I made a mistake.

I sooooooo had made a big mistake.

It was just like those TV dramas I saw on Sunday mornings, where the villain loses at the end and he stares up at the hero in defeat. Then Kanako-sama or Suwako-sama would change the channel to something else that was more interesting.

Only I was the villain at the moment, and the girl wearing a custom-made red and white miko outfit was standing above me. Oh, the unbearable humility.

But that wasn't the mistake. No, I had kind of expected this, since I might have been a teeny bit too loud with my faith gathering. Or maybe it was because I kept repeating the same thing over and over (like a mantra!) and she got ticked off. In what felt like the time it took me to blink twice, I found myself lying face down in the dirty ground instead of floating in the air. And ever like the pitiful evil villain, I looked up at my victor to spout off my last few lines before I disappeared off from the TV screen. Which also happened to be when the wind decided to blow the red miko's skirt up into her face.

I couldn't have better described that very moment as nothing else but white. I saw white, old fashioned bloomers that extended from down from her waist to the bottom of her thighs. Ok, odd, but not unheard of. Kanako-sama had told me that the Gensokyo-ians here were behind modern times and used old fashioned underwear. Me, I like panties. They look and fit me better.

…But I digress, and besides, that wasn't my mistake. That was the wind's fault for allowing me to gaze upon such things. As the red cloth tumbled back down into its natural state, my traitorous eyes decided to look farther up beyond the bland panties for something more interesting. And boy (or girl, because I was staring at a girl). I saw a small portion of pale white torso under a silky red shirt, which lightly emphasized the chest and frame of the girl. Pale white shoulders and armpits extended outwards from the body, with her hands gripping her gohei boldly in front. I trailed my eyes back up the body to see a collared neck that looked beautiful in the noon light. And finally, her face.

She was young, around my age, with a cute nose and eyebrows poised in severe anger. A giant ribbon held her longer back hair as two hair…thingies… covered parts of her front hair. And her eyes…

It was like gazing into a deep abyss, where untold wonders existed beyond the physical boundaries of life. It felt like I was lost in them. Indeed, at that point, I lost all control of my senses, and I think I had started babbling about things like faith, you, me, faith, faith…. Well, whatever I was saying wasn't important; staring into her eyes was. After a moment, though, she said something back to me in retort. And that part might have been important. Because the next thing I knew, I was looking back up at Kanako-sama's and Suwako-sama's concerned faces.

They told me that I had drifted back to Moriya Shrine in a catatonic and extremely disheveled state. And for a few hours, I sat in the front of the shrine, smiling and giggling to myself creepily ever so often. Eventually I had fallen asleep face-first on the paved grounds. Hence why it felt like my nose was smarting. My dirtied miko clothes had been changed out for me, which I also soon noticed.

I asked them where I had come from, and they replied that I had returned from the direction of the Hakurei Shrine. They said this with a "Really? You don't know where you just came from? We had told and sent you there" kind of look. My memories become much clearer, and I realized that I had made the wonderful mistake in staring into the Hakurei shrine maiden's eyes.

I grinned widely, which probably appeared to be a maniacal smile and set off a dozen of alarms through my goddesses. No doubt, I was going to some therapist here in Gensokyo at some indeterminate point in time for some heartfelt one-on-one and then go through Kanako-sama's 24/7 faith-gathering lectures again as more punishment.

I couldn't wait to meet her again.