Hypnosis Reimu -v1.13- -pyon-pyon-pyon- Today

You want to run. You want to scream. Instead, your own lips part, and a soft sound escapes.

The first thing you notice is the sway. Not the gentle drift of a shrine maiden’s sleeve in the wind, but something metronomic. Deliberate. Reimu stands in the center of the Hakurei Shrine’s clearing, her gohei—the paper-tipped wand of purification—tracing a slow, lazy figure-eight in the air. The sound it makes is less a rustle and more a whisper: pyon. pyon. pyon.

“Version 1.12 had backlash,” Reimu muses, as if discussing tea. “Subjects retained too much self-awareness. They knew they were hypnotized. That led to resentment. But 1.13?” A rare, small smile. “They thank me for it. They even help spread the pyon .”

The figure-eight grows faster. The pyon becomes a chant. The shrine’s boundary with reality frays just a little more, replaced by a cozy, dreamlike loop where nothing unexpected ever happens. Where no one questions the maiden. Where every incident is solved before it begins. Hypnosis Reimu -v1.13- -Pyon-Pyon-Pyon-

Pyon.

You didn’t come here for this. You came to report an incident—fairies acting strangely, drifting in circles, muttering about "the new rule." But the moment you stepped past the torii gate, the air thickened. The usual scent of incense and old wood was replaced by something sweeter. Cloying. Like poppies and static.

“Don’t struggle,” she continues, stepping closer. Her bare feet make no sound on the grass. “The old methods were too noisy. Barriers. Sealing. Border of Perception. So much effort. But this…” She tilts her head, and the movement is wrong—too smooth, like a doll on a pivot. “This is elegant. No one gets hurt. They just… comply.” You want to run

“That’s it,” Reimu whispers. She’s close enough now that you can see the faint, spiral-shaped glint deep in her pupils—a reflection of something not present in the physical world. A self-hypnosis loop she’s turned outward. “Let go of the incident. There is no incident. There is only the shrine. And the shrine needs peace.”

Somewhere in Gensokyo, a youkai pauses mid-flight, confused. For a moment, she could have sworn she heard a faint, rhythmic whisper on the wind. But the feeling passes. Everything is fine. Everything has always been fine.

You try to laugh. “Debugging? Reimu, what are you—” The first thing you notice is the sway

Pyon.

From the corner of your eye, you see them. Cirno. Aya. A few nameless fairies. They stand in a loose ring at the edge of the clearing, swaying in perfect unison. Their mouths move silently, forming the same syllable over and over.