Reimu Quest (Part 5)

[Hello Purvis]

>Can we breath yet?

[日巫子]

>Can we breath yet?

> Sort of.  It's coming back to you.
> You feel yourself being pulled away from where you were scuffling with Kikuri, and then you are lowered into a kneeling position.  Whoever has grabbed you is just letting you lean against them now.  As you wait for the static to clear, you hear voices being exchanged.

> _

[Hello Purvis]

>Just focus on breathing for now. Revenge can wait.

[日巫子]

>Just focus on breathing for now. Revenge can wait.

> You decide to wait until your energy is back before getting revenge.  As you return air to your lungs, someone briefly puts their hand to your forehead.
> "...doesn't seem sick..."
> "...then what..."
> "...I don't know..."

> _

[Hello Purvis]

>Focus more on the conversation.

[日巫子]

>Focus more on the conversation.

> You try listening to what they're saying.
> "Why isn't the orb doing anything?"
> "I don't know...It stopped as soon as I picked her up."
> "That's good, then.  Brrr, I'm freezing.  I'm going to go take a bath.  Do you need me to stick around for anything?"  After this sentence, you hear a phlegmy cough.
> "No, I'll take care of her."

> _

[Hello Purvis]

>Try to force ourself to take a visual check of the situation.

[日巫子]

>Try to force ourself to take a visual check of the situation.

> You try looking around.
> The room is more of a mess than you thought.  The table has been flipped on its side, and there are dents in the walls where the yin yang orb has hit.  It's currently sitting quietly near the doorway where Kikuri entered through.  The doorway, however, has only been opened part of the way, and you can see the beginnings of an empty room on the other side.  A few feet in front of you, there are small marks on the floor that you don't think came from the orb. 
> You're sure Kikuri was there just now, but she's not.  Off to the side, however, you see her walking down the short hallway near the kitchen, soaking wet and shivering.  She looks much less threatening than you originally thought.  You don't see the face of whoever you're leaning against, but there's a red skirt and an arm in a grey sleeve wrapped around your waist.  This is Konngara's house, it's probably her...

> _

[Hello Purvis]

>"Konngara, why did a guest in your house try to strangle me?"

[日巫子]

>"Konngara, why did a guest in your house try to strangle me?"

> "No one was strangling you, Reimu."

> _

[Hello Purvis]

>"I can promise you she was."

[日巫子]

>"I can promise you she was."

> Konngara sighs.  "Kikuri ran all the way to the city to find me, saying you had started freaking out when she woke up and opened the door to the living room...She doesn't have any reason for attacking you."

> _

[Hello Purvis]

>"She was the one attacking me! I opened the door, she came out and I tried to talk, and she started strangling me!"

[日巫子]

>"She was the one attacking me! I opened the door, she came out and I tried to talk, and she started strangling me!"

> "Why would she want to strangle you?" Konngara asks.

> _

[O4rfish]

>"Why are you asking me that? I only know what she did, not what she was thinking. "

[日巫子]

>"Why are you asking me that? I only know what she did, not what she was thinking. "

> "No, I want to know what you think."

> _

[Hello Purvis]

>"It's complicated. Let's just say I have my reasons to think she'd toss aside spellcards."

[日巫子]

>"It's complicated. Let's just say I have my reasons to think she'd toss aside spellcards."

> "So you're not going to explain, huh...Did she leave your sight at all?"
> After a few moments of silence, Konngara holds up one of your bruised, abraded hands.  There's some blood on the knuckles.
> "Look at your hands," she says.

> _

[Hello Purvis]

>"Briefly. When I tried to throw her off me."
>Contemplate knuckles.
>"Probably got scraped up in the struggle."

[日巫子]

>"Briefly. When I tried to throw her off me."
>Contemplate knuckles.
>"Probably got scraped up in the struggle."

> You look at your hand.  It hurts.
> "If it was for that short amount of time, then how could she have gone to the city to get me when it takes a half hour to get here and back by flight?  We were together the whole way back," Konngara says, calmly and evenly.  "If she really was strangling you, then I wouldn't be here right now because I wouldn't have known what was going on.  I wasn't planning on leaving the city for at least another day, either.  Even if Kikuri wasn't expecting you to show up, she wouldn't have reacted so violently."

> _

[Sect]

> Touch our throat. Is it bruised or cut by Kikuri's fingers?
> "The orb wrecked Kikuri's face. You can't deny that."

[Hello Purvis]

>"Oh she would have. Let's just say that I have no reason to doubt it from past experience."
>Let see if we can sit up under our own power now.
>"And I can't answer exactly how she did it, but I can say she's not just some punk youkai, she's probably got some kind of abilities, and I'm sure she can be clever about them. So, I know what happened here. The question is, if she didn't attack me, then what caused it to happen? Right now it looks a lot more like she tricked you than tricked me."

[日巫子]

> Touch our throat. Is it bruised or cut by Kikuri's fingers?
> "The orb wrecked Kikuri's face. You can't deny that."

> You feel your throat.  It doesn't hurt, or even feel like it was injured.
> "She wasn't hurt when I saw her."

>"Oh she would have. Let's just say that I have no reason to doubt it from past experience."
>Let see if we can sit up under our own power now.
>"And I can't answer exactly how she did it, but I can say she's not just some punk youkai, she's probably got some kind of abilities, and I'm sure she can be clever about them. So, I know what happened here. The question is, if she didn't attack me, then what caused it to happen? Right now it looks a lot more like she tricked you than tricked me."

> You try sitting up, but you kind of feel like jelly right now.
> "That's really vague.  You have all these suspicions about her, but you don't even have any solid evidence to back them up?" Konngara asks.  "I don't think she's trying to trick anyone, and if she were, do you really think I'd fall for it?  She can't even lift anything heavier than ten pounds, much less have the strength to strangle someone.  Reimu...it honestly sounds like you were hallucinating."

> _

[Hello Purvis]

>"I wasn't hallucinating. Does this look like a hallucination? Do you hallucinate not being able to breath? And okay, so where was she, then? Because I came here, looked around, called for her, and she wasn't anywhere til I opened that door."
>Gesture toward it.
>"Things aren't adding up here, Konngara. And all those things I told you were facts."

[日巫子]

>"I wasn't hallucinating. Does this look like a hallucination? Do you hallucinate not being able to breath? And okay, so where was she, then? Because I came here, looked around, called for her, and she wasn't anywhere til I opened that door."
>Gesture toward it.
>"Things aren't adding up here, Konngara. And all those things I told you were facts."

> "That was from your orb," Konngara says.  "If she didn't immediately come out when you called then she was probably asleep.  It's not like I was able to give her a heads up that you were coming.  Whenever I pulled you off the floor there was no one else there, otherwise I would have just left you alone and went to get her away from you."

> _

[Hello Purvis]

>"Alright Konngara, I'm gonna trust you with an oni's honesty with this one; does she usually sleep like a brick? Because I sure wasn't quiet about coming in."

[日巫子]

>"Alright Konngara, I'm gonna trust you with an oni's honesty with this one; does she usually sleep like a brick? Because I sure wasn't quiet about coming in."

> "Yes, she does."

> _

[Hello Purvis]

>Glare toward that door.
>"So what the hell did happen?"

[日巫子]

>Glare toward that door.
>"So what the hell did happen?"

> "What Kikuri told me was that when she woke up, she heard you in the other room, so she opened the door to see what was going on.  She said you had this confused, scared look in your eyes, so she approached and asked what was wrong.  You swung your gohei at her and missed...and she ran past you and out of the house.  She came running to me, and took me all the way back to the shrine with her.  When I came into the room, you were punching the floor and the yin-yang orb was flying around the room.  I picked you up off the floor so you would stop doing that, and then the orb stopped moving."

> _

[Hello Purvis]

>"I didn't throw a single punch that whole thing, though... Last thing I did was sink my teeth into her, its wrist."