The black gate opened its yawning jaws into the void, its gaping maw swallowing every last sliver of light. Shrill shrieks pierced the night, glutting the darkness with the screams of the suffering.

The black gate ate, and vomited its contents upon the shores of another world…

When Reimu Hakurei awoke, her head throbbed from the memory of a night best left unremembered.

She snored, snorted, and turned over, her legs tangled in the blanket. Too early. Stupid sun. Go away. Don't make me come up there and blast you out of the sky. I will, so help me!

Bleary and blurry-eyed, she sat up. The tantalizing taste of sake still tingled on her tongue. Her midnight-black hair was a knotted mess. Her ears rang from the bleak opening monologue.

After she'd passed out at the festival, some kind soul had had the decency to deposit Reimu back on her futon at Hakurei Shrine. How uncharacteristically thoughtful. But who would be sober after last night? She scratched her bum thoughtfully.

It had been Moriya Shrine's dedication anniversary, and everybody was invited—youkai and tengu, ghosts and gods, miko and shinigami. During the festival, paper lanterns, goldfish games, and yakisoba booths cropped up like weeds. The Prismriver Sisters played a live concert, to their fans' delight. Nue stole the show by showing up in a UFO, only to be upstaged when the ground split open and Utsuho popped out with her posse of hell-raisers.

As the crowd swelled, Suika arrived with a chain clenched in her teeth, dragging a barrel of sake the same size as the shrine. The revelers rejoiced. Sake flowed that night like the Sanzu River. Much to Shikieki's disapproval, even Komachi flung aside her scythe for a frothing mug of youkai booze. All night, Sanae fretted and fussed about the drunkards carousing on her holy ground. That was almost as funny as when Kanako started a conga line. It made Reimu chuckle to think of that.

She soon found something else to think about, such as where her clothes were.

A dish clinked in the other room. The prime suspect emerges…

"Marisa," called Reimu, retreating further beneath the blanket, "would you come here?"

Reimu heard Marisa before she saw her. The witch whistled a cheerful off-key rendition of some song Reimu couldn't place.

Marisa poked her pointy-hatted head into the room. "You called, Moo?"

"First: you know my name, so drop the cutesy act. Second: for some reason, I happen to be nude. You wouldn't have had anything to do with this, would you?"

"Not to worry, Moo," said Marisa. "If it were my fault, you'd know. Oh, do you mind if Alice stays for a little while too?"

Reimu sighed. "Why do you trouble yourself with that girl?" She fished a hand under the futon, feeling for the source of a specific lump. "She can't cook. She doesn't clean up—I'm still finding doll parts in weird places!—and you know her reputation! She scares away business!"

The witch grinned. "Not to mention, her feet are like ice."

Reimu silenced Marisa with a glare. Marisa shrugged. In a world of mostly girls, what's a frisky witch to do?

Finally, Reimu found a roll of bandages. For today, a sarashi should suffice. Reimu wrapped the thick white strips of cotton over her taut belly. The style didn't appeal to her. It flattered her chest, but flattened her breasts.

"Hand me my spare kimono."

While pretending to face the other way, Marisa tossed Reimu's spare set of clothes, a blue floral kimono handed down from her ancestors. Reimu barely ever wore it because it barely fit.

"Patchy still sends mushy letters, you know."

"Please. They smell like dust and old blood," said Marisa, waving her off. "I'm all for adventure, baby, but spare me the stuffy indoor types. Although there was this one time when—"

"Save it. Teawater hot?"

"Of course. Oh, and I should have mentioned earlier…you have a visitor."

"What?"

Excitement jolted through Reimu. Visitors! Donations! Reimu struggled with the rest of the kimono, shoving her hands through the sleeves and yanking the sash till it tightened. The loose silk sagged on her shoulders. It didn't matter—there was money to be made!

Her oversized kimono hanging from her shoulders like a bed-sheet, Reimu scrambled to the tea room to greet her guest. She quickly composed herself: she shut her eyes, breathed deeply, and mumbled a mystic sutra. Whatever it meant, it didn't cure hangovers. She winced as last night's sake pounded spikes into her skull. She forced herself to relax. Temporarily at peace with the universe, she strode inside.

"Um…"

Her bloodshot eyes flashed open. Scarlet Devil Mansion's green-clad gatekeeper sat in her living room. Feet under the kotatsu, hands around a steaming cup of chai tea. She wore the meekest smile Reimu had ever seen.

"Um, hello," said the guest. She fidgeted. "Are you the shrine maiden?"

How many girls did Marisa bring back last night?!

Reimu groaned. She didn't want to handle other people's problems right now. Today had already held enough headaches. But alas, duty calls. Gods never take vacations. Why should shrine maidens?

Greeting the gatekeeper with a (fake) faint smile, Reimu plopped down in front of the kotatsu. What was the girl's name again? "So," started Reimu. "I believe we've met. I'm Reimu Hakurei, shrine maiden. What do you need?"

"Hong Meiling." She smiled feebly. "Please remember it."

Reimu nodded. She'd battled this girl before—and if memory served, she was something of a pushover compared to her superiors.

"If you're the shrine maiden, why are you dressed like that?"

"Long story." Not really. I'd just rather not tell you. "Why do you need my help?"

Meiling looked at the floor. She twiddled her thumbs. "It happened last night when I…. Do you mind if I make tea while I talk? It relaxes me."

"Sure, whatever you need," said Reimu weakly. She grabbed her kimono before it slipped dangerously low. "Continue."

Humming cheerily, Meiling took the teapot on top of the table and flew through the tea ceremony. True to her word, she talked while she worked. "This morning at the mansion, I was patrolling the grounds. Or I was, until I found something in the garden. Something…terrible…" She paused. "There was so much blood. All the pieces of…humans…"

Reimu's skin prickled. Stories of attacks on humans always made her shudder. She stifled her fear by saying something stuffy. "Violent assaults on human beings are not uncommon," she said. "Moreover, they should have known better than to trespass on the property of the most powerful vampires in Gensokyo."

"I counted seven and a half bodies," said Meiling. "But mostly the stuff that's supposed to be inside bodies. It's currently splattered all over the flowerbeds." She perked up. "Sakuya says it's excellent fertilizer."

How lovely. Drumming her fingers on the table, Reimu replied, "Finding a culprit would be next to impossible. Simply put: too many suspects. I'd sooner have the corpses arrested for stupidity than blame youkai for acting according to their nature."

"There's one more thing."

Reimu stopped drumming to listen.

"Their clothes were strange. And…they carried these weird machines. Mobile phones, they're called? …Reimu, I think they were Outsiders."

Before, Reimu was unsettled. Now, the blood froze in her veins. "You think someone passed through the barrier," she whispered.

Two teacups plunked onto the table. Sighing with the satisfaction of a job well done, Meiling slid her legs back under the kotatsu. "I had nowhere else to go," she continued. "Lady Remilia would punish me for making a mess. Sakuya would tell me to clean it up. And Flandre…would drool and get this hungry look on her face…

"Then I remembered the shrine maiden who always gives Lady Remilia trouble. You two seem to get along now, so I went looking for you." Meiling's eyes sparkled. "Sakuya says you even survived an encounter with Lady Flan!"

Reimu chuckled modestly and swept back her hair. "I don't mean to brag," she said, "but it wasn't the hardest thing I've ever done." She considered telling Meiling about her squabble with Yukari or her descent into hell, but ultimately resisted.

"I'll need you to show me the bodies." Reimu threw back her head and downed her tea in one gulp. The hot water scorched her throat. "Then we'll see if they really are Outsiders," she rasped.

Meiling clasped her hands with joy. "You'll go with me to Scarlet Devil Mansion?" she cried. "Oh, thank you!" She hesitated a moment, glancing at Reimu's empty teacup. "Say…I can read fortunes in tea leaves. Do you mind if I…?"

Reimu liked to think she had an open mind. Swords can cut through confusion. One girl can eat history. Everybody can fly. But telling the future from soggy leaf chunks? Questionable at best.

"Go for it," she said. Why not?

Suddenly, Reimu spotted a flash of red—her miko outfit, lying in a crumpled heap on the other side of the kotatsu. She glanced at Meiling. The other girl hadn't noticed—she hovered over the teacup, inspecting it from every angle. Straining to preserve her dignity, Reimu stretched her leg underneath the table, toes grasping for her hakama.

"It says here you'll be lucky in love."

Reimu's attention snapped back to Meiling. "What?"

From behind the sliding door came a muffled snicker. Reimu seethed. Eavesdropping, eh? I'll get that wicked witch later, like a…like a…ah, screw it. Hangovers don't allow much creativity with similes.

"That's interesting," said Meiling. As Meiling read deeper into the tea leaves, Reimu concentrated on stuffing her discarded skirt and shirt into her baggy kimono sleeves. "It also says that you'll enter a conflict with someone you care about very much. After that, you'll uncover a terrible secret, find a friend in the least expected of places, and…" She looked up at Reimu. "Do you feel insecure about your job?"

Reimu sneered. "Are you quite finished?"

Nodding hastily, Meiling spluttered, "Yes, yes, let's go, right away."

"Just a moment." Careful not to let her clothes slide out of her sleeve pockets, Reimu stood up. "I'll join you out front. Let me take care of one thing first."

While Meiling was occupied with cleaning up after morning tea, Reimu slipped into a storage closet and into her proper uniform.

Though Reimu didn't always enjoy being a shrine maiden, the clothes made it worthwhile. Tabi socks hugged her heels and let her feet slide comfortably into sandals. Her crimson hakama cinched snugly around her waist, its hem reaching to her ankles. The white shirt clamped to her body; if she stretched, it exposed a hint of midriff. The detached sleeves, easily the second-least practical part, flapped imposingly in the slightest breeze. She was relieved that the design let her armpits breathe—after all, who respects a shrine maiden with sweaty pits? Finally, for the least practical part, she tied a bright red bow in her hair—a mark of her femininity, and also of her citizenship in Gensokyo, the land of hats.

This morning, like every morning, Reimu walked alone to the shrine's courtyard. She carried a gohei decked with two fluttering shide. Clapping her hands together and muttering an incantation, she summoned the Hakurei Yin-Yang Orbs. Once her ancestral weapons materialized, they hovered close to her as if uncertain what to do next. Reimu spread her arms. There, in the sight of the sun and the gods, she danced. Twenty-seven steps, eighteen twirls, and nine thrusts of the gohei, while the Yin-Yang Orbs whirled around her.

The Barrier Dance. Reimu danced every day, in the chill of morning, to bolster the barrier between Gensokyo and the World Outside. She knew the dance forward and backward. This was a secret rite, known only to the keeper of Hakurei Shrine. It had been so for countless generations.

During today's dance, Reimu sensed it—a crack in the wall. If she focused, she could detect a reeking stench and blatting noise. It was as she'd feared. Someone had breached the barrier. And as the maiden of the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu wouldn't rest until she knew who.

She burped unexpectedly.

There, in the sight of the sun and the gods, Reimu Hakurei doubled over and spewed yesterday's lunch all over the courtyard.