Summary: Marisa wants to improve an old spell. Unfortunately, she isn't having any progress. However, an unexpected meeting may change that...
Notes: One-shot, One-sided MariAri
Genre: General
Shooting the Moon
by lenne18
*BOOOOOMMMMM!*
"Aargh...Why can't I get this to work?"
A magician with blonde hair is currently sitting on the clearing near her house in the Forest of Magic.
Her usual braid is missing, replaced by a lock of burnt hair.
Her black and white clothes are slightly burned, most likely due to the explosion earlier.
Her hat is nowhere to be seen.
The magician is known as the infamous ordinary magician, Marisa Kirisame.
It was a dark and cloudy afternoon, not a perfect day to continue one's magical experiments.
Nevertheless, Marisa gambled that she could finish this before the first drop of water fell from the sky.
'And I thought this would be easy as pie...' Another sigh. 'Guess not...'
Marisa felt something wet at the back of her hand. A drop of water. Another one falls near it.
Soon, droplets of water falls from the sky in increasing amounts.
Standing up, Marisa hurriedly ran to her house.
As much as she likes the rain, she can't continue her research like this.
Sighing, she dragged her now aching body inside her house.
'A warm bath sounds nice right about now. Maybe I could think of another idea,' she thought.
Yet during and after taking a bath, no idea came to mind.
After getting dressed, she plopped down into a chair beside her only table.
Her notes are scattered everywhere that one has to wonder where she eats.
Of course, the house is very messy with bits of clutter everywhere in the house.
Cleaning is just one of the few things Marisa doesn't care about.
"I'm completely stumped..."
Marisa looked at her notes.
She searched for a pencil from the messy table and having found one, scribbled something on the note.
[Experiment failed.]
[Components: Magic, Bottle, Black mushroom dubbed as doomshroom.]
[Effect: Huge explosion occurred before firing as danmaku. Highly Unsafe.]
[Reason: Unknown.]
"The problem is simple enough but why can't I find a solution?"
The problem is to create a more powerful version of her old spell, [ Light Sign "Earth Light Ray" ].
It was suppose to be simple but she tried every magical reagent she could find in Gensokyo.
She even bugged Kourin about some of them.
Marisa's already at her wit's end. But at the end of the day, no idea still came and she thought it would be better to sleep.
'A new day is a new opportunity after all.'
Marisa yawned and went to sleep.
= 0 = 0 = 0 =
"Waking up early sucks.", cried Marisa.
For no apparent reason, she woke up earlier than usual.
The rising sun illuminated Marisa's room with its warm rays.
She glanced at the clock she pilfered from the kappas.
[8:45AM]
Still lying in her bed, she sighed.
"I need to get out. Maybe I can find some inspiration..."
Marisa lazily got out of bed. With that in mind, she started her rather troublesome day.
= 0 = 0 = 0 =
Marisa is in her usual attire- black and white robes, witch hat and her broom.
She was in the old shrine atop the mountain known as the Hakurei Shrine.
They said that Gensokyo and the real world are separated by the existence of the shrine.
Marisa has doubts about it, though.
"Yo, Reimu. I came for my morning tea, da ze."
"You always come here for tea, regardless of time," a young girl, presumably named Reimu, replied.
Reimu is the poor and lazy shrine maiden of Hakurei, about Marisa's age.
She has brown hair adorned with red ribbons.
She was wearing a sleeveless red blouse with a yellow tie.
It looks quite a bit cute on her.
Like Marisa, she is rather infamous in Gensokyo.
"Come on, Reimu. We're good friends, aren't we?"
Reimu scratched the back of her head as if saying 'Yeah, yeah'. Shen motioned for Marisa to come inside.
It's not like the two of them are close. On the contrary, Reimu barely considers Marisa her friend.
Their personalities clash and the only thing in common to both of them is youkai hunting.
Still, Reimu is not the kind of person to drive away unwanted guests.
= 0 = 0 = 0 =
Marisa made herself comfortable in the shrine porch.
She is humming while her bare feet is swinging. She looks happy.
Beside her sat Reimu, busily sipping a cup of matcha.
A comfortable silence between people who apparently do not consider each other as friends.
A light breeze flew past Marisa's face. She closed her eyes, feeling the coldness of the wind.
As she opened her eyes, a beautiful girl stood before them.
She looks pale but the way she acts means that this is normal for her.
Her face is serious-looking.
Her blonde hair flutters with the wind.
Her eyes are unnatural, changing color every time she blinks.
'This young girl isn't human,' Marisa thought.
Regardless, Marisa can't help but stare at her.
"Hello, Reimu," the young girl said.
"What do you want, Alice?" Reimu replied.
'Alice, huh...' Marisa thought as she still stared at the girl.
'Come to think of it... I remember a little runt named Alice a while back...'
Marisa dismissed the possibility of this Alice and that Alice to be the same being, thinking of it as a stupid joke.
'Little runt is a little bit inappropriate since I was also a little runt back then.'
She remembered the warmth of her master's hand as she ruffled her hair.
"I came for a spellcard battle..." Alice noticed Marisa, staring at her. "...although you seem to be a bit busy right now."
"You're not taking no for an answer, right? Come on, you're going to lose again anyway," Reimu said rather tiredly.
"Huh? What's happening?" Marisa broke out of her reverie as the two flew away to the skies.
= 0 = 0 = 0 =
Marisa caught up to them. A battle between the great Hakurei miko, Reimu and a new girl, Alice.
She was interested about this fight for several reasons but mainly, she wants to know how strong this Alice girl is.
"Three spellcards each. Is that alright?", Alice said to Reimu.
"Fine by me.", Reimu replied.
Marisa took this as a sign to find a safe distance from the duel.
The two stared at each other for a few seconds like wild animals sizing the other.
Everything was silent. Then, a gust of wind came.
Reimu moved first and already sent out her amulets.
Alice was trying hard to evade them.
Marisa could see magical threads glittering like rainbows in her hands.
[ Elegant Sign "Spring Kyoto Dolls" ]
Alice declared the first spellcard. Cute dolls surrounded her quickly. The dolls started firing as soon as they materialized.
[ Dream Sign "Duplex Barrier" ]
Reimu defended herself with her own spellcard, nullifying Alice's attack.
"Typical of you, Reimu," Alice taunted. "Take this!"
[ Curse "Eerily Luminous Shanghai Dolls" ]
A large beam fired from another doll in front of her. Reimu grazed it easily.
"So predictable," Reimu taunted back. "You'll never defeat me that way!"
[ Spirit Sign "Fantasy Seal -Concentrate-" ]
Multicolored orbs appeared behind Reimu and started flying towards Alice.
Alice tried dodging the orbs but they kept on following her.
She flew hastily away from Reimu, trying to think of a way to dodge the homing orbs while avoiding them.
'It's quite a pain in the neck if you ask me,' Marisa thought as she watched Alice dodging the orbs in the air.
"You're getting better. But you're not yet powerful enough to defeat me," Reimu said as she smirked at the running Alice.
Alice smirked back, "Today's the day I'm going to defeat you!"
[ Dream Sign ]
At hearing another spellcard announced, Alice quickly flew towards Reimu, still shaking the homing orbs at her back.
Reimu was shocked. Nobody has done this before.
'What the heck is she doing?' Marisa mused.
Alice flew by Reimu and dropped a doll at her back. The doll is cutely clinging onto her.
"What the heck is this, Alice?" Reimu shouted while shaking the poor doll from her body.
"It's all over, Reimu!" Alice smirked, regardless of the still trailing orbs.
[ Magic Sign "Artful Sacrifice" ]
An explosion ended the spell card duel. Reimu lost the battle and fainted.
= 0 = 0 = 0 =
"Nice explosion," Marisa watched in awe.
'Wait a minute,' Marisa thought. 'This could possibly solve my problem...'
Marisa grinned happily, stuck in a daydream as her supposed best friend plummeted to the ground.
Alice went after the slightly burned, unconscious shrine maiden and caught her in a bridal carry.
She then landed and laid her on to the grass.
"Reimu?" Alice said as slapped Reimu lightly.
"Hello, Reimu? You still alive?"
Another slap.
"Maybe I used too much...", Alice said to herself.
Marisa stopped grinning and saw Alice carrying the unconscious Reimu back into the shrine.
'Looks like she was knocked out hard,' Marisa thought.
She quickly landed, her happiness replaced with worry.
Alice laid Reimu to a futon. Marisa quickly searched the shrine for some ointments.
Surprisingly, the shrine does have some medical supplies.
Next, Marisa searched for some new clothes and brought them together with the ointment.
She changed Reimu's tattered clothes with new ones and treated her wounds.
Marisa grinned at her finished work.
'Her wounds aren't so bad but it'll hurt when she wakes up later.'
Marisa is used to dealing with injuries quite a lot due to her experiments so giving first aid is a piece of cake.
Alice smiled as she examined the bandages.
"Good work."
Marisa felt her heart jumped a bit.
= 0 = 0 = 0 =
Alice and Marisa sat at the table while waiting for Reimu to regain consciousness. Marisa offered her tea and Alice surprisingly accepted.
"You're not going away now?", Marisa asked as she began preparing a batch of matcha for them.
"I want to see her face when I told her she has been defeated by me," Alice said smugly.
'This girl is scary,' Marisa thought.
"Asking me that question is rude, don't you think?", Alice asked back.
"Well, I suppose. It's not like you have any other business in this shrine, right?", Marisa replied.
"I'm worried though. The spellcard rules state that a human or youkai cannot be killed using this type of duel."
"I see. You're a good girl after all."
Alice shot her a glance. Marisa gulped. Tension rises in the air between two strangers.
Marisa tries to break the ice.
"Hey, we haven't introduced each other yet, am I right? I'm Kirisame-"
"I know who you are," Alice replied. Marisa continued talking.
Alice sighed. Marisa noticed that Alice wasn't listening.
"Did I say something wrong?" Marisa sheepishly said.
"I said I know who you are, Marisa."
Marisa was confused. "Have we met before?"
Alice sighed yet again.
= 0 = 0 = 0 =
Reimu woke up to the smell of something delicious. Her stomach grumbled and her mouth drooled at the smell.
"What's that smell," she asked.
"It's lunch," Alice replied.
"Why are you still here?"
Alice shrugged and handed her a bowl of spaghetti.
"It's not Japanese but I hope you like it," Alice said.
"Would you like some Earl Gray tea?"
Reimu nodded and Alice began preparing the tea. Marisa is too busy stuffing her face with the pasta.
Reimu put her hands together and thanked for the meal.
"This is delicious..." Reimu said in between bites.
A little while later, Reimu asked for seconds.
= 0 = 0 = 0 =
Alice left after lunch, leaving Reimu and Marisa to clean up.
"Hey, Reimu." Marisa asked. "Do you know where Alice lives?"
"The Forest of Magic. Isn't she your neighbor? Why do you want to know?"
Reimu eyed her mischieviously.
"Can't I just ask?" Marisa replied. She suddenly felt like a criminal being interrogated by a detective.
"The last time you asked about someone," Reimu said, keeping the pressure on. "It turned out that you have a crush on her."
Marisa opened her mouth. Reimu was right. Who would have thought that she would have a crush on a little runt from Makai.
Silenced filled the room.
Reimu kept her mischievous look while Marisa looked depressed.
"Hahaha..."
Laughter filled the air. It was Reimu's.
"What the hell are you laughing for?" Marisa asked, feeling insulted by her friend's sudden laughter.
"It looks like your feelings haven't changed at all..." Reimu teased.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm sure you will realize it in time."
Marisa just stared at Reimu, confused at the whole conversation.
= 0 = 0 = 0 =
Marisa left the Hakurei shrine in search of Alice's house in the Forest of Magic.
She needs to learn what made the doll explode at a controlled manner and at the same time, powerful enough to knock out someone.
"Hmmmm?"
Marisa spotted a white Western-style house in the middle of the forest.
It was actually quite close to her house.
Why she hasn't seen it before is a mystery.
Her heart started beating faster. Her palms began sweating.
'Maybe this isn't such a good idea...'
She turned around ready to leave.
"And where do you think you're going, Kirisame Marisa?"
Marisa gulped. Her heart started beating faster than before and her whole body was sweating. She slowly turned around.
"Hi!" Marisa squeaked.
"And what brings you here?" Alice said. Her arms are crossed on her chest.
"Teach me that last spellcard you used!" Marisa blurted out.
"Artful Sacrifice?" Alice paused, thinking for a bit.
"It's just gunpowder mixed with a bit of magic. Nothing complex about it."
Alice moved her arms akimbo. From far away, the scene looks like a parent scolding a child.
"You're a magician too, aren't you? You can figure out the rest."
Alice crossed her arms again.
"Is that all?" Alice asked.
Marisa nodded.
Alice turned around and started walking back inside her house.
Marisa noticed that she held her breath and exhaled. She watched the retreating figure of Alice in silence.
'What's wrong with me...'
= 0 = 0 = 0 =
The next day, Marisa went to Alice's house again.
"Here goes nothing..."
Marisa knocked on the door.
"Who is it?"
"It's Marisa."
"Please wait a bit..."
When the door opened, Marisa was surprised by what she saw.
There stood Alice with a blue hairband instead of the red hairband yesterday.
"No way..."
Marisa blushed. What Reimu said yesterday came back to her at full force.
"Aaahhh..."
"What? Cat got your tongue?" Alice said.
"H-how are you, little Alice?" Marisa stammered.
"Oh, so you finally remembered," Alice replied. "Even though I look different than I was before."
Marisa nodded.
"What is your business with me?"
"Can you teach me?"
"What?"
"Well, it's embarrassing to say but I'm still having trouble even with your advice yesterday," Marisa stated.
"I came here for your help."
"What's in it for me?" Alice asked, amused at the sudden confession.
"I could share my own secrets if you want," Marisa replied.
Alice paused to ponder for a while.
"Sounds good. Grab your things and let's start once you arrive."
Alice closed the door. Marisa stood there while she recollected her thoughts.
After a while, Marisa left Alice's house with a smile on her face.
For the next days, Marisa and Alice helped each other.
Well, more like Alice helps Marisa with her experiments while Marisa stays out of Alice's research.
A few months later, an incident occurred. Reimu searches the troublemaker behind the never-ending feasts.
Alice has developed a new spellcard based on Marisa's experiment, [ Evil Light "Devilry Light Ray" ].
She finished it before Marisa finished her research using Marisa's old spell as base.
She figured she can test it in an actual fight during the incident.
The incident postponed Marisa's research until it was finished.
With Alice's help, she managed to isolate the problem to how much magic she could use without igniting the gunpowder prematurely.
After the incident, Marisa doubled her efforts until the day it was finally completed.
= 0 = 0 = 0 =
The starry sky is beautiful tonight. Perfect for testing a new spellcard.
"3...2...1...Here it goes."
Marisa raised her arm up in the air. The new spellcard rests between her index and middle fingers.
"Spellcard Activate!"
The thrown pots exploded with beams of magic shooting from the ground to the sky.
Alice stared at the sky and said, "So beautiful!"
Marisa said, "It's like they're shooting the moon!"
"Your old spellcard has been reincarnated," Alice said. "What name do you have in mind?"
Marisa murmured while still staring at the sky, "Shoot the Moon."
Marisa never received a reply.
She then turned to Alice, who stared back at the sky.
She lightly kissed the puppeteer's cheek and said, "Thanks for the help."
The surprised Alice responded by narrowing her eyes at Marisa.
Marisa just smiled back.
Marisa wrote the name on the spellcard.
It reads: [ Light Sign "Shoot the Moon" ]
~ FIN ~
Author's Notes: This is an old unpublished story. Or rather this was a rewritten version. I decided to rewrite this one while pondering what to do currently. Hope you enjoy it! :D