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

"A fairy working to solve an incident, now that's a sight to see..." the black fairy said, with a sarcastic tone.

The green-haired fairy clenched her fist as she was flying above the Road of Liminality, trying to at least find someone she had been travelling with since the incident started. She was weak, yes. She probably wouldn't be able to do much. But the last thing she needed is being told that by a fellow fairy.

"You have someone you really care for, don't you?"

Ever since she left Higan, her mind was filled with memories of her best friend. She couldn't let that ice fairy out of her head. The moment they met the ripper... The moment she saw Cirno being grabbed by the culprit of this whole incident... She started to fear something. An unknown feeling to her, at least until now.

The black fairy closed her eyes. "I crossed the river by my own will, not out of curiosity. I wanted to die."

The death of a loved one. That was what she feared. But it wasn't the same kind of sisterly love that Lily White had with her twin. No. This was different.

She didn't want Cirno to get more involved with the incident. She feared something may end up happening to her... That she would lose the ice fairy forever.

That was why she was working as hard as ever. She wanted to get done with the incident already. But... She was still a fairy. Amongst the weakest fairies, really. Even if she tried her best... She wouldn't be able to do much more than gather information.

"Magic."

"Huh?"

"Magic is nothing more than saying some fancy words and using nature's power to your advantage. It just so happens that we fairies are experts at getting nature's aid."

The green-haired fairy stopped in her tracks. There was nothing she could do. Fairies were condemmed to be eternally bullied and eternally useless. This was what happened when Mother Nature divides her power amongst millions of beings.

---

"When a fairy ascends, it's because they have a very strong desire... Or because they truly love something. Just like how I wanted to feel death... Or how my sister loved spring." the black fairy lowered her head. "On an ascension, your general abilities increase. Sprites are stronger, smarter, and just plain around better than common fairies. It's sad that most sprites vanished." she turned around to look at Dai. "However, should you excel at something in special... Your ascension will enchance that ability to its full extent, far more than anything else. If you excel too much and your desire is really strong... Then you might even become an Embodiment. But that never happened, as far as I know myself."

A little, emerald-colored cocoon was sitting near the shores of Misty Lake.

If one would peek inside it, they could see someone sleeping there, in a fetal position.

With a slam, the door to the Kirisame Shop closed as the hurried but heavy footsteps of its owner dragged themselves through the wooden ground.

The badly repaired broom was carefully laid against a pile of tomes and the magician reached for her head in an automated movement to remove the witch hat that wasn’t there, she sighed tiredly as she remembered why it was missing.

Tiredly, Marisa made her way to one of her many cabinets, stumbling on some junk in the process. Kicking a medieval chest plate away from the cabinet door, she opened it. Inside there were rows of portions, some sharing the same hue, others completely different, dust had settled on top and around the glass containers. Fortunately for her, that was a cabinet that didn’t see much use. Taking a hold of a green, fluorescent potion, she reminisced.

“Lady Mima, what’s all this?” The blond child looked curiously to objects on the table. There were mushrooms and herbs she hadn’t seen before, a Bunsen burner, mortars and all kinds of objects she remembered seeing in Kourindou.

“You want to be a magician, and I admire your determination, but no matter how we put it, you’re just a human.”

“But even humans---!”

“Humans are squishy. You want to learn how to fly? You will fall countless times, you’ll break bones, you’ll get cuts and bruises, that’s unavoidable.”

Marisa looked nervously at her master. Just like learning how to walk, you had to fall and stumble a few times.

“Seems like you’ve realized it now.” Mima rested her hand on the table. “Healing potions, energy potions, potions to fight colds and other inconveniences, that’s what you’re going to learn today.”

The magician smiled, downing the potion in one go and making a sour face as the repulsive taste invaded her buds. Throwing the empty bottle casually to a pile of parchment, she grabbed some clean bandages and translucid liquid from the last shelf and sat down her bed.

Taking off her top, Marisa removed the bandage from her wound and looked at it, wincing at how it looked.

“…This is gonna leave a mark.” She poured some of the liquid on the wound and hissed between her teeth, she then wrapped the clean bandage around it and proceeded to do the same for her forehead, albeit more clumsily.

After drinking another potion, orange this time around, and discarding the pajama for her witch clothes, she lay down on her bed - it felt so good to be back in her room, alone and in peace and quiet.

Grabbing the notebook from the pajama pocket and rereading what she had written at Chireiden.

“’(…)you love her’…. Huh?”

How did the magician of love never notice that? Why hadn’t she stopped to think about what that simple word entailed? She was sure she had once talked about it with her master, yes once…

“Hey, Marisa. You look distracted, did something happen?” The evil spirit looked at her apprentice from her desk.

“Hmm… It’s just, back in the forest I heard a random youkai talking about ‘making love’. I mean, love is everywhere, how do you make it?”

The green haired woman backed away and looked at Marisa with a blank, unreadable expression on her face. “You parents never talked with you about that?”

The girl frowned slightly without meeting her master’s eyes. “My parents were never big on love talk.”

“Right…” Mima answered slowly as if chewing her own words. Crossing her arms, she starred at Marisa straight in the eyes. “Alright, Marisa, pay attention to what I’m going to say.”

“Yes, Lady Mima.” The girl looked attentively to the woman in front of her.

“When one person loves another very much…”

Marisa had vigorously started taking notes.

“Or when they’re so stupidly drunk they don’t know any better…”

The girl looked away from the paper and to her master, unsure of what to expect next. “Aah… what?”

“They basically---“

Intense dragon imagery filled her mind, along with suggestive gestures. There was nothing much she could remember, Marisa wasn’t sure if it was because of the Ripper’s influence or because her young self had repressed them to the darkest corners of her mind. She was leaning towards the latter.


‘GAAAAAAH! NO, NO, NO! WHY DID I GO AND REMEMBER THIS?! WHY LADY MIMA?! I’VE GOT TO REPRESS IT, THINK OF SOMETHING ELSE! HUH… HOW DID THAT SONG… AH! DO YOU LIKE WAFFLES? YEAH, WE LIKE WAFFLES! DO YOU LIKE PACAKES?! YEAH, WE LIKE PANCAKES! DO YOU LIKE FRENCH TOAST?! YEAH, WE LIKE FRENCH TOAST! DUDURU! CAN’T WAIT TO GET A MOUTH FULL! WAFFLES!!’ The present Marisa grabbed her head in despair as if trying to exorcize a personal demon of some sort.

“Of… all the things…” She could feel her face burning up. Marisa was glad she was no longer in Chireiden and that her mind was free from the satori’s watchful third eye.

Something caught her attention as her eyes fell back on the open notepad, she grabbed it again, a nostalgic smile formed on her lips. Written on the yellowed pages were spells she had hypothesized about when she was a kid. Some outward impossible and nonsense, some too advanced for her kid-self and others in need of testing.

“Oh…” She focused on a particular one. “Hmmm…”

Rushing outside without the potion being on full effect would likely result in her passing out in mid-air. The magician decided to wait and read on her old notes, that had be distraction enough to stop her from being impulsive and just jump to the broom and fly off.

Everything hurts.
The girl inflicted with emotional pain and physical pain stared at the ceiling. She felt hands touching her face.
The sweet innocence of childhood. Her mind reflected back to a time when she wasn’t a trickster, but a conflicted girl between ideals.

Gensokyo was a peaceful place before a yearly cycle of an incident.
There was no scarlet mist.
The eternal winter.
The fake moon.
The flowers blooming in the wrong season.
The weather behaved correctly.

Some however didn’t agree with the peaceful tone of Gensokyo. A large group of youkai banded together to peacefully change Gensokyo. However, some in the group didn’t want a peaceful change. They were a small splinter group. A rebel group that planned to upheave peace and replace it with chaos.

“THIS IS CHANGE!” A crazed voice screamed throughout the house. He wore a ragged robe, covering his face, he held a bloody weapon. He stood over a young woman, who had blood covered on her face.
“W-w-what are you doing? Leave my family alone!!” She lunged at the man, going to punch him in the stomach, the man smirked bringing his sword down on her neck. A sharp yelp emitted from her mouth as she smashed into the floor. She felt her neck, there was a cut there; but she saw the shadow of the sword a second too late…
SLAAAASH!
She laid still.
The man began walking out of the main room, entering the hallway, a faint cry broke the silence. As the man walked further down the hallway. The crying got progressively louder.
“What’s the matter?” A young woman appeared. Like the man, she wore the same robe, however instead of wielding a sword. She had two gigantic steel claws; there was fresh blood on them.
“Do you hear that?” The man pointed to a door.
“It’s just a child dear. Unless that child is some sort of demon, we won’t have much trouble.” The woman smiled wickedly, seconds later, she charged at the door, slashing through the bamboo door, revealing only one thing.
A baby girl.

The woman was just about ready to impale the baby; her claws lifted up, the bloodlust had taken control of her emotions.
“One more victim will be enough!!”
“ENOUGH!” The man walked in, grabbing her lifted arm.
“Don’t you see the potential? This girl has no parents, we can use her!” The man smiled and reached down to pick up the girl. She lifted up the blanket, revealing tear filled eyes. Her eyes were a pale red with black hair. She began tugging at the giant claws, removing them. The woman wiped some fresh blood from her robes, grabbing the girl’s hair and wiping blood on a single strand of hair.
“She needs a name…” The woman sighed, wiping the tears off the girl’s face and the girl grabbed onto one of her hand, smiling.
“Her name… shall be Seija.”

Well, that’s what they told me anyway.

Too bad, it was all lies. Lies burying the truth.

Stupid!

They not only killed whatever doubts I had, but they murdered her!!

Seija screamed for a single second, there was no one in the room to hear her internal torture. She grabbed the pillow, putting it over her face.
Her memories faded back into a simpler time.

The patter of rain broke the silence of the room, two girl sat in silence across from each other,until one lifted her finger and she spoke.
“Where the hell are you parents at?” The girl glared at Seija, sighing.
“No idea, they said they were going out for a bit….” Seija muttered.

Those were her last words, wondering where my parents were. I want to go back and tell her not to go…
“Well, if you ain’t looking! I’m going!” She shot up, picking up her magic tone and storming out, the slamming of the door made Seija tilt her head, seeing the rain patter down.
Silence remained for at least a minute. All changed when the fallimar tone of magic sounded, Seija shot up, running to the door and she saw the most horrific sight.
A multitude of arrows laid buried in her abdomen, she began falling back.
“YOU BASTARD!” Seija screamed, running over to her friend.

ENOUGH!!
Seija felt her face, she was in absolute tears.

BOOM!

The gate exploded.

“My, the battle has already started? That was fast, I just debriefed everyone a few minutes ago.” said the Scarlet Devil cheerfully, a cup of fine tea at her mouth.

“… But, I’m bored. Really bored. ‘But the final boss cannot appear first’, said Sakuya. What’s wrong with just attacking them together? Well, I know what’s wrong, but still…” Remilia started talking to herself, her feet rocking back and forth under her chair like a child waiting eagerly for a carnival ride. “I guess I’ll go through the plan again...”

---

“So, what do you think, Sakuya?” queried Remilia, looking across the table at her best lieutenant.

“It isn’t a bad plan. I do have a few burning questions and issues I can spot, but the biggest of them is the reason as to why Meiling needs to be defeated at the beginning?”

“Defeated? Her mission is just to let the gate be destroyed so it serves as a smokescreen for Koakuma’s forces, in case their kappa camouflage paint acts up.”

“My apologies that was an assumption I made.”

“It’s an understandable misunderstanding.” Replied Remilia casually, taking another sip of her beloved tea.

“Yes, but now that I do understand, there is another hole in this plan we will need to address. Milady, surely you are aware that Meiling holds a grudge against the shrine maiden since her warrior’s pride pushes her to rechallenge an opponent that has bested her in the past? I am not sure if she will survive the attack, even if Koakuma is there to restore her.”

“We’re counting on her alertness…Or so I would like to say. Permit Koakuma to take the cheap elixir we got from Eientei last week.”

“It wasn’t cheap… Understood. The most powerful healing potion on sale from Eientei, would most definitely restore Meiling, regardless of how damaged she ends up.” Said Sakuya wryly.

“Ah, one thing we also need to do is convince Koakuma to join our cause. I suppose I can leave the negotiation to you.” Remilia looked up with a mischievous light dancing in her eyes. “What do you have up your sleeve this time?”

“The ‘goods’ I purchased from the Tengu would prove most useful in our…Persuasion.” Sakuya chuckled a little as she replied

“Blackmail? That wouldn’t be good. The last time I tried that she threw a tantrum, and the books she lent me the following day bit my hands when I tried to open them” murmured Remilia, rubbing her hands as she remembered the shock of being bitten by an inanimate object.

“Don’t worry. It’s useful to have one or two trumps card against each person you associate with on a regular basis” Sakuya smiled a little, “I will be offering her unique content of our magician as an incentive assist us.”

“Bribery~ though I’m surprised you would choose that method, those pictures were not cheap. Aya literally risked her life taking those.”

“I’m more surprised your sense of economics returned... I trust that you have a method to convince Miss Patchouli to set up the barrier for us… Her only two weaknesses to my knowledge is books, and yourself, milady.”

“I have an arrangement with her. Although she just slammed her door in my face when I asked her to leave the library and fight. But I’m sure she’ll at least set up the barriers for us.”

“That is very like her, yes. I’m more surprised you tried to get her to leave the library, however.” Sakuya laughed a little at the exchange proceeding in her mind as she heard this.

“Don’t laugh! I got a nosebleed afterwards, I didn’t think she would slam the door that hard… In any case! What were the other burning questions you had about my plan?”

“The defences are a little thin here…and here…” Sakuya picks up a quill and jotted down a few corrections on the map. “The formation of each squad needs to be specialised for the job. This army here needs to be spread, since it is a ranged unit. This one should be in a triangular formation to optimise its mobility and formation penetration ability…That should be it for the specific units.”

Sakuya looked up at Remilia to gauge her mistress’s reaction. Remi’s face was red. “Milady, your positioning of the armies is admirable. I couldn’t do better myself.”

“O-of course. Well, what about other problems?”

“I am wondering how you are going to make sure they reach the front of the mansion quickly, since the dust from the gate explosion would not cover Koakuma’s unit for long enough to retrieve Meiling and return to hiding.”

“Oh. That’s a good point…” Remilia put a hand on her mouth in deep thought. “Perhaps we can call in a favour from the Tengu to form a wind barrier to forcibly blow them in?”

“Alerting them to the possibility that we were ready and have made traps would render Meiling’s initial defeat meaningless. Moreover, one of our opponents could be Sanae, the wind goddess. Using winds against her would result in damages on our side, and a hefty damage compensation to the Mountain Tengu.”

“…Then what about using laser book turrets from Patchouli’s library? They will force our enemies to stream the wave, and retreat.”

“That could work, but it isn’t optimal since they could restream and destroy the books. It would again, alert them to the possibility of traps, again, rending Meiling’s defeat meaningless.”

“Uuuuu…You come up with an idea then!” sulked Remilia, blushing angrily.

“Ah, my apologies, milady.” Followed Sakuya quickly. “Hm. We can cause a distraction, such as a… Battle alert flare on the roof of the mansion. That would draw their attention to the mansion, and thus away from Koakuma’s unit, while they retrieve Meiling. A battle flare, with a loud sound would also give no indication as to the presence of traps. It would only provide them with the knowledge that we also know we are under attack. However, the gate explosion would have notified us of this regardless. By doing this, they may also wish to hurry themselves to the mansion door to avoid any fairy reinforcements drawn in by the flare.” Explained Sakuya.

“I see. That is a good strategy. Well, surely that is the end to the holes in my plan?”

“Last, but not least. You may not step on the battlefield Milady”

“Oh. I knew you would bring that up.”

“If you knew it then don’t include that on the plan in bold letters! Remember, the final boss should not appear first. Not to mention their only target is you!”

“Yeah yeah, I get it stop lecturing me. I’ll stay here.” Remilia pouted. “So, that’s it, right?”

“I believe so. Allow me to summarise. To my knowledge, the plan is as follows: Judging my Reimu’s straightforward personality, she will attack from the mansion gate. In case this does not work, if they had a sly member in their party, we will also enforce an anti-air barrier above the mansion walls. Therefore the enemy will engage Meiling at the gate of the mansion. She will inevitably lose and would either be blown through the gate. A flare will be detonated, and along with the debris from the gate explosion, will allow a cover for Koakuma’s unit to retrieve what is left of Meiling for healing. With the flare lit, the enemy party should move towards the mansion door. Once they are within range, I will engage the enemy, with ranged support from my maid fairies. I will arrange for bullet patterns that are sure to miss only me. While I am buying time with the 1st battalion, Koakuma will restore Meiling in under 30 seconds, either through her healing magic, or with Eirin’s medicine. Once Meiling is healed, she will lead the 2nd battalion to split the enemy forces in two. Before Meiling’s forces come in I will detonate the explosives inside the fountain which will cause a smokescreen, with water, which should inhibit the enemy’s senses. Hopefully I will be able to get them in range of the explosion and damage them, although this is not imperative. In this water/smoke screen, Meiling’s forces will divide the enemy forces in two. I will push one portion towards the eastern wall, and Meiling will take her’s to the west. There we will meet with fairy reinforcements and engage the enemy.” Sakuya recited, and took a deep breath. “According to this information, I will set up traps in the western side. Meiling and the other fairies would not be able to memorise where I placed the traps, so they will compensate the lack of surprise, with extra forces, including the southern Koakuma unit. If they defeat us, then there is you with the remainder of the fairy troops waiting inside the mansion.”

“Exactly! Though one last thing, Sakuya… Do you think we will win?”

“I believe not for any attack force larger than 5 battle capable people*.” Sakuya followed instantly.

“Why not?”

“Without the legendary Scarlet Devil’s skill as a field commander, Patchouli’s magic and troops more capable than fairies, we are lacking what made our old skirmishes in France so successful. Thus, we can only resort to my petty tricks to defend the mansion. It’s more than just a step down.”

“I see. Then entertain me, Sakuya.”

“I will.”

---

Remilia's map:



*"Battle capable" in Sakuya terms is anyone who can match Meiling in any way (including ranged combat).

The return of Alice. Warning: Unnecessarily long and wordy.

Keine is still alive. Someone just doesn't know.

---

Treading alongside her through that door of primitiveness was that little golden memory.

Behind the closed door, the world dimly lit quietly stood, as if its own night spreading far ahead. From the other side of the hallway, reflecting upon her irises that soon turned blurry- a bright light shining as if the sun of its own, so small, yet so wide world.

~Lu Li La, Lu Li La

The sound of the keyboard was taking off, leaving a cold trail that remained in a sad string instrument, as if under her footsteps, the notes were ringing.

"How loud..."

And her voice that was supposed to be buried under layers of notes following no order, flowed down like a crimson stream.

For the first time, which probably could well become the last time they met, the small, pointy chin of that little brown one gleefully steered at her, her voice rose as her notes that carried such an illusion went down like a waterfall.

"Oh, you think this is loud? I am sorry, we haven't been able to drown out the barks of humans."

~Do I hear the birds singing?

~No, it is the cry of the forest.

Dibble, dibble, dopp dopp.

"A magician accompanied by dolls!".

Raindrops threw themselves about, somewhere behind those little layers of dust.

The doll-like one whose hair resembled celestial clouds, exclaimed with a smile pasted with sunshine. On her hands that clasped together there held a golden musical weapon, unbeknownst to guests where the glistening shine was from, the touches of human hands or the touches of merciless time.

"A magician accompanied by rain~"

That little chocolate bar wrapped in red papers leapt forwards, almost reaching her in the process.

"Magician coming here because sister Merlin forgot to lock the door."

"Magician coming here because sister Lunasa forgot to put on the protection circle!'

"We never had anything like that, Merlin."

One step back, two steps back, her back that touched the grand piano glistening without a single stain felt as if immobilized. Half ignoring her appearance there, the creatures that were no longer alive, they giggled, they talked, they danced, like little squeaky notes flopping on the keyboards.

And yet, somewhere in the corner of their gazes that crossed the gaze of her eyes' corners, there were still some unspoken sounds.

"Please forgive my intrusion. Allow me to introduce myself. I am the puppeteer of the Forest, Alice Margatroid.", and her voice, for the first time in a long, long while, took off on its own wings.

The hands of the golden one that rested on her sisters' shoulders tightened their grips. Behind the smiles that half faded, their worlds that were separated by more than distance, seemed to fuse.

And yet, that only quiet one finally raised her voice.

"Welcome to our humble Prismriver mansion, lady magician. We are honored that you decided to see our miniature performance right in our dwelling."

"It was all my pleasure as well, young misses of the Prismrivers."

Chipping in was those little birds, singing as if never seeing tomorrow again.

"We have long seen a magician. It was beautiful, such magecraft."

And breaking from her sister's grip, that little chocolate bar again crept up to her, quietly spreading her legs in a circular, random walk.

"Magician shining three hundreds fifty percent brighter than shrine maidens."

Magician, magician.

In contrast of such innocence, there lay a gentle, kind fear.

Clasping her hands behind her back, as if holding a tiny secret, she found herself stealing glances, from this candy to that one's face gleaming with sheer joy. In front of her and behind her, her conversational partners that up to now, never once looked her into the eyes, kept skipping on their feet, circling around her and that quiet piano.

And she found her voice dropping vehemently, in pitch and in speed, as if someone was stomping on the pedal of her piano angrily, with a rain of grief. Disconnected notes flying, glistening red and yellow.

"Ah, poltergeists, poltergeists."

"Miss shiny magician~".

~Is that the light of the moon shining?

"If we have all known about this."

~No, that’s the burning fire

In our eyes that ignored the light of days, we were all in pursuit of the same reality.

"Poltergeists, assuming that, that power within the creature is familiar."

"To you or to us?"

The little one again sparked, with eyes so innocent it's almost painful to watch, such purity drenched deep in plans and thoughts. Carefully, carefully she leant back on the piano, that grand piano silently embracing her, as if leaning against her deep with in loneliness.

"...So quick to assume it's either me or you."

Through her remaining sight that flashed crimson, she finally saw that one's eyes, tenderly watching from behind her fluffy little ice cream of a sister's shoulders, staring straight into hers.

"Do you believe this ripper..."

Soundless voice of the piano dreaming further ahead.

"...may sing?"

---

Their footsteps formed a certain beat, sometimes cheerfully skipping, sometimes taking off like a high forte, fluttering alongside the quiet torch, like a miniature sun in this miniature golden heaven, in the hands of miniature valkyries picking up the one who was gone. The sound of her steps with theirs, missed on their subtle beats and frequency, as if there was someone lagging behind in this ephemeral chorus.

"Miss magician, do you think there is... a bit too much chaos this time?"

From the darkness unilluminated by the fire away from her sight, one of their voices demurely vibrating, transcended the barrier of familiarity and strangeness.

"...I thought you are not interested in this."

"Aww, are you, then? Interested, like in a cute game."

"Lyrica."

Cut short by the scolding of the one that was perhaps straining herself to uphold this image, the quiet giggle vanished instantly, yet their footsteps matching the beats of their souls went on, irritated.

"I apologize on her behalf, miss magician."

"It is fine. Now that I think about it, she is correct. 'Interest' was so cruel of a word... And yet, perhaps it was such word that brought about chaos."

"...Perhaps it would do well to cut down some so-called incident solvers of yours. Like, actually cut."

"Lyrica."

Amidst those awkward moments, gently shuffled in some moments was that little ice cream's pacing, as if waiting for her. As if in explanation for her child sister, for a moment, the voice that rang out to her seemed to spin.

"The winds carry nothing but the people's sorrow, miss magician. Do you know miss youkai, schoolteacher of the village?"

"The hakutaku."

The one who tried hard, as hard as her heart desired, only to meet an untimely end.

"...Mm, you know that. For those who are so, so weak, to see those who are there, are there to protect them no longer... How sorrowful must that have been."

The frills of the skirt her hands were holding slightly flashed golden, like a certain someone's wings of freedom. The voice of the child that no longer spinned, was shaking in and of itself, as if belonged into a spring long past.

"...If you are so very concerned for the humans' wellbeing, how come you are still holed up in your safe house, taking no action?"

Such silence that lasted through countless footsteps, was not something she expected, even when asking the question that expected no answer.

"For the humans to still be there, despite sufferings and chaos, and for the like of you who are still here playing notes of your own world, where do you think the bloodshed has all gone to?"

Chaos, conquering those little flames waltzing next to the child, whose silence held tight the little flaring sun of their own world. Whispers of that little ice cream child to her sister, streamed through the air, barely audible to the one that trailed behind. The words descended further into a curve as their path extended further onwards. In the route dimly lit, hallway so narrow she could feel the wall breathing down her cheek, holding an otherworldly sense.

"After all, wars are not shiny, colorful danmaku."

---

To a sudden halt came the miniature sun.

"Miss magician."

Someone cleared her throat, quietly, painfully, breaking the silence their lack of an answer brought up. Under this ephemeral light that blessed her eyes as time came to a gentle rest, the children clutching close together, sorrowful fingers intertwining behind their back, as she easily imagined.

"What do you think our music is for?"

The depth of their eyes eventually turned to her, the depth that in reflection lay a stream of memories she was unaware of, silhouettes of everyone she might some day or never recognize, fluttering like cherry blossom of a transient day.

"Is it for quiet banter, for celebration of peaceful days, for pained minds to reach out as an escape, for dreams that will never be remembered? Miss magician, what is music for you?"

The songs that she and her golden someone used to share in seeming endless, endless night.

Sounds that broke the silence, between her and the quiet one that glistened in cherry blossom color.

"...For as long as I have known the sounds of this world, sounds are there to touch the heart of life."

"Well spoken. Then, miss magician, what is life?"

Their eyes that stared right through her were already telling a story.

"Sounds as well as instruments can pass into fantasy. If they then disappear from Gensokyo as well, they become phantoms. For those whose music is life, like us, how does our view differ from yours?"

Flashing in her sight, she saw the child's hands raising the torch, their quiet sun illuminating the primitive wall. Huge in the wall standing erect was portrait of an era soon past, another world different than the one she knew of.

Children smiling, hands holding instruments, in their faces, sheer joy was the brightest resemblance. What was she seeing, why was she here, watching this, where has her time gone? In that world, the sky glistened, golden, white blue, light brown--

"Green..!?"

And the voice that replied back to her, was almost smiling.

~While in tears, it seems like we have understood each other.

"What do you think, miss magician? Aren't the humans-- isn't that one world... so beautiful, so colorful? Are our sounds also like that? Have our sounds matched that?-"

Her dreams, her otherwordly dreams, were quietly bathed in light. Light that tasted metallic, that squirmed in intensity, in power, in brilliance, was distorting, was spinning, in golden color was the trumpet in the hands of the child!

"This sound...!"

"Miss magician, please do not feel so down... Allow my child sister's sounds to reach you, in her search of new sounds."

"Stop it...! This is not for..."

"For...? Is there anyway for you to tell us the answer?"

The sun in their hands sharply fell to the ground where they stood.

"Have our sounds reached life...?"

Collab with Aki-nii.

---

The Scarlet Devil Mansion loomed over the horizon, the green-haired shrine maiden making her way there quickly. Well...the backyard, so to speak. Sanae didn't particularly mind where she would enter, though. After all, she thought, sneaking in stealthily would be an interesting experience!

Once she approached the mansion, she noticed a barrier of some sort surrounding the entire building. "Hmm..." she hummed, setting her hand against it. "Thankfully I have this on me."

Fishing through her skirt pocket, she took out a spellcard. Waving around her gohei some, she pointed it at the barrier and declared her spell.

"[Esoterica "Nine Syllable Stabs"]!"

Nine columns of blue-white lasers then appeared around Sanae before interacting with the section of the barrier she pointed at, canceling it out and leaving an opening for the miko to enter. Smiling, she quickly made her way through and ended the spellcard, the barrier area she snuck through soon reappearing.

Making her way to an open window, she looked around nervously before quietly flying inside.

Once inside, Sanae looked around the hallway. Thankfully, no one was currently around.

Perfect.

She quickly made her way down the hall, though as quietly as she could. The last thing she wanted to do was alert a fairy maid. Or worse: Sakuya Izayoi herself. She just wanted to meet Remilia Scarlet as soon as she could.

An opening soon appeared in the hallway, and Sanae peeked inside the room slowly and hesitantly.

"Ahhh boredddd. That took way too little time. The plan was too short, its all your fault Sakuyaaaaa. If it was going to be this boring, I'd just have gone out and fought. Sakuyaaaaa, do somethingggg. Oh. She's fighting. I'M JEALOUS. Haa..." mumbled Remilia, drawing circles with her finger on the table. The empty teacup was tilted to it's side beside her arm.

Sanae stiffled a giggle watching the vampire girl muse to herself. For someone capable of something so ominous, she was being quite cute. Not feeling as intimidated as she was before since entering the mansion, the girl decided to reveal herself.

Stepping into the room, she began to spoke. "Jealous? Why don't you fight yourself then?"

"Haa...That's a good idea, but Sakuya would scold me..." Remilia replied in the same tone she had before.

...

"...!" Remilia jolted upright. "Moriya's Miko? Tell me how could you possibly have gotten past Sakuya in such a short time!"

A eerie glowing purple energy started glowing from the center of Remilia's palm. The air grew tense, as if something otherworldly had entered the room.

"Uh oh," Sanae thought to herself, not wanting to anger the vampire. She held her hands up in defense. "I'm not here wanting trouble. And as for sneaking past the maid, I didn't see her on the way in here. I came in through the window."

'Window? So she broke the barrier instead of heading through the front door...I guess that isn't unexpected of her personality...Knowing Sakuya, this wasn't an oversight*: she probably didn't mind the kinds of people whimiscal enough to that. Which means...'
(*It was)

With a sucking sound, the energy was gone, as fast as it appeared. Remilia repositioned herself on her throne, her legs crossed and her head propped up by her left arm. She looked proudly at Sanae, as if trying to compensate for having her musings heard earlier.

"I believe this is not just a casual visit, since you decided to trespass. Are you here for about the mist?"

Sanae nodded, crossing her arms and looking sternly at Remilia. "That's exactly why I'm here. What's the big idea with this red mist? There's quite a bit going on outside already without this creepy mist adding onto our problems."

"I have already been...advised** by Patchouli to take the mist down. But it will be a week before it clears up naturally. Though...I'm sure you can persuade us to take it down faster...?" said Remilia slowly, a little grin appearing on her face.
(**She got scolded)

"I-I guess so," the shrine maiden replied. "I mean, if this persists, more victims could die...and I will absolutely not allow that."

She then took out a spellcard. "Even if I have to convince you with a bout of danmaku, I will!"

'Oh. That didn't turn out like I wanted it to. But a fight~!'

"Oho~ Bring it on!" yelled Remilia and shot up into the air, gungnir in hand. "Lets finish this in one move each! [Divine Spear "Spear the Gungnir"]!"

Sanae glared at the vampire and waved her gohei, a plethora of red and blue stars appearing behind her. "[Preparation "Summon Takeminakata"]!"

As the two girls released their attacks, the giant stars and the spear collided in midair, resulting in an explosion. The blast resulted in Sanae and Remilia flying back in opposite directions, the smoke caused from the collision settling in the room.

'T-the Gungnir got nullified...? She's good. I defintely have to get her on our side.'

"Y-you're good. What I meant was for you to give us, the Scarlet Devil Mansion, a hand in this fight, and we promise to clear the mist immediately...With a nice donation to Moriya Shrine. How does that sound, Moriya's Miko?" said Remilia painfully, and she tried pried herself free of the rubble that was the remanants of one of the walls in the main hall. The fairies cooking behind it fainted in shock.

Getting up slowly and dusting off dust from herself, Sanae closed an eye as she winced in pain. "Owie...well, that's a better suggestion than the two of us beating each other up, in all honesty...I'll do it. As long as you hold up your end of the bargain and don't pull any funny stuff, I'll do what you say, Miss Scarlet."

'Oh. She's such a good girl...Sakuya is definitely going to try to scout her if they meet.'

"You have my word," said Remilia cooly, as the fairies behind her are carried off on a stretcher.

Collab with Dani. This collab is the biggest ever, at 3140 words. :D

---

Shinki was closing the library door when she say the two girls slowly making her way back to her. "Is something the matter?"

Flandre looked to a side, her face slightly red. "We... We don't know how to get back to Gensokyo."

Kasen looked at Shinki, clearly embarrassed. "We asked Yukari for help and she opened a gap for us to enter Makai... and we didn't really think it through because now we can't talk to her and get back home."

The woman chuckled lightly. "It's quite alright." She opened her palm and with her other had she drew a magical sigil. It glowed purple before a ring formed on her open hand.
"Take this with you, approach the door and say the words written on ring, it will let you cross the barrier without any trouble. The one with the ring has to hold the other one in order for both to pass, otherwise only the one physically touching the ring will be immune to the barrier."

Flandre grabbed the ring and looked at it. She nodded while giving it to Kasen. "Thanks, once again!" she said before running off at high speeds.

Kasen bowed. "Thank you for all your help."

"Not at all, have a safe trip." She waved them off as Kasen followed the vampire girl.

The young vampire landed near the gate of Makai, while looking behind her. Since she had went out of Pandemonium, and she flew as fast as she could, the hermit had a little trouble catching up with her, it seemed. She put her hands around her mouth and shouted at the hermit. "Heeey! Hurry up already! I wanna get back to Gensokyo!"

Kasen sighed. Just like she thought, that vampire had to be hyperactive. Reaching the girl after a couple of minutes, she said. "Sorry, but flying isn't one of my strengths..." and then looked at Flandre. "Are you always like this or was it because of our collective embarrrassment?"

Flandre scratched the back of her head. "Well, uh... ... Mostly the embarrassment, yeah..." she shook her head and returned to hurrying Kasen up. "But anyway! Just hurry up and open the door already!"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it already..." She grabbed the ring and read the words in it. It didn't sound like any known language, but it seemed to have worked as it opened a tiny gap on the barrier covering the gate.

Kasen grabbed Flandre's hand and stepped through it, ending up in a forest she couldn't really identify.

The young vampire looked around the area, floating slightly above the ground. "Uh... Are we really back in Gensokyo...?" she advanced a little, between the trees.

Kasen looked up, a look of utter disbelief on her face.
"Yeah... we are." She pointed at the scarlet mist on the sky.


The young scarlet sister raised her head, and her eyes widened upon seeing the mist. "That's the result of my sister's..." she lowered her head. "Tsk... As if Gensokyo didn't have enough problems as is already..."

"Is your sister..." The hermit started slowly. "Ok? I mean... in the head?"

"I doubt it, seeing what she is doing now. But anyway, it's of no concern to us. She'll get her ass handed to her anyway." 'And the mist actually helps me too, so...' the vampire looked at the book she took from Shinki. "Shinki said that this book would help us with the whole Marisa problem... I wonder what does it have...?" she opened the book.

Curiously, Kasen looked at the book as well. All the pages seemed to be in blank, no matter how many pages Flandre turned. The hermit chuckled, seemingly unsurprised by the fact.

"Uh... Uh..." Flandre stuterred as she turned the empty pages frenetically. "Is this some kind of joke...?! It's empty!"

"For us, maybe." The hermit crossed her arms. "For a magician it most likely isn't. They tend to codify or protect important grimoires with magic. Sometimes they will seem empty, others it will seem like the information contained is written in gibberish, effectively driving the non-magicians away from them."

"So, basically... We won't anything out of this book unless we bring it to a magician...?" Flandre rubbed her chin. "Well, the only other magician I know besides Marisa is Patchy, and I don't want to get near the mansion... ... Wait! I know! I met this girl, named Ellen... She said she was a witch... Maybe if we bring the book to her she'll be able to read it"

"I think she's our only option, then." She looked at the mist again. "I don't think your mansion will be a safe place for the time being either."

"Yeah.. It should be better to leave the mansion alone for now. If past events are of any indication, the red-white will show up and kick my sister in the face, so..." Flandre took flight. "Ellen was in the Forest of Magic, want me to carry you there?"

Kasen made a movement with her hand and both her dapeng and her tiger cub popped out of it. "Nah, I'll follow you." She cheerfully petted both of them. "Sorry to leave you waiting, guys."

Flandre blinked a few times. 'How does she even do that...?' she looked at the cub for a few seconds and nodded. She raised a little, above from the trees, and flew in the direction of the Forest of Magic as fast as she could.

"Do you even know where we are?" Kasen looked unconvincedly at Flandre. "We should probably locate where we're standing before starting to fly aimlessly..."

The young vampire quickly stopped and scratched the back of her head. "Yeah... Sorry." she looked around the area, trying to find any sort of landmark that could tell them where they were.

"There. It's hard to see through all the mist, but we're near the Youkai Mountain." The hermit said as she squinted her eyes. "We should go that way." She pointed on the opposite direction Flandre was going.

Flan lowered her head in shame before heading in that direction at the same speed as before.

The pink haired woman looked at Flandre. "I'm curious, you did mention that Reimu and Marisa invaded your mansion before but... You never did explain how you get to be this close to Marisa." She looked forward. "You seem very worried about her."

Flandre sighed. "After Reimu and Marisa, solved that incident and I got away from my room... My sister let me wander around the mansion since the seals didn't really work anymore. One day, I heard from Patchy something about a 'rat', so I decided to help out. I thought my sister would be happy if I got rid of it. So the thing is, I was waiting on the library for the rat to appear and... Well. I never thought that the rat would've been Marisa. We fought a little, I lost and she took away some books. After that I got scolded by my sister for causing havoc in the library." Flandre sighed. "The thing is, after that, everytime Marisa would come to the mansion, we would play a game of Cat & Mouse. She was the mouse, and I was the cat. ... Well. Most of the times. Once we two were the mice." the young vampire giggled at the thought of helping Marisa 'borrow' some books from Voile. "... Marisa is one of the few people who I can remember that hasn't treated me as a monster or something to be feared. ... She's also the first friend that I haven't killed in one of my 'breakdowns'... That's pretty much why I don't want anything to happen to her."

Kasen stared at her for a few second and then started laughing. "That is so like her!" 'She has zero sense of danger or self-preservation.' The hermit remembered that time Marisa had gotten attacked by one of her tigers.

---

The vampire landed near a large wooden house. It looked like it had really been taken good care of, due to how well-constructed it looked. The windows were closed. There was a small little doghouse made of wood, sitting near the entrance. It had a sign on it that read 'Sokrates'. Another sign near the door read:

'Fuwafuwa Ellen's Magic Shop'

Flandre looked at the house. "Ellen gave me directions to her house before I left, in case I needed her services sometime... I guess this must be it."

"'Fuwafuwa Ellen's Magic Shop'..." Kasen could fee sweat forming over her brows. Where all magicians weirdos? "What does she sell, stuffed animals?"

Flandre shrugged. "I doubt it. When I met her she said she worked with love potions or something like that. All I know is that she has a cat named 'Sokrates', really."

"Ah, I see..." She looked at the house, absent-mindedly and then quickly turned her head at Flandre. "Wait, she has a cat?"

"Yeah, a white, somewhat fat cat. What about it?"

"Ah, nothing." The hermit looked pretty excited now. "I like meeting new animals!"

"Oh right, I forgot... You love cats..." Flandre sighed and got close to the door. As soon as she was going to knock on it, the door opened a blonde woman, wearing white gloves, a blue dress and a big hat appeared behind it. The woman had some sort of ghostly aura around her.

The woman's blue eyes glanced at both the hermit and the vampire. "Huh? More of Ellen's clients? She sure has been busy lately..."

"Uh... Yeah." the young vampire nodded. "We wanted to see her because we had something to ask her... Is she home?"

The woman covered her face with her hat. "Yeah. She's inside. Go ahead, she's not busy at the moment. If you'll excuse me." the poltergeist walked past the two of them. 'I knew Ellen had a lesbian couple pending but damm... Those are some weird girls...'

Flandre looked back at the woman for a second, before entering the house.

Kasen raised her brows as she looked at the woman passing by. 'Why do I get the feeling I just got a judging look?'

The interior of the house was slightly iluminated by small, floating, light balls. A big black, empty cauldron stood in the center. Several grimoires and bottles with liquids and strange objects inside them were piled on the shelves nearby. Wooden stairs at the other side of the room led to the 2nd floor.

A blonde girl was reading a small grimoire, lying down on what looked like a small wooden couch. A white cat rested on the girl's lap, sleeping. It seemed that neither of two noticed the hermit and the vampire's presence.

"It's so fat and cute!" Kasen whispered next to Flandre. "I want to pet it!"

"Can we just concentrate on what we came here to do...?" the young scarlet sister got near the blonde girl. "Uh... Ellen?"

The forgetful witch tilted her head to look at Flandre. She smiled, closed the grimoire, put her cat on the floor and jumped out of the couch. "Oh hey, if it isn't Pudding! What brings you here?" Flandre's left eye twitched a little upon hearing her 'name'.

Kasen crouched down near the cat. "'Pudding?'" She started petting it. "Aaah! Now I get it!" And she started laughing. "You sound tasty."

Sokrates growled a little and ran off to Ellen's side.

Flandre's face was turning slightly red. "S-shut up..."

Ellen rubbed her chin. "Wait... Your name wasn't pudding, was it...? Oh. Yeah. Sorry Flan. My memory isn't what it used to be. Anyway, what brings you here...?" she looked at Kasen. "... Wait... Don't tell me that you two are...?"

"Aah... I got rejected..." The hermit looked heartbroken as her arm was left hanging in the air, her eyes shifted at Ellen. "Are what?"

"Well... You see... I was waiting for a lesbian couple in order to help them bear a child through magic... Could it be that you two...?"


"What?! No, no! We're just frien--- wait, is that actually possible?!" Kasen put her hand on her chin, suddenly looking all serious. "I've read nothing about that. How does that work? Spiritual energy?"

Ellen scratched the back of her head. "It's a complicated spell, and... well... Believe me, it's not pretty... And probably not what you're thinking about either..." she shook her head. "A-Anyway! If you're not the couple, then why did you come here?"

"Ah, we were wondering if you could help us with a grimoire." The hermit made a motion with her head towards the book Flandre was holding. "It seems like it has somekind of anti-non-magician spell protecting it so all pages look blank to us. But we really need that in order to help a friend."

Flandre tended the book to Ellen. "Ah, I see..." the witch said, taking the book and opening it while drawing a small magic sigil on the air with her finger. "Well, this should be enough, let's see..." she began to read the grimoire.

Ellen closed the grimoire. She closed her eyes, her smile fading away. "First of all, where did you get this? Second, I need to know more details about what exactly are you going to do with this." she sighed. "The ritual on this book isn't an easy one, you know."

Kasen crossed her arms. "Answer to the first question: Makai, as for the second..." She looked at Flandre and then looked back at Ellen. "We want to help a friend of ours. An unknown creature had been attacking people all around Gensokyo, humans, youkai, everyone. Our friend got attacked and she was left with a sigil on her neck. Ritual or techniques she can use to counter it, we want to know them all, everything that can help us helping her."


"Oh, so this is about the Night Terror Incident..." Ellen crossed her arms. "Well, if I understood this correctly, the sigil is slowing draining away the victim's life energy and..." the witch began to explain about the link between caster and victim, and how severing the link would perjudice the caster. "Now, regarding how to counter it... Magic suppresors should stop or diminish the effect for some time, although it depends on how strong the magic is and for how long the victim has been affected. If this friend of yours knows healing magic, she could recover her own life energy and extend her lifetime. The sigil also reacts to being near to the caster, accelerating the process, so she should stay away from it. However..." Ellen lowered her head. "The best options are either defeating the caster or forcefully removing the sigil. Both would sever the link, and this grimoire explains how to do the latter... However..."

"However...?" Kasen prompted her to carry on.

Ellen raised her head and opened her eyes. "I'm not gonna lie, the ritual is complicated, and you're going to need an expert magician for it. I have the ingredients, luckily... Well most of them, but the last one needs to be provided by the victim or the caster. I feel I could do the ritual myself, but..." Ellen sighed. "With this ritual I'd be directly accessing your friend's life energy. If I screw up just a little, she might enter a coma, or, worst of all, die." Ellen looked at Kasen and Flandre. "Do you still want to go on?"

The hermit crossed her arms once again, eyes cast down in thought.
"Marisa is a magician... but I doubt she can use healing magic since her especialty is destruction magic... Shinki said there was a way Marisa herself could counter the Ripper's influence..." Kasen looked at the witch again. "She is a witch too, is there nothing in that grimoire about it?"

The witch opened the grimoire and began to turn the pages, without saying a word.

After a few minutes, Ellen crossed the grimoire once more. "The caster can exploit the link with the victim to make her do its bidding, but..." Ellen smiled. "So can the victim, in a minor way. If your friend is strong enough, she can probably try and hurt the caster spiritually, either by herself or by using the spells on the grimoire." Ellen shook her head slowly. "However, she would be vulnerable to attacks done on this plane, since she needs to concentrate on the spiritual one. If she does this she won't have an advantage, though. The caster can counterattack."

"I see... As for the ritual, if we, hypothetically speaking, had the ingredient we need to get from the victim or the caster, we would still need Marisa to be present here in order to perform it, right?" The hermit asked, a pensive look ever present.

Ellen simply nodded. "Telepathic rituals won't happen any time soon, sadly."

"That settles it then." Kasen looked at Flandre. "Before we do anything, we have to ask Marisa about what she wants. This is not something we should be deciding on, besides, we would have to find her first, regardless of choice."

Ellen crossed her arms. "Powerful magicians would probably be able to sense her magical energy and track your friend based on that... I can do it, but preparing the spell for it would take me days, and I doubt you have that much time."

Flandre looked at Kasen. "... Wait. What about your animals? Won't they know...?"

Kasen nodded negativelly. "No sign of her yet. I don't know where she is hidding, but she must be very well hidden, then again Gensokyo is huge, even if I send everyone on patrol..."

Flandre sighed. "We'll just have to go search then..."

Ellen grabbed Sokrates and put him on her own shoulder. "Can I go with you? This incident has gotten me somewhat intrigued, and if for some reason your friend's sigil worsens her condition... You're gonna need a magician to supress its effects." 'Besides, I'm sure that I heard the name 'Marisa' somewhere before...'

The pink haired woman nodded negatively and then smiled. "The more the merrier. We'd be grateful if you accompanied us, all the magicians we can count on are either off limits or missing." She was going to turn around but stopped on her tracks. "Ah, my apologies, I didn't introduce myself. My name is Kasen Ibaraki." She extended the magician her hand. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."


Ellen stretched Kasen's hard. "I'm Ellen, and the little guy is Sokrates." she said pointing at her cat. Ellen ran over to a shelf and grabbed a few spellcards before returning to the entrance. "Now, whenever you're ready~"

Episode 3: Exciting collab with Dani!!
Subtitle: Demons know each other, and so do rippers?

---

After the hearty meal, they had followed Momiji to the center of the village and currently, the wolf tengu was discussing with the half-hakutaku something, probably regarding Aya.

Koishi was sitting on a bench nearby, legs kicking the air cheerfully as she watched. She had heard that Keine had gotten hurt pretty bad by the Rippy person she kept hearing about, but it seemed that she was back to her feet.

A nod of the head and a polite bow and Momiji made her way back to the rest of the group.
“Miss Kamishirasawa agreed to let me cooperate on the defense of the Village. People have spotted Aya flying around too so I’ll stay around here.”

Her legs went to a stop as the satori looked sadly at Momiji. “You’re staying here? But…”

The tengu smiled sadly. “I’m sorry, but I have a mission to fulfill. You have more friends now, don’t you?” She asked looking at Futo and Yoshika.

“Yeah… but who will hunt and cook food?”

‘Uh… was that your concern?’

Momiji looked at the other two. “Any idea where you’re going now?”

"Hell if I know, why don't we let shrimpy here use her Fangy Shoe, or whatever it's called?", Yoshika said while playing around with Futo's hat, keeping it out of her reach and watching her jump for it, to no avail.

"It's FENG SHUI!!! Now give me back my hat you... you big meanie!"

Giving up on her hat, Futo started thinking weather feng shui could actually determine the location of the ripper.

Casting her eyes on the satori again, Momiji looked worriedly at Koishi. “You can always stay here, you know?”
Her green eyes looked at the other two and then back at Momiji. “I know they’re weird.” She smiled. “But I’m weird too!” She stood up, arms stretched at her sides as if she was ready to embrace something. “The world has so many interesting things inside, it’s boring to stay in only one place!”

Chuckling the tengu crossed her arms. A few months ago she knew nothing but the mountain and its surroundings, leaving it and meeting new people, new places had open her horizons. “That is true…”

Interrupting the heartwarming moment, Yoshika lightly smacked Koishi on the top of her head.

"What do you mean by weird people, weirdo?" Yoshika had in truth interrupted because she didn't want to see this weird girl crying for some reason unknown to her.

“Ahaha~ But being weird is fun, right?” Koishi chuckled and turned at Yoshika. “We’re all weird so might as well be weird together! Being weird alone is sad.” She concluded, her last sending carrying a vague hint of sadness. “If you’re weird alone, you’ll end up thinking you’re weirder than you really are and then you’ll be scared of what others will think of you.” She continued and then looked at Yoshika with a smile. “You have friends don’t you? Since you don’t think you’re weird.”

"Pffft well I guess I am Yoshika's friends, but superior would be more, accurate and appropriate." Futo stood with an air of slightly arrogant superiority.

"Hmph, as you say, your Shrimpness." Yoshika presented Futo's hat back to her in a mocking kneel, 'offering' it back to her.

“Anyway…” Momiji looked at Keine and back at them. “I have to go. Please don’t get into and or cause any trouble.”

“Yes~” Koishi piped. “I’ll come back to visit you, Momiji.”

The wolf smiled. “I’ll hold you on to that.” And then waved and walked off.

"Hey umm… Koishi, come with us!" Futo said glad that Yoshika had given her some proper respect, she had so many questions about this science stuff Koishi had talked about.

Exciting the stall she said "The ripper is…. this-a-way follow me!"

"And how did you decide that?" Yoshika asked, not liking the way she doubted before choosing a direction.

“That isn’t important.” Koishi started cheerfully. “If she messes up and things get dangerous, we’ll use her as a meat shield~” And then she started following Futo, leaving a confused Yoshika lagging behind.

Yet another wonderful collab between Dankiri, Nick, and me!

---

Eirin and Youmu were on their way to the same fiery lightshow that now attracted Reisen and Yuyuko. Once they neared the source, Eirin stopped Youmu, and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Youmu, I know I said I need your help for this, and I meant it. This is very dangerous, you understand?” Eirin looked deep into Youmu’s eyes, and Youmu thought she could see some hesitation in Eirin’s tone.

“O-Of course!” Youmu replied, a bit taken aback at their abrupt stop and Eirin’s repeated warning. “I would do anything to save Yuyuko!”
Youmu tried to turn back towards their destination, but Eirin held her shoulder firm. Suddenly, a look of compassion appeared on Eirin’s face, as she said to Youmu.

“Thank you. And, I am sorry.”

Suddenly, Youmu felt a prick on her neck, and immediately fell to her knee’s. The next few moments were a blur, but once she regained her senses a few seconds later, she was propped against a tree, breathing heavily. Her feet still refused to move, and her mouth could utter no words. There was a foreboding black shape a few hundred feet ahead of her, and it seemed to have noticed her. The source of the flames had disappeared, and all she could hear was her own, excessively loud breathing.

------------------------------------------------------------

At about the same time Eirin and Youmu stopped to talk, Reisen and Yuyuko were also nearing the scene. Reisen explained to Yuyuko on the way how Mokou and her had found Youmu fighting the Ripper, and intervened just a little too late to prevent Youmu from receiving a serious injury. Reisen had rushed off to find help, while Mokou stayed back to fend the beast off.

“We’re nearing the place.” Reisen said to Yuyuko. There were no longer any flames, but there was visibly a clearing ahead. “Hang back for a second; I want to make sure nothing is up. Mokou should still be fighting… I’ll give you the go ahead when I know what’s happening.”

Yuyuko nodded in understanding, her pink eyes full of worry, yet a blossoming anger. "As soon as possible, please," she responded. "I need to make sure Youmu is okay. I will not be at ease until that fact is established."

“Thank you very much, I’ll be as quick as I can, two minutes at most.”

Reisen ran forward, her eyes glowing red. She had created a field of manipulated sound around her, so nothing outside of a 5 foot radius could hear the noises she made. In front of her, in the clearing, was a large, dark figure, looking around as if it had lost somethings trail. Farther down the field, there was a much smaller silhouette propped against a tree.

“Bingo,” Reisen thought, and shifted her focus. She moved the sound manipulation field toward the figure, and enhanced the noises made inside. Suddenly, the air around them was filled with the sound of heavy, strained breathing. The creature turned its head.

Green orbs stared at the lights brightening the skies. She had no interest in the inhabitant’s childish danmaku play, but the fireworks made up for a good show.

A rustle in the nearby bushes caught her attention, the smell of burnt wood evident in the air.

Calmly, as if she owned all the time in the world, she followed the trail… and suddenly. The sound of heaving was all she could hear. Under the hood a smile formed and she turned her head in the direction of the sound.

Against the tree was a silver haired girl.

Slowly she approached the girl, she kneeled and looked at her face, whispering loud enough for Youmu to hear. “Honorable samurai, straining to keep her consciousness afloat, how does it feel to be turned into bait by the people you trust?” She looked up to the danmaku display happening nearby. “Suddenly, your breathing was louder than the fireworks, how queer.” She stood up, smiling, a hand finding its way to the trembling phantom half.

Reisen watched as the beast approached Youmu’s form. Something about the way it moved made her think that the Ripper knew she was there, but that was irrelevant. What mattered was what came next.

“YUYUKO, GET OVER HERE NOW!” Reisen yelled.

The pink-haired ghost hurried over to the Lunarian. "Where's my Youm-" she started, but she stopped talking once she noticed the scene in front of her.

Youmu was laying unconscious in the grass, a peaceful and serene look on her face as she breathed slowly. Above the girl was the shady figure that struck fear in the hearts of many across the land of Gensokyo, and said figure was reaching toward her.

Yuyuko's eyes narrowed dangerously. "W-What the hell is the meaning of this?!" she shouted, beginning to hurry toward her gardener.

Talking as fast as she could, Reisen yelled: "THERE'S NO TIME! DO SOMETHING!"

Yuyuko glared back at the Lunarian. "What, are you just going to stand there instead of helping me out?!" she snapped. "Let's take this nuisance down and save her! Take out a spell card, rabbit!"

Reisen's face went from shock to relief in about half a second. She relaxed her powers and managed to utter an "Oh thank god.." before she was interrupted by a tremendous blast.

Suddenly, a great flaming arrow shot from the surrounding trees, headed directly for the Ripper. It was fired from almost point blank. There was no time to react.

The Ripper got sent tumbling down to the ground, cracks forming on her features, bits off glass peeling off of her. She didn’t move.

In the next instant, Reisen shot forward as fast as she could, using her power to conceal her position. She slammed into Youmu's body, sending it flying back towards the cavalry in the trees.

"!" Yuyuko watched as Youmu flew into the forest and gave chase, heavily confused at what was going on at this point. All she knew was that the Lunarians were heavily pissing her off and the Ripper seems to be out of commission after that arrow strike.

Once there, she saw as Youmu lay face down in the dirt in front of a tree, still not moving. She hurried over and knelt down next to her servant, hugging her close. "Thank goodness..." she murmured, sighing in relief hearing the girl breathe softly.

Eirin and Mokou emerged from the woods, and slowly walked towards the Rippers prone form. They stopped once they got 10 feet away, looked at eachother, and started unleashing as much danmaku as they could at the cracked beast.

The sound of glass breaking filled the air and then it suddenly stopped as the Ripper casually materialized itself behind Eirin and asked amusingly. "Are you sure leaving your home unprotected was a good idea?"

Then she jumped back as both women prepared their spell cards.

"Yuyuko Saigyouji," She was sure the woman could listen. "Trust my words or not, that is your decision to make. I have no interest in you or your servant. In fact, you could say I have a very strong affinity with ghosts." The hooded woman said, chuckling lightly. "And I took you for a wise person, you should've known better than to associate with the lunarians."

She twirled out of the way as orbs of fire came raining down on her, licking past her robes. "Learn how to choose your allies better next time." The Ripper finished and she gave a big leap to the middle of the forest, the darkness created by the scarlet mist conceiling her black clothes in an instant.

Eirin sighed, as the Ripper vanished into the dark horizon. She could feel the anger radiating from behind her, and turned to face what she was preparing for the entire day. She wasn’t sure if she was ready.

“Yuyuko,” Eirin started, trying to carefully choose her words. “I suppose I owe you an explanation.”

Yuyuko seethed with anger, holding Youmu's body in her arms as she gave the doctor a piercing gaze. "You have PLENTY to explain. I suggest you start now before I blow my top."