It was a good day for Meiling.

The sun is shining brightly, the roses in the mansion's courtyard was blooming mad, the gentle breeze of noon cools down the otherwise stifling heat of the sun, and there is not even a single fool, fair or otherwise that might disturb the peace. The red-haired Chinese warrior sighed in contentment as she let her eyelids droop. Today was a good day, Sakuya was out at the Human Village, buying groceries for dinner, Patchouli was busy reading like always, and her boss was sleeping the day off like a proper vampire. No incident, no drama, no bullet to dodge and no intruders at all, not even Marisa. She already stole her weekly batch of books yesterday, so she won't attack again. Nothing bad happened today, and she was happy for that. Her lunch was tasty, a testament for Sakuya's culinary skill.

She smiled as her consciousness slipped away slowly. Today was a good day for a nap…

Suddenly, a surge of power materialised just a few distance away from her. Her peaceful day was destroyed by an unknown incident! She growled as she rubbed the sleep away from her eyes. Today was just perfect goddammit! She finally got the chance to sleep without being nagged by Sakuya or some fool rolling through the pavement asking for trouble!

The busty warrior stared forward, eyeing the direction the surge of power came from. Silently, she powered her right fist in case she needs to intimidate some fool or fight another one. She gritted her teeth at the thought of fighting an airborne projectile-slinging intruder. When will her Tai Chi be truly tested when all she does to fend off attacker was to throw rainbow shards?

Her eyes narrowed as she saw a haggard figure running straight at her. Just as the figure got near enough for her to identify, she let out a yell from her powerful lungs. "STOP! Who are you?"

The figure stopped for the moment, appearing to be confused at the question. Then the figure spoke. "The fuck did you smoke Meiling? It's me Alex!"

Meiling raised her eyebrow at this answer. "Who is Alex?"

The figure took another step. "The fuck do you mean?! Wake the fuck up Meiling, it's your soldier Alex Armin! The Unwavering explorer of the Scarlet Devil! The Sniper of Gensokyo! I taught you how to shoot a gun!"

"A Gun? You mean Danmaku?" Meiling replied much to the figure's growing annoyance.

"Woman, what did Sakuya put inside your bento today? How can you forget one of your own?!"

Meiling decided to analyse the newcomer's appearance who claimed to be a member of the Scarlet Devil. The claimed member has seen better days. His black hoodie was torn and ripped at several places; the thick padding of the hood provides little protection or none at all. He wore a black scarred vest, a pair of shoulder pads, a pair of kneepads for each leg and a pair of tall boots; each of said protective garments was scarred by sharp nails yet still looks hard enough to provide protection. His face was dirty and bloodied from several small cuts on his cheek. He wore a pair of black glasses, which if her hypothesis was right somehow survived the whole ordeal the figure has to go through. Behind it, the figure's brown eyes showed huge sign of distress, as well as repressed madness.

The person's belt contained several pouches and a bigger strangely shaped holster to hold a strange rectangular object at his side. At his vest also sports several pouches and a knife sheath. The vest looks like it has gone to war by its state; the black exterior was painted with dark splashes and spots which she recognized as bloodstains. Whose blood does it belong was a question she cannot answer. In the explorer's gloved hand was a long staff with a black telescope attached to its top, a function she founds to be mind-addling.

But that's what she was concerned about. What she was concerned about is the aura coming for the newcomer. If he claimed to be a son of the Scarlet Devil, she might have believed him. The newcomer has a demonic aura that hangs off his body like a small steam hissing off a boiling kettle. Despite all that aura, his human smell still remains, albeit a little bit distorted.

Other than that, this new person was not a woman to begin with. In all her life guarding this place, she never met another male Youkai or magic-oriented human that is a male other than Rinnosuke.

The young male stared at her with the most indescribable expression a man can do. "What time is it?!"

Meiling hesitated for a moment, and then she shrugged her shoulder. Well, what's the harm of entertaining a madman's rambling anyway? Soon he might get bored and leave. And if push comes to shove, she can show him what being a Scarlet Devil means. "3 P.M. According to the sun-"

"No not the hour! I mean the date fool!"

Meiling narrowed her eyes at being called a fool, but she replied again. "It's 12 March 1999"

"Holy Yukari's tits!"

Meiling blinked at the odd choice of slur the stranger uses. "Sir, if you please tone down the swear. Or I'll have to use force." She said, powering her left fist and showing it to her opponent, the rainbow aura wafted around her clenched fist. If there was a sign that the stranger was intimidated, he hid it very well. She sighed internally. Today was NOT a good day…

The stranger whom we shall call as Alex narrowed his eyes at Meiling. "I understand. You won't recognize me, if you never met me in the first place." He growled deeply. "Fucking hell Yukari, the hell did you throw me at?"

Meiling opted to stare at Alex as he propped himself on the staff. He then proceeds to put his hand at his back to retrieve a small black metal canteen (Is there anything beside his rifle that was NOT painted black?) He unscrewed the top and swallowed the content with relish. Meiling watched carefully as the explorer's wound slowly mends on its own. After a couple of sips the explorer sighed, happy that his wounds became nothing but a recent history.

Meiling hazarded a question at the young explorer. Despite her not trusting the newcomer, she was consumed by curiosity. "Hey, you claimed to be a member of the Scarlet Devil. If so, can you prove it? Can you tell me, what makes the headmaid of this mansion tick?"

The explorer raised his eyebrow in amusement. "You still don't believe me? Well, what do I expect? I did come from the future after all" the explorer smiled. "Welp, Sakuya did caught you several times napping and every napping encounters end up with you having a knife through your skull. Other than that, Sakuya can be really terrifying when someone was threatening lil' Remi."

"That's easy, give another one" Meiling replied. Alex smiled.

"What about that time you were kickboxing with nobody during the summer feast coz you drank too much sake and end up waking up-"

"Okay, okay! You're the real deal! Now tell me what you want!" Meiling replied hastily. She doesn't want to relive that memory again.

Alex smiled again. "Heh, you're easy to tease darling"

"Don't call me darling!"

"I can call you darling all I want darling, you're my wife." Alex replied.

"What the hell?" Meiling replied, her face reddened at the statement. There's no way she can be engaged to that person! The young explorer laughed again.

"Just kidding darling, I never married to anybody at all, and you're still single."

Meiling heaved a sigh of relief. Thank god! "Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry"

The Chinese warrior and the explorer stood at their place in an awkward silence, wondering what they should do next. Alex snickered, only to turn into a full-blown giggle. Something was wrong with his laughter, but Meiling felt the urge to laugh together, and so she did.

The quite day Meiling has now was broken by laughter. Meiling wondered what history did the explorer and her shared. "Say, you are a Scarlet Devil correct?"

"Guilty as charged" Alex replied, smiling again.

"Say, who am I in the future?"

Alex sighed at her question. "You know what? Fuck it. Use Memorupuraiya spell. I'll help you read my memory. Patchy taught me how. I can teach you how to use it."

Meiling shook her head. "How can I be sure this is not a trap?"

"How can you be sure that I'm not the real deal unless you see my memory?" I retorted. "It's even in the name! Memory Player!"

Meiling then sighed again. "Guess I can't do anything else heh? Say, what should I do?"

Alex smiled and approached the warrior. "Like any other spell, just focus on the word memoripuraiya and the rest is history. Careful though, it brings you to see the random part of my memory. Like really random."

"How random?" Meiling asked.

"As random as you accidentally witnessed the time I masturbated to you"

"Okay, Too much information!" Meiling replied, blushing at the statement.

"Ach, you be fine." Alex said. "Just cast the spell and enjoy the show. What could go wrong?"

"Okay, here goes nothing. Like this?" Meiling asked him, one hand was on his shoulder. "Ja, it's like that. Then close your eyes and cast that spell. It's just liked any other spell, just concentrate and utter that word."

Meiling did what the explorer instructed her to do. Slowly, she felt her consciousness slips away as she entered the mindscape of the young Scarlet devil explorer. While she descents into the jaw of hell, she didn't notice a flying blonde witch heading toward her destination, curious on what Meiling will discover…

Little did she know that this is just a warning sign for a danger that will happen soon…