Well, this is awkward.

Introductions, yes, introductions...thanks for stopping by and reading. Hope you enjoy.

Now that we're done with introductions, allow me to explain my situation...

"Main reason for removal: "Not allowed: interactive, chat/script, real person,
mst, and etc."

The above story has been removed because it violated the guideline detailed on
the upload page."

...was what my email showed me on the afternoon of October 3rd, 2013.

If this is the first time you have met me as a writer, I was writing another story by the name of Lacrimaeque Laetitia Cantus: Exposition from April 1st, 2012 until the date written above. It has been since removed due to the above stated violations. I have made a video and put it on Youtube explaining this situation in further detail, but that's all I will say. So, in order to replace the death of LLC, I will be instead working on other works here on Fanfiction. In the meantime, I'd like to find other sites that will host LLC as an alternative to Fanfiction. Perhaps I can find one - I already have a backup, but in case there is a more widely known site that I can find or can be referred to.

This time, this story will (hopefully) follow all the guidelines that I've read. I hope I haven't missed any. Wouldn't it suck to have another story removed from this wonderful site?

Thanks for reading,

-Akyuu no Joshu

"Come, Reimu. We must leave at once."

"Oh geez, Yukari! What gives, seriously, you only just told me about this two hours ago! ! !"

Morning has descended upon the Hakurei Shrine, the shrine that sits between the border of Gensokyou, the Illusionary Land, and the outside world, a border known as the Hakurei Dai-Kekkai. Mimicking a 17th century Shinto shrine from Tokugawa Japan, the East Asian piece of architecture is complete with its own cookie-cutter stone walkway, a grove of apple trees surrounding the premises, a smaller grove of sakura trees behind the main shrine building, a smaller shrine beyond the sakura tree grove the size of a birdhouse, a large warehouse, and a donation box that is presently empty. A large granite staircase leads up to the stone walkway that in turn leads to the front of the main shrine, where the donation box sits in patient wait of donations, and at the top of this staircase stands a 25-meter-tall red Japanese arch, gracefully welcoming any guests like a gentle giant. The sunny morning day, dotted with a few stray clouds that drift where the winds take them, pours its warm rays down on the face of the sleepy and yawning shrine maiden of the Hakurei shrine, who emerges still in her white silk nightgown from within the shrine, her long, silky but messy dark brown hair sweeping against her waist.

"No donations again today..."

"After briefing you on this most recent incident, the first thing you concern yourself with is your donation box?"

"Hey, it's part of my chores, leave me alone. I never saw you run a shrine before."

"But I have taken care of you and this shrine when your mother was away with shrine matters in the past."

"That's different - and you did a terrible job of it, since youkai can't run shrines."

"And why are you still in your nightclothes? Change, now."

A tall woman with ridiculously long straw-blonde hair that reaches almost all the way down to her lower thighs gently swings her feet from a hanging abyss-like tear in the middle of the air some two feet above the stone walkway before the foot of the shrine building. She wears a long white heavy long-sleeved dress with a frontal purple tabard ornately decorated with large yin-yang emblems on both sides, and a light purple frilled hat with a red string bow sits on top of the mountain of straw blonde hair.

"It seems I must explain our circumstances once again, for it appears to me that you are not taking this seriously."

"Serious or not, it'll just be like any other incident, right? Just find out who's behind all this and beat up anyone along the way. S'like what we've always done, right?

Yakumo Yukari scratches her head exasperatedly.

"And now is the time that I realize my words from earlier this morning have been spoken in vain..."

"Yeesh, chill out for a bit, your age is showing. I think Cirno was hanging out around here somewhere with the others, maybe I should get her to make some icepacks real quick -"

BONK!

"Owwwwww! ! ! ! Hey, hey, what was that for? ! You can't just be throwing around fans like that, we haven't even agreed to a danmaku battle!"

The fully dressed Hakurei Reimu, Shrine Maiden of Paradise, rubs her forehead with both hands as she watches the sukima youkai walk up to her and retrieve her thrown fan by opening a small gap underneath it and catch it out of the air as it falls out of another gap above her left hand. The miko is wearing a red knee-length skirt, a red sleeveless blouse with a small yellow necktie, and detached white sleeves with small frills on each end. Two red hairtubes act as Reimu's sideburns, and a graceful red and white hairbow keeps her hair in place.

"Come. We must discuss the situation once more, as your carelessness has gotten the better of you this morning."

"Like I said, I already know what's going on!"

"Oh? Then tell me what I talked about when I woke you up the first time."

"..."

Reimu gives an awkward smile, averting her gaze from the piercing, sharp gaze of her youkai mentor.

"Point proven. Come, sit."

Yukari leads Reimu into her own shrine, entering the tatami mat living room. They seat themselves at the kotatsu.

"Pay attention, for I will not repeat this again."

"But we're going together, aren't we?"

"Listen anyway. This incident involves the safety of all of Gensokyou."

"Oh great...it's gonna be a long one...God, I hate those..."

"Ran and Chen have reported back to me earlier this week, stating that there are areas of rapidly thinning magic in the Hakurei Dai-Kekkai."

"Can't you fix it?"

"We have already run diagnostics and have determined that repairs are not currently possible from within Gensokyou."

"Damn it...we have to go to the outside? Of all things...ughhhh..."

"Cannot be helped. We are to venture to the outside world and see what is happening there to determine why the Dai Kekkai is dissolving."

"So how serious are the thinning areas? And how are they thinning?"

"They are not too severe at the moment, but we cannot assume their rates of disintegration are to remain the way they are. We have ample time to find answers."

"And how much is 'ample time'?"

"I estimate half a year."

"So we don't have to go out today. That's goo-"

"We are leaving."

Reimu clicks her tongue irritably.

"Damn."

"Keep listening, Reimu. We have a few leads in the outside world that may explain the Dai Kekkai's degradation."

"I'm listening, I'm listening..."

Reimu peels a manjuu from the manjuu bowl on the kotatsu.

"The outside world has discovered a new source of energy for their society. They are now using it for transportation, fuel, and other utility needs, but the byproduct that is manufactured from usage of this new energy is completely harmless to their society."

"...not really computing here."

"Reimu, I have taken you to the outside world once before, have I not?"

"Yeah, but that was so long ago that I hardly remember. Just the shrine in the outside world, or whatever."

"But do you remember those vehicles that the humans from the outside used as their mode of transportation?"

"...maybe...?"

"Those were called 'cars'. They have a variety of these 'cars', but the vast majority of them used an energy source called 'gasoline' in order to operate. It is their form of 'magic', should we make a parallel to Gensokyou."

"Right, yeah, I remember that part."

"Now, this new energy has replaced gasoline, which previously hurt the outside world's environment due to the byproducts that gasoline emitted from its usage. Apparently, it is scientifically proven to emit virtually none of these harmful byproducts, which previously had harmed the outside world's environment."

Reimu just stares at Yukari, nodding her head like a bobble head figure.

"What strikes me as rather eerie is that those byproducts, which humans from the outside called emissions, were said to be causing the ozone layer of the outside world to thin. Before this new energy was discovered, there were allegedly holes appearing in the ozone layer."

"So what you're saying is that what's happening to the Dai Kekkai is kind of like what was happening in the outside."

"Precisely. Now that gasoline is no longer in widespread use, the allegations of their ozone layer becoming damaged have largely subsided. Around the same time, their new energy source is put into widespread use, for commercial, domestic, and federal utility. And now, some few years later..."

"We have this."

Yukari nods as she accepts a piece of manjuu from Reimu and pops it in her mouth.

"The rate at which the barrier is dissolving may not seem alarming at first, but if only a few years' progress can already demonstrate this much damage, we must act now. This may be the longest incident you will have to settle, Reimu."

"I can see that..."

Reimu irritably finishes her tea from her teacup.

"And lemme tell you somethin', Yukari, I ain't thrilled about it."

"You are not supposed to be."

"How many times have I heard that now..."

Reimu sets down her teacup.

"Okay, now that we know our situation, what now? What's our game plan?"

"Our foremost objective is to venture out to the other side. We must investigate this new energy that the outside world is using to run its society. The humans believe that it has virtually no detrimental effect on their environment, but looking at the chronology of the past few years, its byproducts more than likely have a detrimental effect on Gensokyou and the barrier."

"Plus, you can't ever have a completely safe fuel source. Theoretically impossible."

"I am surprised you know a bit of science, Reimu. I thought you were not the type."

"Nah, just repeating what Patchouli said. I've hung out at her library with Marisa and Remilia and the others enough to pick up on a few things they talk about."

Reimu glances over to her shrine fireplace.

"If you light a fire, it gives you warmth and light. But if you mishandle the fire, it'll burn your house down, and burn you, no less. That's the risk with using fires as fuel. Same goes for anything that we call fuel, here or in the outside."

Yukari chuckles.

"Don't laugh at me, Yukari, you're thinking that I'm normally dumb, aren't you?"

"No, no, quite the opposite."

"Now you're complementing me? Get outta here..."

Reimu bites into a sweet rice cracker.

"Yeah, okay, and then? We research this thing, then what?"

"Find a way to prevent it from harming the Dai Kekkai. Or, if need be, repair the Dai Kekkai from the outside."

"Is that even possible? I really don't think you can fix a barrier constructed from within Gensokyou from the outside world."

"But this is a problem that is likely to be affecting the barrier from the outside. Perhaps the solution, too, lies beyond the barrier."

"I guess. Then when will we be leaving? And will we be coming back?"

"I expect that we should be able to return to Gensokyou whenever we wish. And we will be leaving very soon."

"And by very soon, exactly...?"

"In a few minutes."

"Goddamn it, Yukari!"

"Why? What is the problem?"

"I was going to go out and do some chores, dang it! And then you have to show up and throw a wrench into my schedule -"

"Please save me the petty lies, Reimu, you did not have anything planned today."

"H-How do you know? !"

"Today is Saturday. On Saturday, all you do is sit on the front porch and drink tea and eat rice crackers and manjuu, much like you are now."

Reimu shoves the rest of the rice cracker into her mouth hastily.

"Ah waahant eehinn aahyhinnnng! ! !"

"Please finish eating before speaking, Reimu. That is quite rude."

Reimu swallows.

"Who are you, my nanny? !"

"Basically, yes, since your mother's passing."

They simultaneously glance at the portrait of the former shrine's miko hanging above the fireplace on the reinforced wooden support beam. Inscribed on the frame is the name Hakurei Miko.

"You would not want your mother to scold you for not doing your duty, no? Then come."

"H-Hey, don't bring Okaa-sama into this! ! And where are we going?"

"We must prepare for our venture to the outside, of course."

"But prepare what? Don't we just need to go as is?"

Yukari gives Reimu a funny look, having stood up and walking towards Reimu's bedroom.

"It is not as if we will be flying above the clouds for only a few minutes and returning. We will be interacting with the outside world's society, Reimu."

"Oh God..."

"Bear with it. The outside world is not as frightening as you may think."

"It's not that I think the outside's scary, it's just big ass hassle!"

"Save your petty talk, come to your bedroom, we must change."

"Change? Our clothes? But why? And I don't have any clothes from the outside, what're you talking about?"

"I have acquired some pieces of clothing for us to wear. Now hurry, we must not waste this daytime."

"I'm coming, I'm coming, yeesh...oh, and by the way, about that new energy or whatever, what's it called?"

"Serenity."

"Wow, I can't get over how surprisingly comfortable these are. I thought they'd be really stuffy, but..."

"These were very expensive, so take care not to ruin them."

Hakurei Reimu and Yakumo Yukari stand together, reviewing their new clothes. Reimu is wearing a gray jacket over a black tank top and a red-white belt that keeps her tan shin-length jeans up. Yukari is wearing a thick purple zip-up sweater with a beaver-fur-lined collar that hides her yellow long-sleeved collared shirt printed with a yin-yang where the breast pocket should be and dark navy Levi jeans. Needless to say, they still maintain their usual headpiece accessories.

"Maybe I should just start wearing these?"

"You cannot. When you are in Gensokyou, you must wear the traditional garb of your shrine."

"Blah blah blah. Let's get going already. Oh, I meant to ask earlier, is there anyone else who'll be coming with us?"

"Not at the moment, no, why?"

"I dunno, just wondering."

"We will request the assistance of our acquaintances when we must."

"Mkay then."

"Oh, before we depart, I must speak with you a few things to keep in mind..."

"...which are...?"

"Firstly, you must remember at all times that our powers will be significantly decreased. It will be much more difficult to invoke our powers due to the lack of belief in magic in the outside world."

"Sigh...you never told me about that! This'll suck...so what's that gonna mean, then? Can I, like, still use my powers at all, or what?"

"You will, but it will take considerably more energy and will to do."

"Define 'considerably'."

"Hmmm...perhaps a rough estimate will be being only able to fight with danmaku for half an hour as opposed to two?"

"You don't actually think that I'm that weak, do you?"

"It is for the sake of example."

"Yeah, okay..."

Reimu glares at Yukari with an anger vein popping on her scalp.

"Secondly, we must overcome the language barrier in the outside world. Come here, Reimu."

Yukari beckons Reimu to come forth.

"Huh? Why? Don't they speak Japanese out there, too?"

"Not where we will be going."

Reimu approaches Yukari and turns so that the back of her head is facing the youkai.

"Where will we be going, then?"

"A land known to the outside world as 'the United States of America'."

"Amerika?"

"Something like that, yes."

"What do they speak there?"

"English."

"Eeigo? I've heard of that language...but I heard it's difficult to learn."

"It is quite a language, no doubt, but you need not worry about the learning process."

The tall sukima youkai opens a gap right behind Reimu's head and inserts one delicate finger. Reimu gasps, then immediately curses as a sharp jab pokes through her brain.

"Ow, fuck! What the hell was that? !"

"Did it hurt? I apologize."

"It just felt really weird, not necessarily hurt, but still, you should've warned me of this beforehand!"

"My apologies. I just manipulated the boundary of your skill in speaking and comprehending English. You should be fluent in English now."

Yukari clears her throat.

"You do understand this, don't you?"

Reimu's black eyes widen in surprise. Foreign words jump off Yukari's tongue, words that she has never heard, but yet words that she understands flawlessly and perfectly.

"Yeah...this is English, huh? It's...it's..."

"Strange, yes. Mechanically and structurally, English is much different from Japanese."

"And this is the language that the majority of the outside world uses as an international tongue? What the hell are those humans thinking?"

"You can ask them once we depart. Now come."

Yukari tosses her right hand upwards in front of her, and a tear rips apart underneath the red archway at the top of the stone steps of the Hakurei Shrine, the size of double doors to a mansion.

"Can we come back soon? I don't feel like running around in the outside for too long."

"We will be back by sundown, so do not fret."

Sighing, the contemporary shrine maiden phases through the gap, and the two women are vanished from the shrine grounds.

"..."

"..."

The two women, readjusting their headgear, find themselves in the middle of a very full parking lot. Cars are parked everywhere around them, and only a few narrow strips of asphalt are free of these vehicles.

"Are these what they call cars?"

"Yes. It seems we have stumbled upon what is called a parking lot."

"Parking lot...right, it's where they keep their cars when they're away somewhere."

Reimu looks around. Conveniently enough, no one has noticed their sketchy entrance into this world.

"Remember, Reimu. Do not use your powers needlessly. This world has forsaken its belief in magic and the supernatural long ago. We must maintain that sentiment whilst we are here."

"Sucks for them."

"Are you hungry, Reimu? You didn't eat breakfast yet, have you?"

"A few rice crackers, that's about it. You want us to keep speaking English, or what's the deal?"

"It's alright if we speak Japanese while we are alone. Of course, not everyone in America speaks Japanese."

"I know that. This isn't Japan, I can tell already even if you didn't tell me before."

"So are you hungry or no?"

"Yes, yes, geez! Better to work on a full stomach than on empty one, Mom already told you that, no?"

"Of course I remember. Come, there seems to be a restaurant over yonder."

Yukari points to across the parking lot, and there hangs a neon sign that depicts the words Olive Garden.

"Sounds delicious already. Oh, but how're we gonna pay?"

Yukari pulls out a thick wad of bills from her purse in her jeans' back pocket.

"I never go unprepared, Reimu. You should know this."

"...don't make me off myself. That's the most amount of money I've ever seen at one time. But where'd you even get that?"

"...how I acquired our funds is irrelevant."

"You stole it, didn't you?"

"..."

"You gapped it out of someone, didn't you?"

"...not...someone..."

"You still stole it, didn't you?"

"...it is not as if anyone will notice..."

Reimu pulls on Yukari's cheek.

"Even if you had to do it, that doesn't sit well with me. I'll overlook it this time around, since there's no way we can get around without money."

They walk across the parking lot and stroll into the waiting lobby of the restaurant. As soon as Reimu open the glass door, she is hit by the mouthwatering aromas of butter, roasting scallop, scampi shrimp, and freshly baked and seasoned breadsticks.

"...I love you, Yukari."

"Thank me once we have eaten."

A restaurant attendant, neatly dressed in a business suit, notices the two new guests and walks up to them, behind a tall wooden podium.

"How many, ladies?"

Her voice attracts Reimu's and Yukari's attention.

"Er, is she talking to us?"

"It appears so. Let me handle this."

Yukari approaches the waitress.

"Excuse me? My apologies."

"That's okay. How many in your party, ma'am?"

"Two, just two."

"Understood. I do believe we have a small table for two available, so please follow me."

Yukari glances over to Reimu and beckons with a tilt of her head to follow, and the waitress guides them to their table. Reimu cannot help but look around wondrously, taking in all the scents and sights of a restaurant from the outside.

"Here is your table, and your waiter will be with you shortly. Have a good meal!"

The neatly dressed waitress departs, leaving behind two laminated menus. Reimu and Yukari sit down at their small table, and Yukari picks up the menu to browse through it. Reimu is too preoccupied with looking around the restaurant.

"Wow...are all restaurants in the outside like this, Yukari?"

"Not all. This is evidently a rather high-class restaurant, one that people would attend on a weekly or monthly basis."

Reimu also realizes that they are the center of attention of many people who are seated around them.

"Ugh...I just noticed that there're lots of people looking at us..."

"It's not obvious to you, Reimu?"

"What's obvious?"

"Fufufu..."

Yukari chuckles lightly.

"What's so funny, all of a sudden?"

"I suppose I cannot blame you, with your lack of being around very many people. They believe that you are quite beautiful, Reimu."

"..."

The miko's cheeks redden all so slightly.

"...me, beautiful? What're they thinking..."

"But there is no denying it. We are very attractive women by this society's standards. I suppose I should have warned you of this prior."

"Yeah, you should have. I don't like lots of people just sitting there gawking at me and whispering about me...if we were in Gensokyou, I'd've smacked some sense into them with my gohei..."

"Well, in any case, hurry up and choose what you want."

"...right, food, food."

Reimu opens up her menu.

"...Yukari..."

"...yes?"

"...is it possible..."

"...mhm?"

"...for me to order..."

"...I'm listening..."

"...everything on here?"

"No."

"...but we have so much money -"

"No."

"...but..."

"No."

Reimu lays her head on the table depressingly.

"...what I would do for food like this back home..."

"Decide on something quickly, Reimu, our waiter will come by any time now."

"Okay, okay. Ummm..."

Nighttime.

The two women from another world are walking down the streets lit by nightlights, streetlights, and car headlights.

"Man...after we ate lunch, we spent the next seven hours trying to look up stuff on this serenity thing at that library, and what do we find? Absolutely frickin' nothing...jolly."

"The fact that we have discovered nothing about serenity is knowledge as well, Reimu."

"Oh yeah? What's it tell us?"

"That serenity is a closely guarded secret. We have only found general information, information we had already known with our own extremely limited exposure to the existence of this energy - its discovery, its first years of refinement and commercialization, et cetera. It is strange as to why the humans who inhabit this world do not question why the background of this serenity is as obscure as it is."

"Personally, I'm not surprised."

"Surprised by what?"

"By the fact that people aren't saying anything about it."

"Why is that?"

Reimu glances over at Yukari to her right side, her arms crossed up and over her head with her interlocked fingers pressing against the back of her head.

"Isn't it obvious? Serenity is a fuel source that, from what we've researched or read or whatever, provides almost maximum efficiency and maximum output with minimal waste as it's being processed. All these cars here, they run on serenity, and they all have drastically increased capabilities compared to when they were running on gas or whatever. People don't have to buy as much of this serenity stuff, plus it's so much cheaper to begin with anyway, since its manufacture is so dirt cheap too."

They walk across a large street intersection, the corner of which sports a Shell gas station.

"Gas was apparently a huge part of people's lives here, but eventually it got too costly to keep as a part of their lives for much longer, due to its short supply and high extraction and refinement costs. So when serenity was discovered, all the problems that gas gave people here disappeared overnight. People aren't going to complain or question something that helps them so much. It's like if someone were to donate over a year's worth of yen to me in my box - it's the same concept."

Yukari gives Reimu a funny look.

"I hope you realize that wasn't the best example you could have chosen to present your case."

"Shut it. You even think it's a good example, admit it."

"I plead the Fifth."

"Huh...?"

"Never mind."

The zooms of car engines zip past them in the evening.

"So are we going back to the same place where we arrived, then?"

"Yes. We must go back from whence we came."

"Makes sense. And it's nighttime, so not many people'll be around. How far away are we?"

"Should be across this next street."

"Oh, there's the light. C'mon."

They cross the next intersection and step foot on the same parking lot.

"We'll find out more about serenity tomorrow. Good work for today, Reimu."

"I just wanna go back home and sleep...I'm tired...you wanna crash at my place for tonight?"

"I shall accept your invitation, then."

Yukari suddenly wraps her arms around Reimu and pulls her close, giggling heartily.

"O-Oi, Yukari, the hell? !"

"I am excited ~ how long has it been since you have last slept with me?"

"S-S-Stop, you're making it sound weird."

"Ooooh? So you swing that way?"

"N-NO!"

Then, both Reimu and Yukari freeze, killing their gaits. Their laughter vanishes as they begin to glance around them, as if looking for something.

"You feel that, Yukari?"

"But of course."

"What is it?"

"Some kind of strong magical signature, that is for sure."

"But you said this world doesn't believe in magic. So why are we sensing a magical source nearby?"

"That is the problem, no?"

"It almost feels like the magic is hostile. Am I crazy for thinking that?"

"This may be a magic we are not yet aware of. This world may not believe in magic, but there is nothing to suggest it does not exist here nonetheless. Be on guard, Reimu - we will not be able to leave until we identify this source and ascertain that it cannot follow us back home."

"I hear you."

This stinging, heated signature that they sense is growing slowly in intensity, but growing nonetheless. Reimu and Yukari take refuge behind a black brick building, next to a nailed signpost that boasts the words Skypark Animal Hospital.

"I think it's resonating from within the building complex."

"I believe so as well. Follow me, and close behind. Prepare to use your powers if need be."

Once the source of the strange energy is located, Yukari and Reimu inch themselves across the parking lot into the open office complex. They pass water ponds, fountains, and plenty of foliage and offices along the way.

"To our left."

"Look!"

In the middle of the outdoor park wedged in between three office buildings, a dim, colorless pale light gleams, partially illuminating the darkness within the office complex. Two artificial ponds and plenty of ferns and small trees surround the light.

"No doubt this is the source."

"But what's it supposed to be, even?"

They draw nearer to the pale light. As they do, the shape of the object emitting the light etches itself into view. A jewel-like trinket, taking the image of a dull white water drop, hangs in the air, levitating in its own power.

"...what is a magic source like this doing here? And what're we gonna do with it?"

"I have not the slightest clue. We shall take it for the time being, as I am interested to study this...thing."

"You sure? We don't know anything about it. What if it's dangerous?"

"We will not know unless we act."

Yukari approaches the small jewel and holds out her hand to grab it -

PFFFFTTT!

"A-Aghhh! ! !"

Reimu only sees the small splash of blood hit the smooth cement walkway as she shouts out in alarm and rushes to her companion to assist.

"Yukari! !"

Yukari is biting on her lip to suppress the pain as she checks her wound. A small hole stares back at Reimu and Yukari, punctured cleanly through Yukari's right palm.

"It's not serious, but I have lost control of this hand...be careful, Reimu."

"Hey, hey, don't be runnin' now, ya hear?"

The two girls look up quickly. Out of the opposing darkness of the evening, around the corners of the office buildings, walk a group of six men, heavily clothed in winter garb and makeshift turbans tied from plain white t-shirts. They slowly approach the jewel and the two ladies.

Five of the men have their arms up, holding strange metal contraptions in their hands and pointing them directly at the women.

Glock 17's, all equipped with Gemtech Multimount suppressors.

The only man who is not pointing his handgun at Reimu and Yukari, presumably the ringleader of the group, reaches them and the jewel first. A lit cigarette is pursed between his loose lips.

"You two seem like only bystanda's, dunno wutcha doin' yerselves either."

"Look at 'em. They're only just sluts, they don't know what the fuck they're touching. Probably think it's some magical floatin' piece 'a jewelry or some shit."

"Tanner, shut the fuck up before I pop some caps in the back 'a yer head."

"My bad, my bad~"

The ringleader grabs the jewel and deposits it into his inner coat pocket.

"This was a pretty easy job fer tonight, gents. Let's get the fuck outta here."

"But dude, what about them?"

One of the Glock-wielding men waves his weapon at the two women. Yukari's hand is still bleeding.

"What 'bout 'em?"

"Well, y'know, we can't just let 'em go!"

"Why not?"

"They'll rat out on us! Y'all know how this goes in this system, if anyone sees 'em jewels 'r whateva, there ain't no way they'll go back ta livin' normally! They'll want in on a piece 'a dis shit too, ya know!"

"Bro, he's got a point. They might seem like they're all harmless 'n all, just lookin' like ordinary bitches wandering around in the middle 'a the evening, but you can't trust 'em. I don't."

"Then waddy'all wanna do? I sure as hell didn't come expectin' ta have ta take hostages."

Reimu's hand inches to her back pocket, where a few ofuda she has prepared sit, ready to be launched.

"Don't do it, Reimu. Not until it's absolutely necessary."

"They're gonna kill us otherwise, Yukari, can't you tell? !"

"I never asked either of y'all ta talk, so shut up, ya damn tramps!"

The ringleader barks at Yukari and Reimu, who only return cold stares back at him.

"Just waste 'em. I ain't takin' no hostages here, eitha."

"But if we kill 'em, they'll know we were here. They'll be lookin' fer us."

"Goddamn it, man, if only those bitches weren't here, wouldn't be so fucking complicated..."

Then, the ringleader, taking his cigarette out of his mouth and flicking it into a nearby ashtray that sits above a wastebasket, turns swiftly and raises his G17, resting the iron sights on Reimu's forehead.

"Sorry 'bout this, ladies. But a man's gotta find a way to live."

And before Reimu can even touch her ofuda, the man's index finger is already pulling back the trigger.

PTAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

The thundercrack of a fired bullet reverberates throughout the small crevice between the office buildings. Reimu freezes her left arm, which is about to throw her glowing ofuda, as she, Yukari, and the masked men watch the ringleader fall backwards onto the cement walkway. His suppressed pistol tumbles out of his hand and onto the nearby grass, and wet blood drips out of his right eye, through his makeshift turban mask and onto the ground.

The men, seeing their leader fall dead so suddenly, are thrown into a panic.

"W-Who did that? ! Who killed 'im? !"

"Wasn't us, dude! That shot was unsuppressed, we all got silencers!"

"I saw a shot from behind those two! The muzzle flash came from there! ! !"

One of the men points behind Reimu and Yukari into the relative darkness of the alleyway behind them.

"Ya sure? !"

"Y-Yeah!"

"Then just light that fucker up! He can't've gone far! ! !"

The men raise their weapons in desperation and fear and begin popping shots towards the darkness. Reimu shoves Yukari down low and keeps her ofuda still in her hands at the first sign of fire directed towards them.

"What the hell are those weapons? I've never seen anything like those, are they what humans here in the outside use to do battle?"

"It certainly seems that way. They are...very dangerous..."

Reimu glances at Yukari's immobilized hand, whose bleeding Yukari has managed to stop.

"I can see that..."

The masked men cease fire, having ejected half of their ammunition. The bullet casings litter the ground and grass around them.

"C'mon, we can't stay here. Someone grab that jewel and let's fuckin' ditch this place. This whole job is sketch now."

One of them stoops over the dead body of the ringleader to rummage through his coat for the jewel, but before his hand can touch the body, something whirls out of the darkness. A gleam of moonlight is all the men and women can see before it plunges into the forehead of the man who is about to retrieve the jewel.

"Y-Yo, the fuck happened to you? !"

"Holy shit, he's dead too! He's still the-"

PTAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! PTAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! PTAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! PTAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Three more shots, methodically and rhythmically fired, erupt from the darkness and sink into the heads of the remaining men, with the fourth piercing the right kneecap of the last man standing. As the dead men fall, the quiet beats of boots is barely drowned out by the gargles of pain from the sole survivor whose kneecap is now horribly mangled and broken. Reimu and Yukari turn to the darkness, and walking out into the moonlight comes a lone teenage girl. Sweeping hair, short business skirt, white dress shirt with a popped collar, and a black formal jacket and auburn necktie.

She wears an eyepatch over her right eye, the faint image of a yin-yang printed into it where the eye should be, and she holds a Colt M1911 with a smoking muzzle in her left hand. Heavily shrouded by the evening darkness, this mysterious girl strides across the grass onto the walkway, standing over the man whose kneecap she has just shot out.

"Arggghhhh! ! ! ! Y-Y-You b-bitch! ! ! Fuuuuu - ! ! ! !"

The wounded man, realizing he has dropped his gun in pain, grovels on the ground and gropes for it, but another shot rings out, and he freezes, watching the gun skip across the cement, out of his reach.

"Face me."

"Huh? !"

Having no choice in the matter, the masked man turns to face this eyepatched girl who points her M1911 at him.

"Who sent you?"

"What?"

"Who sent you?"

"A-And why should I tell you t-that? !"

"Because I might let you go if you tell me."

"Y-Y-You will? !"

"I'm listening."

"T-T-The A.A.H.W.! They told us to get it for 'em!"

"Oh, okay. Alright then, thanks."

PTAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

The seventh and final bullet in the girl's magazine plummets into the man's cranium, and he, too, becomes still and lifeless. The eyepatch girl, confirming the kill, flicks the bottom of her pistol to her right to toss the released and empty magazine away, slaps a fresh magazine into the grip, and racks the slide. She then holsters her Colt in the leather pistol carrier on her belt underneath her coat, kneels next to the man to whom she has thrown her pocket knife to retrieve it, pulling it out cleanly from the head and wiping the blood on the dead man's shirt, and kneels over the ringleader's body to recover the emanating jewel. The dull white light pulses in her soft-looking but rough fingers. Her visible left eye darts towards Yukari and Reimu as they get to their feet, the jewel tucked safely inside the girl's own inner coat pocket.

"Tell me. What brings you two out here so late?" asks the girl with the eyepatch.

"...er...nothing, nothing," Reimu stammers.

"Really? Think fast."

The girl casually whips her handgun out again, sets her sights on Yukari's right shoulder, and squeezes the trigger. At the same time, a gap rips open in front of the shoulder and eats the bullet as it erupts from the pistol's barrel.

"With a power like that, you expect me to stand here and nod you guys off, like, 'oh yeah, they're not doing shit here'?"

Giving them a disdainful look, the eyepatch girl rolls her eyes and stashes her weapon away again.

"Don't just stand there - there's a bullet hole in your hand and you're gonna just watch it bleed out? C'mon, I'll take you to my place," she says as she begins walking back the way she came, towards Reimu and Yukari.

"And why would we do that?" asks Reimu, still on guard.

"Because I'm assuming you have nowhere to go. Where're you gonna stay? A hotel? The nearest one's a mile and a half from here, and if you go to a hospital, they'll want your background information, something I'm pretty sure you'd rather keep secret from everybody else."

Yukari and Reimu exchange hurried looks.

"Can you open up the portal again, Yukari?"

"I can, but it will require strength that I would rather not expend at the moment. Sustaining wounds in this world is a much more difficult task than it is in Gensokyou. On top of which, that girl may hold information about serenity that we need."

"So follow her?"

Yukari nods urgently.

"For now, it is our best option."

"She looks super suspicious, just saying."

"For someone who has gotten us out of quite the predicament, she is not that suspicious."

They hurry after the girl with the eyepatch, who walks quickly to her car that is parked next to the sidewalk of the office complex, beyond the alleyway around the corner.

"I'm assuming you stopped the bleeding. I paid good money for this car, so don't go ruining the seats, you hear?"

They round the corner, and a Lamborghini Aventador is sitting, raising its vertical doors for its passengers and driver.

"Get in. Can't hang around here for too long."

Reimu and Yukari, taken back by this futuristic-looking vehicle, shove their wonder to the back of their minds and climb in, and the doors slowly fall shut after them. The eyepatch girl turns the key to rev up the engine and switches on her headlights.

"Er, what's your name, again?" Reimu asks with a slightly hesitant tone.

The driver unwraps a green apple Jolly Rancher lollipop and pops it in her mouth.

"...call me Losira."