#I feel like a fortress but not one with huge spikes and a dangerous moat to keep people out (like before when I was so afraid of people)

[artificial-condition]

Having a gap year was really great for me because it was the first time in my adult life that I was able to just sit with myself. Figure myself out. Work on myself. Even though I had been an adult for several years, I feel like I really matured in my year of nothing. I now feel much more firm in who I am, even with opposition; I have always been a big pushover, letting other people do whatever they wanted and letting my desires go to the side, but now I am much more likely to assert what I want and tell people no. I’ll just do and be without analyzing what others want or expect of me, and it’s so refreshing to let that go. People really do grow in the cracks

[aardvark-123]

Gensokyo Festival day 7: Dungarees

~The Super Touhou Sisters Super Show~

"Damn it all to heck... I can't believe this happened to Kotohime of all people! That stupid, selfish kappa! I'll make her pay."

Fairies dove out of Marisa's way as she stormed through the forest. It was rare to see her so angry, especially with Reimu by her side, although it was also rare to see Reimu in her dark red dungarees.

"She's really gone too far this time," said Reimu, stepping over a tanuki who had turned into a teapot. "Kidnapping is one thing, but eating a woman's liver...!"

"You're gonna kill her, right?" asked Marisa.

Reimu nodded, her face grim. "It doesn't feel right, paying death with more death, but she's brought it upon herself."

"Yeah... Oh, here's Sanae!"

Sanae was skipping along the forest track towards them, clad in bright green dungarees. "Ayy, Reimu, Marisa! Ciao, ciao! It's-a me, Sanae!" she yelled, full of joy, putting on a ridiculous Italian accent.

"Um," said Marisa.

"Um," said Reimu.

"You guys-a ready to go and-a rescue-a Kotohime?" Sanae blithely rattled on.

"Sanae," said Reimu faintly, "what is this?"

"We're-a rescuing a princess! Gotta to do it-a properly, uh?" explained Sanae, still all smiles. "Hence I gave-a you those-a dungarees, paisano!"

"My... My dunga...?" Reimu stared down at the aforementioned garment she was wearing. "To be frank, Sanae, I just thought you didn't want me getting my clothes dirty."

"No! It's-a 'cause we're-a like-a the Mario Brothers, uh?!" said Sanae insistently, waving her arms around like crazy. "You're-a Mario and I'm-a Luigi! We's-a perfect for the roles!"

"M-Mario?! No, I'm Reimu! Reimu Hakurei, daughter of Akari, Shrine Maiden of Paradise! You know, the same Reimu you've known for ten years?"

"Come on, work-a with-a me here! It'll be fun!"

"Look, if you wanna talk about fun, we're dealing with a dangerous kappa who kills people for it! This isn't going to be the usual kind of Incident, Sanae," said Marisa severely.

"You like-a the funghi, uh? Then you can be-a Toadette! You already got-a the big hat an'a the plaits an'a the grassa stomaca, so you's-a just right!" Sanae completely missed Marisa's point.

"You... You think there's grass... In my tummy?"

"No, no, it means-a you's-a thicc!" Sanae corrected her.

"Oh!" said Marisa. "Glad you noticed! But, look, we really need your head in the game for this Incident. Once we get to Kappa Valley..." She took a deep breath. "It's Nitori or us three. Someone's not gonna be walking out of there alive. Got that?"

"I understand. I'll-a take it as-a seriously as-a you usually do, uh?" smirked Sanae.

"N-no! You have to take it even seriouslier..." Marisa's face reddened. "This is going to be painful, isn't it?"

--------------------------------------

With courage in their hearts and spell-cards in hand, our intrepid heroines fought their way through Kappa Valley. They faced danger at every turn, duelling all manner of deadly robots and fierce kappa warriors who had, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, sworn to lay down their lives in service of their queen.

To her friends' chagrin, Sanae insisted on jumping on the heads of her enemies. Her shoes were enough to knock out some of the kappa but did very little to the robots, let alone the lava moats, massive steel spikes and feral crocodiles.

Eventually they came before the gate to Nitori's mountain fortress. Marisa master sparked the titanium gate down and stood aside for Reimu to send her orbs after the gun turrets. Sanae lamented the lack of things to jump on. They blasted their way through the few remaining guards and stormed the cavernous throne room, but what awaited them was not the Nitori they knew.

"Well, well, well! If it isn't Sanae and her little friends, come to rescue their crazy police princess!" Nitori sneered down from on high. "You're not going to beat me. I've evolved far beyond any youkai you've faced before!"

Reimu stared up at Nitori, her face turning pale. "Nitori...! She's huge! What in Bishamonten's name happened?!"

"Shirikodama, son! I used to think they were just an obstacle on the way to a human's delicious liver, but it turns out they hold the key to the ultimate power!" roared Nitori, leaning her stocky, twenty-metre-tall frame down until Reimu could feel her hot, acrid breath.

"Son?" repeated Reimu, leaning backwards.

"You know what I mean."

"I'm not a son."

"Shut up! Am I killing you or what?!" barked Nitori.

"Or what." Marisa whipped out her hakkero. "You said 'rescue', right? So that means Kotohime's still alive. I won't let her suffer at your hands for a moment longer!"

"Yes, she's alive. I'm going to encase her in stone and use her as a back-scratcher," sneered Nitori. "You can't stop me! Prepare to-"

"MASTER SPARK!"

"Oof!" Nitori winced as the iridescent beam blasted her torso. "Nice try, but you'll have to hit me about a hundred times harder."

Marisa grimaced. "We can manage that, right, Reimu?"

"I don't know..."

"Then just-a leave it-a to me!" said Sanae. "Toadette! You got any mushrooms in-a that apron?"

Marisa gave her a withering look. "What kind of a witch WOULDN'T have spare mushrooms? Here, try this one." She tossed a round red fungus to Sanae, who immediately tucked in.

Bright yellow light flared around Sanae. "This is-a perfect!" she squeaked, growing to an enormous size. "I'd like-a to see you take-a me on now, Nitori!"

"What is this?!" growled Nitori, drawing herself up to her full height. "I'm supposed to be the huge one around here! I'll teach you to step on my toes!"

"Not-a likely, you big, ugly kappa! You'll-a be defeated by, oh, I don't even know whether I should pretend to be Luigi or Ultraman!" Sanae hopped up and down with glee, shaking the earth.

Reimu and Marisa couldn't help but cringe at Sanae's antics.

Nor could Nitori. "Is your friend, um, all right? Only she didn't seem half as crazy when she moved here..."

Reimu drew a breath in through her teeth. "Well..."

"See for yourself," said Marisa.

"All right..." Nitori didn't sound convinced. "Face me if you dare, giant Sanae!"

"For Gensokyo!" Sanae charged at Nitori and punched her in the face. Nitori stumbled back and pushed off against the wall, cracking some of the brickwork. She tackled Sanae right in the stomach.

Sanae welcomed the onrushing Nitori with a firm grasp and rolled across the floor, sending Marisa and Reimu scurrying for cover. Sanae threw Nitori into the solid gold statue she'd had built of herself, complete with bulky cap. Nitori scrambled to her feet, only to take a devastating kick to the face.

"Aaaaugh!" Nitori collapsed on the floor, bleeding from her nose.

"That's-a nothing more-a than a taste of-a my full power!" laughed Sanae, nowhere close to emulating Luigi's personality. "Are you-a ready to let-a Kotohime go or do I have-a to clobber you some more, uh?"

"Damn it..." growled Nitori. "With those dungarees, you have unrestricted movement and almost no floppy folds of fabric I can grab! Very clever, Sanae. You have me beaten. Kotohime's tied up in the wine cellar. As for me, I think I'll take my leave now!"

"Don't you dare!" Sanae lunged for Nitori, but the oversized kappa was gone, bursting through the ceiling in a shower of roofing tiles and broken timber.

"All right, you two take-a care of-a Kotohime! I'll go after-a her!" shouted Sanae, leaping through the ceiling. After a few seconds she crashed back down, taking most of the surviving roof with her.

"Oh, my gods, Sanae! What happened?!" gasped Marisa, rushing to her side.

"I forgot..." groaned Sanae. She flashed a forlorn yellow as she shrank back down to size. "Luigi can't fly. I'm probably better off as Sanae. Ow..."