Hello. I'm Hiyori, the part of StrangeChameleon who doesn't like going out at night this time of year because they're afraid of the cicadas. After Hisaka went home, when I went to the toilet and leaned against the back of the seat, I heard the sound of a cicada's furious wingbeats and sprung up in fear. What is this, a horror movie!? Ahem. In any case, we finished two new books for Summer Comiket! It's a miracle! This was actually supposed to be a Three Witches book, but that couldn't make it in time, so we decided to do a ReiMari one instead. But then it seemed like that couldn't make it either, so we did this one. Now we have three different stories in the backlog, dangit...

Anyhow, about this book. Summery story, Bon theme, stick fireworks. When it started to become a lot heavier than expected, I was a bit worried, but Hisaka just got really into it. And not just that, the story itself saw a real power-up... There are all sorts of things you can do with ReiMari, but Marisa becoming a youkai or not is definitely one of the big ones. That inevitably brings with it the whole lifespan question.

If she rejects her humanity in order to follow her dreams, she has to be aware what this means in terms of her lifespan relative to Reimu, but when the time actually comes, she can't take being left alone and continues to cling onto her!!! Isn't that great!!!!!!? Only then does she realize just how important and taken-for-granted Reimu really was to her! She thought she was prepared for it, but she absolutely wasn't. She might even regret it... Right!? RIGHT!? (I'm aware that I am sleep-deprived and maybe a little hyperactive.) I'll calm down now.

Youkai Marisa's design was inspired by CoLA. I tried to make her look a little more mature with no sleeves, high heels and whatnot. The side braid is a huge part of makes her Marisa, but I just wanted to put that big ribbon on her, hence her new hairstyle. The little Hakurei was also supposed to have a design you could mistake for Reimu at first glance, so she was drawn with that in mind.

This book was short, but lots of fun to draw. And within schedule! (The important part) I really hope you enjoyed it. But so, let's meet again over our next book.