#issue_21

Remilia losing control of the SDM?

The Scarlet Devil mansions labor troubles have continued to get worse.  The ongoing fairy maid strike has turned into an outright mass resignation of much of Remilia Scarlet’s household staff following a large Danmaku battle between the leadership of the strike and Remilia herself.  

 When asked for comment Remilia would only confirm that the fairies have left her employ and that the Danmaku fight happened.  While it is not out of the ordinary for Remilia to refuse questioning about the mansions internal affairs the fairies have proven equally tight lipped about the events of the strike and subsequent mass resignation.  When asked about the causes of the strike, Rosemary the former leader of the striking fairies refused to answer any questions telling yours-truly to “Sod off”.

 It is still unclear what exactly caused the strike to progress in such a way.  The initial strike reputedly started due to poor pay and working conditions in the mansion, although recent information has called the veracity of that into question.

 Several rumors have been circulating within the communities that the fairies have since settled into that the strike was in part caused by Remilia being a heavy chain smoker.   While it is unknown exactly what effect if any second-hand smoke would have on fairy immortality, large amounts of smoke can’t be pleasant in their work environment.

Another such rumor is that Remilia was into various perverted things.  When further questioned about the rumors, the fairies questioned would only confirm the rumors and that it was in someway related to the causes of the strike but would not elaborate further.

Possible coup attempt by Flandre Scarlet

Most of the fairies left to find employment elsewhere in Gensokyo or returned to the forest of magic.  However, many were rehired by Remilia’s younger sister Flandre to work in the library.  Most notably Cherry who prior to the strike was one of the leaders of the fairies has been retained by Flandre as a personal attendant.  When asked for comment, Cherry would only confirm that she was now working for Flandre and not Remilia.

That Flandre now controls the bulk of the remaining staff of the mansion combined with the lack of willingness of any party to speak to the Bunbunmaru has lead some to speculate that this was a silent coup executed by Flandre to seize power over the mansion from her older sister.  Leaving Remilia mistress in name only.  Flandre may have arranged the strike through fairies loyal to her to force her sister’s hand and cause the mass resignation.  Leaving behind only the fairies personally loyal to Flandre.

Unfortunately, the notoriously reclusive Flandre could not be reached for comment by press time.

Ongoing financial troubles

The mansion’s finances are said to have been in a crisis for some time now.  Remilia’s most recent attempt to solve this issue by building and opening a water park appears to have been reasonably successful.  Despite problems with someone managing to poison the water supply, attendance numbers remained high throughout the summer.

It is unknown as to how much this has helped the mansion’s alleged financial problems.  If the problems are still severe, it is possible that the motivation behind Flandre’s coup was to do with Remilia’s mismanagement of mansion finances.

Hot-spring to be renovated

The mountain hot spring near the Moryia shrine is getting remodelled soon.  Sources close to the issue say that several cosmetic updates and changes are being planned; notably the removal of the divider between the men’s and women’s side.   This effort to repair and remodel the hot spring is being championed by local merchant Rinnosuke Morichika.

Rinnosuke has taken on the care and maintenance of the hot spring in recent months as the Moyria shrine has proven either unwilling or unable to do so themselves.  According to Rinnosuke this is because he was asked to clean up the women’s side that had become unacceptably dirty.  He is currently drafting plans to overhaul the entire thing and is looking for volunteers to help with the labor.

Divider likely to be removed

The most notable change that is planned for the hot spring is the removal of the divider between the men’s and women’s side.  Rinnosuke himself has come out as the sole voice against the idea, others have spoken in favor of the plan.

Removing the divider would bring the bath house’s design more in line with modern ideas from the outside world.  The bath house’s guests are mostly female; removing the barrier would also increase the amount of space available to them.

Rumors of scandals

Removing the divider may also reduce the scandalous rumors around the bath house.  One such unconfirmed rumor is that Tenshi Hinanawi was seen going into the men’s side.  She was allegedly overheard saying “Who needs personal space? Not I. Not you.” in a flirtish voice.  Although that rumor is unconfirmed, the fact it’s plausible at all shows how hiding the relatively unused men’s side behind a barrier can lead to such rumors.

Halloween:  What even is it?

Halloween is upon us dearest reader!  It comes on the 31st of the month every year and brings candy and fear for all.

Don’t know what it is dearest reader?  You are not alone, much of Gensokyo is in the dark about what Halloween is.  Please allow yours truly to help!

Halloween is a holiday that comes around every year on the last day of October.  According to experts it’s a day when mystical boundaries are unusually thin.  If you have a spell or other mystical thing you want to do dearest reader, Halloween would be the night to do it.

Further, Halloween has a tradition where youkai go door to door in the village receiving offerings of candy and baked goods, if some unfortunate human does not have any to offer, the youkai can do what they want to the human in retaliation.

Yours truly would like to remind you dearest reader that as nice as the thought of attacking humans in the village might be we still need them, so don’t eat too many.

Some youkai like the darkness youkai Rumia are planning to take full advantage of this years Halloween.  When asked what her plans are she said that she’s planning to go to the village in disguise.  Not a bad idea if, I think yours truly might have to do that as well.

When asked for her plans, Kaguya Houraisan seemed to be a bit confused about the point.  Thinking that the point of Halloween was to deliver candy.  Although, she isn’t a youkai or human, so maybe that’s normal?

Chen who you might remember dearest reader is one of Yukari’s many servants expressed regret at missing last years Halloween but didn’t have any specific plans.

Not everyone is getting into the Halloween mood this year, however.  When asked about her plans, Flandre Scarlet of the Scarlet Devil Mansion said she didn’t feel that Halloween felt “real”.  I think she’s just tired after her coup against her sister.

Whatever your plans are dearest reader, have fun!

Rumor Mill

Yes dearest reader, it is time to give you a quick rundown of all of the celebrity gossip that’s been swirling around lately; and then because the Bunbunmaru isn’t a tabloid, yours truly will give you the missing piece of context that explains the rumor.

-Reimu Hakurei was spotted kissing Chen Yakumo recently.  It turns out that a badly loaded “instruction” given to Chen caused her to have a compulsion to do so.  It’s unknown if this has something to do with her nature as a Shikigami.