"Reimu."
"Do you see that?" came the voice of the black-and-white magician.
"Yeah."
"I wonder what it is." the witch continued.
"I don't know."
The slightly drunk shrine maiden, known as Reimu, sat up abruptly. "I really don't know," she said and squinted her eyes. The witch, Marisa, sat up too. They both looked up at a strange light flickering across the night-sky.
The girls were sitting at the front porch of the Hakurei shrine as Reimu had invited Marisa over to drink earlier that day and at the moment, they were both in a bit disoriented state. It was a warm, late summer night and at nights like these the whole of Gensokyou was running a little slow. So who or what would be racing through the sky at a night like this, was beyond them.
"Wha-" Reimu marveled and tried to focus her eyes, but the light had already gone behind the treetops for them to see.
"Hey," Marisa said, "we should follow it."
"That's a stupid idea," Reimu sipped her sake. "Besides, I don't think we're in any condition to fly right now."
"Bullshit, I can fly anytime," Marisa defied, "watch me!" She took her broom from where it lay beside her with a slightly wobbly hand.
"Stop it, you idiot," Reimu laughed out loud, and couldn't stop giggling, when the other girl tried to sit on her broom and fell down the porch. "You'll kill yourself," she howled.
"Come on, let's go," the magician laughed back and sat on her broom, not falling this time. "Oops," the broom tilted dangerously to the other side.
"No way," the shrine maiden replied gleefully, "you're drunk!"
"So are you, come on!" Marisa yelled jubilantly. "You can ride with me!"
"That's like a suicide!"
"I swear I won't crash!" the witch put a hand on her chest. Reimu couldn't help but smile. "Okay fine! But if we fall, I'm not saving you!"
"Yeah yeah, just come over here!" Marisa smiled and patted the broom behind her.
"How do I-" Reimu attempted to jump aboard the broom, which was hovering about a meter and a half from the ground, but failed miserably, falling to the ground bottom first, "Ouch." "Wait," Marisa laughed and lowered the broom. The shrine maiden climbed on the thing difficultly. "This is really uncomfortable! How do you sit on this all the time?" she exclaimed and tried to adjust her position, when the broom took off.
"Shit!" Reimu hung to Marisa's shirt when they flew across the shrine yard shakily. "Relax, we're goo- oops!" Marisa turned to say to her delightfully, but had to yank the broom upwards, for they almost hit a tree.
"Oh god, I want off this thing," Reimu cried out and kicked Marisa in her calf. "Ouch!" she shouted angrily, "No way, you fly too slow!"
Marisa sped up and left Reimu no other choice but to hang on with her dear life. "Slow down you drunken idiot!" she exclaimed and pulled at her shirt. "Wait, I see it!" Marisa suddenly said and pointed ahead of them. Through their drunken eyes, they saw a little light, flickering just above the treeline some hundred meters away. An enthusiastic glint took its place in Reimu's eyes, "Yes! Go, go, go," she breathed and started pounding her fists against Marisa's back.
"Jeez, you're the one who didn't want to go," the witch said and steered towards the light. Suddenly, it disappeared from the view. "Shit, where did it go?" Reimu cursed and scanned the canopy agressively. "I don't know, but if you don't stop pulling my shirt, I swear to god we're going to crash to that tree," Marisa replied laboredly and tried to pilot past a particularly big spruce.
"This was the dumbest idea you've had this year," Reimu replied and let go of the shirt, balancing her hands on the wobbly broom instead. "No, let me take that back, setting the Scarlet Devil Mansion's library on fire was the dumbest," she sighed wearily, "Why do I do this.."
"That was an accident!" Marisa exclaimed loudly and laughed, "besides, I saw you laugh when Patchouli dropped the pile of books on-"
"Wait, I see it!" Reimu interrupted and shoved Marisa on the shoulder, "look!" The light was visible behind the treetops for a moment, then faded away suddenly as a qust of wind hit the girls. "Dammit!" Marisa cursed as the broom swayed in the wind, almost tripping over and Reimu hang on to her midriff with both hands, "Oh god, I'm going to-"
"There!" Marisa suddenly flew closer to the ground, almost hitting a few branches on the way. "Oops." "Watch it, drunkard!" Reimu shouted angrily. "Ooh, I feel sick.. Get me down.." her face grew a little pale. "Hey, don't you throw up on me!" Marisa yelled and steered towards the ground. In a few moments, they were safely on the ground and Reimu threw herself to the ground blissfully.
"Remind me to never agree to that again," she said and held a hand to her face. Marisa looked at her, very amused, and said after a moment of silence: "wuss." "Shut up, asshole." After that, they fell silent as Marisa plopped to the ground, leaning against a tree. For a while, their slightly drunken brains couldn't remember the purpose of their little trip. The night was still warm, and Reimu almost fell asleep. But then Marisa started laughing.
"What the hell," Reimu gave a laugh. "What are we doing?" Marisa asked between her snickering and fell next to the shrine maiden. The said girl couldn't hold back and burst out laughing as well. They looked at each other and the laughter increased. Despite their constant quarreling, they truly were best friends, and at moments like this, it really was clear how laid back they were in the company of each other.
Suddenly a thought came back to Reimu. "The light!" she yelled and scrambled to her feet, pulling Marisa with her. "Get up, you slob!"
They tried to sneak towards the spot where they last saw the weird light, but kept tripping over roots and sticks. "Shi-" Reimu cursed silently as her foot got tangled in some sort of plant and she almost fell over. "Stupid Forest of Magic!" "Shhh," Marisa whispered and grabbed Reimu's sleeve, "it will hear us!" Reimu regained her balance and looked at Marisa, "so you think it can hear?" Marisa looked confused, "well, I figured, since it could fly so steadily in that wind, that it must be some sort of living being."
Reimu looked tired. "Give me a break. What if it's an youkai? I'm in no mood for fighting!" "Who said we have to fight it? We're here just to ivenstigate!" Marisa said the word 'investigate' slowly and started giggling after it. "Oh man," Reimu sighed and continued walking as quietly as she could in her drunken state.
They came to an edge of a little clearing, and saw many flickering little lights on the other side. "Were there many of them?" Reimu asked woolly and looked at the witch's confused face. "No, I only saw one back there," Marisa answered and looked surprised, "Oh look, they're moving!"
The lights started swaying across the clearing towards the girls. "What do we do?" Reimu wondered aloud. "Don't worry, I'll catch them," Marisa laughed and sprinted forward. "What? Idiot!" The red-and-white girl shouted after her angrily as the other extended her hand and grabbed one of the lights where it floated in the air. She opened her hand and looked curious. Reimu ran wobbly to her, and looked over her shoulder.
"That's a bug," She stated. Marisa squinted her eyes and looked at the little firefly in her hand, "yeah." "Were we chasing a bug?" Reimu asked abashed and tried to focus her brains to remember. "No, it was nothing like a bug." Marisa said and looked around them. The fireflies were floating in the clearing.
"Halt!" came a loud voice from the forest. The girls both startled and looked around them with wide eyes. A silent curse escaped from Reimu's lips. "Let her go!" the voice demanded. The duo looked even more confused. The situation didn't quite seem to sink in their hazy minds. "What, the bug?" Marisa asked and couldn't contain an outburst of laughter. The voice sounded angry: "Yes! And for your information, that is a firefly." "What the-?" Reimu snarled, "who the hell are you?"
From behind a tree came a young girl with dark green hair, dressed in a shirt, shorts and a cape of some sort. "The nightbug?" Marisa asked and looked at the girl hazily. "Wriggle!" the girl replied angrily, "let her go!" "Okay okay!" Marisa looked at the firefly in her hand and shook it off. "Watch it," Wriggle said and ushered the bugs to the woods.
"Was it her all along?" Reimu pondered aloud and looked at Marisa "what should we do?" Wriggle looked a bit frightened at that, she knew how strong both of them were, especially after the incident of the Imperishable Night, "look, I want no trouble! We've had quite enough of that around here lately."
The witch and the shrine maiden looked curious, "wait, what do you mean by that?" Marisa asked her with a little smile. The nightbug eyed them suspiciously, "..you don't know?" This caught the remainder of their interest.
"What?" Reimu asked perhaps a bit too sharply than she had meant to, thanks to her mildly drunken state. "W-well, there has been an youkai of some sort, causing trouble among us who live in the forest-" Wriggle told them hesitantly.
"Really? I haven't noticed anything!" Marisa blurted and Wriggle regained some of her earlier angriness, "well, of course she wouldn't dare to bother you, but the rest of us weaker ones have been her target for over a month now!"
"Wait, so, what does this youkai do exactly?" Reimu asked and crossed her arms, "surely I would have taken care of this if it was something big." Wriggle looked at her at her, annoyed, "nothing big enough for you. She has been stealing food from our houses and even attacking some of the weaker ones. Not me, of course," she said cockily. Reimu looked at Marisa suspiciously. "What?" she exclaimed, "it's not always me!"
"Does it happen to look like a flickering light?" Reimu asked curiously. Wriggle looked at her, "well, now that you mention, yes." The girls looked at each other. "It must be the light we were following!" Marisa breathed.
"Well, this is starting to become a real mystery." Reimu said with a glint in her eyes. "Say, nightbug, you don't happen to know where this troublemaker resides?"