I left Kourindou in a bad mood. Seriously, what exactly was Kourin trying to pull there? Well, I think I adequately punished him so that he'd never try that ever again.

Since I was so close to the forest, I guess stopping by Alice's house would be the next step. Both Kourin and Reimu were acting weird, so if Alice starts acting weird, we'll have a full-blown incident on our hands.

I landed by Alice's house and knocked on the door. "Hey, Alice, you there, ze?"

The door opened. A small doll answered. Of course, the lazy puppeteer never bothered to do her own work. "Marisa, is that you? Come inside." Alice's voice inside invited me in. I placed my broom in the umbrella rack by the door.

Alice sat at her table with some tea. Another cup was set out. "Were you expecting a guest to come, ze?"

"I figured you'd come sometime today, so I just set it out to save myself the trouble." She became red and flustered when I looked at her normally. "I-it's just a habit! I wasn't eagerly awaiting your arrival or anything!" She started explaining herself without any prompting. She was acting weird, but that was normal for Alice.

I sat down and helped myself to some tea. "Well, I didn't come here to play. I'm actually here on work." There were also some cookies on the table. I helped myself to a couple of those too. "Have you noticed anything about Reimu, Kourin, or anyone else lately?"

Suddenly, the atmosphere became extremely tense. Alice started moving really stiffly. "Oh, what about those two?"

"I-I was just wondering if you noticed anything strange with the way they're acting…" The atmosphere changed back to normal just as quickly. Was I imagining things?

"Oh, no, I haven't visited them lately, so I wouldn't know…" She mumbled something incoherent, but that was Alice. I still had a bad feeling, though, as if I had to get out now before it was too late.

"Since you don't know anything, I better get going. Sorry for bothering you, ze." I stood up. Alice started panicking and stood up to stop me.

"Hey, wait a minute! You just got here, so why don't you stay for a bit longer." The cookies and tea were tempting; I was quite famished after disciplining Kourin. But, right now, I couldn't be distracted from my work. I shook my head.

"No, I really have to go, ze. I'm really working right now." As soon as the words left my mouth, the intense atmosphere returned. It was incredibly hard to breathe. I looked at Alice. She had her head tilted slightly downward, hiding her eyes behind her bangs.

"…Oh, I see. You need to leave here as soon as possible so you can go see Reimu or Rinnousuke, or even that DAMN PATCHOULLI!" She started in a normal voice, but by the end of her statement, she was screaming and panting heavily. She lifted her head and looked at me squarely. Her eyes were scary.

Actually, I already visited Reimu and Kourin, but I don't think correcting her would help in the current situation. "A-alice, I think you need to calm down here…"

She calmed herself down, but the atmosphere didn't lighten up any. "You're right, Marisa. How embarrassing, showing you such an ugly side of myself." She picked up a cup of tea and drank. She placed it down gently, seemingly ignorant of the atmosphere that she was generating.

"Marisa, you look quite uncomfortable just standing there. Come, sit down at the table." I'm sorry, but I don't think I could enjoy the taste of anything right now.

"L-look, Alice, I really need to go. I'm actually quite busy…" I started to inch away.

"LIES!" Her sudden shout surprised me and froze my legs.

"It doesn't look like I can trust you not to go to that lazy miko, or the stupid shop owner." She moved around the table, tea now cold. "And I definitely can't trust you not to go to that fake alchemist."

She moved close to me and whispered into my ear. "So it looks like I'll just have to keep you here…"

I jumped away from her. It's not safe in this house. I had to find a way out. I dashed to the door, only to find it barricaded with armed dolls. "It's impossible escape…" Even the windows were blocked off. I was in a pretty bad situation.

"Impossible doesn't exist in my vocabulary!" I took out my mini-hakkero "Love Sign [Master Spark]!" I fired it at the door, making the dolls guarding it explode.

"I'd love to stick around but-" I stopped. The dust cleared and there were doll parts everywhere. But there were still dolls blocking my way out. It was as if I hadn't done anything.

"Oh, it looks like you've broken some of my dolls. I still have many more, though." She stood by the entrance to the kitchen, smiling. She licked her lips. "But I still have to punish you later."

"You've got to be kidding me!" Brute force won't work against a puppeteer in her workshop, it seems. I picked up my broom and ran in the opposite direction of where Alice was. She wasn't running after me, but walking, like she knew I wouldn't be able to escape.

What kind of freaky horror movie was this?!

Escaping through the doors and windows was no good, so I'd have to make my own exit through a wall. I got on my broom. This was going to hurt, but it was more important to get out fast. "Blazing Star!" I chose a random wall and braced myself.

I crashed through and was thrown off of my broom. "Ouch… Did I make it through?" Unfortunately, the floor was not made of the earth of the forest, but wood. It seems I had broken my way into another room.

Countless dolls lined the walls of this room. But there was something very unnerving about them. They were all dressed in black and white, as if they were…

Dolls flew around me and grabbed my arms and legs. I tried to shake them off, but to no avail. The stupid little things were stronger than they looked.

"Oh my, it looks like you found my secret room." Alice calmly walked in after me. She looked as if she were in paradise. "A whole room full of you. So wonderful."

"Why are you doing this?" I struggled against the doll restraints. Alice was snapped out of her idiotic looking trance.

"Why? It's because I love you Marisa." This is some way of showing it! But wait, if she says that, then I now know her weakness.

"Well, right now I hate you Alice!"Critical Heart Break!

"H-hate?!" She stumbled backwards and clutched her head in disbelief. "No! You're lying! I don't believe you…"

Yes, now a little more and she should…

She began chuckling, which turned into a full blown laugh. "Well, if you hate me now, I guess I'll just have to teach you to love me!" She attached more dolls to me, sealing my movement. For the rest of my life, I would become her puppet, and hers alone…

BAD END

...

As if I'd ever let that happen!

I slipped out a vial from my sleeve and threw it at the ground. It made a bright flash and fired bullets, blinding Alice and getting rid of half the dolls on me. Just enough to reach my broom, mini-hakkero still attached.

Alice recovered from the temporary blindness. "What do you think you're doing?"

I aimed my broom upwards. "Hey Alice, the roof is the only thing above us now, right?"

She quickly realized my intention and sent more dolls after me. "Stop her!"

I flew. The dolls on me couldn't handle the sudden acceleration and fell off. But I wasn't free yet. I'm pretty sure all the dolls in the house were right behind me and catching up.

No choice I guess. "Sorry Alice, but this time it really is good bye!" Mini-hakkero was fully charged. "Star Sign [Dragon Meteor]!"

The spark fired behind me provided me with an extreme speed boost and also destroyed my pursuers. I broke through into the free air and flew away from the house as fast as possible. I don't think I'll be going back any time soon.

Alice slowly regained consciousness and opened her eyes. "Nnn, what happened?" Her eyes shot open at the sight of the destruction. "Nooo, my Marisa collection!"

Afterword:

Wah, Alice is scaryy~ Tsundere Alice was way too normal. Had to kick her up a notch. But she turned out being somewhat yandere. I can almost hear Parsee going

Parsee: Ooh, I'm so jealous... I didn't even manipulate her jealousy and she turned out like that... That Marisa... So jealous...

But I kind of like it. It's a bit rough, though. Huh? What do you mean Halloween was last week?

So another chapter up. Closer to the length I prefer for this type of fanfic, I guess. Will I try to keep a regular weekly update? We'll see.

Thank you for reading.

Omake Corner

Good day Alice

Alice entered her secret room almost skipping. "Marisa's so cool, I ended up making another doll!" She placed the freshly made one on the shelf. "What will I do with all these dolls, I wonder." She giggled.

Bad day Alice

Alice stomped into her secret room and slammed the door. "Marisa, you idiot…" She took one of the dolls from the shelf. In her other hand was a hammer and a few nails.