“Oho… It looks like you haven’t improved your magic at all. What a pity,” Mima said triumphantly, as she wins yet another rematch by Alice. But the evil spirit is a chronic liar. From her denial of being dead to her pretenses of being human, this is just the latest in her laundry of untruths. Mima has won alright; but it can’t really be denied that Alice has drastically improved both her magic and her use of it, to the point of almost landing a hit on the spirit, as shown by a ripped part below her dress. She can’t help but feel a bit worried inside; she has to counter this growing threat to her dominance in magic power somehow.
Alice meanwhile looks depressed and resigned to her fate. “I guess I will be playing maid again,” Alice thought. She knew there was a high chance of her losing against Mima; she knew the spirit’s capabilities, no thanks to her horrifying first rematch. Yet she doubled down on her 2nd rematch, seemingly forgetting what she first said when she lost that rematch. “Oh, what was that you said again last time? ‘No, absolutely not! NEVER AGAIN!’ Huhuhu!”, mocked Mima, mimicking the doll enthusiast’s voice. “It’s really a wonder why you challenged me again to a fight. Are you perhaps itching to be my maid again?”
“Those damn two stupid witches! I shouldn’t have listened to them,” Alice sobbed. “I am going to give them a serious beating once I’ve come back…” This made Mima curious. “What could’ve possibly convinced her to fight me again?” Mima thought with her moon scythe pointing at her head while crossing her arms. And so she inquired: “who are these two you’re talking about?”
“It was Yuki and Mai,” Alice replied, and before Mima was able to ask the reason, the puppeteer added: “seriously, why couldn’t they just let me go to Gensokyo for a while?! ‘Defeat that ghost first and we will help you with that!’ Yeah, you’re gonna help me get to the Yama when I’m dead!”
“That’s… the reason..?” Alice nodded. Mima just doesn’t know what to feel; whether to laugh at her or actually feel pity at the girl. But one thing is certain: she still doesn’t know how Alice became this strong. She needs to know.
“Okay… But hey, look at the bright side: you’re coming to Gensokyo again!” cheered Mima, or at least looked she is. “It’s just that this time, you’re with me again,” the spirit grinned. “Yes, but you never let me out of your stupid house, it might as well have been a prison in Makai,” retorted Alice.
This got Mima thinking again. The doll maniac got a point, but for perhaps a different reason. If she’s going to keep Alice locked in as a servant, she might not get her answer. She couldn’t get her to do danmaku duels in Gensokyo; that will incur the wrath of the Hakurei tired of seeing outsiders playing around in the land she has a responsibility of keeping the peace in, and she does not want to anger Reimu right now, at least not yet. She already has to keep it a secret that she took in a Makaian as what’s essentially a slave, due to the recent anti-immigration laws written by pretty much every power in Gensokyo, including the Hakurei Shrine.
Then Mima came across an interesting idea. It was a long time since she last did that thing, and in all her honesty (or what’s left of it), she wasn’t a fan of doing it. Not because it’s wrong or morally bad or anything, it’s just that she preferred her own body. Obviously, Mima is now thinking of… Possession. “Alice, have you ever thought of how it feels like to be a puppet?” Mima suddenly said a bit creepily.
“You already used me as a maid. I do believe I know how it feels like to be controlled,” Alice answered, seemingly being too dense to know what’s going to happen to her shortly. “That’s child’s play. Sure, you may have felt restricted, but you still had your free will, didn’t you?” teased Mima. That hint finally triggered every single alarm in Alice’s mind. “N-no, you couldn’t possibly mean-”
“I do,” Mima confirmed her thoughts coldly. There’s nothing really stopping the evil spirit from taking over Alice’s body, especially when the latter’s willpower is weak right now. This is the first person she saw who’s both weak in willpower and strong in magic. The people Mima possessed before couldn’t use magic, and therefore were essentially liabilities to her since she couldn’t use her own magic while in someone else’s body. With Alice however… Sure she would be a bit weaker, but she will still be strong enough. This is a very intimate opportunity of learning the dollmaker’s power she couldn’t let go to waste.
“And I wouldn’t mind not being Mima for a while.” ended Mima with a wicked smile. Immediately she rendered Alice’s arms and legs immobile with her Immobulus charm, and Alice couldn’t help but watch helplessly in fear as the evil spirit’s body disintegrates into a mist, really looking like a spirit.
Wasting no time, Mima phases herself into Alice’s body. Alice can feel herself writhing in pain; trying to make her body and mind resist being taken over, but to no avail. She can hear dark voices in her mind that are not of hers, telling her to give up. Her body convulses for a moment, and eventually relaxes as if she just died. Mima has now completely taken control. She is just too strong.
To one puppeteer’s glee and the other’s terror, “Alice” unfolds her eyes and gets up. As if it’s natural for her to do so, she turns her mouth into a smile, and speaks.
“This is going to be exciting.”
Originally published in r/touhou on 11 March 2023, then to Raddle f/touhou on 10 July 2023.
Generated with genjii