Haha, uh, here it is
The faint light under the closet door made it easy to find the exit. The door was stuck when she tried pushing on it, so she just punched it until it unstuck. The hallway was unlit, not as light out as it should have been that morning. It was probably overcast outside. A young woman with long black hair and a red horn poked her head out of the closet and looked around. She was alone.
She decided to just leave the closet, because she couldn?t remember what she was doing in there in the first place. There was a party, and her friends insisted she come. There had been a lot of people, but it was very quiet now. She wondered if they had all left already. In that case, she should get going, too.
On the way out of the house, she passed by the kitchen and happened upon some empty bottles. She picked one up and read the label. That explained why she didn?t feel hung over. Human Village alcohol was too weak.
While she was looking at one of these bottles, she became aware of a retching sound, coming from somewhere else in the house. Leaving the kitchen, she followed the sound until it led her to the bathroom. Keeping quiet, she looked through the door that was ajar.
The bathroom had one occupant, a girl clutching the sides of the toilet as she vomited into it. Her sleeves were missing, and her hair ribbon was uneven. The door creaked, and she was able to pause long enough to tilt her head to the side.
?Hah?hah?Konngara?? Reimu called out in a weak voice. Konngara opened the door the rest of the way and stepped inside.
?Urgh?? Reimu?s next words were interrupted as she started to dry heave. Konngara reached out and awkwardly patted her on the back.
?I?I think I ate something bad at that party last night?? Reimu moaned. ?I feel terrible?c-can you get me medicine???
Konngara nodded.
?Is that a yes?? Evidently, Reimu didn?t see this gesture. Konngara didn?t say anything.
??Just hurry up,? Reimu said, and leaned against the toilet like it was a shoulder to cry on. Konngara left her alone.
Along the way, she passed by Suika, who was asleep and cuddled in a pillow pile. She had a look of discontent on her face, but she had so many cushions around her that it wouldn?t hurt to take one. Konngara took one from the pile and backtracked to the bathroom, where she handed it off to Reimu.
?Th-thanks.? Reimu took the pillow and dragged it to her side.
It took a lot of rummaging through the cupboards, but she finally found something she could take back: a dark bottle labeled as stomach medicine.
When Konngara returned to the bathroom with the medicine, she found Reimu lying on her stomach with her face in the pillow. Kneeling down and nudging the ill girl?s shoulder resulted in a low-pitched cry.
?Leave me here to die,? said Reimu. The sound of the medicine bottle clinking against the floor, however, made her look up.
?Oh, thanks.? Reimu labored to sit up, and took the medicine in her hands. She didn?t even bother measuring it out, opting to sip straight from the bottle. Konngara watched on in awe, until she was interrupted by Suika throwing open the door.
?Get outta the way!? she half-shouted, cupping a hand over her mouth. Two seconds later, Konngara was fleeing into the hallway with a very angry Reimu under her arm. In their haste to get out, some of the medicine had been spilt and got on Reimu?s dress.
They were locked out of the bathroom now, but at least Reimu wasn?t throwing up anymore. Instead, she had assumed a fetal position on the floor and clutched the bottle in her hands. She breathed a heavy sigh and let her eyelids droop. Konngara, who was sitting against the wall, was starting to wonder if she should move Reimu to an actual bed when she saw the black-white round a corner.
Marisa staggered down the hall with her hand over her stomach, and Konngara watched her try and fail to open the bathroom door. She continued to watch as Marisa let out a cry of defeat and slid to the floor. Reimu, eyes still closed, held out the medicine bottle.
?I think I ate something bad at that party last night,? Marisa groused.
That?s what she said, Konngara yelled internally, barely resisting the urge to say this out loud.
?Mhm,? was Reimu?s response.
?Who?s in the bathroom??
?Suika.?
?We?ll never be free.?
?You?re not making any sense. I think that tsurube-otoshi is still here, so if you gotta throw up just do it in her bucket.?
Marisa got to her feet. ?Reimu, you are a terrible person. I?ll be right back.?
A few moments passed, with background music provided by Suika throwing up. The little oni emerged from the bathroom before Marisa returned, looking on the verge of tears. Mere seconds later, loud screaming from Marisa and an unidentified person erupted from the backyard. Suika flopped onto Konngara?s lap.
?Wahh, I?m never eating artichoke dip again,? she informed Konngara, who was pushing her horns out of her face. The screaming outside had turned into crying from both parties. Konngara frowned at Suika.
?I can sleep whereeeever I want,? Suika said, despite the fact that the other hadn?t said anything. However, this didn?t stop her from being dragged down the hall and deposited back into the pillow pile.
Doing the same with Reimu proved to be impossible, as she was keen on falling asleep right in the middle of the hallway. Konngara decided not to bother her, and went back to the bedroom to find a blanket for her.
???m here, sorry I?m late??
?That?s fine. You have a good lead??
?Yes. The culprit should be in this shrine.?
There were more people here now. Konngara took her time getting the blanket, folding it up, and walking back out into the hall. On the way, she passed a small group of youkai. The one at the head of the group, a mouse youkai with dowsing rods, hailed her as she passed.
?Is that her?!? snarled one of the youkai, a wolf girl with unusually long fingernails.
?No, no, no,? said the mouse. ?You there! Have you seen an amanojaku here??
Konngara shook her head.
?We?ll keep going,? the mouse said. Konngara stood aside to let them pass, and returned to where Reimu was sleeping. As she draped the blanket over her, she heard yet another commotion coming from out back.
?AH! This is all your fault, get over here!?
?What?s that? I didn?t hear you??
?Mountain Echo ? Long-range echo!?
Feeling hungry, Konngara went into the kitchen and looked around at the piles of dishes on the counter and in the sink, wondering if any of them were clean enough for her to use. Outside, a dull thud rocked the bottles on the counter.
?I?m sorry, but she has such a gentle personality that if she attacks you, then you really had it coming??
?I?m not involved! I?m not involved!?
The back door slid open, and Marisa ran through the kitchen and into the hall. A disgruntled young girl followed, carrying a bucket with her. Konngara ignored them and cracked some eggs over a pot on the stove.
As she was whisking the eggs, she was alerted to the sound of Reimu shuffling into the kitchen. She put the medicine bottle on the nearest flat surface and wandered over to the stove with the blanket around her. Konngara shook her head and shooed her away. Reimu slumped into a chair at the kitchen table, scowling at a bowl containing the remains of some sort of dip.
Outside, danmaku raged on like a summer rainstorm. Given how cloudy it looked outside, the danmaku could have passed for such if it looked like water. Konngara took some bread and made a sandwich out of the scrambled eggs she had just finished, and took a seat at the table. Now that the stove was open, Reimu returned to it and dumped the rest of the eggs onto another plate.
?Take that!?
?Nooooo!?
?Don?t run away!?
Whatever spellcard was in effect had subsided, and the duel outside had dissolved into a fist-fight. One of the girls who was with the mouse youkai burst into the room, hanging onto the doorway to steady herself.
?One, two?who else is here?? she asked.
?Suika and Marisa, I think?? Reimu said. Scrambled eggs weren?t exactly what came to mind at the thought of quelling an upset stomach, but she was starting to look more alive.
?Go get them. Everyone outside.? The girl left the room.
Reimu took her plate with her into the hall, returning within minutes with the other people in the house. Suika had pillows stuffed into her shirt and held them in her arms, still half-asleep. Marisa was still being followed by the bucket girl, most likely the tsurube-otoshi Reimu mentioned.
Outside, it was windy and cool. There was the mouse youkai?s party, and the others from the shrine, and Konngara didn?t care to identify anyone else. She sat on the back porch and observed the following exchange:
?This amanojaku poisoned the artichoke dip,? someone announced. This was followed by a crescending ?ohhHHHHhh? throughout the crowd, and many obscenities.
?But it was so good!?
?I had like a ton of that stuff.?
?I?m gonna exterminate you.?
?%^&*&^% and then ^&^%#@@*)(@!@# fuck you!?
Suika sauntered over to Konngara, missing the pillows and looking concerned. ?Hey, did you have any of the artichoke dip??
?Yeah, come to think of it, you look perfectly fine,? croaked Reimu. When Konngara shook her head, she frowned.
?What?! No fair! Why?? she cried. In the background, the wolf youkai was punching the aforementioned amanojaku in the face.
?Because I fucking hate artichoke dip,? Konngara said.
?Fair enough,? Suika said with a shrug. She jerked her thumb over her shoulder. ?Looks like another danmaku fight?s building up. Wanna join in??
Konngara shook her head. It was time she headed home. With a wave to the others, she disappeared into the forest and towards the entrance to the Underground.
