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In a cave full of crystal deep in the heart of Youkai Mountain, two women find themselves next to each other as they look down at what seems to be a big-ass steel arrow sitting on a table. Both of them know exactly what it is, and now, they’re trying to figure out what to do with it. They have been doing nothing else but idly staring at the object for the past 15 minutes without much progress being made on how to process the item.
“I think I should keep it.”
That was one of the women. A tall, green-haired lady in blue and white robes, with a coned hat atop of her head. This woman, whose legs are non-existent and flake off into spiritual energy by where the knees should be, makes a motion with her right hand to grab the arrow.
“No.”
The arm was stopped by another hand, grasping the wrist. This new hand belonged to the other woman, a blonde and definitely shorter than the first one. She wore a white, frilly shirt with a red tank top over it and an orange-and-green dress, with her headwear being some sort of translucent mop cap.
“Let go, Misumaru.” The green-haired woman asked her peer.
“I don’t think so. Not unless you relent, Mima.” The one who was addressed as Misumaru maintained her grip, until the one she called Mima did pull her hand away, which made her let go.
Mima crossed her arms. “What do you think you’re gonna do with it, then, huh?”
“I’m not sure.” Misumaru pondered a little. “All I know is that I would rather not let you have such a dangerous item.”
“Puh-lease, you’re no fun,” The greenhead blew a raspberry at the other woman. “All you do is spend the whole day making magatama.”
“And researching objects like this- Izanagi Objects.” The blonde added, staring back at Mima. “These things are not to be taken lightly, you grubby-handed ghost.”
“At least I’m more knowledgeable on this type of thing better than you, crafting goddess!” Mima huffed. “Cursed objects, killing tools, and wicked implements are my schtick and hyperfixation, while you are just Wikipedia on these things.”
“Wouldn’t that make me the more knowledgeable one, then?” Misumaru let a little smile out, taking advantage of the comparison made.
“Agh, whatever.” The spirit rolled her eyes. “Stuff like this pops into Gensokyo on a daily basis. You’ll find something like this, a weapon to kill a specific youkai or whatever in almost every acre in this land. It’s not that rare.”
“Which is the exact problem I’m having with this,” The goddess looked back at the steel arrow on the table. “And despite you being the so-called “expert” on these things, you’re doing terrible at it.”
“It’s my own protocol, darling, you understand.” Mima spread her arms out before Misumaru. “This is my thing. I like stuff that kills things. Only I know what’s best for them.”
“And that is your first mistake, which is to bring this thing to me, away from a crime scene.” The blonde sighed, somberly staring at the spirit. “You just want me to clean the blood off of it so that nobody would suspect it was you.”
“Because I didn’t cause the damn crime, I wanted the arrow. This damn thing’s the stuff of legend for slaying things and I want it!” The greenhead gestured a bit to the arrow as she explained herself, much to Misumaru’s dismay. “I could disassemble it, use the metals to make a new staff, use it as inspiration for new Spell Cards, or even weave the metal dust into my robes to give it protection!”
“And I prefer you don’t do that, not unless you want the Hakurei or the Yakumo to prematurely end your parole here, y’know.” The crafting goddess pleaded, putting her hands on Mima’s shoulders. “I fully get your whole hobby with these things, but, I think it’s just best that we give this back to the proper authorities. Maybe it’ll even end up in your hands anyway after the investigation is complete.”
The green-haired lady softened up a bit at the touch of the goddess on her shoulders, lowering her arms. Mima took in a bit of a breath as she looked back at Misumaru and her glowing pink eyes, which caught her attention more than the Izanagi Object on the nearby table. She thought about her next move, and decided that she wouldn’t want to waste all that time and memories for just a thing that she could find with a day’s worth of searching.
“You know what, Misumaru, you’ve kinda got a point with that thing.” The spirit conceded, placing a right hand on the blonde’s left forearm. “Why do I have to bother with that artifact I just found, when I could enjoy the other artifact that’s in front of me?”
“A good sense of conscien- wait, what?” Misumaru blinked a bit. “Can you repeat that, Mima?”
“I said…” Mima pulls the goddess’ hand down, allowing herself to move closer to her. “Why bother with that artifact in the table when the one in front of me is more…desirable?”
“Oh…oh, you sly little…!~” Everything clicked in Misumaru as she realized what the ghost was getting up to, laughing a bit as she wrapped her right arm around the back of Mima’s neck and pulled her in for a brief kiss.
“Mmmm….”
“Mmmmrmmm…nnnnh…”
“Mmmm…aaah, you kiss like a village sweetheart, you know that?” Mima complimented as they broke off, looking at each other with smiles devoid of the conflict they had earlier.
The blonde’s own smile curved a but more. “I’ve lived enough years to hone that craft, too.”
“You’re just as tricky as I am, even after all these years. You never really skipped a beat, haven’t you?” Mima rhetorically asked, placing a hand on her own hip. “You were just like this, even back then, when my apprentice and yours were still kids being kids.”
“And they’ve grown into beautiful women with a relationship of their own.” Misumaru replied. “It’s only fair that the lessons of love are passed down from teacher to student, and sometimes back to the teacher.”
“I’d say, my cute little artifact.” The spirit began laughing a bit after saying that, with the goddess playfully slapping the other woman’s chest a few times, saying, “Hey, cut that out, you coot!”
“You’re a god! You’re more of a fossil than I am!”
“At least I have the virtue of having legs!”
They both explode into a fit of laughter, which soon simmered down as their minds returned to the original topic at hand, that being the steel arrow on the table.
“So, uh, now that that’s settled…how do we deal with the arrow?” Misumaru pondered aloud. “After all, we haven’t agreed on anything…”
“Let’s just blow it to bits.” Mima shrugged. “It ain’t my problem anymore. Don’t care if this thing did kill that one weird-winged youkai at the temple or not.”
“All things must come to an end eventually.” The goddess concurred, taking the arrow. “And this should be one of those things.”
The ghost nodded. “I agree-”
“MIMA! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!”
“Quick- there’s another exit down the path!” Misumaru hastily passed the steel arrow to Mima. “Make the destruction quick! I’ll buy you time!”
“Oho, you haven’t lost your mischievous touch at all!” Mima nodded as she took off with the arrow in hand.
The crafting goddess watched as the vengeful spirit took off with the Arrow of Yorimasa, shaking her head and smiling while thinking to herself, “I know she’s gonna keep it.”