It takes time with Reimu, just like it did with her mother, and her mother before her.

She doesn't trust you. It's only natural for the Hakurei shrine maiden to distrust a youkai, especially the youkai who lowered the barrier between Gensokyo and the Netherworld. But everybody has a weakness, if you know where to look. Even you.

Reimu's is food, but she's still suspicious when you appear in the middle of the shrine one day, with a cardboard box in your arms. "What are you doing here?"

"Hmm? Isn't it obvious?" You kneel in front of her table and settle the box on top of it, then unfold the flaps. "Souvenirs from the outside world."

Reimu tries her best to act uninterested, but you can still see a greedy sparkle in her eyes. It's the biggest haul you've ever shown her: heaps of chip bags, two chocolate assortments layered on top of each other, bags of candy, box after box of cookies, candy bars, and pocky... it's probably the most sugar that Gensokyo has ever had in one place. Her hand hovers just short of grabbing something. "What's this about?"

"Hmm?" You unwrap a piece of taffy; the smell of strawberry fills the room before you pop it into your mouth. You savor the taste—just the right amounts of sweet and sour, the perfect delicate balance—for a moment before you start to chew. "Do I need a reason?"

"Most youkai are more interested in coming here to eat my food than bringing me food."

"Consider it a reward for all of your hard work," you say, with just an edge of a teasing lilt. After swallowing the taffy, you grab a chocolate. The second you tug the two ends of the wrapper to open it, you can almost see Reimu's hand twitch toward the box. "I was also hoping to speak with you about the partnership that I proposed."

"Aha, so it's a bribe," Reimu says, sounding quite proud at herself. You don't argue; it is, in a way, and it's best for both of you if the girl remembers that you have ulterior motives. Even so, the realization seems to help her get over her reservations, and she rips the wrapping off of one of the larger candy bars and takes a bite before she says, "Not interested."

"Oh? You take advantage of my generosity and then turn me down? That's rather shameless, don't you think?" You push the chocolate into your mouth and give her The Smile. You perfected it centuries before she was born. It's the smile that says that you're so infinitely calm and patient that you are merely indulging her by even noticing that you should be upset. "Couldn't you at least hear me out?"

Reimu eyes you suspiciously as she rips open a bag of chips. "If you want to sit there and talk while I eat, I guess it wouldn't hurt anything. Don't think that I'm going to listen, though."

You allow your smile to broaden a little now, just to infuriate the girl. "I'm honored. I think that my proposal was for me to help train you and lend you my knowledge of youkai, yes?" You stop eating for now and fold your hands in your lap. "Tell me, why did you turn down my assistance?"

"You're a youkai," Reimu says, without hesitation. She pops a chip in her mouth, and makes a show of eating a few more before she adds, "Taking youkai-hunting advice from a youkai would be kind of pointless."

You should be upset at her refusal, but she reminds you too much of her ancestors right now. Training for youkai-hunting from a young age does instil a certain... rigidness. "Well, certainly you know by now that youkai don't all get along with each other."

"Don't care." Reimu pops another chip in her mouth.

"And since I've lived hundreds of years, I've had enough time to learn more about youkai than you'll ever know."

"Huh."

You can see that she's not even paying attention, but you expected this and came prepared. Beneath the table, you reach into a gap, and your fingertips brush against the rim of a saucer. The second you pull it into the room, the dark scent of rich chocolate fills the room, overwhelming the subtler ones coming from the box. It's a thick, substantial wedge of temptation, half a dozen layers of chocolate cake with rich icing glistening between them. The top is covered with chocolate shavings, darker chocolate piping, and for a little contrast, dainty swirls of white chocolate. You sit the saucer carefully on the table, produce a fork from the gap, raise it slowly, and—

"... what is that?" It took you hours to find the exact right cake for this purpose, but the moment you see Reimu's expression, you know that you chose well. She isn't even trying to hide her interest.

"Hmm? Just a treat I brought back for myself." You allow the edge of the fork to lower toward the cake, and you can practically see her wince. "Why?"

"Huh? O-oh. Just wondering," Reimu says. She turns away and pops another chip into her mouth.

Slowly, you cut off the tip of the cake, applying just enough pressure to make the icing bulge out between the layers before you scoop the whole thing up with the fork. She watches out of the corner of her eye as you lift it toward your mouth... and you stop. "Hmm, you know," you say, with deliberate casualness, "I could get a cake like this any time, but it occurs to me that you probably haven't had any before. Would you like this slice?"

Reimu turns to look more openly at the cake now, and you can see the conflicting priorities warring in her head. "You're still trying to bribe me, aren't you?"

"Well, what if I am," you say, and enjoy yourself watching her eyes follow the tip of the fork. "If I give you the cake, will you agree to actually listen to what I have to say?"

She hesitates, but you can tell that her resistance is broken. "I'll listen, but that's it. I'm still not going to work with a youkai."

"Ah, well. That will be good enough for now." Even so, you continue raising the bite of cake upward. As it approaches your mouth, Reimu tenses up

You're parting your lips by the time she starts leaning across the table. "H-hey, you said you'd give that to me!"

Hah. You finally got a rise out of her. With a flourish, you turn the fork around in your fingers and offer the bite to her. "Consider this your first lesson, shrine maiden: You can trust me. I wouldn't lie to you."