Am I real or just an illusion? ~The Night Terror Incident

The further they flew towards the mainland of Gensokyo, the darker it became as the skies were filled with thick red mist. The only place Elly knew of in the mainland was the Hakurei Shrine, and so they would start there. As they approached the shrine's torii, Elly gave a warning to Kurumi, "Remember, the shrine is inhabited by someone who beats up youkai for being youkai. We should make sure she is not at the shrine before looking around, otherwise we might end up on the wrong side of some danmaku!"

"So this is the Hakurei Shrine's torii isn't it? I have vague memories from the inhabitants of those spiritual place.. Something from the past, but I'll make sure to be as careful as you are when Yuuka's asleep."

"I think we should at least peak through the windows, to see if the coast is clear." Elly landed, and stood on tiptoes to see inside the shrine's front left window. Nobody around. Moving round to see in the other rooms, she noticed a pan of water absent mindedly left on a stove, but there wasn't anyone inside the shrine. "Kurumi, I think we're safe. Although, I'm not quite sure what we're looking for. I think I'm going to try to find any references to these sigils, but what was it that was troubling you?" Elly held her head in embarassment of her forgetting.

Kurumi lands just a moment after Elly did land, as she heard what Elly said she responded with: "Ah, luckily there's nobody here.. About what was troubling me, a good while ago, I don't even know how many years back, there was this shrine maiden that flew towards Mugenkan. So it was my job to stop her at the Lake of Blood, but she was too strong.. She wasn't the only one either, a little while before a Magician fought me because she wanted to enter Mugenkan, thing is that the Magician was somewhat reasonable.. The Shrine Maiden acted like she was berserk; didn't show any mercy, not even when the fight was over.." Kurumi exhaled; inhaled since the thought was really troubling her. she then shook her head; quickly said "A-anyways, it's not a good thing to continue about this! May I ask if there's any reason to be here?"

Elly shook her head in confusion, "Don't turn this back on me! I'm here to find info on the sigils on the bottom of this statue. I thought there was a malevolent force at the lake you wanted to find out about!" She stepped inside the shrine, and walked over to the bookshelf, picking up a book called "The Magician, and Other Various Magical Youkai"

"O-oh, I thought you meant that about the memories of the past I mentioned. Ah, can't be helped. Sorry for not knowing precisely; about the thing on the lake, I mentioned it had been a thing since a couple of years ago right? Well, a couple of years ago a demonic couple moved to my lake. Now, migration in the lake isn't much of a serious affair as most people want to move out unless they're also vampire. The demonic couple built a castle there. Although the both of them have always been friendly towards the few vampires that inhabit the place including me, everytime they moved next to demon eyes or any other of the creatures that do live around my lake, the creatures behave strangely aggressive. Not towards them but certainly against those around them, the gaze in the eyes of that couple is quite strange. It is a magical force but I can't recognise it. the whole thought is quite confusing." Kurumi holds her hand against her chin and mumbles "Mmh, I don't really know, they have a very charismatic aura around them so they're most likely vampire too. But there are rumours which say they're actually blood-drinking lunarians which once had been sentenced to hell. I don't know, one thing is for sure, they must have to do with the incident!" as Kurumi says her last lines, she starts swinging around with her fingers.

"Well, okay then. If you think you can find anything here then do so, if not, just steal some underwear. That'll teach the miko for being so intolerant." Flicking through the pages of the book, nothing jumped out at her as being relevant. She picked up another, skimmed through again, nothing. These two were the only ones with seemingly relevant titles, so she started on the other ones, on the far left: a simple looking book, entitled, 'Native Gods'.
Opening it up, the first page greeted her with a drawing of a frog Goddess, known as Suwako Moriya. Scribed below the image, was her sigil, one that matched one of the sigils on the statue. She looked through the rest of the book, but could not find any other sigils that matched the statue.
"Kurumi, I've found... something. It's a weak lead, since I have no idea where to actually go to find this person, but I know who we need to look for."

"Ah, I found some money in this donation box.. I'll take that with me, since that could be handy. I see a few photos of a miko I slightly do memorize, It's on the tip of my tung but I don't quite know who it exactly is. As for the underwear... Stealing panties?! Sorry, but may I ask where you got that idea from..?" Kurumi had her suspicions but made sure to not mention those, instead she said: "Well, I suppose underwear is always fine. Let me get to the drawer.." As she opens the first drawer, she finds a few notes. "Hhm, interesting. A book regarding the youkai of Gensokyo, Elly, do you mind it if I take this with me? I could potentionally use this later for my lake research. Not too sure if this could provide you help too but the littlest bits are found in the unseen corners I guess." Kurumi lays down the book on a shelf for a brief moment awaiting Elly's approval of taking it with her, she then proceeds to open the second drawer. "Ah, underwear. All of them are yellow; red striped shimapans, not a problem... Their size seems to fit me and they smell nice.. No, I'm not speaking about the scent of human blood as much as I'm speaking about the scent of violets. Hhm, I'll take those with me.. They do fit me and it'll teach her a lesson indeed." As Elly mentions to Kurumi that she has found a kind of lead, Kurumi puts her arms on her side. "Ah, great. A lead, The best would be to ask around but that's probably going to be tough. Atleast for me.. Being a vampire often scares off the humans; youkai. In your case it should be possible though, we might want to hold this in mind for if we find people."

"Hey, no need to ask me to steal it. This is the miko's house, not mine. Just keep in mind that if it's in her underwear drawer, it might actually be important, so she may try to get it back." Elly sighed. As good company as Kurumi was, she was sometimes too much to deal with. She reminded herself of why she worked at Mugenkan - to avoid people and live alone. 'Perhaps this journey wasn't the best idea.' She spoke again, with reduced motivation, "Kurumi, if you've got what you need, we should go before the miko returns. The map on the wall shows there is a village down the path from here." She stepped out the shrine and flew high, and then in the direction of the Human Village.

"Ah, right. Hhm.. The potential value of this book may not yet be proven, but I do find anything that could help to be too important to leave behind. I'll take it with me regardless of the risk she might try to find it back, after all she got no lead who took it." Kurumi thought to herself that asking if she may steal a book is kind of a weird thought, after all, why would you ask to steal something? She somewhat sighed in relief at the thought of Elly not making fun of her, she reminded herself of how people usually used to make fun of her due to her dumb questions. Being polite; pensive isn't always easy, the thought made her shake her head a little. "Right, that was then and this is now.." She then grabs the book from the shelf she did put it on; put it in her pocket. Same followed for the money; the underwear she found to smell nice. "Funny thing, that drawer did reek of a maiden's blood too, it's quite a nice scent but I don't quite differ where the bodily fluid may come from. I just like blood in general, I don't quite care if it's a man or women.. Then again women blood is by far the most common in Gensokyo." It must've been weird for a vampire like Kurumi to think of those things, what she had not noticed is that she once again spoke her thoughts publicly, upon noticing it she felt somewhat scared that Elly might've overheard what she had said. "A-ah but regardless of all thinking; all, I suppose we indeed shouldn't take our time; chances here by staying any longer. Since you saw the directions to the human village, I'll follow you. Make sure to be of good company to me because you know what kind of thoughts humans do have against vampires, if anything, my father and mother were almost brutally murdered by them simply for being a vampire. It's still a horrific thought to have; even worse to behold in front of yourself." As Kurumi spoke her words of both remembering some of the darkest parts of the past; her own concerns over that, she started running until she made a jump; her bat-wings did the rest. She then flew behind Elly in hope to find more information together in the Human Village whilst secretly hoping she can resupply herself of fresh blood.

~

The trip to the Village was uneventful, the red mist that now hung above had blocked any weather patterns. Landing down at the edge of the settlement, the place was eerily quiet as people hid in their homes. Elly found a bush, and put her scythe into it - normally she would never let go of one of her most prized posessions, but being seen in the village with it would only cause more panic.
The pair walked into the empty market square, and realising that there was no-one at all out in the streets, Elly told Kurumi, "If we want to talk to anyone, it looks like we're going to have to knock on their doors. Why are humans so awkward about danger? They can easily learn to deal with it... yet they hide in their houses, avoiding having to even see the danger. It's a dangerous mindset."
She walked up to the door of the local tavern, and peeked in. A few drunk men were inside, but it was otherwise quiet. "Perhaps the barman knows something." Elly walked up to the bar, while the men gave her a semi-disgusted look. "Excuse me, do you know of a Goddess called Suwako Moriya?"
The barman's response was unhelpful, "Uh, maybe? I dunno the names of them but I do know there's a fair few around here."
"She is some sort of native Goddess, taking the form of a small frog girl. I don't know anything else about her."
"Ah... hmmm..." the barman racked his brain for a few moments, "I think I know of who you're talking about. I reckon she's the one living in that shrine on the mountain."
"Oh, the mountain you can see from just outside here?"
"Yeah, the Youkai Mountain. Very few humans go there, so anything I or anyone else knows is just hearsay. It's inhabited by the Tengu, so you will probably need a damn good reason for going up there; unless you want to get on the bad side of some of the worst youkai around."
"I'm sure I'll be fine, thank you very much."

"My goodness, this red mist is quite thick; although it is atleast sparing me from the brutality the sun could bring me but I'd like to see the colour red a lot less for just once." Kurumi was mumbling this to herself as she landed next to Elly, she gazed around the Humn Village which deemed to be quite quiet. As quiet as a ghost-village would've been. "Hhm, a lot less of a reason to worry about my giant bat-like wings atleast, please do note I have to be invited in to get into houses, you might not know this yet but it's quite a strange thing for a vampire to move in to someone else's house considering a strange sacred force, I guess public places like taverns won't make this matter since people are always allowed to go in and out. As for the Hakurei Shrine a moment ago, Since I should help you to investigate that is my consent because the Shrine Maiden had not been there for the moment being." Kurumi thought to herself that being a vampire doesn't only have serious benefits but also lots of responsibilities; sadly enough a wide-array of weaknesses. "As for humans, in this case I'm glad they stay away, as much as I feel like I want to drink a bit of blood right now, I just don't think it is safe for me to be here. I can't hide my wings; what humans do to vampires out of fear is farther than the word 'disgusting' could ever describe if I may mention that. A-ah, about humans being scared once again, I guess they have the constant thought of being overwhelmed by the unknown, for us vampires that is pretty normal but we're worried quite often if it may be a cause of certain danger. We do note everything; we aren't likely to hide ourselves like the humans here do though. So I guess you're right that it is a dangerous mindset." In front of the bar-door Kurumi peeks through the window; sees some drunk men . "I guess I'll stay outside for a moment, see you soon Elly." A moment later; Kurumi sees how a few of the drunk men make a disgusting face whilst staring at Elly's bum. "Mmh, I know vampires always talk thrash about humans and in some cases I can understand that, acting bad like that won't change me from seeing the bad side either." As a moment passes, Kurumi feels like she could fall asleep from waiting. She often was known for being sleepy overday but she would only show this whenever the chance would be there. "Sigh, I really feel like sleeping right now. Can't be helped, can't be helped.. Should I tell Elly how disgusting those men were? They were staring at her bum too... W-well, I don't quite know how Elly would react on that so I'll leave that aside." And as that thought once again without noticing it is spoken by Kurumi, Elly comes outside; Kurumi asks her to tell what she has heard.

The continuation of Team Kaflan's adventure with Dani and Shadie.

---

The young vampire looked curiously all around her, her crystal wings fluttering up and down rapidly. The whole place really excited her. Still she had to behave correctly if she wanted to get anywhere with the investigation, so instead of flying around like she wanted, she sat down, near the monk and the hermit, listening to their conversation.

“Please tell me what you know about the ripper and about Marisa’s situation.” Kasen concluded.

“’The ripper’… it now has a name…” Byakuren’s expression darkened.

“Why are you…” She trailed off, her eyes growing bigger as she realized what Byakuren was implying. “You think…”

The monk merely nodded.

“’In Gensokyo, if one believes in something enough that something will acquire its own existence…’” The hermit repeated her own words.

“I have been thinking. We know it steals life essence from other creatures, but what is the reason behind it? Is it so that it can exist here? That should not be it, the fact it has been creating this chaos, that fact alone, is powering the creature. Voices whispering rumors and fears about it, is it now what it’s fueling its existence?”

Kasen closed her eyes, thinking.
“Then why would it keep attacking people?”

The monk nodded negatively. “The number of rituals that require sacrifices to work are countless. The list of reasons apart from rituals is no smaller. For a ritual, to boost its own powers… to purely create chaos as a test for Gensokyo’s inhabitants… there are too many reasons to count.”

“Do we still have no more information about it? People that might have fought it, people that might have seen it.”

“All I am aware is what I have told you and that the sigil it uses to attack has its roots in the Dark Arts.”

“I see…” ’It’s as Flandre told me…’

“Whatever that creature is, it is getting stronger.”

Kasen raised her head. “How do you know?”

Byakuren sighed a bit in relief. “The number of victims have decreased… Honestly, I’m relieved but… That may mean it has decided to attack stronger victims.”

“In other words, ‘start with a rabbit to have enough strength to hunt a boar’.”

“Yes. Who knows who may get attacked now…” Byakuren shifted worriedly in her place.

Flan rubbed her chin. "Back in Voile... I read stuff about gods being able to manifest themselves in physical forms or to give part of their powers to representants in the lower world, to their avatars..." she crossed her arms. "If I was the ripper, I probably would have gone for a god or someone of equal power once I had enough strength... Do we have gods in Gensokyo?"

Kasen looked at Flandre. “We do but… you’d need to be crazy to attack some of those.”
The hermit could hear Kanako’s laughter in her head. “But…” She looked worriedly at Byakuren.

“I know… and I am worried too. I asked Shou-chan to search for Miss Kirisame, she has not returned yet even though Nazrin-chan went with her. I fear for the worse…” Her hand unconsciously stopped over her heart. “It should have not taken her this long.”

Eyes frozen on Byakuren, Kasen explained Flan. “Shou Toramaru is the avatar of the god Bishamonten… Nazrin is her servant, she’s known to be able to find people and objects easily with her magical rods.”

Flan lowered her head. "If the ripper controls dreams and nightmares... It probably can use something a person would fear the most not to scare him or her... But to fool. What I mean this... If this Shou girl feared that something would happen to someone whom she holds dearly... The ripper probably could have used this to fool her and attack her while she was trusting him." The vampire raised her head. "You said she was searching for Marisa...?"

“The power to… manipulate dreams and nightmares?” Her hand crumpled her dress. “If it has such power…” The woman looked visible more worried as the conversation progressed but she was doing her very best to control herself and keep herself from leaving the temple and search for Shou. “Yes… she… she went to search for her…” Her voice didn’t sound focused anymore.

The young vampire looked at Byakuren. "Does that kind of ability ring some bell? Someone you may have met before...?"

The monk nodded negatively. “That ability was abolished from Makai… I do not know anyone capable of using it… It must to be someone who has lived for centuries… or a magical object giving someone such a power. No one capable of that has set foot in Gensokyo before… That kind of ability is too wicked for anyone to use. It can manipulate people using their dreams, change who they are, it can make them commit murder in their place… it can even kill them in their sleeps without needing physical contact…”

The scarlet sister sighed. "So we still haven't moved from square one..." she looked down, towards her open right hand. She closed it, as if she was squeezing something, but nothing happened. " I doubt my power would work against it anyway... Specially since I can't control it properly... "

Kasen crossed her arms. “And about Marisa, what can you tell us about her?”

“If I saw the mark on her neck I could make more assumptions, but… all I can say is that, from what I have seen from the other victims, it is something that’s connected to one’s soul. The possibilities that that sigil is still holding some effect on her are certain. If the sigil is not removed she might die… or become an empty shell. However…” She looked at both of them. “If the creature’s power is oneirokinesis, I am afraid that’s not the only thing she will have to worry about.”

“We might end up fighting her.” Kasen concluded.

The monk only nodded.

Flandre's eyes widened. ‘Fighting Marisa...? As in...’ That was it, she had heard enough. Flan stood up, grabbed her parasol and ran outside the temple. ‘I need to find Marisa... At least, before something even worse happens to her. ‘

Kasen stood up out of a sudden. “Aah! Wait, Flandre!” She made way to run after her and then stopped for a second. “Thank you, Miss Hijiri! I will warn you if I find Miss Toaramaru!” And then she ran off.

“Hey, Flandre, wait!”

The vampire stopped on her tracks, completely silent.

The hermit stopped slowed down and approached her, worried. “What’s gotten into you?”

"I..." the vampire didn't even turn to look at Kasen. "I don't want to fight Marisa, so I'm gonna go and find her... Or the ripper, whichever happens first."

“And where exactly are you going to start searching?”

"... Dunno... I'll just go around Gensokyo. I'll eventually find something." she turned her head slightly to look at Kasen, her eyes glittering with tears. "That's how the red-white and Marisa solve incidents, right?"

Kasen walked towards her both Flandre’s hands reassuringly. “I understand how you feel, but we have to think clearly. If we act without thinking, we’ll end up wasting more time. Look, did she tell you anything about what she was going to do after you came search for me?”

"I remember... I thought Marisa said something about searching for an 'Alice' girl... She didn't say anything else, though..."

“Ah, the doll maker! I know her. She lives near Marisa, maybe we could check her house.” She suggested.

The vampire nodded negatively. "I checked with Marisa there before. She wasn't there."

“Argh! Did everyone suddenly disappear?” Kasen scratched her head. “Alright, that’s it!”

She made a movement with her hand and out of a portal a bunch of animals came out. From tigers to eagles, to squirrels and mystical creatures. The hermit crossed her arms in front of the newly summoned animal army.

"W-what in the world...?"

“Listen here, guys. I’m searching for Marisa, yes, the thief person. I want you all to scatter though Gensokyo and warn me if you find her. If you happen to find a blonde, short haired girl with blue eyes accompanied by dolls, warn me too.” Her expression turned serious. “If you see someone evil, stay away and hide. We’re searching for people, please don’t try to fight.”

The animals seemed to understand her and as soon as she stopped talking, they all left in various directions.

The vampire blinked a few times, confused. "U-uh..."

“More eyes will cover more terrain.” She mounted her dapeng. “Isn’t it right?” She smiled looking at the tiny tiger on the gigantic eagle, to which she received a tiny growl as answer.

Flandre nodded. 'S-sure... How did she do that...?!'

“Let’s get going, I let you lead the way.” The dapeng took flight.

You know the drill, collab with Relick.

BGM: Jazzy Gensokyo, Past and Present ~ Flower Land - PoFV

Yuuka gripped tightly onto Seija’s collar, and pulled her behind her at a brisk pace. Once outside Chireiden, she began flying, still holding on. “Let’s get to the surface.”

"Oi Oi! Yuuka, please stop dragging me around like a rag doll?" Seija begged, in almost forgiveness.

“Not yet. I need you with me, now.” She twisted her hand so that it hurt Seija’s neck. Yuuka put her other hand behind her, and out shot a long line of flowers, acting as an exhaust, propelling the two at great speed toward the exit of the underground.

"AUGH!" She splattered out as she watched as she left behind the tea she didn't steal.

Yuuka’s red eyes began to glow slightly as they came closer to the outside world. Her excitement was becoming too much to contain.
“AHHH!” Yuuka pointed her flower blast straight ahead. Slowing down with a force almost enough to cause whiplash, her face stopped narrowly before the stone wall at the end of the tunnel. “Aha... almost turned into soup. Whoops!” She looked up, at the light of the above ground, and threw Seija up through the gap with a large force. She then followed up through the hole, and flew high above Seija.
BGM: Rock-ish Gensokyo, Past and Present ~ Flower Land – PoFV

"What the hell?!" She barley regained her balance in the air, she glared at Yuuka with intense anger. "Trying to kill me?! I'm not your enemy!"

Slowing to a halt a mile above Seija, she shouted down with a booming voice, “Ahaha~ You’ve figured my plan!”
She then angled her body so that her head was pointing towards the amanojaku, and positioned her hands behind her, ready for another flower thrust. A loud boom accompanied Yuuka’s rapid descent towards Seija.

She looked back in shock for a second. "Screw you tratoir!" She clenched her first and she glared up and screamed. "TASTE ARROWS MOTHERFUCKER!!" Arrows of all colours flew at the descending Yuuka, hoping to knock her off course.

As she fell, pink lights circled Yuuka, and then formed into her parasol. She opened it up, and used it to reflect the sharp arrows that filled the sky below.
However, Yuuka could not accelerate any more, with the large air resistance on the parasol. She clenched her teeth, and waited until she was just 50 metres away. In what looked like a single movement, the parasol was shut tightly, revealing a sharp spike on the end, and pushed straight toward Seija.

She saw the sudden closure of her parasol, and then saw Yuuka charging at Seija and she panicked, jerking to the right, out of her path. She clenched her fist and arrows formed around her. She was waiting for the perfect opportunity.

While she had hoped she wouldn’t move, Yuuka had prepared for Seija to dodge. In response, as she brushed past Seija, she grabbed her and continued the descent towards the ground. “Time for some real soup!”

"No you don't!" She smiled wickedly as the arrows around her exploded into aimed arrows, all going to smash into Yuuka's chest. "I knew you were going to fall for the bait!"

Yuuka did not spot the new arrows, and several plunged into her body. She let out a loud scream of pain, and held tighter onto Seija as a result. It seemed she would be unable to even prevent herself hitting the fast approaching ground, but as long as she brought the annoying girl down with her it would be fine.
She pulled Seija close to her, as close as possible without putting pressure on the arrows, and rotated their bodies so that Seija was beneath her. “You’ll make a good cushio- ack!” Yuuka coughed up some blood as she spoke.

"I'm not becoming a cushion!" She screamed, desperately looking for a way out, a few seconds of panicking, she felt the uncontrollable urge to just close her eyes and accept her fate. "Yuuka, thanks for being an arsehole, up until the very end..."

They hit the floor, and caused a plume of snow to spread around, leaving a small crater.

~

Yuuka opened her eyes. The sky was a deep red, something she had not noticed in her sadistic fervour earlier. Sitting up, a seering pain shot across her abdomen - an arrow was sticking out of it. She pulled it out, held onto the open wound and tried to stand up, using her parasol as support.

Seija laid blanked in the snow, her vision was fast disappearing. There was Yuuka's blood stained all over her clothing. She coughed loudly in pain.

Should I blame the moon
For bringing forth this sadness,
As if it pictured grief?
Lifting up my troubled face,
I regard it through my tears

"... The zombie thinks she can have all the fun for herself? If someone is gonna represent us taoists then it's gotta be me, after all Taishi-sama can't be troubled with something this dangerous. Something like this can only be left in the hands of I the heir apparent to the Mononobe clan! Haw! Haw! Haw! Haw! Haw!

Futo opened the main gate ignoring whatever Tojiko had to say (it's probably not that important anyways) and politely waving to the echo girl once she had gotten past the graveyard, in order to not get a supersonic response.

"Now where could she have gone too? Considering the path to the human village is the only path it doesn't take a genius like me to figure it out. Haw! Haw! Haw! Haw! Haw!"

And so she went down the path to the human village laughing like a madwoman expecting everything to go her way as though it were fate itself.

The green-haired fairy took a few steps forward towards the red-haired shinigami. "Good morning, miss... I... I'd like to cross the river. I need to talk with the Yama of something very urgent..."

"A fairy wantin' to speak with the Yama, I can't say that's common." The red-haired commented. "Ya know, I usually only ferry dead people across the river. These waters aren't safe for people who still breathe..."

"But there are fairies across the river, right?" the green fairy crossed her arms. "Regardless, I really need to talk with the Yama. It's about the recent incident."

"And I advised them against it." The shinigami replied with a sigh. "But I suppose fairies are too stubborn to convince." She tapped her scythe on her shoulder. "Lady Shikieiki is busy, as always, so don't go there with hopes she'll talk to ya any time soon."

The great fairy lowered her head. "I... I don't really care. You just said it, fairies are too stubborn. So please, please. Take me to the other side of the river."

"Fine, just don't tell me I didn't warn ya." Jumping to her ferry, she looked at the green-haired fairy. "Alright, hop on and keep your hands out of the water. Seriously." She emphasized the last word with a grim look.

The boat started to ply the waters slowly, strangely without making a sound. No water, no wind, nothing could be heard appart from Komachi's cheerful humming, contrasting with the mist surrounding them.

"So uhm..." Dai timidly asked. "What do you know about the Higan Fai-- eeeh... The fairies living on the other side of the river, Miss Ferrywoman?"

"Higan fairies, huh..." She looked somber out of a sudden. "They're... I'm not sure if ya can call them fairies anymore..." The shinigami looked to the unseen distance. "They get consumed by the influence of the evil spirits... if things get too dangerous, Lady Shikieiki has to send them to Hell without takin' their good deeds into account, because there ain't no hope for salvation..."

"... I guess that's what everyone means by them being effectively dead..." the green fairy looked at the shinigami. "And, uhm... Do you know a blonde fairy, who goes by the name of Lily Black...? Is she safe or...?"

"Aww, no shocked expression? No yell? This always works with other people..." Komachi scratched her head in disappointment. "I'm just kiddin'. Well, partially anyways. Fairies can get influenced by evil spirits but that only makes them a lil' crazy, they start acting weird...er, and randomly bite people. We don't send them to Hell but we give'em a good beatin'." She chuckled at the memories.

"Lily Black... Lily Black... hum... Oh, yeah, I've seen her around. She was safe last time I see her, but she was a bit moppy about somethin', she kept staring at the river as if she was expectin' something to come from the mist. She kept doin' that for days, it started gettin' a lil' creepy."

"I see..." the green fairy lowered her head. "Well, Lily Black has a... uh... Nevermind, actually. It's not important."

Arching a brow, Komachi looked at the green fairy. "You're extremely quiet for a fairy, ya know?" She looked forward as if she could see through the mist. The boat stopped and the mist cleared. "The incident ya mentioned sounded important for once so I didn't ask ya to pay me, but... I'm countin' on ya to bring me one of those takoyaki from the stands near the road. I'd do it myself but I already got scolded twice today."

The fairy didn't even bother to answer the shinigami. Instead, she jumped off the boat and rushed forward as fast as she could. However she quickly stopped in her tracks and turned around to face the shinigami. "Uh... How to reach the Yama again...?"

Komachi was staring at her with half-lided eyes. "At the end of that road there." She pointed. "Big building at the end."

Dai bowed. "Thank you" she turned around and head straight for the building that Komachi mentioned.

The green fairy stood in front of the building mentioned previously and gulped. "Well... I hope she doesn't mistake me for a spirit that needs to be judged..." the fairy opened the door and stepped inside the building. "Hello? Anyone home?"

In front of Dai stood a huge line of people, from youkai to humans, everyone seemed to be waiting for their turn. At the end of the agglomerate, there was a big, golden desk, standing higher than the rest of the ground as if its owner needed to get a good look of the people on the other side of it.

“(…) the good actions you preformed do not outweigh the grievous crime that is murder. I sentence you to Hell.” The green haired woman pointed her rod at the human in front of her making him disappear. “May the next soul step forward.”

The great fairy gulped and stepped forward, getting near the golden desk. "Uhm... Excuse me... I guess you're the Yama...?"
A lean noppera-bou stepped forward.

The woman’s eyes fell on the youkai. “That is correct and as you can see I am busy. Hiromi, it is time for your soul to be judged.” The Yama raised a hand mirror towards the youkai.

The green fairy floated a little, getting nearer to the woman. "Please, Miss... Could you spare a single minute...? I have to ask you some things about the recent incident..."

The Yama raised a hand indicating the youkai to wait and she turned her head to the fairy.
"I am not an incident solver, I am a Yama, I pass judgement on the souls of the departed. The incident solvers are in..." She trailed off. "You are alive." She narrowed her eyes. "Did Komachi bring you here?"

"Well, I am a fairy, it's not like I can really die to being with..." the fairy shook her head. "Regardless, yeah. I asked the red-haired shinigami to take me across the river. ... Did I do something wrong?"

"There are many ways to kill a fairy." The Yama answered calmly. "And no, you have not done anything wrong, Komachi did." She frowned. "I gave her strict orders not to let anyone alive cross the river, especially fairies, we already have enough around here as it is. It seems I was not clear enough."

"There are...? Lily said that we fairies couldn't truly die unless nature stopped existing..." the green-haired fairy shook her head once more. "Anyway, regarding the reason why I came here..."

"Death is not only of the body but of the soul as well." Eiki said with a sigh. "Please, make it quick. I would love to have a cheerful talk sitting on the higan flowers but as you see, there are souls I have to judge."

"Y-yeah... My apologies." the green fairy said. "Well, you see... The culprit in question is supposedly trying to bring someone back through the use of life energy... So, the question is... Did someone's soul who died in uhm... strange circumnstances is the best way I have to explain it... Maybe on a fire or something... So yeah, did anyone's soul came here like that, since, uh... The last month or something?"

"Everyday I judge around 500 souls, the circumstances that surround their deaths are never strange to me. Deaths by fire are one of the most common, countless people have perished from those causes this day alone so you understand how many did last month." The Yama replied calmly. "Your information is too vague."

"I-I see.... ... Well I'm sorry, it's the best we have about this incident." Dai lowered her head. "Uh... but... one more thing... On these last few hours... Has anyone died from being drained out of his or her life energy...?" the fairy had a feeling that she wouldn't like the answer.

"The list of people waiting for judgement is big and we are running behind schedule as it is, it is probably that there are but have not been subjected to judgement yet." The Yama replied. "But there was a big commotion about the avatar of bishamonten arriving here." She put her hand on her chin. "I wonder when that was, I think I lost track of time again..."

"The avatar of bishamonten, huh...? So... I guess the ripper actually has managed to take someone's life..." the fairy bowed. "Thank you for your help, Ms.Yama... And I'm sorry for wasting your time." she said, before quickly leaving the building, heading back towards the place where Komachi had dropped her.

The fairy put her hands on her mouth. "No... She couldn't have... Uuh...? Ms.Shinigami? Are you here...?!" she put her hand next to her ear.

Komachi returned with a human woman and watched her step off the boat with an unreadable expression and without making a sound. The woman made her way through the higan flowers as the shinigami followed her with her look.

The green-haired fairy let out a relieved sigh, while looking slightly at the human woman as she passed by. Then she got near the shinigami and her ferry. "So, uh... Care to take me back, Ms.Shinigami...?"

"Yeah." She made a movement towards the ferry prompting the fairy to jump inside.

As soon as the green-haired fairy prepared to jump into the boat, a voice rang behind her. "Actually, if you would just wait a second..." this made Dai turn around to look at the owner of the voice. A blonde fairy with big, semi-transparent wings, who wore all black clothes and had bright red eyes had her arms crossed and looked fixedly at Dai. "I would like to talk with the fairy a little... You don't mind waiting for a minute, do you, Komachi?" the black fairy looked at the shinigami.

Komachi slumped on the ferry, arms behind her head. "I can wait 'till I'm called to the other shore."

"Enough for me. Now, Lake Fairy, if you please..." the black fairy went ahead, crossing the higan flowers. The green fairy quickly followed her.

The Feels shall hit you.







Complete silence developed the makeshift battlefield.

How strong that would have become, as for you and me I want to be together.

Near the small crack that allowed Gensokyians to enter the Underground, there was a small crater where a single girl laid in. Her legs were completely unusable; she looked up at the sky.

Skies of freedom, why have you forsaken me?

She saw the early morning’s ray slipping through trees, the rays touched the snow, glittering and nearly blinding the girl. She was on the verge of life and death.

Please, I don’t want to die.

That phrase rushed through her head, bitter memories of betrayal ran through her mind. For a moment, this girl thought she had gained a friend.

All friends treat you right until they throw you away like trash.

A friend who treat her with little respect, but it was enough to make her happy.

She’s just like the rest! Shinmyoumaru did the same to me!

She wrapped her arms around whatever snow was left. Hugging it tight, like a young child with a brand new teddy bear. She smiled for a second, coughing loudly, breaking the silence of the area.

Since Hell didn’t accept me… Where will I go, to an endless void of darkness, only fitting for a trickster like me?

Her wild thoughts where going left and right. Her body was useless to her now. Yuuka had crushed her legs.

“Maybe if I die, everything will be better…” She muttered, coughing again.

If I die…

Her eyelids began to give way at last. She could feel the growing void of death.

“No!” She cried out, her eyes swinging open.

I am not going to lose to death! I’m not going to lose to anyone!!

Yet she laid there, in the crater, with no friends or allies.

Collab with Bubug, if it wasn't obvious enough by the strange formatting bit :v

---

Frenetically, Marisa wrote every single piece of information she could remember.

‘Ripper – can control dark magic -> bring people’s nightmares to life.
- Possibly someone controlling or being possessed by a magical item.
- Attacking it causes no harm. You exhaust it if you keep attacking (?)
- Sigil on your neck reacts to it, it burns when you’re near it.
-You see images (memories?). An old lady, burning
-And the lady with the ripper – maybe possessed after all?
You saw yourself as being the ripper. Possible illusion? Due to dream manipulation?
You got to a conclusion after seeing yourself… the nightmares, the ripper… Yuuka says it’s blocking your memories but you can’t remember it at all.
Yuuka knows the answer, she didn’t tell you.

Description: Ripper wears a dark robe, usually cloaked. Usually uses a scythe but also uses swords.

Other abilities: Shapeshift … ’

Marisa stopped to think about what more she could add to the list but nothing else came to mind. Clenching her hand she growled in frustration and then restarted writing. She could feel blood seeping through the bandages, she had broken a few stitches after all, but this was more important. There were other things she didn’t want to forget.

‘You are Marisa Kirisame, a human and a magician.
Reimu, miko clad in red and white, is one of your best friends.
Alice is also…’

And she stopped. Alice was also what exactly? Like Reimu?

Golden eyes fell on the items she had knocked from the desk, among them was a charm with a tiny doll. Stretching her hand, she reached for it.

She looked at the doll on her palm. Alice had given her the tiny charm… she couldn’t remember why and when but she could remember she always had it with her, no matter where she went. Why was that?

Alice and she were friends, someone she enjoyed spending time with, reading books, chit-chatting over tea and cookies. Snarky and no-nonsense was her standard behavior, but sometimes, only sometimes, Marisa would say something that made her smile or chuckle and that always felt like a victory to her. Alice had a beautiful smile, she wished the girl smiled more.

Why hadn’t she felt like that towards Reimu?

Then she remembered, she remembered how she had felt when the Ripper held her captive, when the Ripper tried to---

‘Shall I make it true?’

Make what true? Her worst nightmare? Losing Alice?

What would she feel if she lost the puppet master? How would her lazy days spent idly reading books enveloped in the gentle aroma of jasmine tea be like without her? How would her life be like if Alice was gone?

Slowly her hand closed on the charm, her throat feeling tight and her mouth running dry as she reached a conclusion.

She couldn’t. She couldn’t imagine life without her. She couldn’t imagine it because Alice wasn’t just a friend to her and she had cheerfully kept on going, blindly unaware of that simple fact.

Shaking slightly, as if what she was about to do had power to tamper with fate itself, Marisa reached the notepad and rewrote the sentence.

‘Alice is what you treasure most in your life, don’t ever let her go again. You love her, idiot.’

Two halves of her brain did a quiet valse inside her skull as if someone punched her on the forehead or just slapped her to sleep.

Definitely just simple 'as if', as if there was no violent one, no cheeky one, and no golden shining little one, ever, ever in her room, similar to this. As if the one closest to her whose hands were always stained with blood, who now was still bloodily drenched, was just simply, merely, peacefully, sleeping.

So it actually did come to that...

Broken pieces of that little teapot, the thing she cherished that vanished along with the screams of bridge children, lied there quietly, untrembling.

The world above that rained pain on us, perhaps you thought this was your blessing grace?

Trails of blood on that fallen piece of paper tainted with handwritings...

"Kirisame."

How much did it take for my voice to keep itself from wavering---

"Is this amount of blood enough of an answer for you?"

The me that probably was seeking for a sad, poor lost lamb...

"Hope that has the color of blood."

On her feet that kept wobbling, she flopped down on the floor, next to that quiet figure. Her hand that as shaken as it was, reached out for that golden hair, that golden, little hope in the color of blood.

For the sake of those who were there, close to me, and dragged into this, by you.

And for the sake of pitiful, sad, little golden birds that would never get to see tomorrow's light.

"Let these awakened memories of yours carry you out of here..."

So irrational, and therefore so sad.

"Miss Kirisame."

Marisa watched as Satori clumsily made her way towards her, she figured the mind-reader had probably hit her head when the witch stumbled on her.

‘Well, yeah, not gonna apologize to that, you totally deserved it ze. Also, I ain’t paying for that teapot.’

She listened to the girl, her brows knitted together in a confused frown and then Satori’s hand made its way to her hair again.

“Nah, nah, stop!” Marisa held her open palm before she went any further. “First, Orin tried to protect you and Yuuka knocked her out. You should do your job as her master and check on her, that looked really painful and she’s bleeding.” She pointed at the sofa . Second…” She glared at the girl. “Leave my hair out of this, you should learn what personal space is, for once. You don’t talk with people a lot, do you?”

The witch sighed, putting the doll charm on top of her closed notepad and rest her hand on her wound. “Third… about your question, I’m not answering what you asked, I’m answering what you wanted to ask and…”

Marisa started getting progressively redder but she did her best to look at Satori in the eyes. “Alice… is…” Her brow twitched slightly and she breathed out, trying her best not to look embarrassed in front of the youkai. “She’s… someone I can’t live without. I… love her.” ‘And just so you know, I’m going to make you pay for making me say this out loud, keep that in mind.’ “And I was dumb for not noticing it sooner…” She ran her hand through the bloody bandages. “I will do anything to protect her. So…” She narrowed her eyes, embarrassment gone, her voice sounding lower than usual. “These wounds…” she started, feeling the remaining stitches under her thumbs. “…they are way too serious for a human like me to survive them. You were talking about her sacrifice, weren’t you? What did Alice do?”

She adjusted herself to the desk, straightening herself and putting the notebook on the opposite side from where Satori was sitting. “Memories will take me away from here, but only your answer can tell me where to. Where did Alice go?” Marisa casually grabbed her mini-hakkero. “And this time, I don’t want riddles nor empty words, you will answer my questions or I will make you.” Her voice wasn’t menacing, it was straightforward and casual as if she was stating a fact.

Won't it be better if colorful flowers can blossom before spring for the sake of winter children?

But everything is never done before too late.

Tenderly, quietly were there drops of blood dripping from that little red ball on the couch, that few hours ago were still up and about, in a split second standing out while falling mid-air, then rapidly meshed in the color of crimson carpet.

The sad ones' dreams held as their existences wavered in the wind, painted the winter transparent.

And the alive ones' reddened thoughts streamed like a March's tea party.



"If your-- Because your words did not lie about your love" , perhaps somewhere her past self planned to answer these questions, "For the one that crossed the line of fate for you, who were dead and are alive."



"For the one that was willing to be that shadowed shine for you, her shining shadow,"



"For that colorful transience"



"Soundless rainbow river became her path from here."

Golden eyes looked down at nothing in particular as the mind-reader’s words resounded in her ears. She clenched her hands, her chest tightening up. So she had died… and Alice had brought her back. Any magician, human or not, would know that such magic never came without consequences for the caster, a punishment for those who dared to cross the border of fate and death.

Quietly, she heard everything Satori had to say, her mind absent mindedly wondering about what the other meant by ‘you, her shinning shadow’, a sliver of hope shining in her heart as she wondered about the meaning concealed in her words, only to be quickly replaced by worry and crushed into inexistence.

“Alice… is she…” The blonde gritted her teeth. “…alright?” ‘The Girl of Death’, had been Alice’s tittle when she first encountered her… and now she had brought her back to life. The last thing she wanted, the very last thing was to see her suffering, burdened with something she had caused with her own recklessness and yet…

“…The… Prismriver sisters, that’s what you mean, right?” She looked at Satori, her voice suddenly sounding weak. “Why would she go there?”

Unnecessary questions, just like those that filled the world, swirled over that little one's head. As if the stone just hit the water surface, even when the water has stilled, there were ripples silently around, left unhealed. She found herself sitting back straight, maintaining a proper posture, as if there were no longer any motivation, any force pulling her forwards. The child that had remembered, and the child that had chosen to forget...

Her quiet words, were somehow barely audible, as if a chirping of a bird gone astray.

"She is all right. She will be all right."

Walk now, humans of the end.

"As much as this world allows her to."

This ridiculous, sad little world...

"That one, who came and left, solely wishing to chase after your goals."

That one, who feared no death or pain worse than death itself, who were just a little victim, like her lonely children, involved in this battle's.

"It was only for your sake."

That one, who came to her, who came to them, bringing a drop of sunlight.

And yet, her original sunlight, was there on the couch, coagulated blood darkening crimson...

From the corner of her gaze that could not stray away from her scarlet child, there appeared a single, small shadow...

"Please bring her out and tend to her."

The back of the child, under layers of clothes still glistened golden, as the other pets of hers approaching her gently, as if her unspoken commands were heard.

Pensive eyes followed the pets fussing over Orin, the replies from the mind reader echoing in the calmness that was now her mind. She had felt tired and she was sure she was still, but her awareness was as clear as ever. ‘A sound mind in a sound body’, her body wasn’t sound but Marisa was a firm believer that thought had more influence over the body than the opposite.

“Only for my sake, huh… That idiot, doing something so uncalled for…” Muttered words that held no real meaning. Even without her epiphany Marisa would’ve done the same for Alice were the roles reversed.

She closed her eyes, brows knitting together on a light frown.
“Screw what the world allows.” She stood up, slowly and unsteady yet determined, hands using the desk as support. Head turning to the one still sitting on the ground, she smirked, her expression boastful as if the magician had reminded herself about who she was - someone who would always stubbornly brave against adversities. “The world can kiss my glorious butt ze!”

The blonde extended her hand towards Satori. “I’ll make sure she’ll be alright ze.” She smiled. “It will be troublesome for the world if it underestimates humans.”