HELLO VIEWER.
This is my first attempt at writing anything Touhou related, so prepare your bodies for extreme badness.
I have never touched a Touhou game but I still love the fandom and characters, so I'm sorry if I get anything incorrect.
Nonetheless... ~
Fic!
She hadn't seemed right when she came home that day.
Sure, she may have been tired. An incident isn't very tiring, is it?
Not like Tewi would know.
Reisen had returned after solving the incident, quiet and something didn't really seem right.
She hadn't said much at all when the inhabitants of Eintei questioned her about the incident. After all, it's not often you get to solve one.
When Eirin asked her how it was, all she replied with was a simple, "Alright."
When the Princess asked her if she was tired, all she replied with was a simple, "Not really."
And when Eirin asked her if she was hungry, all she replied with was a simple, "I'm fine."
She paused, then added a simple, "Thank you."
Tewi had greeted her with a hug, because, even if it didn't really seem like it, Tewi missed her, even if it was only for about a day, if even.
Reisen hadn't done anything, most times when Reisen was given any sort of affection from Tewi she would react in some form.
Not this time.
When Reisen was finally pestered enough to eat, she didn't really eat at all. Eirin had offered her some dango Reisen had made the day before leaving, and Reisen politely refused. She spoke even less after that.
Reisen didn't eat a lot on a normal basis, but she would always finish whatever she had to eat.
This time was different.
Her rice was barely touched, only a slight portion missing. She, just like when she first arrived back, didn't speak much.
They were starting to get worried.
Eirin offered her some mochi she had Tewi make.
Reisen's reaction was, to say the least, odd. After all, Reisen liked mochi, no matter who made it.
But Reisen had blurted out, "I-I'm really tired. After fighting all of the youkai. Thank you though, Eirin-sama."
Then she hurried out of the room.
Then they had figured she was just tired, even if she denied it when she first came back.
Even if it wasn't like Reisen at all.
It was a new day, a nice one at that.
It seemed normal, Reisen came in to try to wake up Tewi, although Tewi could sense that her attempts were even more half-hearted. Normally she would pester Tewi to get up for 10 minutes, and she would at least put up some sort of effort.
She shook Tewi, told her to get up, and when Tewi tried to kick her, she nimbly dodged and left.
This also made it so Tewi could not go back to sleep, so what she did is get up and trudge after Reisen, rabbits in tow.
"Ay! Reisen!" Tewi called after the moon rabbit as she was stepping out the door.
"Eh?" She looked over her shoulder back at the earth rabbit. "Oh, it's just you... Whaddya want?"
Tewi's face fell slightly.
"Oh, I just wanted to help you sell medicine today... Since the incident was probably hard on you, right?"
Reisen was quiet for a moment, then nodded.
"Alright, sure." She sighed, picking up the large sack of medicine and slung it over her shoulder.
"Come on, let's go..." She muttered, walking out with Tewi in tow.
The trip was awkward, the two walking in silence.
"... Um, Reisen?" Tewi asked as they walked through the forest.
"Yes Tewi?"
"I was wondering... Why did you freak out last night when Eirin-sama offered you some mochi? I'm not that bad of a cook, am I?"
Reisen had stopped dead in her tracks, saying nothing.
"... Reisen?"
She had snapped back into reality.
"Oh, it's nothing, really..." She faked a smile (Tewi could tell) and continued walking.
Tewi sighed quietly. There was something wrong with her. After all, it wasn't very fun pranking Reisen if she was all weird.
About halfway through their walk to the village, Reisen suddenly asked, "Is it true that..."
Tewi turned to look at Reisen.
"That?"
"That... That if a lonely rabbit stays lonely for too long, that it'll die?"
Tewi gave Reisen a look.
"W-Why are you asking me this?!"
"Oh, um, I was just wondering..." Reisen wasn't looking Tewi in the eyes anymore. As a matter of fact, she was facing the other way.
"Reisen, what's going on with you?" Tewi asked. "After you came back, you've been all weird! You haven't eaten much, you only tried to get me out of bed for two minutes instead of ten, you haven't spoken more than a sentence since you've came back, and you're acting just... Just weird!"
Reisen was quiet.
"Well?!"
She looked back at Tewi, her red eyes narrowed at the older rabbit.
"It's nothing Tewi! I'm fine! I'm perfectly fine!"
Tewi growled.
"No Reisen, you're not! Just... Just tell me what happened!"
"I-I don't want to talk about it!" She stopped, looking in the other direction before sighing.
"Let's... Let's just go..."
They had returned with a nice amount of money, Reisen carrying it over her shoulder along with a near-empty bag of medicine. Tewi had pestered her on the way back, asking what was wrong. Every time, she denied.
I wish I could tell her...
She could remember seeing her three times throughout the incident, the first two she had merely dropped in, shooting her classic and elegant bullets in such a nice pattern. She really hadn't changed much.
The last time, though, they fought. A long fight and almost drawn out fight, but it was almost like she was holding back against Reisen. As if... As if she still, possibly, cared.
What she had said afterwards, though, made her think. Not then and there, but as she was travelling back.
"I really do hope you're alright here... Me? I'm fine, moved on. Still, I... I can't help but miss you."
To be honest, it was probably just her being... Her.
It wasn't infuriating, it was... It was...
Frustrating? Yes, frustrating.
It was good to know she moved on, but...
What did she mean by 'alright here'? It seemed like it was simple enough, but...
"Why, Seiran?!"
Reisen groaned loudly and abruptly, grabbing her head and slamming her elbows loudly on the table.
Tewi jumped from the other side of the table. It was the two of them, Kaguya out to go kill Mokou again and Eirin was at the desk selling some extra medicine before she had to close shop.
"R-Reisen, are you alright?"
Her head snapped up, red eyes shining angrily.
"No, Tewi, I'm not alright. I would have been fine, but she just had to be there! She's moved on, perfectly happy, but... But why can't I? Why am I angry? Why... Why can't I die?!"
Tewi was shocked, her eyes wide and her mouth agape.
"Reisen, d-don't say that!"
"Why not?! I'm alone, and the lonely rabbit will die! So I want to know, why-"
SMACK
The room was silent. Tewi stood glaring at the sitting moon rabbit, who was feeling her face after being backhanded by Tewi.
"Reisen, are... Are you crazy? You're- You're not alone. I don't understand why you're like that, Reisen. You have Eirin-sama, and the Princess... And what about me?! Am I really that little to you, Reisen?!"
"... I-I'm sorry, Tewi... I-It's just that... Back on the moon, I... I had a girlfriend."
That didn't surprise Tewi, with Gensokyo being a mainly female land, with male youkai about as common as Patchouli leaving the library for more than a half hour. So very, very rare.
"She knew I was going to leave, and I begged her to come with me, but she refused... So we had to end it."
She sighed.
"I hadn't really thought of her that much, then guess who was the first one I found?"
"Was it her?"
"Y-Yes, it was. Seiran, that was her name. She used to make mochi, and she still carried around the mochi mallet I gave her... Almost like she knew. She said she moved on, and... And I thought I had too. It was so hard for me to be happy for her, because... Because..."
She groaned.
"I don't get why she can move on, but... But I can't."
Tewi lifted up Reisen's head slightly.
"Who says you haven't?"
Reisen looked down at her feet.
"I'm sure there's plenty of other people out there... And who knows, maybe I'm one?"
Reisen was quiet.
"I'm... I'm sorry, Tewi. I shouldn't have bothered you with this... It's pretty stupid, right?"
Tewi shook her head.
"No, it's not stupid. We've all been through these things, right?"
Reisen blinked. Tewi caring was always a rare event.
"Right?"
"W-Well, yes, I... I suppose."
What surprised her the most was the slightest peck on the cheek.
"Tewi, what-?!"
She was silenced by a finger on her lips.
"You're not a lonely rabbit. Because I'm here, and so is the Princess and so is Eirin-sama. Even if you don't know it."
Even if... I don't know...
After a few moments of silence, Reisen stood up.
"I... I still need to make dinner, don't I?" She sighed. "Tewi... Can you help me?"
"Uh, sure. I... I think you need it." A mischievous smirk was plastered on the older rabbit's face. "But can we sneak a frog in Eirin-sama's food?"
Reisen laughed.
"No, Tewi, don't do that..."
Perhaps the lonely rabbit isn't lonely after all?
(The following has no plot purpose:)
As they began eating, Reisen paid no attention to the bowl of rice set in front of her. Of course, that meant she didn't look at it...
As she brought up her chopsticks, she felt a slight squish.
And when she looked in between her chopsticks...
There was a frog..?
"Tewi, I thought you said you wouldn't put a frog in the food!"
"No, I said that I wouldn't put a frog in Eirin-sama's food!"
And the two older Lunarians could only sigh in disbelief.