Morning at the Hakurei Shrine. Rika drags the still unconscious Mima to the hot springs next to the shrine, and places her on the very edge of the spring waters, then swipes the sweat off her own forehead with her forearm and says to herself “phew! I thought spirits were supposed to be light, but miss Mima weighs a ton.” She stares at the evil spirit and with an angry scowl and a happy smile, she says “well, that’s enough sleeping for her. It’s time to wake up, miss Mima~.” She kneels beside the unconscious spirit, then rolls her to the water, making a big splash after she falls in. After hitting the bottom, Mima opens her eyes and springs out of the water, spluttering, splashing water everywhere and screaming for help, then stares at Rika, who is kneeling on the edge of the water with a smile on her face and saying “well, good morning, miss Mima.” Mima aggressively approaches Rika’s face, and angrily says “what the hell you do that for!?” Rika scowls and smiles, then flicks Mima’s forehead as hard as she can, and with a friendly and sweet tone of voice she says “my, is that any way to thank the one who saved you from getting sealed? I thought you were more honorable than that.” Mima growls, but can’t help but blush when Rika rapidly flaps her wings, then looks away and says “tch! Fine, I’m sorry.” Rika’s face completely changes to concern, then says “from what I heard, you really care for Marisa. Almost as much as a mother would care for her child.” Mima continues to look away, crossing her arms across her chest and pouting, then Rika continues “now, I know you have the right to be upset about what happened, but... Have you stopped to think how miss Reimu feels about all of this? I mean, unlike what you said last night, miss Reimu doesn’t abuse her powers, and for her to have to seal her own dear friend’s powers like that must have hurt her a lot.” Realizing what she herself just said, Rika bites her bottom lip and whispers “and that would explain why my lady has been so volatile lately.” Mima turns to face Rika with rage and opens her mouth, but Rika’s words sink into Mima’s mind, so she stops and thinks, then Rika says “you see? I AM right.” Mima sighs, but raises her hand and points at Rika as if she were scolding a young child and says “but she still left her alone and defenseless! Without her magic, any youkai can come up and kill her!” Rika raises her voice and says “and don’t you think miss Reimu knows?” Mima opens her eyes wide in surprise, then Rika continues “I bet you anything that’s the reason miss Reimu is so upset. The reason she’s locking herself up and reading books and scrolls. I mean, if you had no other choice and had to hurt a dear friend... how would you feel?” Mima flies out of the water and shouts “I rather DIE first!” Rika calmly gets up and nods, and while slowly flapping her wings and looking back at Mima with sad eyes she says “and you think miss Reimu doesn’t feel the same way? One that treats humans and youkai as equals? She has a big heart, and you should know this better than many of us.” Mima opens her mouth wide as she shouts “you’re darn RIGHT I know...”, she slowly flies back down next to Rika as she closes her mouth, her angry expression changing to sadness, then says “you... are right. Reimu wouldn’t do that unless...” Rika nods and continues for Mima “unless she didn’t have the choice.” Mima pops a pair of legs and lets herself fall on the ground, then stares blankly as the ground between her legs and says “I was so mad at her... for doing what she did. Now I pity her.” Rika sighs, then smiles and says “don’t. Miss Reimu is strong. Once she solves this, she’ll help miss Marisa, I am sure.” As if ignoring Rika, Mima softly says “man, when I found out, I just wanted to kill her, even with Marisa trying to tell me something back there.” Rika smile widens as she playfully says “and you did leave her on her own as well. I mean, if you REALLY were that worried about her well-being, you should have stayed with her, right?” Mima twitches, her eyes widen and turn white as her lips turn jagged upon realizing what she did. Rika bends down and offers a hand to Mima, who turns back to normal and accepts Rika’s hand. Before either says another word, they are disturbed by a shadow that quickly passes by, and when they look up, they spot Patchouli flying straight to the shrine’s entrance. The girls exchange a curious glance, then rush to follow the shrine’s visitor.
Patchouli walks right inside, and without pause she heads straight to Reimu’s room, opening the sliding doors and finding Reimu wearing a white bath robe, her hair lose, sitting on the ground with scrolls and books surrounding her. Patchouli looks around and calmly says “I see. So that’s why Marisa couldn’t find them.” Reimu glares and bluntly asks “talk about rude! What do you want?” Patchouli kneels beside Reimu, then bows down and says “Reimu, we need help. Remilia is too proud to admit it, but without Sakuya, the mansion is a mess, and she’s only been disabled for a few hours. Please, send your maid to help.” Reimu rapidly says “whoa, whoa, what are you talking about!?” Patchouli sighs and says “vampires attacked the mansion last night. They took advantage of Sakuya’s fatigue. The only reason she’s still alive is because they were planning to drink her blood.” Reimu’s face turns pale as she stutters for a moment, then manages to compose herself and says “l-let me gets dressed. I’ll go there myself.” She stands up, then loudly says “Rika, please get ready to visit the Scarlet Mansion.” Patchouli gets up, saying “I better let you have your privacy then”, and just before closing the sliding doors behind her, she turns her head and says “Marisa is currently there too. I’ll understand if you...” Reimu twitches at the mentioning of her friend’s name, and doing her best to hide her anger, she calmly says “Sakuya is a very important friend too. I’m going there.” Patchouli’s face stays as emotionless as ever as she silently nods, then closes the door. From the porch of the shrine, Rika turns to look outside to Mima and says “you hear that? Maria is in the mansion. Make amends with miss Reimu, come with us, and rectify your mistake.” Mima thinks for a moment, while Patchouli approaches the girls and says “she was very worried about you. She thought you got yourself sealed by Reimu, and has been blaming herself since.” Mima gasps, then smiles motherly as she whimpers “she was worried for me *sniffle*, after I left her on her own like that?” Patchouli calmly nods, then Mima starts to cry and runs to Rika, crying on her shoulders while saying “that sweet little angel~!” She stops crying in an instant and is suddenly clenching both hands and shouting to the air with a smile “I am SO going there! Marisa, wait for me! Mama-Mima’s gonna make it all right again!” While Mima goes on and on about giving Marisa another lesson in magic to help her, Rika turns to Patchouli, then bows and flips her thumbs up, then Patchouli nods calmly and says “I may have stretched the truth a little.”
Meanwhile, at the Moriya Shrine’s grounds, Budou jumps from tree to tree, her eyes glowing aquamarine as she uses her sonar all over the surrounding area. She suddenly turns around and gasps, then takes a sudden dive and immediately uses the claws on her hands to slash at some thick bushes a few feet away from the tree itself, revealing a small vampire bat, squeaking for dear life as it flies away as fast as it can. While it escapes, Budou glares at it and shouts “and if I find another one of you even CLOSE, I’ll have your hides for carpets!” Budou takes a deep breath and sighs, then closes her eyes and flicks a strand of hair away from her face, and when she opens her eyes again they are back to their violet color. Budou smiles and says to herself “that’s the last of them. Now to get some food. I’m starving.”, then happily hums while skipping back to the shrine. Meanwhile, by the waterfall at the edge of the mountain, Momiji stands guard, ever watchful of the surrounding area, scanning around for intruders that will probably never come. She sighs and says to herself “this is so boring. Why won’t my shift end already?” Her ears suddenly bend down and Momiji narrows her eyes as she angrily says “get... the hell... out of here.” To her left, Ail sits on a rock like a frog and stares curiously at Momiji, who tries her best to ignore him and his constant staring. Her ears and tail twitch as she tries to keep herself calm, and in an ominous tone of voice she says “I said... get the hell OUT of here. If they see you with me, we’re going to get in trouble!” A pair of crow tengu fly by and Momiji places a hand on her eyes while clenching her teeth and growling, thinking “the damned crows have the worst of timing!” One of the tengu says “hey, Momiji. Tell your brother he’s not supposed to be here. If he wants to play with you, he better wait until AFTER your shift is over... Later!” Momiji lifts her hand from her eyes and asks herself “brother? Are those stupid birds seeing things again?” When she looks to her left again, instead of Ail, she sees a male, brown haired version of herself sitting like a dog on the rock and wagging his tail around, then gets shocked at the sight and stutters, then finally manages to say “what’s going on here? Who are you!?” Her brown-haired self suddenly runs off on all fours toward the Moriya Shrine, panting like a happy dog who’s just been called by his master. She drops her sword and shield, then asks “was that..? Am I getting sick?” Suddenly, a frightened vampire bat flies right through some trees, squeaking loudly as it rapidly flies through. Momiji sweats and smiles sheepishly as she scratches her cheek with her index finger and says “my, my. I better be more careful what I wish for.” She picks up her sword and shield, then continues her watch, but before completely settling, she looks to the Youkai Forest and notices how dark it is around there, even though it’s daytime. She frowns and places her sword on her shoulder, then says “looks like there’s trouble at the forest. I sure hope that kappa are alright.” From behind Momiji, staring ominously toward the forest, is the tiny RKNS, who flaps its wings and quickly flies away.
Back at the Moriya Shrine, Budou finishes the large plate of grapes Suwako and Kanako prepared for her, and with a happy and sweet smile she says “thank you for the food, gramma, big sis!” Smiling with pale and frightened faces, both Suwako and Kanako nod at her, then look back at each other and Suwako whispers “so you think she’s back to normal now?” Kanako concernedly whispers back “I’m not sure. That’s her usual cute little smile... but I can’t really tell.” While the goddesses whisper, Budou heads to Sanae’s room and gently opens the door. She looks around and notices Lily and Koishi are still asleep, while Chen is just getting up from her futon and stretching, and then, when she looks at Sanae, her wings rise and stiffen, her entire body twitches, and she looks on with both shock and surprise. Sanae sits on her bed with a motherly smile and softly says “good morning, Budou.” The little youkai wants to jump straight at her, but instead, she just exclaims “MAMA~! You’re alright!”, then runs to the side of the bed, contently flapping her wings. Sanae pats Budou’s head and says “I heard most of what happened. I’m sorry to have worried you so much.”, then lifts the little youkai to sit on her bed with her, where Budou gives her a tight hug. The goddesses enter the room and walk around Koishi and Lily, so they don’t step on them, then Kanako whispers “how are you feeling?” Sanae nods and says “I’m sorry. That vampire caught me off-guard. I didn’t even feel her presence.” Kanako grabs Sanae’s hand, then says “it’s alright. The important thing is you are safe now. Budou saved you, you know?” Sanae smiles and says “I could hear a lot of what happened.”, then pats Budou’s head, making her giggle, then continues “she even got a new spell card. I’m so proud of her!” Kanako and Suwako’s faces turn pale, when Kanako asks “so... you heard... how upset Budou got... and how she..?” Sanae smiles and says “no. I lost consciousness right after she declared her spell.” Kanako and Suwako sigh with relief, then Suwako thinks “then I guess it’s all for the better.” A sad tune starts playing around the room, Budou falls asleep on Sanae’s lap, then Sanae tightens her grip around Kanako’s hand and softly says “but it’s only natural she got so upset. She’s gone through so much.” Sanae tightens her grip some more, and Kanako starts to sweat and says “Sa-Sanae, m-my hand...” Sanae ignores Kanako and continues “first Ail disappears, then she gets this e-mail, then she thinks he’s dead, and when he comes back...” Sanae tightens her grip on Kanko’s hand so much, the goddess’ hand cracks, her eyes turn white, her lips turn jagged, and she kneels on the ground, trying to scream in pain. Suwako tries to pull Sanae’s hand away from Kanako’s, while Sanae tightens her grip even more and continues saying “...he’s acting on subconscious. Then after that, she loses such an important friend. Oh Ail, you fool. Why did you do that?” With her free hand, Sanae gently brushes Budou’s hair with her fingers, then raises her other hand, raising both Kanako and Suwako and spinning them in the air while softly saying “I almost forgot how we hurt him. That mirror... I got so angry. That’s when this whole mess started.” The sad tune stops playing, Sanae sighs, then releases Kanako, sending both her and Suwako flying out the door, then sounding surprised, Sanae asks “lady Yasaka, lady Moriya!? What on earth are you doing? You’re going to wake Lily and Koishi up.” Just outside the room, Kanako looks at her swollen, beating hand and blows on it, while Ail and Chen stare at it, then Suwako says “auu~ We are being punished.”
At the SDM, the inside of the mansion seems to have shrunk, the floors are littered with broken glass, scattered pieces of paper and small clumps of dust. The fairy maids all giggle and play around, some even using danmaku inside the small corridors, breaking windows and opening holes on the walls, completely ignoring their duties. Walking through the corridor to Sakuya’s room, Reimu, Rika, Mima and Patchouli look around, and right after Patchouli lets out a sad sigh, Reimu says “wow, you weren’t kidding. This place is a mess.” Patchouli sighs loudly again and says “even Koa’s been misbehaving... more than usual” There is a loud clank from far away and a few fairy maids yelp, then Patchouli continues “she’s been messing around with that washtub spell all morning. They all refuse to listen.” Rika looks around with a smile, but thinks “what a messy bunch. They need a strict hand.” They arrive to Sakuya’s room, where Patchouli says “Remilia, Flandre and the lunarian doctor are inside. Reimu, Rika, you may enter. As for you, evil spirit, I’ll take you to my library.” Question marks pop all around Mima’s head, then Patchouli quickly says “you are here to look for Marisa, aren’t you?” Mima suddenly gasps with excitement, as if just remembering something very important, but before following after Patchouli she grabs Reimu’s shoulders, and with a serious look on her face she says “Reimu... I am sorry for what I said and did last night. I, um, hope you’ll forgive me.”, then releases Reimu and rapidly chases after Patchouli, not giving Reimu the chance to say anything back and leaving her with a surprise look on her face, while Rika simply smiles behind Reimu’s back. After Mima and Patchouli leave, Reimu slowly opens the door to Sakuya’s room and enters along with Rika. Inside the room, Remilia sits next to the bed on an uncomfortable-looking chair with Flandre sleeping on her lap while kneeling on the ground. Next to Sakuya is Eirin, who wraps the maid’s bruised forehead with plenty of bandages, then says “well, she’s safe from danger now, but she will need to rest.” Eirin turns around and says “oh, it seems you have some guests.” Remilia looks to the door and spots Reimu. She gets up from her chair, waking Flandre up, wanting to approach Reimu and tell her everything, however when she sees Rika standing on the door she gets angry and exclaims “what is SHE doing here!? I want her out of here now!” Reimu reaches for Rika’s arm and pulls her back in, then says “careful what you wish for, Remi. We came to see Sakuya.” Remilia trembles as her rage escalates, but Sakuya suddenly moans and Remilia’s attitude completely changes, rushing straight to her maid with great worry, saying “no, no. Sakuya rests. I won’t yell again, I promise!” Reimu approaches the bed as Eirin steps aside, and showing fear and concern in her face, she asks “who did this to her? This is worse than what that Luna girl did. Remilia, what happened!?” Reimu stares back at Sakuya, whose body and head are covered in bandages, making her look like a mummy, except for her hair and most of her face. She can see some blood seeping through the bandages on her abdomen, her left arm and her disfigured, lumpy forehead, and even with the bandages on, she can see some black bruises all over her head and left arm. Emanating rage from her aura, Remilia calmly answers “a group of vampires attacked the mansion last night. As exhausted as she was after dealing with that stupid gate guard, she still managed to kill one of them.” Reimu gently passes the back of her hand through Sakuya’s right forearm and asks “but how did this happen? Remilia, I know you wouldn’t let this happen unless...” Remilia’s eyes hide under shadow as she forces herself not to cry in front of Reimu and is unable to reply, so Flandre replies for her “we were distracted, talking about things that had happened. We didn’t notice anything until one-sama’s hand started glowing.” Remilia, using her entire will to prevent herself from crying, manages to calmly reply “so many things happened before we entered Gensokyo. I thought we were at peace here, but now I see I was wrong.” Reimu tries to place a hand on Remilia’s shoulder, but the vampire pushes her away, shouting “I’m FINE!” Reimu sighs while Rika and Eirin quietly watch from the doorway.
At the mansion’s library, Marisa and Koakuma sit beside each other on one of the many desks, reading a few books in silence, but the moment the door to the library opens up, Marisa jumps from her chair and exclaims “crap, she brought Reimu! Koa, I don’t want her to see me like...” Marisa looks to the chair beside her and realizes Koakuma is long-gone, then sweats and sounding disappointed, she says “oy, thanks for the help, ze.” Marisa takes a dive under her desk and places the chair in front of her, hiding herself almost flawlessly except for the small fact of her hat lying on the desk right on top of where she’s hiding. She looks through the chair’s back-rest gaps and waits as the footsteps from the door get closer. She opens her eyes wide and gasps in surprise and whispers “Mima-sama.” She jumps out of hiding and lands right on Mima, knocking her down with a hug and exclaims “Mima-sama, you’re alright! Phew! For a moment I thought Reimu had sealed you.” Patchouli smiles and thinks “well, I guess I wasn’t stretching the truth after all.” Mima hugs Marisa back with such force, Marisa’s eyes, lungs and heart feel as though they are going to pop out of their place at any second, and sounding relieved Mima says “Marisa, I am so glad you’re alright.” Marisa flings her arms wildly, hoping Mima will notice and let her go, but it’s not after Patchouli enjoys the scene a little longer, then gets Mima’s attention by saying “anyway, I was right after all. Reimu has all your books, and if I am guessing right, she’s looking for a way to close that void you recklessly opened up.” Mima finally releases Marisa and asks “void? So you really did go all-out...” Mima looks to Marisa very seriously, forcefully helps her up, and while still looking very seriously at her former apprentice, she flips her thumb up, smirks and says “now THAT’S my girl! You show the world what you are made of!” Marisa and Patchouli stare in disbelief at Mima for a moment, then Patchouli continues “well, that magical shockwave you caused, may very well be the reason there are so many incident occurring. Now...” Patchouli heads to one of the bookshelves and grabs a few books after looking carefully though the lines and lines of books, then casually says “now, before I leave, I’ll be sending Flandre over here, and then you can ask for her help.” Marisa scowls, then angrily asks “whoa, whoa, wait! Where are you going?” Patchouli glances uncaringly toward Marisa and Mima, and casually says “well, I’m keeping my end of the bargain and helping Reimu figure out how exactly to close that void of yours.” Confused, Mima asks “you made a bargain?” Patchouli nods and calmly says “I’ll help her as best as I can with the closing of the void, and in exchange Rika will stay here until Sakuya is well enough to take over her duties again.” Marisa and Mima stare unblinking at Patchouli as the magician lightly smiles and walks toward the exit.
At the first floor of the mansion’s foyer, Reimu and Patchouli stand next to the open door to the outside, while Rika stands next to Flandre, and Remilia, who reluctantly stands close to Rika, though keeping a narrow eye open to her. Reimu looks casually at Remilia and says “and remember, if I find out you bullied Rika even once, I’m taking your wings off and using them as ornaments for my shrine walls!” Remilia’s wings stiffen, even though she keeps a straight face, then Reimu slithers next to the vampire and whispers “look, I really need Patchouli’s help. I don’t think that vampire attack was coincidence, OR the last one.” Remilia relaxes and whispers back “what are you saying?” Reimu wraps an arm around Remilia’s neck, and pulls her away from Rika and Flandre and says “after that magical shockwave, a lot of crazy things have been happening. You tell me even Koakuma got a spell card!” Remilia stops, realizing what Reimu just said, then Reimu finishes “so please, bear with this for a while. Besides, I am sure you’ll realize what a kind person Rika really is.” Reimu lets go of Remilia, who looks away as she says “yeah... I’m sure she’s VERY nice...” Reimu sighs and heads back to the door and just before flying away she says “and Rika, if you start feeling strange or think you are being mistreated, you fly back home and let me handle the rest here.” Rika bows and says “as you wish, my lady. But I am sure my stay here will be a pleasant one.” With those words Reimu smiles, then flies away along with Patchouli. The doors close on their own and when Rika turns to face Remilia, the vampire is smirking at her with glowing red eyes and showing off one of her fangs, and in an ominous tone of voice she says “well... miss white-blood maid. Let’s see how you handle things here.”, then flies away to the second floor in a flash, taking Flandre with her, although Rika was able to easily keep up with her. Remilia places her index finger and thumb on her lips and whistles loudly, summoning all the fairy maids to the foyer. A messy bunch, giggling and laughing, playing amongst each other, and flying around Rika herself, completely disregarding her presence there as they start shooting danmaku all around, breaking ornaments, portraits and burning walls. Remilia smiles wickedly as she watches Rika, hoping to find despair in the maid’s eyes, however surprise hits her hard when Rika summons a silver whistle from inside a tiny box. Rika blows on the whistle and the loud tweet makes even Flandre cover her ears. Once all the fairy maids calm down, Rika, in a kind, but firm tone of voice says “attention! Form a decent line!!” The fairy maids all stand on a small group of three lines, the shortest in front and the tallest behind. Rika stares at them for a moment, then smiles and says “alright, I know life is a fun game, but there are times for playing and times for working. Right now, this mansion, YOUR home, is a complete mess, so it has become work-time until this entire mansion is as clean as it should be, did I make myself clear!?” All the fairy maids salute Rika and say at the same time “ma’am, yes ma’am!” Remilia is both surprised and enraged; her plan to make Rika’s first day a misery are already failing. Rika smiles angelically and flaps her wings fast, making her scarf float just beside her back as she cups her hands together and says “you are all such adorable little hard workers! Tell you what. If you do a good job, I’ll cook a special meal for ALL of you!” When Rika takes a good look, all the fairies’ noses have blood under them, their faces beet red and a content smile along with all. Worried, Rika asks “oh my goodness, are you all alright!?” The fairies contently nod, then Rika smiles again and claps her hands, then says “alright then, let’s all get to work!” On the second floor with bright red faces, Remilia and Flandre stare with awe back down, then Remilia composes herself and says “shit, that was fast! Stupid fairy maids are so useless!” Flandre totally ignores her sister and walks down the stairs, but before she leaves, Remilia grabs her shoulder and strictly says “don’t you DARE get close to that Rika, you hear! She has WHITE BLOOD! She could kill us with a single drop of that, understand!?” Flandre looks uncaringly back and calmly says “onee-sama... if she wanted to do that, she would have done it already.” Remilia despairs and flaps her wings as she says “that DOESN’T mean we can just lower our guard! KEEP... AWAY... FROM THAT MAID!” Flandre sighs and sounding annoyed she says “fine! Just let me go already. Marisa is waiting for me!” Remilia reluctantly lets Flandre go, then says to herself “grr, why did I have to get stuck with that girl!? Dammit, I better warn Meiling about her.” Remilia violently flaps her wings as she rapidly heads to the mansion’s gates, hoping to make Rika’s stay as unpleasant as possible.
Inside the void, next to the gate to the dragon’s paradise, the guardian dragon and Ail kneel across from each other in their humanoid shapes, Ail’s soul turning lightly pink. The dragon guardian takes a deep breath, seemingly growling, then says “so you met you friend Kyo when he was defending you from other humans, but you didn’t trust him until you, yourself helped him out with some troubles of his own. That is admirable, however you still fail to remember something very important.” Ail lets out a deep sigh, then opens his eyes and asks “my family, correct?” The dragon’s flame rise and stir, and sounding glad the dragon says “yes, that is it. If you can’t remember your family, then you might as well go by a new name, or none at all.” Ail takes a deep breath and says “my name... is Anilan Inmodo Leuch. I remember my mother and father, who raised me with love... though I feel this more from my mother.” The dragon immediately says “do not feel ill emotions toward your human father. For humans of the age, things like magic and gods are mere legends and fantasies, but it’s not their fault!” Ail looks at the dragon and asks “why is that?” The dragon takes a deep breath, again seemingly growling, then says “right now, those humans believe they are free, however they are trapped. They have been fed lies as truth in order to keep control, and all because of money and power. Humans like yourself and your friend, Kyo, are a threat to the world those in power have created, and will use any means necessary to keep you silenced, and that includes taking your lives away.” Ail turns light blue, then looks away as he says “gee, and I left them all in that outside world. Mom, dad and sis. I hope they are alright. I could never forgive myself if something happens to them. Now that I think about it, what sort of madness made me go back out there? Why risk everything, even them? Did... Am I a bad person? Did I do that just to cause tro-“ The dragon’s flames rise and as though in rage the dragon loudly says “do not allow those thoughts to fill the empty spaces, Anilan!!!” Ail turns back to a mere flame, and starts shifting colors again; mostly blue and white. The dragon calms down and calmly says “understand you are a very special being, and you need to reach a heightened state that only YOU can reach. But in order for you to reach this, you need to undergo certain life trials, and going back to your original home was part of that trial.” Ail’s soul turns white, then he calmly says “I see... You know, ever since the day Maribel and Renko knocked Kyo and me inside that gap, the second I touched the land of Gensokyo... I felt a change. Without even thinking about it, I took on a wild youkai, and out of pure luck... I survived.” The dragon bluntly replies “and here I thought you were one to go against fate.” Ail chuckles as he regains the humanoid form, then says “yes... I remember now. I was thinking that I would refuse death, even if that thing took a bite.” The dragon and Ail stare at each other for a short while, then suddenly start to laugh, then the dragon says “you are remembering your first day in your paradise. Good, good. But first I want to know. What made you Ail? What troubles did you help your friend Kyo with?” Ail raises his humanoid head, but keeps quiet and begins to meditate.
That afternoon, at the Human Village, Kimi, Agava and Luna walk by Keine’s school for the 5th time, then Luna angrily says “are you SURE she’s around here!? We’ve been walking around here for hours and there’s still no sign of that shadow-girl!” Kimi, sounding slightly annoyed says “she is here. She’s just hiding her presence from me, and doing a damned good job at it.” Under her breath and with a mischievous face, Agava says “maybe you just suck”, then chuckles. Kimi plays it cool and ignores her, then suddenly smirks and says “you better be ready, shadow youkai. We are going to need your help here.” Agava sweats and stutters for moment, then nervously smiles while rubbing the back of her head with her hand and says “err, sure, sure. Chief’s orders, after all.” Luna sighs and sounding annoyed she says “geez, shouldn’t we at least rest? I mean, you made Kyo walk around all night with you. You even left him sleeping on that tree...” The scene rapidly changes to where Kyo is, snoring loudly as he sleeps on a tree next to Maribel and Renko’s house. The two girls take turns in poking Kyo with a stick, betting meals on who will make him wake up first. The scene rapidly switches back to the trio, then Luna says “anyway, I’m getting hungry. Why don’t we take a small break and eat something?” Agava drools as she places her hands together and happily nods and says “can we have something sweet!?” Kimi looks toward some bushes and calmly says “do whatever you want. I’m gonna keep looking.” After saying this, Kimi’s stomach grumbles loudly, the sound echoing all over the village. Blushing in shame, Kimi looks to the other side. Luna smirks mischievously and says “I’ll prepare us some fish. Now come on, I’m NOT bringing the food to you. You come pick it yourself, and don’t expect this to happen again soon, got it?” Kimi clenches her teeth, wanting to take a bite out of Luna, but controls herself and thinks “stupid humans. Why do they have to smell so tasty!? It’s thanks to your smell I’m this hungry in the first place!” Agava slumps as she walks behind Luna and Kimi, and sounding disappointed she says “aww, I wanted something sweet.” Shortly after they reach the house, while Luna prepares the fish in her kitchen, Maribel and Renko enter the house with tears in the faces and shouting incoherently. Kimi glares at them from the living room’s couch as they catch their breath by the entrance, then Renko manages to shout “a small sparrow took Kyo away!” Agava and Luna silently stare from the kitchen, Kimi from the couch, and Medicine and Su-San from the dining table. Suddenly, all 4 girls burst to laughter, Medicine pounding on the table and saying “HAHAHA! He loses to a sparrow!? How weak~!”, while Su-San silently flies in circles above her head. Desperate, Maribel says “no, no! It’s true, I swear! This tiny brown sparrow came and took him from the tree while he slept!” Renko adds “and he kept sleeping, even afterwards!” Again, all 4 girls burst to laughter, Luna laughing even louder, then all stop laughing when a small sparrow enters the house, grabs Su-San with its tiny beak, then grabs Medicine by the back of her shirt with its tiny claws, then effortlessly flies away with the dolls in its grasp. The 3 remaining girls stay quiet for a while, then Luna casually says “whoa, you were right after all.” Maribel sticks out her tongue as Renko says “see? We told you!” There is a bloody woman scream from outside the house, then Kimi springs to her feet and angrily says “Kali!”, then rushes outside.
Outside the house, Kimi looks around for the source of the scream, then there’s another bloody scream. From the left, Yuki flies so fast she looks like a large black blur, crying and screaming her lungs out. Behind her, flying equally fast is Mystia, holding a large pink ribbon that’s been made into a large bow and shouting “STOP RUNNING AND TAKE IT LIKE A WOMAN!” Yuki cries back “I don’t wanna play anymore!” Mystia passes by Kimi, and when they are far away Mystia’s voice echoes as she shouts “Vocal Sign, Hooting in the Night!”, then starts to sing like an off-tune owl. Yuki can be heard responding with another spell card, sounding as though she’s crying “Fire Sign, Hot Under the Grill~!” Both girls scream out loud, their screams followed by explosion after explosion, then silence. Kimi smacks her own forehead with the palm of her right hand and softly growls, then says “nuisance after nuisance!” From inside the house, holding a plate with a fish cut in many equal pieces, Agava hands the plate to Kimi and while handing her some chop-sticks she says “eat. You’ll feel better.” Luna is inexplicably standing right next to Kimi as she calmly says “relax. Things like these happen on a regular basis.” Agava stares at Luna in total shock and surprise, however, Kimi acts as though nothing has happened, and after eating the entire fish in one gulp, she burps and calmly says “Kali’s making her move. I have to act quick.” Meanwhile, Keine is hosting for some visitors to her school; a small boy and his parents. She stands in front of the family close to her desk and says “honestly, I had to apologize to the Kirimuras 50 times for that!” The kid pouts as he looks away and speaking under his breath he says “all I did was pull the cry-baby’s panties.” The mother angrily says “I am going to have to punish you SEVERELY young man!” The father clears his throat and says “kids your age shouldn’t even be interested in such things, but if you’re curious about girls...” The man stands up in a dramatic pose with a red and yellow striped background behind him as he dramatically says “you ask you old man for advice, as I am an EXPERT on women, and can lead you to the RIGHT path to earning a young girl’s heart!” The mother grabs the man by his left ear and pulls hard on it, angrily saying “stop giving him ideas, you fool!” Keine sweats in embarrassment and stutters, trying to come up with something to say, however, they all stop when the boy starts to sob and hug himself tightly. The man calmly says “now don’t start with that. Come on, you know you did something wrong.” The woman adds “so stop with the innocent act and...” The child’s face fills with more tears as he starts to cough violently, then suddenly starts to fly on his own. The mother and father despair, calling out to their son, who finally manages to groan “c-cant.... breathe... mom!” Keine growls and shouts “the shadow youkai again!?” Before Keine uses her danmaku, Kimi and Agava burst through the doors and Kimi shouts “Agava-girl! She’s next to the third desk!” Agava pulls a spell card and shouts “Shadow Morph!” and immediately takes the shape of a snake that coils itself around the desk’s shadow in the blink of an eye. The child falls hard to the floor, coughing and taking deep breaths, and as soon as the concerned parents grab hold of the child, Keine shouts “GET OUT OF HERE, QUICK!” Kimi stands aside as the family runs away, then walks closer to the desk where Kali and Agava struggle, and in a threatening voice she says “you are BEGGING to get eaten!” The two shadows stop struggling, then there’s a whip-cracking sound and Kali flies right out of the shadows and straight toward the classroom’s blackboard, where she lands flat on her face and slowly slides down to the floor.
Meanwhile, at Marisa’s house, Reimu and Patchouli enter through the front door and Reimu immediately comments “she’s so irresponsible. She left the door unlocked like that.” Patchouli calmly says “this is Marisa we’re talking about, Reimu.” The shrine maiden looks away as she clenches her teeth and covers her ears. She suddenly remembers how Marisa screamed her name, begging her to calm down, moments before she ended up sealing her own friend’s magic. Patchouli places a hand on her shoulder and calmly says “stop blaming yourself so much, Reimu. You either did what you had to do, or you would have both ended up dead, or worse.” Reimu takes a deep breath and after shaking a bit she manages to say “yeah *gulp*. Thanks.” Helping Reimu reach a couch, going through Marisa’s collections, Patchouli leaves a black book on Reimu’s hands and says “I’ll take a look at the basement. You take it easy.” Reimu quickly nods and places the book Patchouli gave to her on her chest while Patchouli heads down the basement to look at the gate Marisa opened. Immediately after opening the door, Patchouli’s mouth opens wide as she gasps and looks around with awe. The stones on the wall, the symbols, runes and magical circles all working in perfect harmony as they keep the doorway open, however, after looking at the void she realizes there’s something wrong and thinks “she must have interfered with some part of the spell... That’s right. To save Ail’s life. This gate required a sacrifice... and she-“ Patchouli’s thought is quickly replaced by a sharp and stinging pain the moment her foot touches the ground. The magic in the room reacts to Patchouli’s own magic and begins to absorb her very soul into the void. The pain is too strong for Patchouli to bear and she loses her consciousness, even though her eyes stay open. Reimu enters just as the void starts to suck in the air in the room, and without even asking, she grabs Patchouli and pulls her back to the small steps, where the magician’s body convulses violently on Reimu’s own. Reimu shouts “Patchouli! What happened!? Patchouli, wake up! DAMMIT!” She realizes the void is beginning to suck her in as well, so she quickly pulls Patchouli with her and closes the door soon after escaping the basement. The moment the door closes, Patchouli takes a breath of life and immediately say “I shouldn’t have done that!” Reimu lightly smacks the magician’s face, then pulls out her gohei, reciting a healing spell as quickly as she can. After a few minutes pass and Patchouli fully recovers, she looks to Reimu with worry and urgency, then says “Ail is there, Reimu! He’s inside that void. He’s with something else there. Something really big!” Reimu raises her voice and asks “what are you saying? I know he’s there! Patchouli, what happened in there?” Patchouli rubs her head as she sits up and urgently says “Reimu, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know!” Reimu sighs, grabs Patchouli by her shoulders, then shakes her up and asks “what... happened... in... there!?” After shaking off the dizziness, Patchouli replies “that things used my own magic to accelerate the process. It has consciousness, and it wants to devour everything! Thanks to me, I believe I accelerated the process by a whole week.” Reimu stares into Patchouli’s eyes with horror, realizing she isn’t lying, and with new sense of urgency, Reimu feels she must close that gate soon, even if it means sealing Ail’s consciousness inside the void forever.
Nighttime at the Human Village. In Kyo’s house, Kimi holds Kali by her blue vest, and in a dark and dangerous tone of voice she says “you realize that thanks to you, Reimu’s credibility in me has decreased. And for what!? So you could go and kill a human? Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t chew you up and use your carcass as fertilizer!” Kali panics and shouts “I’M HUNGRY!!!” Kimi sweats and asks “you are hungry? What kind of excuse is that!?” Agava stands on a corner of the house and says “geez, what a whiner.” Kali tries to wriggle out of Kimi’s grasps as she says “I am SICK of fruits and vegetables! I can’t catch a single fish, I can’t catch ONE measly fairy! I am starving!” Luna suddenly comes from the left and gives Kali a plate with chopped fish on it, then Kali, seemingly confused, asks “wah? Is this for me?” Luna smiles and nods, then says “you better learn how to fish. Hey, why not use that skill of yours with the shadows to catch the fish?” Kali gulps the whole fish, including the plate itself, then gasps and opens her red eyes wide and says “why didn’t I think of that!?” Agava smiles as she bluntly answers “cuz you’re stupid.” Kali stares daggers back at Agava, but quickly returns her attention to Kimi, who shakes her up and points at her, poking at her chest while threateningly saying “you listen up real good, you worthless speck of dust. You mess up one more time for me and I am going to make sure to make your last moments of life a hellish misery!” Kali nervously nods, then calms down and focuses her eyes on Kimi’s face. Annoyed, Kimi asks “what the heck are you looking at, you butt-head!?” Kali smiles, then says “you got a nice set of crow’s feet right there, beside your left eye.” Agava runs straight to the second floor while Luna opens the door to the house and shouts “TAKE IT OUTSIDE!!!” Kimi smirks with evil intent on her face and happily says “with pleasure!”, but before she even walks to the door, she notices Kali has slipped out of her vest and is floating fast outside, wearing only her purple sleeveless shirt and black skirt, the skirt lifting to reveal her ghostly tail as she flies away as fast as she can. Kimi, even in her human form, breathes fire as she shouts “you cretin! I’ll rip that tail off and make me a nice COAT!” From father away, Kali shouts back “bleh~~ You have to catch me in this darkness first, you old hag!” Kimi shouts “I can see your body heat, idiot!!!” Kali cries “no~! I forgot about that eye~!” Long after they leave, Luna and Agava exit the house, then Luna says “well, I’ll be looking for Kyo and Medicine now. What are you going to do, miss Agava?” Agava smirks and says “I think I’ll follow you for a bit. I want to make fun of Kyo when I see him!” Luna and Agava look at each other for a moment. Agava thinks Luna will try to kill her, but Luna suddenly smiles, then laughs, so she laughs along with her. Luna wraps her arm around Agava’s neck as they walk to the village’s exit, heading to the Youkai Forest, then says “you know, I like you, so why don’t we get better acquainted?” Agava tries to pulls herself free from Luna’s grasp, but fails and sweats with fear as she says “er... What? Um, look, I don’t really swing that way...” Luna smiles, releases Agava, and punches her on the head, then says “don’t be sick, little monster~! I mean that you and I should be friends.” Agava rubs her head, and sounding relieved she says “ooh. Heh, for a moment there I thought...” Luna smacks her head again, and while smiling, she grabs Agava’s arm and pulls her down the road to the Youkai Forest.
To be continued...
Characters, spell cards and scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Ail, Budou, Kyo, Luna, Agava, Kimi, the RKNS and Kali were created by Willie G.R.
Agava’s “Shadow Morph”
And Yuki’s “Fire Sign, Hot Under the Grill” spell cards were created by Willie G.R. (Any similarities are strictly coincidental)
Rika Onkamikami was created by Snapshot 2010
APR 1 2010
Written by
Willie G.R.
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