touhou drawn by shikushiku_(amamori_weekly)

*PEW—* *PEW—*

The Amamori Family's here!!!

There are a lot of different tidbits about the being known as a kicchou, or jidiao. (Like traditional medicine, and that thing with the deer...) However, being born from a dragon, I think they're ranked a bit higher than your everyday animal. And yet, I think it's good if she herself has something of a complex about the name.
You might imagine that she's probably inferior to her dragon sibling, but I wonder if that's actually the case! Her defense seems high, at least, but... that might be kind of a must when people are trying to turn you into medicine.

Well, I sure ended up rambling. Whatever the case in this book, I still like Yachie-chan being called by her first name too, and super fluffy flirty SakiYachi! Hehehe! It might be because being gang leaders gives them something of an adulty aura, but whether it's bloody, fluffy, lovey-dovey or even outright lewd, SakiYachi is always good. I want to get three meals of it a day.

And last, Toutetsu-san, please hurry up. No need to push yourself, but please... Shikushiku Amamori Weekly

The next should be of the lovey-dovey sort...

I'm tired of drawing stripes!

Thank you for reading to the very end. How'd you like "The Voice That Tells Me"?

This book was about me trying to PRY out the answer to why Saki-chan calls Keiki by her first name, but Kicchou's always Kicchou. (No, I haven't forgotten Toutetsu either.)
It seems like the animals in the Animal Realm don't really have names. A wolf's a wolf, an otter's an otter. I figured that clearly the ones with full names are the strong ones, but until then they're mostly called by their species.
"Kurokoma" is technically not a species, but I figure she's different from a regular horse spirit anyway, because of the wings and all. (Pegasus spirit...?) The obvious option would've been to emphasize the gap between Saki and Yachie as people with and without names, as well as their opposite personalities. That's classic, but I can't get enough.

If having a proper name is about spreading it far and wide in order to become known and rise in the ranks, then maybe Yachie just wanted to live in peace. However, I like to think that being pushed by Meathead Saki-chan eventually made her learn to puff out her ~~flat~~ chest and wear the name "Kicchou" with pride.
On the other hand, Saki-chan is just looking for strong people, pure and simple, so she probably doesn't think about it anywhere near that deeply. (*Yachie must hate such a strong person being so amazed with her... but Saki-chan just wants strong comrades...)

Saki's WBaWC line "I'm sure Kicchou's gonna do something" makes me believe that she at least acknowledges Yachie as someone useful. Her style of leadership aside, I like to think that her ability to attract followers is something she unconsciously got from Miko-sama.
Well, in any case, I figured that she keeps calling Kicchou by her species name to keep up that wall between them. Bravo! Full points! Amazing headcanon! It's a doujinshi, so just accept it!
I was asked to participate in a SakiYachi collab book, so in the storyboarding phase I still thought I might put this story in that book. But the story ended up being a bit darker, so I decided to publish it separately. I think I made the right choice!