"Pursuers closing in at 12 o'clock."

"Queen, please be careful."

"Got it." Queen responded, at which point Ai made a cheerful aside to her.

"This is like something out of a movie."

"Fu fu, too bad you're stuck as Spade's assistant." Queen laughed ruefully.

Then Rose pointed in front and shouted. "There's a lot of them!"

A swarm of brawny police officers blocked the trio's path. The officers set upon Queen's group with drilled movement.

"Here we go!"

"Yes!"

"Okay!"

At Queen's signal, the three jumped a step back.

"ARREST ALL OF THEM!!"

"WOOOOOOO!"

The officers bellowed, and with their batons threatening her, Queen pulled her sword smoothly out of its scabbard and held it quietly at the ready. "Come at me!" She twirled around, the sword tracing a silent arc after her. The baton the first officer was swinging down clattered to the ground in pieces.

"Wha...!"

She quickly came in close to the faltering officer and spun behind him, aiming the hilt of her blade precisely at his nape. The officer fell with a thud. For the next approaching officer, she swung her sword from side to side, grazing his cap. The cap was cut clean in two, revealing a mild-looking face underneath.

"Oh, don't you look meek, Mr. Policeman♪" she commented as she struck him on the back of his skull, felling him. She evaded the attacks from the next wave easily, slipping between them and knocking out one after another.

Queen was like a swan dancing in the night. At intervals, the reflection of lights glinted off the point of her sword and momentarily illuminated her face. With a crisp smile on her lips, Queen's eyes were more sultry than any flame.

Nearby, Ai kept her distance and sidestepped the officers trying to surround her. The officers came closer, looking for the chance to grab her, but she would switch directions and circle past, flouting their efforts.

"Quit dodging!"

"Trap her from both sides!"

Yet Ai was a degree faster than the officers and would not be caught so easily. Running silently, Ai remembered what Spade had said. "It's important to keep some distance with my Ice Shot. If you fire it at short range, you can end up hurting yourself. The same goes for your offense. If you take the time to maintain your distance and then swiftly make your move, you can even bring down your enemy in one hit."

Ai repeated the words Spade said so often to herself. "...You're right, Spade-sama!" While she flitted about, the officers in front of Ai had fanned themselves out into a shallow curve. "Now!" Ai quickly pulled out a mic from her hip holster and held it towards the officers.

"Bubble Splash!"

She switched the mic on, and a froth of delicate bubbles blew out its head. The bubbles floated straight and true through the air, expanding as they flew. Soon enough the bubbles were the size of softballs, and once they hit one officer's arms, they burst with a pop and crystallized around it.

"W-What the!?" The officer tried to move his arm, but it wouldn't budge. The bubbles of Bubble Splash react with oxygen when they burst and become as hard as cement, fixing whatever they hit to the spot.

Keeping her stance, Ai swung her mic from side to side, dabbing the rest of the officers around her in one go. Not only their arms, but their torsos and legs were frozen stiff at random, preventing them from moving. Once all of the officers around her were stiffened all except for their heads, cries of "I can't move an inch!" and "You won't get away with this!" were raised at Ai.

Ai exhaled and took a look around at the officers. It reminded her of something. The associated feeling was completely different, but it was like being surrounded by fans on the idol stage. Even as she worked as Spade's assistant, Ai was also an active member of the idol group Shuffle Sisters: she, along with her sisters Rei and Kira, were idols and at the same time phantom thieves. Bubble Splash was their technique.

Ai switched into her idol voice and turned around to face the officers. "I'm sorry, everyone. Stay like that for a little longer♪" she told them in her best idol voice and gave a wink. The way almost all of them turned red and let out a low wail was definitely something she was familiar with.

In another corner, a bizarre scene was unfolding. Brawny officers were stopped in their tracks as if time itself had frozen, and at the center of them was Rose, standing isolated. The officers had no idea what had happened, their confusion only evident on their faces. When Rose gently lowered her raised right arm, the officers all dropped to the ground. She raised and twirled her left hand, then pointed at something. In that direction was the metal fence dividing the garden, slowly rising up as if something were tugging on it. The meters-long fence glided into the air and eventually stopped directly above the face-down officers. Rose twirled her left hand again, and the fence twisted its shape with a creak, bending into arches. Rose then silently brought her left hand down.

The metal arches plunged into the ground, caging each individual officer. Rose snapped with her left hand, and the arches wrapped themselves around the officers, binding them helplessly in solid metal loops.

"Phew..." Rose took a breath, and then finally able to speak, the officers groaned. They writhed to escape the coils, but the metal loops restrained them tightly as if they had always been that shape. Rose wiped the sweat off her forehead. Freezing human movement and changing an object's shape at the same time took a lit of stamina.

--Just then, a single officer silently approached Rose from behind. The officer crept up quickly and quietly. Just as he was about to seize Rose, she noticed and turned around. "...!" It was so sudden, Rose didn't have the time to scream.

But the officer's hand did not fall upon Rose. Something hit him from behind, the officer's face contorted in pain, and he crumpled down on the spot. Appearing from behind where the officer had been was... Shadow.

§§§

"Oniichan...!"

Shadow was pointing his Bloody Rain at the officer's back. He looked at Rose in surprise. "Rose..." Shadow said, stepping slowly towards her. Then suddenly, he pinched her cheek.

"Owwwwwch!" Rose shook his arm off. "That hurt! What did you do that for!" Then she bonked Shadow's head.

Rose's heavy strike made Shadow grimace. "Oww... S-Sorry... I thought Joker was disguised as you again."

"Come on, Joker's in custody!"

Shadow seemed to be taken aback by this. "How do you..."

"Because we're here to take Komachi's Gilded Chrysanthemum."

"What...!?" Shadow jumped back hastily. "...What do you mean, Rose?"

Then Queen and Ai came alongside Rose, brandishing their weapons at Shadow.

"Exactly what she said. Rose is helping us out right now."

"She..."

"Anyway, Shadow, why did you just step back so suddenly?"

"Ghh..."

"Is it possible that the Gilded Chrysanthemum... the gold hairpin, is in your possession?" Ai proposed quietly.

Shadow thought. It seemed that none of them knew about the real Gilded Chrysanthemum or the code. "......" Shadow glared at them, not answering.

Then Queen started talking in a self-convinced manner. "I get it. Joker handed the Gilded Chrysanthemum off to you before he was captured. You can't stand that, so you've come to force Joker to take it back, haven't you?"

"...Y-You're wrong!"

"What's wrong about it, Oniichan?" Rose took a step forward.

"Well..." Shadow didn't answer. Rather, he was gritting his teeth as if he didn't want to answer.

"Oniichan, we're going to take that Gilded Chrysanthemum off you even if it's by force."

"Wha... in the first place, the Gilded Chrysanthemum is for you, so... er, it's..." Shadow's tongue slipped, and he clammed up.

"For me?"

"No, never mind!"

"What do you mean? I didn't say that I wanted a hairpin, did I?"

"T-This is..." Shadow held his hand over the hairpin at his chest.

"...Fine. I'm not Shadow Joker's partner today anyway..."

"Huh...?"

Rose held her hand out and focused her energy. Right after, a shockwave whooshed out, and Shadow's body was bound. "Gah..." Unable to speak, Shadow kept his eyes focused on Rose.

Rose came close to Shadow, immobilized, and plucked the gold hairpin from his breast pocket. "...Oniichan, I'm sorry."

"......"

"But you aren't putting any trust in me, Oniichan. So I can't trust you back. So... there's no need for you to do anything for me."

"......"

Rose clutched the hairpin, then turned around and ran off into the hedges. Queen and Ai followed after her. Once the three had vanished from sight, Shadow's body was able to move again.

"Ghh..." Shadow swung his Bloody Rain and fired it off at a nearby stone statue. The statue burst apart into rubble with a bang. "......"

It didn't matter to him that the hairpin had been stolen. It wasn't the genuine article in the first place. But...

Rose's words echoed in Shadow's mind. "There's no need for you to do anything for me."

So everything I did was useless...? Shadow tightened his fist, and then-- He spotted a tiny shadow moving at the other end of the garden. The aqua silhouette was Hachi, from behind. Hachi was looking up at the hanging garden and rustling about as if he was looking for something. That's...

"I see..." Shadow hit upon something and crouched down behind a nearby hedge, watching Hachi. "Now I'm down to one goal..." Shadow's eyes regained an evil glint.

#kaitou joker #light novel

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jacksgreysays · 6 years ago

Note

Shikako / Sasuke - canonDOS - 3) things you said too quietly

Down Every Road (four: hunter and nukenin, the remix),3) things you said too quietly

He couldn’t have stopped her.

He never could stop her from doing what she thought needed to be done. Never thought he would need to stop her, because as far as they’ve known each other–for as long as they’ve worked together, fought together, been together–she was always right about what needed to be done.

Or, at least, that’s what he had always thought.

“Shikako Nara attacked the Hokage,” says acting Hokage Councilor Shimura, “She is guilty of high treason and must be brought to justice.”

Behind him, Komachi and Towa make no noise, ANBU stealth and stoicism combined. Sasuke struggles to make Hawk do the same.

“Hunt her down,” Councilor Shimura continues, voice apathetic and so hateful to Sasuke’s ears, “Terminate her,” he finishes, eyeing Hawk specifically.

The three ANBU bow: dutiful, respectful, silent. If ANBU Hawk’s bow is a little belated, a little too shallow, then who is to say?

—

Red Team–short one member, of course, and now he wonders how long it will take Komachi and Towa to connect the dots, wonders at the wisdom and cruelty both of Councilor Shimura to send them on this mission, if the latter had been so important to him as to outweigh the former–has barely spent a minute at HQ before another bird masked ANBU approaches them.

“I have been temporarily assigned to Red Team to aid you on your current mission. I am codenamed Crow.“

Behind his own mask, Sasuke blinks, perplexed. He knows this is Sai. He just doesn’t know what the play is here. More cruelty, perhaps. He knows Sai is one of Councilor Shimura’s, so this could be extra insurance that Red Team does their job. But he also knows that, beyond all reason, Shikako trusted him anyway. That Sai had gone above and beyond to save Shikako from Councilor Shimura, to break her out from her own mind when no one else could.

Sasuke is looking at either a spy or a saboteur.

He’s not sure which he would prefer.

—

Red Team with Crow in tow depart from the village as soon as possible. Standard protocol for hunting missions.

Red Team isn’t designed for this–Red Team shouldn’t even be on this mission, for logistical and obvious, possible emotional compromising reasons–but that doesn’t mean they won’t at the very least appear to be completing their mission to the best of their abilities.

Everyone knows that the first seventy two hours are the most critical when it comes to hunting nukenin.

Hawk doesn’t have a moment of privacy to create a shadow clone and send it back until four hours later, and so by the time Sasuke is able to ask around the news has already been twisted around into rumors.

Shikako Nara has cracked under the pressure. Accelerated promotions getting to her, unable to handle her rank.

Shikako Nara has been turned. A sleeper agent from another country, she’s always been suspiciously friendly to foreign nin.

Shikako Nara is just like that snake. Didn’t you know? They encountered each other during the chunin exams.

Shikako Nara isn’t the villain here–it’s the jounin commander using his daughter, trying and failing to enact a coup.

None of it is right. All of it is useless.

The only pieces he finds to be true are that Shikako really did attack Tsunade-sama, who is even now still in the hospital, Shikaku-san is in T&I custody, and Councilor Shimura is acting Hokage.

But he already knew that.

—

He thinks maybe the worst part about all of this is that he doesn’t even know what the worst part is.

The first awful part of it is that he can’t figure out why. Why would Shikako attack Tsunade-sama?

Then there’s the terrible part in which he’s being sent to on a mission to kill her–which is both cruel and doesn’t make any sense to him, either.

And then there’s the whole disastrous situation with Sai and whether or not he’ll help or harm the mission… and whether or not Sasuke can convince the rest of Red Team to not fulfill their mission.

No, that’s a lie. He knows what the worst part is.

—

They catch up to Shikako in Land of Rivers.

No, Shikako lets them catch up to her.

Sasuke knows how easily it would be for her to stay ahead of them. Or to stay hidden from them. Or even to fight them, knock them out, and continue on her way.

She did this on purpose.

“Go home, Red Team” Shikako says, and if, somehow, Komachi and Towa didn’t already know the identity of Bat, then they know it now. “Tsunade-sama will need her best to protect her.”

“Protect her from what?” Komachi snipes back, quick temper flaring, “You’re the one who she needs protection from.”

Shikako shrugs, posture loose and casual and an utter lie. Then, bizarrely, she sticks her tongue out at them. No, at Crow.

“Beware the strangling roots,” she says to them all, before melting into shadows. Red Team tries to pursue, but there is no further trail to follow.

—

The worst part is, she didn’t even ask him to go with her.

A/N: Belated fill is very belated and doesn’t really match the prompt, but hope you still enjoy, anon!

I know it says canonDoS, but my brain just really wanted to do a swapped roles version of Down Every Road two: hunter and nukenin, but obviously instead of Shikako being the hunter and Sasuke being the nukenin it’s the other way around. So it’s sort of canon compliant in an AU divergence kind of way? Or, like, I mean. It’s not been jossed yet so it’s not NOT canon? Uh…

Maybe I’ll go further down this road? I dunno, I have an idea for what probably happened, but since this is Sasuke’s POV I figure it’d be more in line if he just could not figure out what the hell was going on because… well… Sasuke.

#jacksgreyson #anonymous #prompt response #writing #fanfiction #ask box things you said #down every road #dreaming of sunshine #naruto #sasuke uchiha #shikako nara #Danzo Shimura #sai #komachi #towa

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beckythesooh · 4 years ago

Text

Oregairu. Zoku (up to ep 8) Analysis

The comments have all gotten bits and pieces but aren’t quite accurate to me, so I need to ramble it out.

Hachiman’s self-destructive tendencies hurt the people that care about him. They expressed that to him after the confession to Ebina, especially Yui. He got the point, at least by the time of the Iroha for student council president brainstorming session.

Yukino tries to avoid Hachiman’s self-destructive tendencies by instead sacrificing herself for student council president. She also may have selfish reasons involving her sister. She also knows that she would excel so it’s no big deal.

Yui hates that too, so she decides to run too, to save both Hachiman and Yukino, and thus the club she loves.

Hachiman is lost as to what to do. Or rather, he knows that Yukino or Yui being student council president would solve the surface problem (Iroha’s request) at hand, so logically, there’s no reason to do anything else. However, he doesn’t like it. Because he too feels like everyone is sacrificing themselves, and/or because the club he loves would disappear.

He asks Komachi for help. She tells him that she’s used to him hurting himself and so while she’s a little sad, she knows that’s ingrained in him, and that’s his messed-up mentality.

In any case, she gives him a reason to avoid disseminating his logical stance, lets him ignore his emotions, and allows him to pretend that his reason for taking action is based on Komachi’s request.

When Hachiman convinces Iroha to be student council president, Yui is relieved because the club can stay as-is.

However, Yukino is not happy. She says, “And here I thought you’d understand everything.”

Neither Yui nor Hachi is sure if it is because she actually wanted to be student council president and failed to express it (I think).

(While there is a possibility it also has to do with how Hachiman took action without consulting with them and shouldered everything again, I doubt it because she knows he’s a loner more than anyone and like Yui should understand that he can’t change his ways so easily. A few other mentions down the next few episodes seems to confirm it as the most likely reason.)

In the following days, she is clearly off, but refuses to say anything. Yui and Hachiman notice but ignore it. Neither are the type to push about anyone’s feelings.

The student council Christmas event happens. It’s a mess.

Hachiman meets Yukino on accident. She tells him that he didn’t need to lie or apologize about Iroha’s request because he’s doing it on his own and it’s his life, and basically she has no right or reason to have a say, and it’s not like she’d be any help. He said he does things alone just because he’s always been like that. She says she’s different, that he is able to solve things where she can only pretend to be capable and understand things. She says he doesn’t need to doesn’t need to come to the club anymore and look out for her and Yui.

He meets Hirotsuka-sensei. She tells him that he took on Iroha’s request by himself in order to prevent the other 2 from getting involved because he didn’t want to hurt them—particularly Yukinoshita (I guess because she really wanted to be student council president). She says he needs to think about why he didn’t want to hurt them—because he cares for them. Humans will always get hurt, whether you know it or not. But because he is aware that something might hurt them, it means he cares about them. And when you care about someone, when you hurt them, it should be of will instead of by accident.

The next day, Hachiman goes to the club room and asks Yui and Yukino for help with the student council Christmas event. Yui is happy, but Yukino and Hachiman both agree that Hachiman got himself into this mess by making Iroha president and taking on her request by himself, so logically she doesn’t need to help.

Yui doesn’t like it. She tell Yukino that she’s unfair and that her passive aggressive demeanor is unfair, and that no one will understand if she doesn’t express her real intents.

Yukino also says Yui is unfair. That Yui pretended that everything was ok, so Yukino did the same, thinking that they should put a bandaid on everything.

Hachiman disagrees with Yui’s thoughts on talking. He says that even if someone says something doesn’t mean things will be good. Even if someone said someone aloud, he might not believe them and try to find ulterior motives.

He says he doesn’t want words. He doesn’t want to be understood, he doesn’t want friendship, or companionship.

He wants something “genuine.” He wants to understand people. But he knows that most people don’t want that—they they want to keep a good relationships on the surface, avoid conflict, and avoid being vulnerable or understood too deeply. He wants a relationship where people can both “burden each other with the repulsive self-gratification of understanding each other.” He doesn’t care about his own output, but he wants all the input, and that’s why up until now he has separated himself from others in order to simply observe and understand, since he cares not for others caring about him. He doesn’t want to be vulnerable, but he wants others to be. But that’s something no one wants. So if there’s a relationship where all parties are free to openly desire that of the other, then it can be an impetus to push someone to be vulnerable so that the others can understand the “real” them, and thus become “genuine.”

(To clarify, no one has shown an ingenuous version of themselves the way Iroha does to people, though neither he nor Yukino have been willing to give others the satisfaction of understanding themselves. Hachiman doesn’t have any secrets like Yukino and is fairly open with his opinions, but he never allows himself to be vulnerable.)

Yukino says she doesn’t understand. She is visibly afraid and runs away. Hachiman too is reeling about letting himself be so vulnerable. But Yui pushes him to follow Yukino.

Yukino says she doesn’t understand what “genuine” is. She is afraid to want to be closer. To understand beyond what the surface can tell you. And to be vulnerable in return and offer that side of herself to others.

Yui says she doesn’t understand either. But she says they’ll get closer to “genuine” by talking more, and even then there will probably be dishonesty and lies and hidden feelings and things they won’t be ready to share yet, but as long as they keep trying and they want to reach a goal where information can flow freely through them without hindrance, maybe they can reach it... But more than anything, she hates right now, where they pretend they’re ok. Where they’re at an impasse and can’t get closer.

And so they both accept Hachiman’s request to help—both with the Christmas event, and changing themselves to find something more “genuine.”

#oregairu #oregairu zoku

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evilisk-played · 5 years ago

Text

Labyrinthine December Part 9: Already At Floor 24

Yeah.. somehow I already finished Floor 23. Also, I just want to say: “Existence Hater” is one helluva monster name.

So like I said before, I kinda just powered through Floor 23 and moved straight up to Floor 24. There’s honestly not much to say about Floor 23 in terms of exploration; the floor has a unique gimmick of “there’s no floor” but it’s pretty straightforward as far as LoT goes.

The enemy types here are all rather annoying. While Floor 22 seemed really receptive to MAG attackers, the opposite here seems to be true; you want a lot of physical ATKers instead. This floor probably would have been easier if I’d bothered to use any of the EXP I’d gathered on this or the previous floor. I didn’t, because I wanted to actually learn each of the enemy types. There was a lot of reliance on DTH and PAR status effects to get through here.

For this floor, I went with a pretty conservative party; Komachi, Chen and Nitori were the mainstatys, with Yuugi, Cirno and Yuyuko being swapped in and out for specific abilities (like PAR, Death or ATB drain).

Some returning enemies on this floor were Reapers and Strategists. Reapers still use Hyperspace Slash, so have DTH resistance ready.

Lesser Majin: these things are the worst enemies on this floor. If they land even one Hellfire attack and you happen to have no SIL or PAR resistance, you’re at strong risk of facing a full party wipe. And when powered up by a strategist, they become a huge pain to kill (especially if you’re relying on physical ATKs). They also seem to be DTH immune. I’d strongly recommend you run away from the Strategist / Lesser Majin x2 waves.

Investigators: these can use Destroy Magic and resist MAG attaks quite well, especially when buffed but tey’re easily handled with PAR and DTH.

Yuggoths: I honestly never got see these things attack, just use PAR and DTH

Tigers: They seem to be this floor’s equivalent of the previous floor’s knights (so strong physical ATKers that resist ATK), except they’re also vulnerable to PAR and DTH.

After combing through the entire floor (the only way to proceed is to find the hidden teleporter in the Northwest that teleports you to the second layer on this floor with the exit), I got up to Floor 24.

Floor 24 is marginally more interesting in terms of dungeon design. The gimmick here is that there are three switches in the South Eastern portion of the map. These switches (which are Red, Green and Blue) all have a hidden value. Spoiler alert: the values are “1″, “2″ and “4″ respectively, and you use simple mathematics to reach each of the gates that can only opened with a specific value (from 0 to 7).

The enemies on this floor are a bit more serious, and are a bit harder to get a read on. I’ll have more notes on the mobs in a future post, but from what I can tell, MYS and SPI are common weaknesses on this floor (though some mobs have you fighting enemies resistant to one or the other). DTH is less useful, but PAR still is.

After discovering all of the map (without switching the values), I decided to take a break. Next time I play, I’m planning to clean up the remaining Bloodstained bosses and then finally level up.

#labyrinthine december #labyrinth of touhou

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kaitoujokerscans · 5 years ago

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Showdown in the Dark Night! Joker vs Shadow CH4

<4> The Events of Last Month

Obscured by thick clouds, an airship with two shark heads cruised the sky. It was Spade's vessel, the Twin Thunder Shark. In the bedroom, Spade had been laid to rest on the mattress atop clean sheets and had been tucked in with a white down quilt. His breathing was ragged and quick even in his sleep. At the bedside was Dark Eye, facial bandages removed, looking down at Spade with concern.

Dark Eye's inner identity was a handsome girl by the name of Ai. She seemed to be slightly older than Spade and Queen. Her emerald green hair was cut into a short bob, and her similarly green eyes watched over Spade trepidly.

"Is he all right?" inquired Queen worriedly from the side.

"He seems to have calmed a bit. He's been working nonstop without rest recently, so he must have been tired..." Ai replied as she looked at the thermometer. It was only a slight fever; she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Does Spade-san get fevers like this often?" Rose asked from beside Queen with concern. She and Queen had brought Spade all the way here from the field where he passed out.

"Yes, he frequently becomes ill when he stresses himself. He should recover if left in peace for some time, but..." Ai replied.

"I knew it... he pushed himself too far when he went into the water to save me..." Rose said remorsefully.

"It wasn't your fault. Spade just gets fevers easily. It happens all the time, so don't worry about it!" Queen patted Rose's shoulder to cheer her up and called out to Roko, who was watching the security cameras. "Roko, how's it?"

"I rolled back the footage, and it looks like Shadow was the one who took Komachi's Gilded Chrysanthemum."

"Thought so..." Queen put her finger to her chin. "Then the Gilded Chrysanthemum isn't in the manor anymore, right? Why are there still so many officers around?"

"It's probably because of him." Roko pointed to the screen with his long ears.

The screen displayed a large saloon. A giant cage was set in the middle of the room, and within the cage was a boy in a familiar red suit tied to a chair.

"It's Joker...!"

"It seems Oniyama caught him. He stole the treasure again from Shadow and ended up in there."

"If that's the case, then why did they put him in there? Couldn't they have taken him to the police station?"

"There's a reason for that."

"I see... he doesn't have the Gilded Chrysanthemum."

Joker had probably hidden it somewhere before he was caught. As long as he didn't have the goods that Joker stole, it wouldn't be a perfect arrest. Oniyama wanted to capture Joker and get back the Gilded Chrysanthemum.

Queen folded her arms. "Do you know where Joker hid it?"

"No, that I don't know. He was caught in a net and brought to where he is now."

"So that means we've got to ask the man himself..." Queen murmured and glared at Joker on screen. Joker was whistling with his usual expression of feigned ignorance. "Okay, I'm going to Joker."

"Eehh, on your own?" Roko turned to her worriedly.

"I can handle that much. They didn't pose much of a challenge earlier!" Queen answered with confidence, but Roko was still uneasy.

"Yes, but..."

Rose interrupted from beside Roko. "Then will you take me with you?"

"What?"

"I want to go there too..." Rose told Queen as she side-eyed the saloon on screen.

"Hmm... so you can meet Hayami?" Besides Joker and Oniyama, Hayami was also on screen keeping guard. He was talking to Joker as he slowly rolled his wheelchair around the room.

"Yes... there's something I have to apologize to him about..."

"Apologize?"

"What happened?" Roko asked out of genuine curiosity.

After a few moments, Rose began to tell her story little by little.

§§§

One month ago, Shadow and Rose were in Singapore. A pricey gem called the "Black Opal" was to change hands at the fancy Paradise Hotel. They had learned that Joker was after the gem and came in high spirits.

Shadow and Rose arrived via the roof of the sprawling hotel.

"Rose, are you really going to be okay?"

"I said, leave it to me. You should keep it together, Oniichan."

"Yeah, no problem. I'll invite them to the 𝒹𝒶𝓇𝓀𝓃𝑒𝓈𝓈." Shadow replied in his unique manner of speech, flapped his cape, and jumped down towards the entrance. Rose stayed on the roof and entered the building through the ducts.

Usually, when Shadow worked, he would violently break in with Bloody Rain and take the treasure by force. He wasn't very good at making elaborate plans in the first place, so from time to time he ran into unexpected difficulties on the job. There were also many times when his opponents put up a tough resistance to his frenzied attacks. That was where Rose came in.

Rose's powers would freeze anyone threatening Shadow with a gun, while Shadow used the opportunity to find the treasure and leave the place behind. On these occasions, Rose would take great caution to make sure she wasn't seen by anyone.

Nowadays, the two of them often used this tactic to steal. Despite that, there were times when Rose thought she wanted to try sneaking her way to the treasure's hiding place and steal it with her own hands. She imagined herself stopping the security guards and then audaciously and elegantly taking the treasure away, wishing that it would come true someday. And today's mission gave her that very chance.

Aware that Joker and Shadow were targeting the treasure, Singapore's police had readied a stockpile of weapons and set up a solid defense formation. Shadow had therefore decided to create a diversion around the hotel and distract the eyes of the police. During the confusion, Rose would sneak in and steal the treasure, or so the plan went.

"No! Absolutely not!" Shadow had immediately objected when Rose had first proposed the strategy. "It's dangerous for you to go in alone. There's a bunch of armed people inside."

"But I'll be able to drop in unnoticed if I'm on my own. Oniichan, you make uproars wherever you go. You'll put the police on even higher guard."

"Ghh, I can't deny that... But your power has a limit."

"I'll be fine. I have a proper strategy. I've thought of a way to minimize how much I have to use my power. While you're going as wild as you want outside, Oniichan, I'll bring out the treasure."

"But..."

"Or can you not trust me? You could let me handle things on my own once in a while!" Rose's eyes shone accusingly.

"Urk..." Her menacing look made Shadow shrink back.

--One time, Rose had made a hideous, awful-looking dinner. On the spur of the moment, Shadow offhandedly commented "Is this edible?". When Rose turned to look at him then, she had the same glint in her eyes as she did now. Shadow's body froze up, and then...

He didn't want to remember what happened after that...

A chill ran up Shadow's spine. "...F-Fine. Just this once."

"Really!? Yay! Thank you, Oniichan!" Rose jumped for joy, her whole face beaming.

I'll show Oniichan I can do it even better than him! Determined, Rose fluttered down from the duct into the hotel laundry room. She flung off her black cloak, revealing an employee uniform underneath. Rose's strategy was to make her way in as a hotel employee. The hotel was heavily staffed, and barely anyone was familiar with all their faces. In short, even if nobody recognized her, it was unlikely she would be exposed.

Rose briskly walked down the hallway, exchanging nods with different people, and made straight for the floor where the treasure was supposed to be. Possibly due to Shadow beginning his rampage outside, it was a chaotic, hasty mess of people inside the hotel.

At last, Rose reached the floor with the treasure without any trouble. This wouldn't have been possible for Shadow. All she had to do now was freeze the police on this floor and steal the treasure.

Rose smiled and peeked around the corner at the treasure room. Two guards stood at its door, and near them was a boy sitting in a wheelchair. He had neat bowl-cut hair and wore a blazer and slacks. He seemed to be about high school-age. The boy was meticulously checking the entrance to the treasure room with a serious look in his eyes.

"Is he with the police too...?" Rose wondered to herself, just as...

"What are you doing there!" A man's bark came from behind her. Rose turned around with a gasp. A stern-faced, brawny officer was standing there.

"U-Um... There was a call from a guest..."

"There shouldn't be any lodgers on this floor. That's suspicious..." The man neared Rose and glared. Just as Rose was focusing power in her hands...

"What's tha problem?" Rose heard a Kansai accent from behind her. She turned around to see that the boy in the wheelchair had come up right behind her. The officer quickly straightened up and told the boy.

"Sir, this employee was acting suspiciously..."

"I was feelin' a bit peckish, so I called up for 'er."

"Eh?"

"Innit right?"

"Eh... ah, yes."

Once Rose answered, the boy faced the officer again. "Case closed. Ya can take it easy."

"Yessir, understood!" The officer presented a respectful salute and walked away.

"Ha ha, did that blindside ya?" Once the officer was out of sight, the boy gave Rose a benign smile.

"Yes..."

"Ya got tha wrong floor. There's nothin' 'ere but treasure and brute armed police."

"I-It does seem like it." The boy appeared to be with the police as well. Moreover, he was ranked high enough to give orders.

"Yer bang on time. I wasn't lying about being peckish, so could ya come with me to tha room?"

"Eh..." Refusing now would arouse suspicions and put her in trouble. Besides, she might be able to overhear something about the security. Rose walked after the boy.

On the way, as Rose pushed the boy's wheelchair, they talked. The boy's name was Hayami Kyoutarou. He was a Japanese detective, but he had corresponded with the owner of the hotel who had passed away about a year ago, and when he heard that Joker was after the owner's treasure, he offered his services. He had also researched Joker and Shadow, the senders of the notices, in great detail...

"Shadow is Joker's rival. I bet I wouldn't be too off ta say that he's the man Joker's scared the most of right now."

"I-Is that so..." Rose wasn't sure what to say, but she didn't get any bad vibes from him. She tended to think of her brother as strict, rambunctious, and simpleminded, but it made her happy to hear someone else acknowledge him.

"Yup, it must feel peachy for a guy like Joker ta have a rival like Shadow hot on his heels. Joker's a smart guy and does everything slick-like, so havin' the bunglin' but zealous Shadow opposite him makes 'em complementary rivals."

"Yes... you might be right." Rose took the opportunity to ask Hayami. "Hayami-san, aren't you zealous about chasing after Joker too?"

"No two ways about it. Deduction's part and parcel of bein' a detective, but I've got loads more zeal than anyone else about solvin' the mysteries nobody else can and seein' the looks on their faces."

"So you do... I had a feeling."

The two of them passed through a glass-windowed passage overlooking the garden. It was illuminated here and there at night, but still it was silent and dim. Shadow must have been rampaging on the other side. The hotel hallway was bright in contrast to the garden's gloom, and the two of them were reflected on the glass as they moved along.

"Hayami-san, I'd like to see one of your deductions."

"Ha ha, ask and ya shall receive." On the glass surface, Hayami's prudent expression crumbled and was replaced by a grin. It was a warmer smile than she had expected.

"...Hayami-san, it's your dream to bring down Joker, isn't it?" Rose asked gently.

"Yup, my brains can't be beat. It's my dream ta make Joker lose in a match of wits. Then I'm gonna catch Joker, no question about it."

"Somehow... I feel like you and Onii-- no, Shadow, resemble each other."

"Me and Shadow? Ha ha ha, that's an honor."

"Yes..." Observing Hayami from behind, Rose almost felt the same familiarity as she did for her brother.

"True, me and Shadow might have somethin' in common on account of chasin' Joker's tail. But I get the feeling Shadow's got somethin' that sets him apart from me."

"Sets him apart?"

"Somethin' like that. Not sure what, but it's hidin' in Shadow's heart. I think that somethin's probably what fostered that simpleminded and earnest personality of his."

What could it be...? Rose couldn't think of a likely answer. What set Shadow and Hayami apart...? How he didn't think ahead, his violent streak, his esoteric choice of words; there were too many to choose from, so she felt he meant something else... Just then, a call came in on Hayami's cell phone.

"Hello. ...Understood. I'll be there." Hayami ended the call. "Joker's shown up."

"Eh?"

"I'm about ta go catch 'im. Do ya wanna come see?" Hayami asked, a colder smile than before forming on his face. Rose had been guided to a guest room directly above the room with the treasure in it. "Ya can watch 'im from here."

The monitor in front of him displayed Joker and Hachi running towards the treasure room. The police were putting up a resistance, but were completely useless; Joker and Hachi darted between them with grace, continuing down the hallway.

Watching them, Hayami quietly began to explain. "I'm about ta show ya Joker's movement pattern as I've deduced it. When Shadow's going after tha same treasure as him, Joker always makes the same move..." On the monitor, Joker reached the treasure room, opened the door without trouble, and slid inside. Then while the police were confused, he had them all down within moments. "Th' moment of truth. Joker'd try ta take the treasure and run off, usually." On the monitor, Joker gleefully grabbed the Black Opal. "But not this time." Just then, the room's window shattered and Shadow leapt inside.

"!?" Oniichan, you were just supposed to make a fuss outside this time......! Rose yelled internally.

"I gave orders ta bait Shadow to the treasure room. And he bit right in."

Really, how simpleminded can you get... And he couldn't trust me after all, could he... Rose clenched her fists. Still, Hayami kept talking in the same calm voice.

"Now th' two meet. Here's a question. When Joker and Shadow meet, they always do this one thing."

"One thing?"

"Yup, tha answer is fight like kids. Takin' a look at all tha cases before, those two never fail ta squabble whenever they meet. It's always over somethin' trivial, ta boot." Just as Hayami prophecied, the pair started to quarrel on screen. Their voices weren't audible, but no doubt it was their usual back-and-forth spat.

"..." Rose was too fed up to say anything.

"When people squabble, that's when they don't pay attention ta anythin' else. Even our ever-alert Joker can have it happen ta 'im. What I'm sayin' is, that's tha time ta spring a trap." Hayami's words were bewitchingly convincing, and Rose found herself nodding along. "That in mind, all ya halfta do is get a special trap ready in tha treasure room. That's my plan ta catch Joker... that's deduction too."

What Hayami said had a ring of truth. Joker was keen and clear of mind, but whenever he faced Shadow, he would forget himself and start fighting. And Shadow went without saying. This was the one thing Rose couldn't stop him from doing.

Soon enough, just as Hayami had said, Joker and Shadow began to fight on screen. Shadow lunged with his Bloody Rain, and Joker mischievously blocked it with his cards. She had seen the same thing time and time before. With everything going exactly as Hayami had foretold, she was disappointed in her own brother and Joker.

"Now the both of 'em are snared like vermin... hokay, time ta let it rip!" As soon as Hayami sent the signal, something seemed to happen inside the treasure room. The duo on screen stopped fighting and looked around at their surroundings.

Then, steel panes slammed down in all four directions and walled them in. Joker and Shadow both had been instantly trapped in the room.

"Those are...!" Rose exclaimed. Hayami told her.

"That's a steel cage. It's no piece 'a cake ta break, and ya can't lift it up either. Soon enough, sleepin' gas'll fill the room, and those two'll be sleepin' pretty till the police show up."

"Oh no..." Rose whispered and looked at the monitor. On it, Shadow was panicking and shooting beams at the wall, while Joker was trying to pierce the wall with his cards. But the wall remained unmoving.

"Fu fu, and now Joker meets his end. How do ya like my plan?" Hayami smiled triumphantly and turned around. However, Rose wasn't there.

Rose went along the blind spots of the security cameras, and by the time she arrived in front of the treasure room, Hachi was pounding on the steel walls. "Joker-san! Joker-san!"

Rose called out to Hachi. "Hachi-kun, how are they?"

"R-Rose-san!? Well, I was keeping watch outside. Then suddenly these steel walls dropped and trapped them..."

"Oniichan!" Rose yelled towards the wall. She could just barely make out two voices from within.

"Rose, is that you? Get us out of here!"

"Please! Rose!"

These were the voices of Joker and Shadow, or as Rose knew them, Jack and Cyan. She could tell that they were in a tight spot. Rose held her hands out front and concentrated. But just then, she remembered what Hayami had said. I'm gonna catch Joker, no question about it. Hayami's passion and warm smile crossed her mind. He had researched Joker and Shadow and formulated this plan, and Rose was about to ruin it.

Just like my brother Shadow, he's zealous about bringing down Shadow... Should I really undermine all that devotion he's put in...? But...

"Rose, what's wrong!? Hurry, please!"

"Oh shoot, Shadow! It's sleeping gas!"

Shadow and Joker's voices from inside pressured Rose. I'm...

"...!" Rose made up her mind and spoke to Hachi. "Hachi-kun, break the security cameras."

"Eh? But why?"

"Never mind why, please just do it."

"O-Okay!" Hachi sprang around the hallway, wrecking the cameras surveilling the area one after another.

If at all possible, she didn't want Hayami to see her using her powers... As she concentrated, Rose's body took on a pale glow. Her hands in front, Rose stared at the door and focused her power. The steel doors rumbled as they gradually lifted.

Once the gap had opened wide enough for a person to pass through, Joker and Shadow appeared from within and leapt out. As soon as they exited, they grabbed each other's lapels.

"Shadow! We were shut in because of you!"

"What!? It's because you did something you shouldn't have!"

Seeing them go back to abusing each other again, she screamed without thinking. "Both of you, cut it out!"

Shocked by her shout, the two of them looked back over at Rose. She was tearing up a little and glaring at Joker and Shadow both.

"W-What's wrong, Rose?"

"What are you angry about?" Joker took the gem out of his chest pocket. "See, I got the treasure!"

"Rose, thanks to you using your powers, we're sa-" Shadow started. But Rose cut him off with a yell.

"I didn't use them because I wanted to! I don't care anymore!" She pouted and looked the other way; then with her powers, Rose made herself float and speedily flew out of the window into the night sky. The two boys and Hachi could only watch dumbfounded as she faded away...

#kaitou joker #light novel

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