The incandescent object in the middle of the unbearably humid void burns brightly, drowning everything that could possibly survive such conditions in a sapping blanket of wavering air that leaves everything dry and unmoving. An arid sandscape bereft of life and scattered with ruined buildings harkening back to ancient Japanese architecture and bobbles dotting the dunes ranging from anime figurines to traditional Teru Teru Bozu among other things while manga, artbooks and various other Japanese literature hung in the skies above. A bizarre mashup that could only be described as a literal hellscape dedicated to one with a massive interest in everything remotely related to the Land of The Rising Sun.

Because it was, a spiritual prison meant to be as unrelenting as possible to ensure any ordinary individual trapped within remained neutered. Unable to resist or make a mess of things when the energy produced within them was constantly being sapped from their body, rendering them locked in a permanent coma until the arcane sun and its weakening effect was shut off.

And the sole occupant of this massive cell was the young woman lying limp in the prickling sand, her continued survival evident in the subtle rise and fall of her chest. Clad in a sporty black jacket with a popped collar over a warm velvety sweater vest with a cutout over the chest to give her ample bosom some breathing space. And around her plump lower half, form-fitting leggings cling tightly, leading down to heavy duty boots more commonly found in use by the more adventurous sort, but like the saying goes; don't judge a book by its cover.

Zoey, a simple name for a rather unsuspecting young woman. Despite her looks, the girl had a rather adventurous side to her, correlating to a hobby of being an avid collector and scholar (self professed of course) of anything related to Japan. From the usual anime and manga collectibles to the finer side of things like paintings, intact scripts and ancient ritual items. Zoey had at least one of every item in the catalog back home in the West.

But this place looked nothing like the West, nor did it look like any other locale that could reasonably exist elsewhere on Earth…She was somewhere not on this plane of existence. In fact, if one were to look carefully, they would realize Zoey’s boots faded off at the tips, as if she were an ethereal being of sorts; a ghost.

And rightly so, because if she were to remain aware of the current condition of her physical form, she might very well be pushed off the brink into despair. Or if, on the rare side of the spectrum, she didn't mind being reduced into becoming a simple set of hollow, lifeless clothes for another being to encase themselves in, slowly lose all sense of awareness, forgetting memories of her time as a flesh and blood human until all that remained in essence were clothes; unfeeling, uncaring, only there to serve their use until weathered, grown out of or damaged, upon which they would either be discarded or patched up. So the only course of action left would be for her mind to remain in stasis, kept frozen until her physical self was reverted back into its original form.

And said body was now hanging out to dry on a bamboo pole, left as a lifeless yet eye catchingly beautiful set of clothes once it all came together;

On the far right was a striking purple Chinese tabard with crossing black and red trigrams, whose matte texture complemented the lustrous sheen of the fabric used to compose the rest of the thing. And directly next to it hung a flowery white dress with voluminous sleeves made of a material that turned it slightly see-through if ever doused in water. The rest of the bamboo was taken up by an assortment of miscellaneous accessories meant to go together with the main articles; form fitting gloves of an elastic make, crimson strands of fabric to tie certain bits together, a large deflated mob cap hanging by a knot and lastly…the flowery bits that gave any woman some measure of decency clothed or naked. Right below, nestled neatly on some wood, were a pair of polished heels reflecting the glare of the morning sun above in its mirror-like surface.

All these were once made up the flesh and blood body of the human known as Zoey. Each piece related to a part of her that had been transformed into inanimate cloth. The tabard and dress; her body and legs. The mob cap and its corresponding tie; her head. The long eerie gloves; her arms. And lastly, the exquisite pair of heels; her feet.

But without the soul to tie it all together, and the magic to undo the curse that had left her this way, Zoey seemed doomed to forever remain in peaceful slumber, unaware of her current predicament while time and the world continues ticking onward without her.

The question was; who in their right mind would turn an innocent girl into lifeless cloth while holding their soul prisoner? And was such a thing even possible without the aid of some fantastical concept like magic?

Until recently, the answer was no. But after reviving an incredibly powerful being once thought to be literal fiction, Zoey had found out the hard way that such things were real and in some way, might've been better off buried and forgotten.

While out on another one of her ruin scouring adventures during a short vacation in Japan, Zoey would come across a strangely preserved golden statue hidden under rubble and the passage of mother nature's reclamation of the shrine she had discovered thanks to some obscure posts online. But the ruins extended up until and around the statue, with everything else remaining in tip top condition to keep the thing standing, as if someone or something had been tending to the place in an effort to ensure the thing remained unharmed.

It was only until she made physical contact with the statue when she realized the thing definitely wasn't normal as a naked woman emerges from the thing, taking heavily in appearance after a well known character from one of her favorite game franchises ever; Yukari Yakumo, one of the strongest characters in-universe and as it would appear, in reality as well.

After a short conversation and accepting her offer to come with her to Gensokyo, Yukari's hometown of sorts, the omnipotent yokai had locked Zoey's mind into blissful obedience before reducing her into her current state, literally donning her while she was still alive up until the point her head had lost all definition, tied up hair vaporizing into dust and her mind ceasing to exist as it became the top hat currently hanging out to dry in the sun. Adopting her soul safely inside her own body for safekeeping. All through the use of her signature ability; Gap Manipulation. By removing the humanity in Zoey, it had left her form easily malleable to take on whatever shape Yukari desired. And in her case; a new change of clothes to dress herself with before the two left the empty temple behind as one.

As creepy and ominous as the act was, it was the only way the yokai could ferry Zoey into her world without alerting the other denizens to her presence. Although she had little hopes of the human surviving even a fraction of a second outside of her protection, a promise was a promise.

And as Yukari sat idly outside her domain, watching the clothes that were Zoey's body hanging and flapping lazily in the wind, the wistful yokai conjures up the light of the human from her palms, inspecting it from all sides before blowing gently, watching it float over toward its vessel before all pieces of clothing begin to rise up into the air, glowing white hot as the lifeless fabric begins to fill and reform into bone, blood vessels and living flesh. Taking on the familiar shape of Zoey before the naked human drifts back down to the cool grass slick with morning dew.

In truth, Zoey could've been set free of her spell much sooner. But the whimsical yokai had taken her time perusing her memories and musing over the fact that her likeness alongside many other familiar faces had been replicated perfectly down to a T in something they called video games, even going so far as to collect everything known about them in literature.

Making a mental note to pay a visit to the human world to indulge her curiosity once this whole business with Zoey was over, Yukari snaps her fingers, manifesting the human's old attire over her naked self to grant her some decency and warmth.

"Good morning Zoey…I must apologize for the rather harsh treatment but alas, here we are as promised…"

Zoe on the other hand was not as sharp as Yukari was, still coming to from what felt like a thousand year slumber. The human was slow to catch on unlike an all powerful being like Yukari, who was more or less cognisant the moment she had been freed from her prison. Yawning while stretching her aching limbs as if she was in her own home and not out in the open wilds of a strange realm completely isolated from the happenings of the modern world beyond the great barrier that separated the two.

"W.. Why's it so…cold…and wet? Where am I?"

"The land of illusions my dear, Gensokyo? You did want to see it for yourself, correct?"

Taking one weary look around the cloudy, mountainous region clad in forested glades and the peaks of villages and castles dotted around the place. Zoey takes a moment to collect herself, freezing as her brain speeds past the recent events that had led her to where she was now…

Causing a mild freakout moment as the reformed human pats herself down in a panic, pinching, squeezing and pulling to make sure all of her was truly back in one piece, rising madly to her feet before looking right into Yukari's smug face with a mild look of anger.

"You! Y-You turned me into your clothes! My body…my mind…oh god I remember what you did with my face!"

Chortling in a hearty fit of laughter seemingly unaware of how a human would feel in that dilemma, Yukari's grin instead widens at the sight of the blush spreading on her face.

"Ahh tis was but a trifling moment, and you did agree to it didn't you? I can tell though, through the feigned anger and defiance…you enjoyed it didn't you? Remember every sensation of life and essence leaving your flesh as it unravels into gorgeous silk? 'Make me yours' was it? Ahh the feel of your body against my own as nothing more than luxurious cloth of the finest craftsmanship~"

"A-Alright I get it! You win!"

Cackling in amusement at the sight of Zoey hiding her bashful face behind her hands, Yukari rises from her seat before tearing open a luminous gash in midair, widening the thing to reveal a void lined with disembodied eyes. A portal to destinations unknown.

"W-Wait! What're you-"

"Like I said earlier, and if you can remember before I…wore you…you're free to explore Gensokyo…however, as you are an uninvited guest here, I cannot come to your aid should you get yourself in trouble with the locals…while there are humans here…none of them come from your time. We are all here by choice; undisturbed and at peace to be forgotten in the shadow of your rapidly advancing modern society. Remember that."

"But how will I get back?"

"If you can manage it, simply make it back here by the evening and tear this strip of paper in half. Do so, and I will come ready to transport you home, outside of Gensokyo."

Producing a slip of yellowed paper from somewhere within the portal before tossing it to allow the winds to deliver it to a stunned Zoey, Yukari phases midway through the violet gash, waving farewell without another word until no one but the human was left alone on the top of the hill.

"Seriously? I don't even get a bottle or something? Talk about hospitality…isn't she supposed to be the bigwig in charge here or something?"

Despite the ungrateful whining however, Zoey was in fact pretty excited as she dusts herself off while wiping away mud and blades of grass before staring out at the seemingly ordinary landscape beyond her down the hill. The air smelled different, fresher and full of life. The greens were of a lovely shade unlike any other field she had ever seen and the homely huts and buildings far off in the distance were of an older, forgotten architectural style preserved and left in museums and other cultural sites. It was like a piece of history, advanced in its own ways, had been plucked from the timeline and stored in an isolated bubble away from the rest of the world.

"Welp…can't waste all this just sitting here doing nothing! Wish she'd at least let me keep my phone but…oh well…"

Kicking off the dirt on her boots before shrugging off the residual stiffness of being trapped as helpless cloth, Zoey sets off down the hill, careful to watch her step with her ticket home safely stowed away in the back pocket of her leggings.

"Phew…this place was larger than I thought it'd be…"

Wiping the sweat off her brow while trudging down an empty dirt path away from a village of humans she had spent the last hour spying on, the excited girl was busy making mental notes of all the sights she had seen so far, committing them to memory for future detailed writings once she got home, and judging from the position of the sun high up in the blue sky above her, there was still plenty of time left till she had to return to the derelict house at the top of the hill.

"Hmm that place looks pretty sweet…I wonder if anyone's home…but as they say; nothing ventured…nothing gained!"

While she had made sure to be extra careful to remain hidden, the sight of the majestic temple looming off in the distance was starting to overpower Zoey's level headedness and common sense, not thinking of any possibly powerful inhabitants within after wistfully watching the other humans go about their lives in peace.

But while the sole resident within the temple wasn't as strong as Yukari was, the threat and power she held was still terrifying to behold. And also unlike the more mature Yokai, this one had a mischievous air about her, already sensing the intruder far beyond the boundaries of her home, anticipating Zoey's arrival by the time her boots had made contact with the pristine steps leading up and into the dark maw of the Myouren Temple.

"H-Hello? Is anyone there?"

After hearing no response or sensing any eyes on her, Zoey shrugs before heading up the steps leading inside the temple, reminiscing on the events that ultimately led her here. A stranger in even stranger lands…

"Hard to believe I'm actually standing here…in a realm of literal fantasy!"

"Yeah…hard ta believe ah'm seeing some human come wandering in here so willy nilly…you one a'them young'uns from the Outside?"

"?!"

Jumping a bit after hearing the sprightly young voice of a Japanese woman calling out to her while talking like a wizened old elder, Zoey takes a step inside the temple, coughing away thick plumes of noxiously thick smoke with heavy hints of herbs in the lingering stench, struggling to make contact with the voice.

"Y-Yeah…I guess you could call me that…you speak English too?"

"Course ah do…and that wordin'...mean ta say someone else here's got the pleasure ta meetcha first? That certainly does explain why yer here…"

"Getting the sense that I shouldn't be here…should I?"

Cackling loudly before the obscuring cloud hiding the owner of the second voice from view parts like a curtain being pulled aside, Zoey comes face to face with a young woman clad in a thick olive green robe that drapes heavily over her form, hiding most of her physical features from view besides the lovely face of a mature beauty in her prime, wrapped snugly by the checkered scarf hung tight around her slim neckline, smiling with motherly warmth at Zoey as she pulls a pipe away from her lips, letting loose a swift stream of smoke that dissipates after a few tense seconds of silence, distracting her from the sight of a hairclip fashioned after a leaf with a circular gap in its  length nestled snugly in her voluminous head of deep brown chestnut hair.

From the sound of the voice alone, Zoey had envisioned someone older, not the stunning beauty that could easily pass for a highschool student at worst and a college attendee at best eyeing her with kind yet dangerous eyes that hinted at a far more terrifying individual lurking beneath that vaguely familiar mask.

There was no doubt about it; she, like Yukari, was a Yokai.

Sensing her nervousness however, the Bake-Danuki taps her pipe; an old one of Japanese design known as a Kiseru, against the bowl containing the remains of whatever it was she had been smoking. Snapping Zoey out of her fearful stupor as the yokai shoots her a disarming smile.

"Whaddya getting so nervous for girl? I ain't gonna hurt'cha! Well, unless you came here thinkin' ta do bad by us…so…who's this lucky person who snuck ya in?"

"O-Oh! I'm not gonna do anything evil, I swear…it's just…the lady who brought me here…Yukari? She's…pre-"

"Gahak! W-Wait just a sec! Yukari? As in, the Yukari Yakumo? One ah Gensokyo's biguns?"

Nodding slowly at the lady's sudden outburst, Zoey begins to feel a chill run down her spine for just a moment before the atmosphere returns to normal, the stranger coughs loudly before inhaling a hefty amount of smoke from her pipe, adding in more crushed up leaves before lighting the thing without moving an inch, probably using magic of something Zoey could not comprehend.

"W-Well…good ta know…explains why ah felt something big enter Gensokyo in the last month or so…"

"Wait…last month?"

"Yeap! I get how ya feel…Yukari's ah head above us ol' Yokai…her sense of time isn't the best considering how long lived she is…lives well and slacks off just as much! Oh, and the names Mamizou! Mamizou Futatsuiwa!"

"Mamizou…a month…I can't believe it!"

While Zoey was well read on Touhou and its characters, Mamizou was one she had never done much looking into, only vaguely remembering her silhouette and tanuki nature…which was why she has failed to notice the wicked glint in the yokai's eyes as if a sudden thought had come to her, grinning from ear to ear before rapping her Kiseru against the ash bowl, catching Zoey's attention once more.

"Say…yer a real special one arentcha? Why don't ya come over here for a sec, lemme get a good look at ya!"

"Huh? Can't I just stand here? After what you just told me…I really feel like heading back now…"

"Ahh quit being such a crybaby about it! It'll only take ya a few seconds, plus, if yer really feeling down, I could just fly ya back to wherever it is ya need ta be…now c'mon and get a move on!"

Sighing before walking forward despondently, the unwitting human trudges forward with heavy footfalls, unaware of the trap she was heading into until it was too late.

"So? Is this close enough for what the heck?!"

By the time her senses had warned her of the incoming cloud of smoke headed her way rendered as if an ink artist had painted them in real time emanating from the victorious yokai, Zoey was engulfed in the gray smoke, feeling her skin catch on fire as if a thousand pin prick needles were jamming themselves into her…until there was nothing.

But in that brief lapse between pain and nothingness, Zoey could feel her body begin to morph, a familiar sensation that wracked her form not too long ago. But unlike the gentle unwinding of her flesh into equally soft silk, this one was brutal and unrelenting, an invisible hand that bites down around the entirety of her body save her head before applying a force akin to a pile driver on overdrive; melding her legs into one long streamlined form that thins out from the bottom while widening the further up it goes, losing life and texture as her skin takes on a polished brown sheen with the wavering lines of wood grain appearing wherever the new material spreads over Zoey's rapidly deforming body as the flesh and bone within her feet melt away, leaving a hollowed out metallic structure connected to heat resistant wood the rest of her legs had become.

By the time the limbs that grant her mobility had fused together into a thin tapering stick bereft of life and blood, Zoey's arms were beginning to undergo a different yet similar process, emptying out of her jacket sleeves as bone was the first to go, leaving the fleshy extensions wiggling like snakes while fingers deflate and melt away back into the gooey limbs as they finish wrapping themselves around her melting torso while her breasts empty themselves alongside her skeletal system and vital organs, leaving her plump torso ripe for manipulation as the invisible artisan working on her begins to press and knead, deleting her femininity as nipples fade and curves become gaunt and stiff, sending indescribable pleasure mixed with an equal amount of pain shooting up through a magically established connection between her brain and the rest of her transformed body, stifling her protests mid shout as a faint trickle of fluids, what little remained of her devastated pleasure response, leaks free from the tiny hole at the end of the smoke stick she was evidently becoming, choking back a moan as her arms finish entwining around her neck and hips, or at least what should've been the respective parts of her body now that they were left as nothing more than a golden tube as empty and lifeless as her feet were.

And the clothes that held her ticket home? Incinerated in the blink of an eye…

With the smoke clearing around Zoey, Mamizou scoffs at the sight of what had become of the human girl; a humiliated head barely keeping herself in check after the sudden and overwhelming pleasurable assault on her mind and the fact that her body had been shrunken down and forcibly reshaped into a fancy Kiseru similar in make to the one currently held in the yokai's hands, leaving her helpless to resist as the now gigantic and imposing figure of Mamizou leans forward to pick her up off the ground.

She wanted to yell, to rage against her manhandling, but her mind seemed hazy, unable to function properly as the smoke filling the room returned once more, clouding her vision while filling her head with pleasant thoughts of submission and peace. Was it because of her change in status?

"Hehe! Should've thought better than to trust a Bake Tanuki on word alone! Don't ya worry though…ah won't treat ya like ol' Yukari did…you'll see plenty'ah use…from both ends!"

"W…W-Wait! Whaddya mean…bo-ooghh ahhnmm~"

Speaking was a terrible idea when you were essentially the living breathing bowl of a smoking pipe, and while Zoey was drunkenly trying to talk her way out of this sudden dilemma, the merciless yokai stuffs her open mouth full of the unknown narcotic she had been smoking, doing a number on Zoey's cognitive functions as plumes of smoke begin to pour out of her nose and ears, funneled down her throat before circulating through the thin stem of her new body before gurgling in pleasure at the sensation of Mamizou's lips gracing her sensitive tip, sucking in the delicious concoction coming out of it with a satisfactory sigh.

"Phoo wee! That's some good stuff right there! I knew you were special kid!"

"Ffurg murr barrg…" (Turn me…back…)

Ignoring the incoherent grumble emanating from her living pipe, Mamizou instead takes another hefty swig, drowning Zoey in that intoxicating mix of ecstasy and mind numbing dullness imbued upon her fading mind by the otherworldly drugs currently burning up within her. It felt like insidious fingers composed of smoke held an iron grip over her brain, and with each breath, the yokai seemed to sap her of strength and concentration, darkening what little remained of her vision while making it that much harder to formulate thoughts as her determined expression gives way to a stupefied gaze with not a hint of emotion left besides pleasure; eyes beginning to roll back into her head, saliva dripping her from her lips, a furious blush on her still rosy cheeks…

And a faintly metallic hue begins to coat what remained of her organic hide as strands of brown hair begin to pile down around Mamizou's crossed feet, incredible hair loss evident in the bald spots beginning to make themselves obvious on the human's disembodied head.

"Pwahh~ Enjoyin' it yet? If not, ya will be in just ah couple more puffs~"

There was no response this time, only an emotionlessly groan as yet another harsh breath drains what little remained of Zoey's humanity away from her, feeling her face begin to lengthen and take on an arched position, forced to crane herself upward with a mouthful of powerful drugs, hairless eyes half closed with her brows completely decimated. All while her lips begin to inflate while expanding at the same time, widening into a perfect circle that lets what little remained of the leaves to funnel deeper inside her solidifying throat, robbing her of the ability to vocalize any further sounds or words as her moans and groans trickle away into a subtle gasp.

At this point, Zoey's normal human sized head had, like the rest of her body, begun to shrink, losing the last bits of hair left on her glimmering scalp as her nostrils and ears seal themselves forever, allowing for a stronger produce to fill Mamizou's mouth while further spurring her onward, drawing in deeper breaths that drain Zoey just as fast, narrowed eyes closing shut before melting together like liquid metal, leaving nary a trace of a human visage behind while her formerly plump lips finishes being subsumed by the same shimmering gold the rest of her head had become. Finalizing her transformation into just another Kiseru in Mamizou's arsenal. Followed by a victorious cackle as a large puff of smoke obscures the young woman from view, parting to unveil the yokai's true form as a younger girl sporting the long fluffy tail of a Japanese racoon along with a matching set of ears atop her head, flicking in leisure as yet another puff of smoke escapes her; the condensed essence of what was Zoey. Her humanity, her memories, all of it mixed into a powerful hypnotic drug that could leave any yokai besides the strongest of them in a drunken stupor for days on end.

And speaking of a powerful one, a large purple gash makes itself known before the relaxed Bake Danuki, releasing a familiar figure clad in her usual attire with long flowing blonde trailing her like the smoke plumes wafting around the darkened interior of the majestic temple, pushed aside by a flippant wave of the hand upon Yukari Yakumo's approach.

"My my…what will Byakuren say once she returns…you're fogging up the air and littering the place with ash…how dreary!”

 "Ahh can it…can't a tanuki like me enjoy some good ol' breaks every now and then…speakin' of…wanna give this a whiff? It's a brand new brew of mine!"

Despite her claims, Yukari had already known what had become of the unfortunate human that had willingly wandered into the Bake Danuki's home. She had warned her so this was entirely on her, sighing despondently while bending down to accept the Kiseru, inspecting the smooth wood and warm metallic parts of the finely made implement, still able to sense what remained of Zoey's stubborn mind fighting back even though it could no longer recognized what her former self looked like, a ghost, a figment of what once was.

"I suppose letting loose every once in a while isn't such a bad thing…I'll have a go…"

Bringing the mouthpiece to her lips that still smelled strongly of Mamizou's saliva and Zoey's love, Yukari inhales strongly, sapping what remains into her mouth far quicker than the culprit herself was able to do in a single breath. Feeling the emotions and memories of Zoey coursing within as it settles down inside her belly. It was warmth…love…joy…at the thought of being kissed by her favorite,…

'And if this piece is what I think it is…oh Zoey you naughty girl~'

"Uhh…nice ta see ya enjoy it and all…but you're meant to exhale Yukari…not swallow…"

Handing the thoroughly drained smoke stick back to Mamizou without another word before reopening the portal leading back to her personal realm, Yukari takes her leave just as suddenly as she had appeared.

"Ehh..she's right though..I gotta get the place cleaned up neat and proper 'fore she comes back…but…maybe after another round!"

Striking up another fire in her newest Kiseru, the lazing Mamizou would spend the rest of the day watching the evening sun set over the horizon from her comfortable spot within Myouren Temple, soon forgetting Zoey as her visage fades from the minds of all with the passage of time…left as a simple tool to bring its owner comfort and nothing more…

THE END