Bad Blue Betrayal

Tutorial + Author's Note – Bad Blue Betrayal

WARNING!This fan-fiction is written in 1st-Person. However, just because it is written in this way does not mean that it will be in the viewpoint of one character. To avoid confusion, please pay attention to the character name under the "Player" mark. Please note that the characterization of any character from Touhou Project, a bullet-curtain game series created by ZUN of Team Shanghai Alice, is not accurate.

For a more musical reading experience, enter "y-o-u-t-u-b-e" and then followed by the URL's code on any "BGM's" located throughout the story.

All characters, locations, music, and some dialogue are completely and utterly ZUN's property; I do not own ANYTHING besides the OC villagers and the two main characters.

Respective music is owned by their respective owners as well, please support them as well!

Thank you for reading my story!

- 22b

BGM – The Summer of a Young Dragonfly .com/watch?v=M3Dh-w4WUKU&list=PL12E6949F7E6AB921

Player: Chitose Tonbo
World: Gensokyo
Location: Tonbo Family House, Human Village
Time: 5:50 AM

My eyes sprang open as I heard Rei's chanting from the right side of my futon. My brain was not quite awake yet and I lurched over on my right shoulder to see my older sister, who was doing what she usually did on a typical morning, spirit channeling. Rei was a petite girl like me who wore a pure white dress with a faded gray design of a fierce mountain hawk etched into its back. Rei's dress was probably my favorite part about her attire as it looked comfortable and it also modestly reached down to her knees. The color of her long hair was on the borderline between brown and black as the early morning light illuminated it in a clash of brown highlights. She sat cross legged with her sharp looking eyes clenched shut and had both of her hands outstretched as if she were welcoming an invisible force. Her mouth was slightly open and from it, she was chanting in a deep monotone voice.

"Munna... Munna... Munna..." Rei said as she raised her arms higher and higher into the air.

Rei's chanting made it almost impossible for me to fall back asleep as I was a light sleeper. In response to her chanting, I willingly lifted the upper part of my body and began to pry off the covers of my bedding to the side. With my hands guiding my thin blanket off of my body, I kept my gaze towards my sister as she continued her morning ritual. I smiled to myself because my favorite part of our morning ritual was about to begin after the overzealous chanting stopped.

As if answering my plea to do my favorite part in our spirit channeling ritual, Rei's chanting came to a sudden stop and she immediately opened her eyes. Dropping her arms from their raised stance, Rei immediately summoned two flickering blue flames about the size of an adult human hand that gently levitated around her. Those two flames were will-o-wisps, the energy of souls, living or dead, in physical form. By channeling these will-o-wisps every morning, we obtained energy to go about our everyday lives.

Rei and I needed some form of energy besides food to have the strength to do every day activities. Only one of us had to enter a séance if both of us were in relatively close proximity to each other. I remember how drained I felt when I was little when I forgot to do a séance when my sister was gone on one of her many trips outside of the human village. If I did not receive any spiritual energy through my body every morning, I wouldn't know what I would do.

"You always look so cool when you do that, you know?" I said as my sister lifted herself off of our tatami floor.

"I suppose it looks cool, with the will-o-wisps floating and all, but most importantly, it's the Tonbo way of life," Rei replied as she moved towards our house hearth that was in the southern corner of our room. As Rei walked across the room, her burning blue will-o-wisps mimicked her movement and followed their summoner. The almost invisible energy from the two will-o-wisps flowed into me and I felt my body become much lighter.

Ever since I was little, Rei made me promise her not to show the other villagers our spirit channeling power. I guess my sister didn't want us to look abnormal, so I followed her command. Spirit channeling was a heredity skill passed down by our unknown mother and father, who are still missing to this day. It feels like Rei and I were the only Tonbo's in Gensokyo for some odd reason. All of our clansmen seemed to just vanish into thin air. Every time I would ask Rei about our parents or our clan, she would always reply with a made-up story of a blue-crested gate with fantastic treasures lying behind it.

"Hey Chitose? Hello? Are you day dreaming this early in the morning?" Rei's voice called out, snapping me awake. I was still sitting down on top of my futon, blankly staring off into space.

I crawled upon my knees and began to fold my blanket in a simple crisp fashion, the same way that Rei had taught me so many years before. Just like any other summer day, it was going to be a busy around the village. I was still dressed in my spring green sleeping gown and my stomached yearned for breakfast. After piling my blanket atop my futon, I walked over to our hearth, hoping that Rei would let me cook breakfast for today.

"Umm... Rei?" I shyly questioned as my arms meekly folded behind my back.

"Yes Chitose?" Rei said as she was lighting the grill by motioning one of the two will-o-wisps following her to embed itself within the ash.

"Can I cook breakfast this time? You've been cooking for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a long time and I just want to do it this once," I asked as my voice trembled. I already knew the answer to my question and it usually wa-

"No, Chitose. Let me take care of it," Rei replied as the flames from the will-o-wisp crackled from under our grill. A controllable blue flame emerged from our cooking station and its light reflected upon our faces. The fire felt warm, but not as hot as the stare Rei gave me when she turned around and picked up a cooking pan that was hanging on our nearby utensil hanger. That was her excuse all of the time when I tried helping her, even with simple tasks like buying dinner from the market or fetching water from our local well. Rei's excuses for not letting me work were sayings like "You're not big enough," or "When you get older," and let us not forget the ever popular, "Let your big sister do it for you." With all of her excuses of not letting me work around our house, it felt like she could not trust me, as if I were a burden to her.

Seeing that I would not be able to make any meals for the rest of my days at our house, I broke eye contact with Rei and stared at the lines within our green tatami mat. We were supposed to be sisters, we were supposed to have faith in each other. I could place my trust on Rei but what prevented her from putting her trust on me? My head was circulating with thoughts of why my own sister could not trust me with anything. Was I too stupid? I know I'm a little annoying at times, but was I too outspoken? Or could it be that we were not sisters at all?

Suddenly, I felt Rei's slender hand on my shoulder. Since she was a couple of inches taller than me, she lowered her head and looked at me with an endearing smile. "Chitose, are you alright? Breakfast is ready," Rei said and motioned to two white ceramic plates filled with eggs, salted tomatoes, and rice. I snapped myself out of my thoughts, walked over to the nearest plate, folded my legs under my body, and sat down. I was so lost in thought that I failed to hear the sizzling of eggs or the cutting of tomatoes, yeah, I definitely have to stop over thinking like that.

There were already two pairs of chopsticks placed neatly within the layers of rice. I quickly picked up my pair of chopsticks and began to eat Rei's cooking. As I took my first bite out of the salted tomatoes, Rei asked, "So what's your plan around the village for today Chitose?" I was very surprised by Rei's question. She never talked about what I did around the village.

"Oh, just the usual. I'm going to go help out wherever I can!" I optimistically shouted.

"I see," Rei said with her eyes focused downwards at her plate of rice. With her gaze still at her rice meshed with the yolk of the eggs she cooked, Rei questioned in a light tone, "So what exactly do you do when I'm not here?"

Huh? Rei never asks about my chores around the village. Could it be that she was finally noticing my tasks around here? Since there were still a large amount of tomatoes and rice embedded in the cheeks of my mouth, I placed both of my chopsticks in the palm of my right hand and began to mimic myself hammering a nail into an invisible plank of wood. Swallowing my food after air hammering, I then said, "Yesterday, I helped Ms. Kamishirasawa with replacing some rotten wood from the school's old balcony."

"You mean that balcony with all of those termites and spiders?" Rei asked with a painful expression.

"Yeah, that one," I clarified as I pushed one lump of rice towards the center of my plate. "I always liked insects ever since I was little so it didn't really bug me as much," I said.

I was studying Rei's face very closely to see if my words had any effect on how she treated me. To my surprise, her eyes were wide with realization and I had her full attention. "Chitose," Rei said as she finished the last chunk of rice from her plate, "You've been doing chores like this around the village for how long?"

"Ever since I graduated from the school. About a year, sister," I said as I too, finished the food from my plate as well.

"Well, I'm expecting you to cook breakfast, every day from now on alright?" Rei said with a sincere smile as she got up from the tatami floor, with her plate in tow.

Yes! I couldn't believe it! My sister... She actually trusts me with something now! Wait... Why was it only today that she changed her mind about trusting me? Oh well, no matter, maybe my hard work finally paid off.

The sides of my mouth felt like they were stuck in place, frozen in a smile. I probably had a goofy grin forming on the sides of my mouth but I didn't care on how ridiculous I looked. Never before was breakfast a serious business because I finally had at least some trust from Rei. I never felt so complete before, as if a longing in my heart was finally filled.

I sprang up from the tatami floor with my now empty plate and followed Rei to the wash basin we had in our room. The water in the basin was half full as Rei and I piled both of our dishes on top of each other. My hands immersed themselves within the warm water. I guess Rei used the other will-o-wisp to warm the water basin before we ate. We never really washed our dishes in the morning out of laziness or lack of time but today was an exception. I quickly grabbed a moist towel already in the basin and began to clean each dish in a clockwise motion. As I was washing Rei's dish, I looked at my sister's face as she was washing her hands within the clear water.

"Rei, thank you," I said with a polite bow as I finished washing her dish and began to clean mine.

Rei looked over at me and said, "You're coming of age now Chitose. Don't let me down alright?" She then dipped her hands into the water and jokingly splashed a few droplets at my face and then said, "We're sisters, our blood runs together like water, so I guess I have to rely on you more often, right?"

"Oh yes!" I chirped as I purposely dropped my white plate within the water, causing a small splash to hit Rei in the face. She wiped her face with the sleeves from her white dress and held me in a stern headlock.

"Hey!" I yelled as Rei dragged me from the water basin to our house mirror that was hanged on the wall nearest my futon. She positioned me so that both of our faces reflected in the mirror. With her cheek pressing against my face, my eyes were greeted by the smiling faces of the two Tonbo sisters. It only now occurred to me that I never washed my face or combed my hair yet this morning. While my sister's reflection displayed a young woman with long, neat, brunette hair, my reflection revealed a girl who had random outcroppings of light brown bed-head protruding out of the sides of her head. Though I loved the color of my light brown hair, I never really liked the medium length that it had. My hair never seemed to grow as it would never reach the collar of my navy blue day dress. Long hair like Rei's was seen around Gensokyo as a sign of beauty, while medium to short length hair was normally worn by young girls.

"That's pretty funny," Rei said as she tried patting my bedhead down, "Your hair just won't stay down!"

"If my hair was as long as yours, it wouldn't be so poofy in the morning, you know?" I replied with a slight frown. Maybe the reason why I was so bothered by my short hair was that the majority of the girls that appeared in the pictures Aya Shameimaru's news articles had long, beautiful hair. I was an avid reader of Aya's outrageous articles not for the biased descriptions that the tengu "reported", but for the pictures of Reimu Hakurei and Marisa Kirisame locked in an aerial fireball battle with almost surreal opponents.

I only had one article from Aya's Bunbunmaru Newspaper, but the pictures in it were enough to make me frequently question the shortness of my hair.

"C'mon Chitose, life isn't about having perfect hair like those magical girls you read about from Aya," Rei said as she clasped both of her hands over my head. "Even the best of us have bad hair days, that's why we buy ornaments like a gigantic ribbon for example-," my sister said as she imitated a certain shrine maiden's signature ribbon with her hands atop my head, "-to look as if nothing ever happened."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," I sighed as I forced a smile in the mirror. Bad hair or no bad hair, I had to get ready for my work around the village. I had to give it my all so I could show Rei that her little trust in me was not in vain.

"C'mon Rei, I have to get ready now," I said as I began to brush off Rei's hands.

"Your right, I almost forgot about the time," Rei replied.

I finally brushed off Rei's hands off my head and reached for my hairbrush that I kept beside my futon. I returned back to the mirror and began to vigorously comb the agonizing amounts of my light brown bedhead. As I was struggling with fixing my hair, Rei was already by our screen door that connected the village with our living quarters.

Rei never exactly told me what she did when she went outside the village on early mornings such as today. In the span of a week, Rei probably went outside the village three times. Every time she left the household, she always wore a blank expression, as if she were expecting to come across something in her travels. When Rei was not going outside the village, she worked part-time as cook whose specialty was one of the components of the breakfast we just ate; salted tomatoes.

"Alright Chitose, I'm going now. We're out of eggs and tomatoes, so can you buy some groceries later today?" Rei called out to me as she slipped on her shoes.

"I got it covered Rei, you can count on me," I said as I waved goodbye with my non-brushing hand.

Rei returned my farewell with a small bow and then she took a few steps outside the screen door. As if a random thought struck her mid-flight, Rei suddenly yelled, "Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Ms. Kamishirasawa gave me a letter yesterday as I came back from outside the village. She wrote that she wanted to speak with you before the day ends, so don't forget to see her today!"

"Alright, I won't," I replied as I ran through my comb through my hair. I wonder what Ms. Kamishirasawa wanted to talk with me about? I graduated from that school a year ago but I still found myself going back there. Did I pass? Hopefully there wasn't any mistake with my grades. In the middle of my thoughts, the screen door closed with a click and I was left all by myself in our household.

I probably spent a good eleven minutes combing down the rest of my hair; a new personal record. With a spring in my step, I moved towards the closet that Rei and I shared. I slid open the closet door to the right and my eyes were greeted by our hanging dresses, blue and white in color. Whatever was a white dress belonged to Rei while all of the navy blue dresses belonged to me. Since today looked like it was going to be a hot day, I grabbed one of my lighter dresses and went back to my futon.

I quickly took off my spring green sleeping gown and plopped in the space between my futon and my blanket. I then reached for my dress that I laid atop my futon and proceeded to put it on. The material felt light and loose against my body and it gave me a sense of being at least a little bit fashionable. It may not be as colorful as the floral dresses that a majority of the girls at the village would wear, but it was my own look. I went back to the mirror to preen myself one last time.

Spinning clockwise in a childish circle, my dress followed my body as I span. The blur of dark blue reminded me of the soothing fires of a will-o-wisp, which was the exact reason why all of my day clothing was dark blue. Wearing navy blue was my own secret way of telling anyone who saw me that I was a Tonbo, a spirit channeler. My hair was done, my clothes put on, and my stomach was content, so I was ready for the day. I opened the screen door at the entrance of our home, then put on my black shoes, and finally walked outside the door.

"You can count on me Rei!" I said aloud as I closed the screen door behind me, ready to make my sister proud.