Tengu Reporter Quest (Touhou) (World 7 - Wheel of Time)

Find the duelist-girl, and duel her for a book.


You shrug, spreading your arms to the side. "Alright, I guess we'll go after her, then. Lead on." Hatate stares at you nervously for a moment.

"Er, me? Lead? But -" You shoo her gently.

"Yes, you. You know where she fought, right? I mean, you have pictures, you must have some idea of where to go." She stares blankly back at you for a second before shaking her head and patting her cheeks.

"Right, I'm sorry, I – I was thinking about something else. Um, I guess we should land somewhere …." Hatate looks around below for a suitable landing spot, and manages to not look back at you for approval before descending. She moves a bit slowly for your taste, making it more likely that someone will notice you – more likely anyone who's in the citadel, as the more common buildings are almost uniformly short and have bland slabs for roofs, making them unsuitable for most activities, the duel across the city notwithstanding. The bystanders in the alley you land in stare at you, and while Hatate hunches her shoulders and moves toward the street at the end, you grin and wink at the kids before catching up to her. She holds her wings tightly behind her as she slowly maneuvers through the crowds, and you start to consider simply flying wherever you need to go. But not only would that mean changing your instruction to Hatate, it would probably make a bigger scene than you're already planning.

"... Where to find Arpeggio?" The bushy-haired man studies his beard for a moment while he considers the question. Hatate's shoulders hunch defensively, but this is the fourth person she's asked, and for all that this girl is a local dueling legend or genius, no one seems to know where to find her. "Mm, if she's in the city, she's probably with her teacher, and if nothing else, she should know where to find her. Why do you want to find Arpeggio, anyway?"

"Um, we just … we're interested in meeting her, is all …." You fight back a wince, and the man's eyes brighten up.

"Oh? Ahaha! That's great!" He tousles Hatate's hair, and she ducks her head. Irritation or embarrassment? From what you can see of her ears, it could be either …. The man gives you directions to 'Lady Mimoza's' apartment before patting Hatate's head again and walking off, snickering. Hatate sets her shoulders and stalks off, pushing through the crowd more brusquely than she had been moving before.

"... Is this it?" Hatate, hostility gone from her expression, looks at you nervously. The presumed home of Lady Mimoza is small, ramshackle, tucked-away, and altogether humble. You shrug and open the gate, then test the stairs. They creak and aren't completely secure, but they won't collapse any time soon. You walk up them, Hatate following, and at the top of the stairs you knock on the wooden door.

"Who is it? If you're here for a debt -"

"Professor, stop that! I'll see who it is." Compared to the grumbling first voice, the second voice is much younger, and a few moments later the door swings in. Not much, though, and the young woman answering the door puts her body in the way so you can't see past her – not that you need to. Mud-colored hair, no makeup, not exactly pretty …. "Is there something you want?" Her eyes run up and down your body as well, trying to read you the way you're reading her, but you're pretty sure she doesn't want you realizing how much she's fixating on your clothes. Her own clothes do her no favors, and she unconsciously adopts an expression of envy.

"You're Arpeggio, aren't you? I'd like to duel you." She blinks at you, envy turning to confusion and then suspicion. Her eyes narrow, and she takes a step back to slam the door shut.

"No," she says, and the wood creaks as it runs into your arm. She tries pushing it harder, but you simply smile and hold it open.

"I don't blame you for being afraid, and I'd be embarrassed to go out looking like you do, too, so if you want this to be a private duel that's fine by me." At least one person is moving around inside, and Arpeggio's face is turning red as she trembles in outrage. The time you give her to settle on a response, however, is taken by someone inside coming to the door and throwing it open, and your first thought is how she manages to get that axe through the doorway without carving through the door, any of the walls, or Arpeggio, and still is able to put the blade near your neck. "Rory, hello." The Apostle's grin is decidedly unfriendly, and the axe slips forward and down, and the point at the base of the blade pokes the back of your shoulder, and you set your bag down on the landing.

"Aya. Come in, please." Arpeggio, wisely decides to scamper back into the room – a terrifying cross between Marisa's house and Patchouli's library, but somehow neither you nor Rory trip over any books as she not-quite-drags you in. Hatate hurries after you, picking up your bag but staying out of the room. "So why are you trying to pick on a little girl like Arpeggio, hm?" You glance at the axe, but Rory just smiles more widely. What a bother.

"I'm looking for a book on magic, things like basic principles and theories and such, and I figured it'd be easier to get one by beating up a known duelist – after making sure that it was an acceptable stake, of course – than by attacking the scholar's citadel back there, even if the scholars would have more and more useful books." The young mage's mouth falls open, and the third person who was in the room, an old woman, sputters at your remark. Rory, however, simply nods.

"Yes, that's a reasonable assumption to make. Mimoza, you have something like that around here somewhere, don't you?" The old woman's eyes practically bug out, and her student makes a high-pitched sound in the back of her throat. "Although I am curious as to why you want a book like that." You sigh.

"A favor to someone. I told you before, about a magician? She wants something like that." A memory tugs at you, and you slip your notebook out and flip back through the pages. Yes, Rory did mention a Mimoza when you interviewed her at the Leonoid Village. Although … yes, you probably wouldn't have expected Rory to get from Belnago to here in less than a day, although she could simply have found a faster mount after you stopped watching her. You smile at Mimoza and Arpeggio. "The magician is also a librarian, and she takes very good care of her books, you don't need to worry about it being mishandled." Mimoza still looks unhappy, but Arpeggio's anger spills over.

"Do you not know how expensive books are? How much it costs to make one, how long it takes to -"

"I'll reimburse you," Rory says, and Arpeggio's diatribe gurgles to a halt. The Apostle looks back at her and smiles wickedly. "Unless you would prefer to duel someone who beat an Apostle in single combat?" Mimoza darts to one corner of the room, while Arpeggio looks like all the blood decided to fall out of her head and steadies herself against a bookshelf, staring at you and Rory in dread. You give her a cheerful smile, and she dashes across the room to help her teacher. Rory gives you a look, then swings her axe back so she isn't threatening you so much. Instead, she again demonstrates supernatural control over the weapon, not hitting you or the ceiling, nor so much as scratching the cover of a single book or disturbing a single loose scroll as she plants the spear-point almost delicately on the floor. Arpeggio stares at you and Rory, eyes not quite glazed over, breathing slowly coming under control, and you can see the desire to curl into a ball and wait for everything to start making sense again.

"... Here," Mimoza finally says, one corner of the room nearly torn apart, and holds out a relatively small book. You take it from her and look it over – the leather binding is old and stained, but not cracked or showing any signs of serious neglect – and then flip through the book, ignoring the hostile glares of the old woman and the Apostle. The handwritten pages aren't completely crammed full of words, but there's not much attention paid to keeping things lined up or easily readable. A research journal, or someone's personal notes, perhaps ….

"Well, you have what you came for. Now get out of here." You hold back a sigh at Rory's rudeness and instead smile and bow at her and Mimoza, then back quickly out of the room, pulling the door closed. You keep hold of the book as Hatate passes you your bag, then finger your necklace. Time to go?


What do you do?

[ ] Go back to the Mansion.

[ ] Other?