Touhou fanfic part 20

Voice of Reason

Despite the long battle between Reimu and Kuniko ending with the former winning, the vengeful rasetsu got her second wind and activated a hidden spellcard in an attempt to finish off the exhausted shrine maiden and her allies. But to her surprise, even her own allies Mariko and Manami turned against her, teaming up with Marisa, Sanae, Patchouli and Alice as they began to fire back at the incoming attack.

However, despite their efforts, the attack seemed too powerful for all of them as the rasetsu kept drawing more power from the aura around her. Seeing this, Yukari, Suika and Yuugi began to take out their own spellcards, but they were stopped as Shikieiki spoke out to them. "You don't need to get involved in this. I have a plan that will stop the battle and beat some sense to this wayward Soga."

Hearing this, Yukari stepped back and closed her eyes, a slight smile appearing on her face as she responded to this. "I guess I'll trust your word on that. But if it doesn't work, I don't intend to hold back against a trickster like her." The two oni also put aside their spellcards, looking on as Kuniko kept on with her attack and frowned, starting to feel conflicted as she looked at the troubled expression on Mariko's face.

She also noticed the determined expressions on the faces of Reimu and her allies, frowning as she kept up her attack while part of her was stuck in deep thought. "Why aren't they giving up? Am I really fighting for the wrong side here if even my own sister turns against me?" As her willpower began to fade, the heroes noticed her attack weakening. Shikieiki noticed this as well, and she slowly approached the former shrine maiden while speaking out to her.

"Perhaps you're starting to realize that this isn't the right way to go about what has happened, Soga. After all, this is definitely not like you when compared to your former self." Shocked by this, the woman responded to this while noticing her beam slowly starting to die out. "What are you saying?" Noticing that Kuniko was now off-guard, Reimu and the others amplified the power of their own attacks, suddenly causing the crimson power to fade away.

The former shrine maiden turned to look at the group as this happened, taking a step back in fear as the five glared at her. Just then, Reimu spoke out to her in a serious tone, not really noticing that she was actually regretting what she did. "Are you going to give up on your plans for revenge, Soga no Kuniko?" Much to her surprise, Kuniko went down on her knees and seemed to be close to crying as she struggled in giving her response.

"I won't try anything anymore like that anymore! I'm sorry for doing the things I did!!" Just then, Mariko started turning emotional as well, apologizing to the group as well and then rushing over to help her sister up. Confused by this, the group then turned to look at Manami, who crossed her arms and spoke out to them in a serious tone, not noticing Shikieiki listening on as well. "If you ask me, they should be given a second chance."

Letting out a sigh, she then continued while the Soga sisters looked on. "Kuniko's not a bad person. She's just been through a damned lot and doesn't know how to cope with it." Just then, the woman yelled out a response despite tears rolling down her cheeks. "Don't talk about me in such a demeaning manner, you damned youkai!!" Suddenly frowning a bit, the ushi-oni continued to speak while her friend glared at her.

"And as you can see, she doesn't want to be a youkai. She wants to be the same shrine maiden that I knew ages ago." Hearing this, Shikieiki decided to speak to the youkai while everyone else started to walk away, finding their job done as the night sky revealed itself from beneath the crimson veil covering it. "The first thing that you need to do is to accept who and what you are, Soga. Nothing can be done about your condition until you have done that."

Kuniko looked at the yama for a moment as she said this, then listened on as she continued. "Though you aren't a human anymore, I am sure Gensokyo wouldn't be too weird a place with having a youkai shrine maiden. But you should first begin to work on some good deeds. I wish you the best of luck with this, Kuniko-san." The Soga sisters then looked on as the yama disappeared, leaving the two alone at the ruins of their shrine.

After a moment of silence, Mariko looked at her sister who was still in deep thought, speaking out to her in a quiet tone. "Onee-sama, I think we should give back the books we stole...and fix the rest of the damage we did tomorrow." Nodding at this, Kuniko soon fell asleep alongside her sister, both of them feeling exhausted after all the battles they went through and also due to a lack of sleep.

Though it seemed like she had also left the scene, Manami sat close to the two, smiling as she had listened on to them. "I guess I'll go help them out. I owe them at least that much..."