Ail and Marisa's battle had lasted 15 minutes already. Every single shot Marisa tried, Ail somehow blocked them, or took them head-on to protect the Moriya Shrine from receiving any damage, and yet he was as fresh as when the battle started. Kanako was so drunk, all she was doing was yelling nonsense while Suwako was cheering Ail on and Sanae was begging them to stop fighting already. "You are worse than a cockroach, you know that, ze? Fine. I'll go all out now." Marisa smiles at Ail as she lifts her hat and takes out a wooden octagonal block with some sort of symbols on it. "Get ready to feel the burn, DA~ZE!!" Ail braced for impact, moving away from the Moriya shrine then he can clearly see Marisa mouthing some words, however Ail couldn't hear a single word from her, yet an incredibly large beam of light flies straight at him. All he could do was block and wait for the beam to end. After the beam faded, Ail was still flying, however he coughs out a thick puff of smoke and realizes his clothes are completely messed up. Behind him, at a distance, a little black ball flew aimlessly saying "is that so~!?" Marisa smiles and says "you're still flying after that? No matter, ze. There's plenty more where that came from." and without thinking, she points that thing at Ail again and again mouths some words, then the beam comes flying at Ail again. When the beam vanishes for the second time, Ail was gone. Marisa snickers and flings her Hakkero in the air and catching it as it fell. "Heh, I guess it was a bit too much for him, zei~! That'll teach him to mess with Flan ag-gain?" Marisa looks at her hand realizing the Hakkero hadn't fallen yet, then she slightly looks up, behind her. Ail had caught her Hakkero and was hovering just above and behind her. When Marisa tries to move, Ail kicks her broom, flinging it in the air and catching it with the same hand which he had the Hakkero, then grabs Marisa by the back of her shirt with his other hand, ending the battle quite swiftly.
"Hold these" he asked Sanae as he lowered back down and tossed Marisa's things at her. He then tosses Marisa to the ground like a rag-doll. As Marisa stood up complaining, Ail asked her "what was that you were mouthing just before that beam came out?" Marisa was quite surprised and said "whoa, you saw that...? Maybe there's hope for you after all." Ail looked rather confused and asked "was that... the Master Spark?". Marisa got up, and somehow had her broom back and pockets her Hakkero as she takes it from Sanae's hands, then smiles as she looks back at Ail and says "if I were you, I'd hide from Reimu. Thanks to you, she had to visit the Scarlet Mansion daily just to get Kyo back to the Hakurei shrine, ze." and with that, she waves at Ail, the gods and then Sanae, then lifts up in the air, heading to the Scarlet Mansion. Ail looks at the gods and Sanae and says "I think I'll walk to the shrine. Lady Kanako, lady Suwako, miss Sanae. Thanks again for everything... and for fixing my clothes, hehehe." Praise materialize from Ail's chest and head directly to Sanae, Suwako and Kanako, in that order, however Ail had no idea what ha just happened, but all three were smiling at him. Ail smiles back, bows, then starts his walk back to the Hakurei shrine. Not long after leaving the shrine grounds, Ail reaches a waterfall. It was a long way down, however he finds a path he can use to climb down. For some reason he refused to fly, but thought to himself that he would fly if he needed to. "Ayayayaya!!! Ail, you're alive?!" Aya immediately took quite a few pictures of him climbing down. Grunting, Ail says "Hey Aya. Yeah, I'm alive and well as you can see." Aya just kept staring at him as she slowly hovered next to him, then Ail decided to just fly the rest of the way down. "So you guys thought I was dead?" asked Ail as he kept descending next to Aya who replied "well I did write a report on it in the Bunbunmaru Newspaper. Kyo got a little depressed and Reimu got quite mad... what a rough week that was." Aya laughs and Ail looks at her quite serious saying "well that's what you get for stretching the truth." Aya sticks her tongue out and says "I got nothing to my defense this time... unless I kill you, that is." Ail ponders for a moment and says "but then you'd be a murderer, instead of a reporter." Aya's face goes blank as she yells in her mind "and he got me just like that!" Just as they reached the bottom, Momiji flies down in a hurry "miss Aya, miss Aya!" When Momiji realizes Ail was there, she starts to wag her tail, her ears perk up and shouts "Ail!!! Look miss Aya, Ail is alive!!!" Ail waves at Momiji, feeling rather awkward that they really though he was dead. Momiji's expression changes and whispers something in Aya's ears. Aya's skin trembles, as if she had just been shocked and said "err... sorry Ail, got to go. Urgent. Nice to see you. Say hi to Reimu for us, alright!" and then leaves in a big hurry, Momiji trailing along.
Ail shrugs then continues following the river downstream. Not long after, Ail felt a presence so he stops and hears a foot step about three feet away. He stretches saying "ahh, I think I'll sit here for a bit." He kneels next to the river and closes his eyes. Very suddenly, he places his hand on the water and splashes a lot of water to his left, revealing a small girl who shrieks as the water hits her. She had blue hair tied on each side into ponytails and blue eyes. She wore a light-blue dress that was full of pockets, light-blue boots, a green hat, and wore a large aquamarine backpack with a golden key on the straps in front. After being discovered, she nervously backs away and gets behind the nearest tree she could find. Ail stayed where he was and narrowly opens his eyes, however he repositioned himself now, to face the girl. "You know, stalking others is not a nice thing to do." The girl peeked from behind the tree and just stared at Ail. Ail sighs and says "fine... my name is Ail. I mean no harm. Err... sorry for getting you all wet like that." The girl reveals herself a bit more than says "I-I... my name is Nitori... I... was just wondering... what is a human doing here?"
After a little while, Nitori was sitting next to Ail, who had fascinated her with his story. "But don't you miss all those technological wonders!?" asked Nitori. Ail smiles at her and says "a little... sometimes. I like flying better." Ail stretches again and says "well miss Nitori, I better continue. I want to reach the shrine before nightfall." then gets up and starts walking again. Nitori gets up and asks "but why won't you fly? It's a lot faster." Ail stops and looks back at Nitori and smiling says "if I did, I wouldn't have met you, right?" Nitori smiles saying "yeah... that's right." then she waves at him as he continues down the river. Ail started feeling rather sad and almost ill, then the skies started turning dark, however he could see the sun. "What's this all of a sudden. It's as if I was being cursed. I better sit down or I might throw up..." Getting closer to the water made Ail feel much better for some reason. He decides to walk as close to the water as possible. After going through some bushes he spots yet another girl. She had aquamarine eyes and hair that was tied with a frilly bow in front of her, and another frilly bow on top. Her dress was dark-red with frills at the bottom and a big white kerchief on top, and the bottom had aquamarine swirls and had knee-length black boots. She spots Ail and greets him. "Hello, human... wait... are you human? Well, never mind. you shouldn't be here. This is a dangerous place." Ail gets a little closer and says "really? I didn't notice." Behind him was a trail of knocked out youkai and fairies, all struggling to stand up, some calling their mothers. The girl gets shocked and backs away. "Oh, I won't harm you as long as you don't try to harm me, alright? My name is Ail, by the way." The girl lowers her guard and replies "I am Hina Kagiyama... now I'm certain you're not human... then again, you do remind me of those two humans..." Ail laughs and says "pleasure to meet you, miss Hina. By any chance you wouldn't mean Reimu and Marisa, right?" Hina giggles and nods. Ail looks around and asks "why is it so dark here?" Hina smiles tenderly and replies "because I gather the misfortunes of humans and pass them on to the gods. You better move along before you get cursed." Ail nods, however before continuing he asks "but are you okay with this?" Hina bows and says "to worry like that for someone you've just met. I am fine with this, however, what if I decide to attack you or eat you when you least expect it?" Ail smiles back at her and gets close to her. Hina tries to back away but he grabs hold of her hand. Hina panics saying "no, wait, you'll get cursed!" however, as if not even listening Ail replies to her "because I have heart, and it feels the good from you." Ail's hand turns purple. Hina tries to get free, however Ail's hand turns back to normal, the curse vanishes completely, then some light that came from Ail's hand got inside Hina, then he continued saying "it also told me you needed some help, so I an giving you some help. Consider it a blessing from the Moriya Shrine." Hina was amazed. Not only did he cancel the curse, he made half of the curses inside Hina vanish, just like that. The air around them felt lighter and the forest turned brighter. Ail lets go and says "until we meet again, miss Hina" and with a smile, Ail continues his way. Hina was in such shock, all she could reply was a weak "bye" while waving her arm, then she stares at it for a bit. Back at the Moriya shrine, half of the shrine had collapsed. "Kanako, Suwako, what happened!?" yelled Sanae as she rushes to help them out of the debris. Kanako says "I don't know... what the hell was that just now!?" Suwako pops her head from under a piece of roof, her eyes swirling, saying "how unfortuna~te!" and above them a black ball, flying aimlessly says "is that so~!?"
Ail finally gets out of the forest then realizes he does not recognize where he is. He decided to fly, to get a better view, however he hears two girls talking just a few feet away "come on, sis. Let's go to the village!" "Don't worry, we'll get there." One wore a long red dress that ended looking like cut-out leaves shapes at the bottom, had short blond hair and yellow-orange eyes. She also wore autumn leaves on her head as ornaments. The other girl had red eyes, wore a yellow blouse with poofy sleeves and a red dress that covers her half-way up her chest and black strap over the shoulders. The dress had the pattern of wheat at the bottom and her red hat had a cluster of blue grapes on the front. Ail walks speedily to them then says "hey, wait a minute. I'm a little lost. May I join you to the village?" The two girls look at each other surprised, then back at Ail and nod. On the way to the village... "I'm sorry to trouble you like that. My name is Ail, and I guess I'm still getting used to this place after all." "That's fine, it's fine. My name is Minoriko Aki, and this is my sister, Shizuha Aki." Shizuha quietly says "hi" while waving. Ail continues "I see... you're goddesses too. No wonder you smell so nice" Minoriko smiles and says "how perceptive of you. Much more perceptive than some shrine maiden..." Ail quietly thinks to himself "boy, Reimu's left a mark on everyone,it seems". Shizuha excitedly yells "look, the village." Ail begins to recognize where he is. Somehow, he felt as though everything had changed. Some trees were different, others had moved, the sky itself looked different to him for some reason. He turn to the Aki sisters and bows to them saying "thank you very much for allowing me to accompany you to the village" and as he said this, from his chest, two green stars materialized from his chest and flew softly on each girl's hands. They looked at each other, then at Ail who says "that's the second time those things pop out from there... what are those?" The Aki sisters giggle and pat him on the head saying "you're a good human. Don't worry about it. Just think of these as... a god's meal." Ail looked rather puzzled, but didn't ask more as the villagers stormed outside to greet the goddesses. Ail entered the village and saw Keine talking to Mystia. He went to greet them, however Keine looked at him strangely.
"Ail...you're-. Where have you been? Never mind... you can tell me later." and with that, Keine rushes off. Ail looked even more puzzled. Question marks started popping all around him when Mystia jumps to greet him. "AIL!!! You're back at last! Are you going to fix this mess?" said Mystia as she hugged Ail tightly, then let go and looks at him. Ail asks "Mystia...? So glad to see you. Mystia, what's been going on, whats wrong with Keine? What mess are you talking about?" Mystia backs away and says "err... I almost spilled the beans, heheh. Reimu said 'If you see Ail, don't tell him anything' and I almost told you, but now... oh no, I told!!!" then she flies away in a big hurry. Ail felt in his heart... Reimu wasn't very happy with him, but he didn't have a choice... she would find him anyway, even if he did hide. He took a deep breath and continued walking to the shrine. Reaching the shrine stairs, Ail begins to climb. Each step he took made him feel more and more nervous. Finally arriving at the top, he is greeted by Suika's voice. "Ail!? Look. look, it's Ail, it's Ail!" Ail notices she was wearing the same clothing as Reimu. From inside the shrine he hears lots of voices that together exclaim "AIL!?" Suddenly HUNDREDS of yin-yang balls drop from the sky. Ail manages to dodge the first barrage, however, the rest fell right on top of him. "Such violence" said Ail as he got out of the mountain of yin-yang balls, and as soon as he got out, a smiling Reimu greets him with a gohei to the head. "Ail, why how A~RE you~!? Let me HELP, you get OUT of that mess!" said Reimu as she kept beating him with the gohei with an evil smile on her face. When she stops, Ail, his eyes spinning, says "so glad to see you too..." From behind Marisa, Alice, Yukari and Yuka, Kyo's voice stands out. "Let me at him, LET ME AT HIM! I'm gonna KILL him!" Ail gets up sighing, then right in front of him was Kyo, looking furious. Ail stood still in front of Kyo, both staring at each other. Kyo broke the silence saying "you got some nerve showing your face around here..." Kyo suddenly throws a punch at Ail, however stops, then hugs his friend saying "you're back, bro. I can't believe you're finally back, you IDIOT! Do you have ANY idea how worried we all were!?" Ail spots Marisa, acting as if she had just seen him. Ail then asks "Marisa? Why didn't you tell them about the Moriya shrine incident?" All turn to her saying "WHAT!?" Ail, truly thinking she had told them continues "yes... we had a little fight, even. Ask Rumia... she saw too." Ail noticed everyone glaring at Marisa. Kyo had daggers in HIS eyes. Ail looked confused.
Marisa was a mess. Beaten up and literally planted face down in the dirt just outside the shrine. It was now late noon, and everyone else was inside the shrine. "...so that spirit that had me possessed... came from the Netherworld? But how is it that Yuyuko didn't..?" Yukari raises her hand, stopping Ail from finishing his question. "The spirit got you after you got out of Hakugyokurou." Ail looks to his knees then raises his sight to Yukari's, but keeps quiet. Reimu, looking angry said "possession or not, you really made a mess for us. Remilia has been terrorizing the village looking for you, she made ME and Kyo work like SLAVES at her mansion claiming it was as payment." After Reimu finished talking, Ail and Yukari both seem to get out of a trance at the same time. Yukari smiles and says "well, I best be going now. Ail, remember what you must do now." and with that, she opens a gap, enters it and leaves in a second. Reimu looked quite annoyed and asked Ail "did I miss something?" Ail looks at Reimu quite nervous and says "n-no, it's nothing." then he looks at Yuka, who was gazing at him with bright eyes. Ail slightly bows his head and says "miss Yuka, what's the matter?" Yuka blushes a little, and Reimu answers for her "I don't know why she keeps visiting. She keeps bringing these dead plants and vases full of dirt... I think she's completely lost it." Yuka glares at Reimu with the corner of her eyes. Reimu yells "you want a piece of this?" however Ail gets up and touches each vase and pot once, then after a few seconds, all plants come to life. Kyo was extremely surprised, however Reimu looks at Ail saying "energy manipulation at it's finest. I wonder what kind of youkai blood is in you? Oh yes, that reminds me; Eirin wanted you to know that your youkai blood is more dominant than your human blood." Kyo, sounding a little disappointed said "in my case it's the inverse. She said I probably reached the limit of my abilities by now. Not that I care. I'm getting out of here first chance I get!" Ail kept quiet as Yuka's face was inches away from his. She just kept gazing at him, slightly blushing. Ail stood completely still, however, then said "Yuka, you best take these flowers back home now... she's heading this way now." and somehow, Yuka had all the flowers inside a small cart and pulling away saying "thanks, I'll see you soon." From behind Ail, Marisa pops out, scaring Ail and making him jump high as she said "you sly dog. Yuka? That's one dangerous catch." Holding his chest, Ail says "thanks... I'll keep that in mind." Marisa sits down next to Alice, who asks "who's heading this way?" Reimu was quiet as Ail answered "Remilia. She's caught my scent by now. All of you, stay in here... do not interfere." he then turns to Reimu saying "Reimu, did you-?" Reimu answers "once you get out, nothing gets in or out of the shrine." Ail nods saying "good" then smiles and waves. Kyo didn't complain this time. Alice and Marisa, however begged him to just run away, but he was already outside and Reimu's barriers were activated.
Up on the early evening skies, Remilia hovers down to meet Ail. "Brave of you, to come out of the shrine on your own... You have a lot to answer for." said Remilia while smiling a most wicked smile, keeping her eyes on Ail. Ail smiles and says "I know the trouble I caused, however I am sure you know by now that it wasn't entirely my fault." "Thanks to you..." continued Remilia, ignoring Ail "my sister's been behaving like a normal human child, the gate guard has been working diligently, and the librarian's been locked up, learning dangerous spells of mass destruction in her library." Ail smirks, then Remilia continues "however not one of them smile anymore. They look on, suspiciously at each other, except for the gate guard and my sister, who seem inseparable for some reason. What's worse, "accidents" haven been happening around Sakuya all too often." Ail's smirk vanishes, replaced by a serious look as Remilia continues. "I want them back. I want them all back! They won't listen to me; the won't come BACK to me. Bring them back, NOW!" Ail quietly looks at Remilia. Her eyes got glassy. He knew she was holding back sadness, replacing it with anger. He then flew up into the sky and said "how about this, lady Remilia? We fight now and if you win, you can do whatever you want with me. Be your slave, eternal servant, kill me, whatever you want. However..." Remilia flies up to meet him eye to eye, smiling wickedly, bearing her teeth for him to see, her eyes glowing crimson red. Ail continues "...however if I happen to win, I demand full access to your mansion, no restrictions!" Remilia smiles saying "sure, why not? I'll beat you and change your fate. You'll be my eternal servant. You'll even serve Sakuya... this will be my greatest victory ever!" Ail and Remilia look at each other for a bit, then the battle begins as soon as the danmaku starts flying from both sides.
From inside the shrine, they were all watching the fight through one of Reimu's yin-yang orbs that was set up by Yukari to be a two-way radio and camera. Alice then says "hey... has anyone seen the oni?" Reimu just shrugs and says "don't mind her, just watch." Ail would land every single shot at Remilia, however Remilia was missing miserably. This infuriated her to no ends. They both pause for a moment and Ail asks with a smile "had enough?" "You cocky piece of shit!" exclaims Remilia, her face turning red with anger "three of these should do it for you!" Ail says "young ladies have such dirty mouths these days." Remilia cools down, then pulls something from her wristband. Ail saw what looked like pieces of paper for a moment, then they just vanished from his sight. "Invisible paper? What's that going to do?" asks Ail while Remilia laughs saying "oh... so you can't see them. No worries. When this is all over, you'll be a maid's maid. Get ready to call Sakuya and ME 'master'". She grabbed something from her hand and raised it above her head. "D__k Sign S___let ______world" Ail though he was going deaf for a moment, shaking his head and looking at Remilia in awe as danmaku started to materialize around her in some sort of pattern. Suddenly a rain of red crystals shower straight at him from all around. Ail dodges the first and second wave, however by the third way, Remilia was shooting faster and faster until he got hit by one of the showers. Inside the shrine, Kyo panics. "Reimu, the spell cards! He doesn't know about them!" Reimu signals Kyo to sit down saying "don't worry. Just watch. I'll fill him in later." Ail, even after being hit, never stopped shooting his danmaku at Remilia, breaking her concentration, making her furious. "You should be BEGGING me to stop now!" Ail smiles asking "is that all you got? You better call it quits now!" "BAH!" grunts Remilia, then again, she grabs something from her left hand, raising the right hand above her head "Curse __ ____ Te__s". Again Ail couldn't hear her, however this time he was expecting something to happen, and so it did. Various knives would fly in a circular motion away from Remilia and toward Ail, trailing red danmaku behind them, however Ail found them easy to dodge and for nearly a minute he just flew around, dodging the knives and the red shots. "Aww... that's it?" taunted Ail. "I was really having fun with that one." Remilia was winded, however Ail's taunting infuriated her. She screamed to the air in rage and raised both hands as if holding something "HEAVEN'S PUNISHMENT!!! Get ready to fall, little man... ST__ of _____" On six different points, and from Remilia, six laser beams flew around, surrounding Ail, leaving very little room for him to move, and from the laser's point of release, large blue danmaku balls would shoot to Ail non-stop. Ail almost got fried, however the lasers vanished just in time for him to avoid the blue balls. "Not bad... I'll show you one of mine now." Ail closed his eyes and started to focus his energy into the palm of his hand. An orange ball formed on the palm of his hand and it expanded a bit. The lasers formed all around Ail again and the large blue danmaku came straight at Ail, however he released the energy straight at Remilia. The energy he shot cut through Remilia's own, even slicing some of the lasers on it's way, then it impacted Remilia, exploding on contact, making her fall down on the shrine floor.
Shaken, Remilia struggles to get up. She manages to sit and face Ail, who slowly came back down. "I deh-demand a rematch... uh." Reimu comes out of the shrine and says "a rematch? you can barely move. You lost fair and square." Remilia opened her mouth, but Reimu glared at her so all she did was cross her arms. "I'll see you at the mansion tomorrow then" said Ail, however Remilia laughs saying "no you won't. Nobody heard our agreement, and there's no way you can prove anything, so you don't DARE come near the mansion!" however Suika, looking quite childish and drunk at the same time said "now I wouldn't shay that... I heard the who~~le thing -hic-. You agreed... hee could enter the mansion without any reztrictions if he won... and he won... -hic-." Reimu smiles and says "well, looks like you just earned a regular visitor, that is unless you think you were cheated..." Reimu again glares at Remilia, smiling this time. Remilia gets scared, then jumps to her feet. "Fine! Let him come. No restrictions! But just you wait. You'll become my servant yet!" Remilia struggles to fly, but manages to hurry back to her mansion. Reimu signals Ail to follow her, and so he quietly does. Back inside the shrine Reimu begins to explain "I am sure, by the look on your face, that you were able to see something in Remilia's hand, right?" Ail nods then Reimu continues "and also, you could see her mouthing some words, correct?" "Not just mouthing them like when I battled Marisa... I could hear her saying something, but the words would get cut." Reimu looks at Ail rather seriously saying "so you could hear something, right? I see. Then I think you should learn about spell cards." Reimu grabs some spell cards of her own and places them on the table. "Ail, can you see anything on the table?" Ail looks hard and sees pieces of paper, however one of them slowly turned card-like and Ail's expression gave him away. "That's a spell card. In order to use our special powers during duels, we declare our spell in order to activate the card. The number of cards to be used per-duel should be determined BEFORE the battle starts, and the one who uses all their spell cards, or gets knocked out loses. With me so far?" Ail nods and asks "why couldn't I see these before? Why suddenly am I able to see these things?" Reimu shushes him and continues "we'll get to that. Just as you just did with Remilia, a deal is made before a duel, the loser has to concede to the deal,and the winner is entitled to allow the loser a rematch. Bare in mind, if a deal does not interest you, you can turn away from a duel, and more importantly... be prepared for the unexpected." Again, Ail nods looking at Reimu who then continues "the reason as to why you couldn't see, let alone hear the declaration for spell cards before. This might be a wild guess, but considering this is a rule of Gensokyo and it's inhabitants, and you being outsiders, there's the possibility that these rules didn't apply for you at all." Kyo kept staring blankly at the walls and kept very quiet. Marisa and Alice were having a tug-of-war with Suika for a book, however none would comment about what had just been said. "Look, it's late. Let's call it a night, alright?" said Reimu as she gets up and headed to her room.
The next morning, Ail notices Kyo was acting strange during practice, then suddenly Kyo says "I'm not like you, bro. Outside... in our home, you didn't fit in at all. I became your friend out of pity at first, and out friendship grew, but now... Ail, I don't belong here." Ail lowered his sight. He couldn't find any words to comfort his friend. Kyo continues "I can't see, or hear those dammed spell cards, I can't fly and never will, I can't get used to these beings that live here around us like this... I want to go back home, Ail." "But we can't! Not without Yukari's help anyway." said Ail, realizing he just said the wrong thing at the worse possible time. Kyo lowers his hands, ending their training, then sits on the ground. He looks at Ail seriously and says "she said that you could get us home, Ail; that Yukari." Ail felt no real surprise, yet filled his head with wonder. "She said that you have to power to send us back home. I want to go back home, but I don't want to rush you. You do what you must, and I'll back you up as best I can, but when the time comes, I will leave this place and go back home. Understand?" Ail felt a little nervous when Kyo said this, however he realized something like this was bound to happen. Gensokyo was a wonderful place, and felt more like home the longer he stayed there, however Kyo was right... when the time came they would have to return home... even if he didn't want to. Kyo smiles at Ail and says "relax buddy. You'll be fine, you'll see." and then gets up saying "when you're done at the mansion, come to the village. Reimu's order." Ail nods and looks at Reimu, who was sitting on the shrine's porch, drinking some tea with Marisa apparently bugging her with something, beside her. At the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Remilia is having a word with Sakuya. "Again, I summon all and only you arrive, Sakuya?" Sakuya bows her head saying "I'm sorry my lady. Not even threats worked." Remilia calmly replies "it's fine, Sakuya. As I told you earlier, that Ail kid is coming today. He is allowed into the mansion without any restrictions, understood?" Sakuya bows her head saying "understood, my lady", but Remilia calls Sakuya's attention and says once more "Sakuya... he is allowed into the mansion 'without ANY... restrictions', understood?" Sakuya's eyes narrow a bit then repeats "understood... my lady." Remilia smiles and sips on some red tea Sakuya had just served.
Ail flies close to the water of the lake the surrounds the mansion, passing his hands on the water as the flew. Arriving at the edge of the island, Ail is greeted by Cirno, who gives him a hug, giving him a bit of a frostbite and tells him excitedly "where have you been? I though you left forever! Oh well, look, look, I am such a genius! I built a D-C" and presents Ail with an ice-made DS. Ail chuckles as he opens it, but to his surprise... it worked. "What the?" Ail was in complete shock. "I wanted to call it the Dee... D-S, but I got this weird letter begging me to call it something else, so I called it the D-C. The Dual Cirno" said Cirno as she showed Ail the letter from the video game entertainment company. He stared at it for a bit and said "is that so~?" Suddenly Rumia comes from behind Ail and smacks him behind the head saying angrily "don't steal my lines! Hmph!" After Rumia leaves, Ail pats Cirno on the head saying "amazing work, Cirno. You'll have to excuse me, I have business at the mansion." then heads to the mansion. Cirno says "Okay, just don't disappear again... oh and see if you can cheer up the gate girl. She's been so serious lately." Ail turn around waving at Cirno, smiling at her, however as soon as he turned around his expression changed to serious determination and thinks to himself "this won't be easy... It's possible she's lost trust in others... how to return something like that, I wonder?
Arriving at the gate, Ail immediately noticed Meiling's change. From the happy, smiling girl guarding the gate, to a dark and angry gatekeeper. She looked very disturbing, staring at nothing without a trace of emotion left on her face, however, Ail could see something hiding in her eyes... "Take one more step and it'll be your funeral, dirt bag!" Ail stopped and smiled, but, he was greeted with deep hatred, glaring back at him from Meiling's eyes. "Y~OU!!!" shouted Meiling. "What are you doing here!? I should beat you to a pulp right now!" Ail continues smiling and says "I've been allowed into the mansion, no restrictions. Remilia should-" his speech was cut short by Meiling, who throws a punch that Ail dodges with ease. "I have NOT been informed of such horrible news!" Ail continues to smile, standing still, and still looking into Meiling's eyes. "So Remilia didn't tell you anything? Or perhaps... you're not following orders?" Meiling throws a kick that Ail had to jump to avoid. She tried to follow up with a spin kick to the back of his neck, however he flips just in time, avoiding the impact. Ail lands just out of reach of Meiling and says "let's make this interesting... You use one of those Spell Cards you use, and if you touch me even once, I'll leave this gate, and never come back through this gate again. Deal?" Meiling smirks, her eyes were filled with great hatred, however hearing him say something like that gave her a reason for that half-smile. "You'll regret this before you know it." Meiling pulls a card from under her vest and raises the card high above her head. "Colorful Sign... with this, I'll finish you in an instant... Colorful Light Chaos Dance!" Multi-colored crystals surrounded Meiling, then headed straight at Ail. He dodged those with ease. Meiling smirks and chuckles, then another wave of those crystals came out, however this time they were followed by many scattered crystals, all falling toward Ail in a manner quite hard to predict for him. He was grazed, however none of the crystals touched him directly. For half a minute she continued the attack, however the spell card vanished. Ail was almost caught off-guard by the very last crystal, however luck was on his side, and he tripped, avoiding the crystal just in time. Meiling, her face showed great disappointment, as she slowly let herself fall on her knees, in front of the gate. "I... I can't believe this..."
"You changed so much in so little time. What happened to you?" asked Ail as he knelt down beside Meiling. She stares daggers at Ail then shouts "you said you meant no harm... and you hurt the young mistress. My foolishness almost costs her her life!" Ail's face turns a bit pale and blankly stares at the trees and says "and that is precisely why I came back. I want to set things right... I don't understand why, but it seems I've only had bad tidings with the Scarlet Devil Mansion inhabitants since I first met Remilia. I don't know if it's possible, but..." Ail extends his hand to Meiling, offering to help her up as he continues "...but I want to try and fix all that." Meiling hesitantly accepts Ail's help, then says to him in an angry tone "well you have a LOT to answer for before that!" She opens the gate for Ail saying "and don't think I'm letting you in alone, though. I'll be keeping my eye on you!" Ail smiles and chuckles. Just before they went in, a near-by bush rustles, and from there, Cirno and another fairy with green hair tied into a ponytail on the side, a blue dress with white trims and sleeves and golden wings pop out, quietly looking at Meiling. Meiling looks back at them and says "Cirno... Daiyousei...? I- I haven't seen you in a while." Daiyousei wouldn't move, however Cirno gets a little closer to Meiling and looks at her eyes saying "is Meiling back?" Meiling's expression changes to confusion then looks back at Ail, who shrugs. Meiling looks back at Cirno and forces a smile, saying "what? But I've always been here... right?" Cirno jumps extending both her arms in the air shouting "Ya~y! Meiling is back! Daiyousei, look. Meiling is back!" Both fairies give Meiling a hug at the same time, making her smile for real now. Ail looks away as he also smiles, thinking "she came back all thanks to these fairies?" He looks at the two fairies and the gate guard again then continues thinking "I guess all she needed was a reminder of who she was... or perhaps... Cirno... I wonder..." Meiling was smiling and patting both fairies on the head and says "can you look after the gate for me? I need to keep my eye on THIS guy here. Make sure he doesn't cause trouble again." Both fairies salute Meiling saying "Ha~~i!" "Leave this to me. I am the strongest!" added Cirno. Meiling laughs saying "then it's alright then." She locks the gate behind her, and as soon as she turns to Ail, she frowns and in a commanding tone says "come. Let's do your errand quickly so you can get out of here as quickly as possible." and then she opens the door to the mansion.
As soon as they enter, Ail spots Sakuya coming down the main stairs. He immediately hides behind an ornamental plant next to the entrance. Meiling instinctively hides too. Just as Sakuya leaves to the next room Meiling quietly asks "wait... why am I hiding?" Ail whispers "because if Sakuya sees you with me, she'll attack you too!" Meiling then says "O~~h..." then gets confused and says "but wait, didn't you say-?" "Yes!" interrupted Ail. "I meant what I said. I am allowed into the mansion without any restrictions, and if what Reimu and I suspect to be true, good 'ol Remilia is making it so there are no battle restrictions either..." Meiling looks at him suspiciously then says absent-mindedly "yeah... that sounds like her." Ail signals Meiling to move and both head down the corridor to the basement, and while they walk there, Meiling asks "why not fight Sakuya, though. If you beat the mistress, Sakuya should be no problem." "I came here to solve the conflicts I caused, not cause more." answered Ail. He then continued "besides, from what I heard, Sakuya's the only one around here who is still herself... meaning she shouldn't have any problems with me... however..." Meiling gasps "the fairy maids" then pulls Ail inside one of the rooms. They wait for the maids to pass by. "Phew, that was close... thanks, Meiling. I owe you one." Meiling just realizes what she just did. She blushes then turns her head away with a "hmph!" then says " I-I only did it to avoid unnecessary conflicts!" Ail smiles as he looks at her then as if he had just noticed something important he says "did you know you're taller than me?" Meiling blankly stares at Ail, pats his shoulders and says "please let me handle the surprises." and then they both laugh. As they tried to head out, the door closes on them and a yellow barrier blocks the door. Ail tried touching it and got shocked. "Ow! What's with this...?"
From behind them, Patchouli comes floating. "Welcome back mister Ail, to my library. I have been waiting for your return for a week now." When Ail turns around and faces Patchouli he notices frustration in her eyes. She continues saying "Meiling, you're gonna be in big trouble if Sakuya finds out you're not at the gate." Meiling answers "I'm just keeping him from causing trouble while he visits. I don't think-" "Ahh, but that's the problem, isn't it?" said Patchouli, interrupting Meiling. Patchouli turns around and signals them to follow her. They reached the center of the library. It was vacant. Only a circle red carpet remained there. Patchouli hovered close to the ground on the other side of the carpet saying "I hope you know why I brought you here?" Ail smirks saying "tell me one thing... why?" Meiling looked as confused as ever, question marks flying around her head. Patchouli smiles just slightly and says "last time you created many barriers around my library and on my door. Barriers I couldn't bring down with ease. I have an arsenal of magic at my disposal, yet I found myself unable to break them down. In fact it took quite a lot of my power to bring one down. As a magician of my level, that's a big blow to my pride. I have been training diligently for your return and here you are." Ail smiles saying "is that so~?!" Rumia comes from behind Ail, holding a spiked mace, then hits him hard on the head, spilling blood all over the floor and saying "stop stealing my lines!!!" Ail miraculously recovers fully then says "alright then... err... any rules, deals...?" Patchouli starts summoning energy to her saying "I'll use three of my best spell cards on you. No deals. Just a test of my powers... and yours." Ail summons energy to him as well and says "Meiling, you should find cover." Meiling looks around and hides just behind a large bookshelf, then looks on at the battle about to unfold.
A small tear on the ceiling of the library reveals a pair of eyes, watching silently at Ail and Patchouli. Sakuya hears the blasts coming from the library and takes an alternate route. As if in an instant, Sakuya was already inside the library and sees the battle between Ail and Patchouli. She decides to just watch for the time being. Back at the village, Kyo looked around expectant of something. It was now mid-day and the village was bustling with activity. "So you really think he's coming" asked a woman behind Kyo. He turns around with a goofy smile and says "well of course, he promised he would." He then turns around again, just looking at the sky. "It has to be tonight, or we'll have to wait for the next one!" Reimu walks by, looks at the woman and says "Keine... he said he'd come. Just calm down and have some more sake, alright?" Reimu hands Keine some sake then turns around to join Marisa and Alice who were setting up some sort of kiosk. Kyo stops her then says "wait... no sake for me?" Reimu laughs saying "you remember what happened last time you got drunk, right?" Kyo blushes tomato red and says "I just had a little too many. I'm still dry here!" Reimu sighs loudly then pours a little sake on Kyo's cup saying "fine, fine, but if you do that again, I don't know you!" Kyo drinks the whole thing in one gulp and thinks to himself as he turns to help Mystia set up her shop "maybe it's too early to be drinking this stuff?" Above them, a little black ball swirls around and says out loud "is that so~?" Kyo gets pissed, so he grabs a small rock from the ground, throws it to the little black ball and knocks it out of the air, then he turns around in a dramatic pose, pointing his finger up to the sky, lacing his left and on his waist, as the black ball falls and explodes when it hits the ground.
To be continued...
Characters, scenarios, themes and spell cards belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Ail and Kyo were created by Willie G.R.
JUN 21 2009
written by
Willie G.R.
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