In the mystical land of Gensokyo there are untold stories and legends that float around like a cherry tree's silk petals. This story however is told just as May is ending in Gensokyo. The season was ripe for winter to end and spring was arriving, or at least, that's how it should have been. In the Forest of Magic inside a small cottage, you could just barely make out the small face of Marisa Kirisame. The small witch's figure peeked out at the white snow covering the ground.
"That's odd." She muttered to herself. "I swore it was the middle of May last time I checked." She moved away from the window and looked over at her broom. The wooden handle lay by the side of a small desk covered in books. The desk was surrounded by boundless amounts of stuff. Random piles of junk littered the floors and covered everything but the bed in the corner which looked like it hadn't been used in ages.
"I suppose I can't do my spring cleaning in this weather." Marisa sighed. She had planned on finally getting some of this junk sorted out this year. Out of nowhere, she heard a knocking on her door.
"Of all people, who could that be?" Marisa rushed to the door, tripping over a toy train on the floor and fell flat on her face. "Gah! Damn, I gotta be more careful around here..." She picked herself up off the carpet, brushing her face off and turned the handle of the door. As she opened it, she saw the silver curves of Sakuya Izayoi's hair. Flashes of past memories came to her and Marisa backed away from the door instinctively.
"...What do you want?"
"Well, that certainly is a lovely way to greet a guest." The maid smiled. "I'm not here to fight, if that's what you think."
The witch calmed down, mentally patting herself for being worried over nothing.
"Sorry, it's just...last time we talked you tried to kill my friend."
"I was protecting my mistress. You would have done the same for your shrine maiden, I'm sure." The maid tilted her head to the side in an understanding manner. "Now, the reason for my visit." The maid took a step into the doorway. Marisa noticed that there was no snow on her, regardless of the white fluff behind her.
"I have noticed you have been making frequent visits to the Scarlet Devil Mansion...have you not?" Sakuya's eyes glinted in an evil fashion as she watched Marisa.
"I..."
"As I thought. My Mistress specifically requested for two things. One, she would like it if you stopped stealing our rations. With this snow, we are running out of supplies and unfortunately we've noticed you in the storage rooms lately."
She eyed Marisa and the witch noticed a glint of malice in her eyes.
"...Yes Ma'am. I'm sorry." Marisa took her hat off to make her point. "The food's in the cabinet upstairs..."
The maid blinked and a box of food was in her hands. "Thank you. Now, the second thing is...the Mistress's sister has requested you play with her for the evening. I suggest that you make sure you are there on time...Madam Scarlet doesn't take kindly to waiting." The maid then stepped back into the snow and vanished.
"...damn maids." Marisa said under her breath as she put her hat back on. As she began to close the door she noticed a cherry blossom fall onto the carpet of snow before her. Her eyes opened wide as she saw it glow a bright pink before turning into ash. The wind then blew the ashes away and it disappeared into the white abyss.
"...What...was that?"