"I bet that you can't."

The vampire looked up, adjusting her mob cap to keep her hair from falling into her eyes, and looked over at the magician sitting across from her. The smile on her face grew as she leaned back, toasting her cup, holding it up in salute to the challenge.

"Maybe you could not, but I find it difficult to believe that anyone would be able to resist my charms, if I sincerely tried."

This conversation was taking place at the Hakurei Shrine. The usual party was being hosted on the shrine grounds, meant to ease tensions with whatever new residents had appeared and caused an incident. In some ways, this celebration was unique, as the lunarians had declined to join, talking about some kind of earthly impurities, and had quickly returned home to the moon. That hadn't deterred anyone, however, and the party had gone on regardless, with anyone with a name to themselves appearing with food, drinks, and enough alcohol to make an oni's liver cry.

Now the night was late, the stars starting to disappear against the faint glow of dawn, sleeping youkai were scattered about, sprawled out on the grass amongst empty gourds and crumbs of half eaten food. Within the next hour, everyone would be gone, with only a mess remaining.

Cliques formed quickly early on, and eventually, one small circle had formed around the group from the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and, oddly enough, Marisa Kirisame. As Remilia had drank and put out an air of charisma and confidence, making idle chitchat with passersby, the ordinary magician had taken to talking with Patchouli. After a while, and more than a few sips of booze, Patchouli had started to feel ill, and Sakuya had taken her home. That had left Remilia and Marisa to talk and become steadily tipsier as time went on.

Eventually the conversation had turned to, as most do, romance. Marisa had hinted at conquests of Alice, and even Patchouli. Remilia told stories of a trail of pretty Romanian girl with bite marks and blissful smiles. Neither believed the other and they'd playfully poked holes in their stories, right up until Marisa had said this.

"If you wanna try to romance somebody untouchable, go try wooing Reimu. That's impossible. I bet that you can't."

Remilia response had drawn an eye roll from the magician, who sipped her drink again. "Really? Cause I heard that a lot of people have tried, but nobody can get her to so much as wink at them." Dropping her cup into the grass, the black and white girl started to list off her fingers. "Youkai, humans, oni, tengu." She was holding up five fingers. "Nobody got anything."

The vampire chuckled. "Only because they were not me. Nobody has ever told be no once I've asked for their hand. Reimu will not be the first." Standing up, Remilia took stock of herself. Pink dress wrinkled, but nothing her hands couldn't smooth out. Small stain near her neck, but turning the collar inward hide that. Primping her hair, she looked more than presentable, certainly more than most of the other partygoers. And putting the laughter of Marisa out of her ears began walking over the slumped youkai as she headed towards the shrine proper.

It wasn't hard to spot Reimu. She was already making headway on the cleaning, brushing off crumbs, empty bottles, and drunken youkai away from the porch, all of it tumbling to the ground to be swept away later. The slight blush she wore signaled she'd been drinking just as much as everyone else. Her shrine maiden outfit was rumpled, her hair frizzled, but some kind of natural beauty still shown through. It wasn't hard to guess why other people had tried to win her hand.

Waiting until Reimu had turned around, Remilia softly stepped up onto the porch, hand folded in front of her, doing her best to play up the cuteness she knew she held. And when Reimu turned around, she bowed, wasting no time in putting forth the question she'd been tasked with asking.

"Reimu, would you be inclined to join me tomorrow night for a-"

"No."

Remilia blinked, her red eyes having to look up at Reimu's face. The shrine maiden hadn't even looked up from her sweeping, as she casually kicked an oni off the porch. "I do not think you heard me correct-" Reimu cut her off again. "You were going to ask me for a date, right? The answer's no."

A little bit flabbergasted, Remilia stepped off the shrine, giving a stiff bow as she left. Within seconds, she wandered back to her previous spot, sitting down on the grass heavily as Marisa snickered. "Told ya."

Remilia picked at the hem of her dress, a small smile starting to grow on her face. "The bet did not have a time limit, did it? That means I haven't lost yet." Smirking, the prideful vampire picked up her parasol opening it as the dawn broke behind her, light streaming through the morning clouds and shining on the shrine. Cast in a protective shadow, Remilia beamed. "Reimu's heart will be mine. It is only a matter of time."

She was already walking away, through the torii gate and down the steps, before Marisa could even go so far as to tell her it was all a joke.


This is my first fanfic, so please, any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated.