Reimu opened the doors of the Hakurei shrine one morning, yawning from sleepiness. She still wasn't used to being the one responsible for the shrine, and it was difficult to get enough sleep with all the work that needed doing. And... she was lazy. Yawn petering out, she opened her eyes to look out at the usual visage of a beautiful Gensokyo, and found sunflowers. Sunflowers, everywhere.

The sunflowers were on her shrine grounds, they were in the woods behind her shrine, and in the distance she could see yellow fields steadily spreading across the fields heading towards the Human Village and Youkai Mountain.

Reimu stared for a moment, and then grumbled a little, before going back into the shrine. A moment later, she returned to the entrance, Gohei in hand, and strode out quickly to the pond by the side of the shrine.

"Genji! Genji, wake up!" Reimu cried as she waved the Gohei at the sleeping giant turtle in the pond. "Genji, some stupid youkai is causing trouble, I need your help! Genji, wake up already!"

The turtle yawned before turning to Reimu. "Alright, alright, stop shouting! Troublesome youkai, huh? Fine. You need me to carry you again?" the turtle asked in a grumbling voice as he got to his feet.

"Yeah. C'mon, let's go find out what's happening," Reimu said, and hopped onto his back. Genji took to the skies, and they left the shrine in a hurry.

Reimu traveled across the sky, blasting fairies as they approached.

"Certainly a lot of fairies today... must be getting riled up by all the flowers," she said musingly. "Well, it probably isn't a fairy that's creating all these sunflowers everywhere, but maybe one of them knows who is creating them?"

"Hah! Good luck with that," a new voice suddenly chimed in. Reimu turned to look, and found a blond girl in a white sundress floating before her, a pink parasol in her hands. She was drifting slightly in the breeze as if held aloft by the parasol. "Fairies are useless for information, even greater fairies like Cirno and the three celestials. But hey, woah! You're Reimu! 'Wonderful Shrine Maiden of Paradise', right?"

"Yeah, but who are you? Did you cause this?" Reimu asked, blushing slightly at being recognized and given such a title.

"Ah... I'm... I'm Aya! Nice to meet you! I'm a big fan y'now, never thought I'd actually meet you! Did I cause this...?" she said, glancing down at the sunflowers, and then... up at her parasol for some reason. "Well, kinda. Anyway, let's fight! I wanna see your danmaku in person! [Simple Danmaku "Spin"]!" the girl said, and gestured to the sky. A light burst above her, and suddenly danmaku were flying.

Surprised by the sudden turnaround, Reimu didn't react in time. Luckily, she didn't have to. Genji quickly moved out of the way when danmaku began falling from the sky. A moment later, and the danmaku began spinning around the girl in a wide cylinder. Reimu frowned angrily, and began firing back.

A minute later, and the girl- Aya's spellcard broke. "Not bad, but not as good as I was expecting! And it was the turtle doing the dodging, huh? You should learn to Float soon, Reimu. You'll need it!"

"What? Float, what's that? Wait, you said you're the one that caused all these sunflowers to bloom!" she shouted. "And what's with suddenly attacking me! How do you even know me?" she asked, filled with frustration. This parasol youkai was confusing. She just kept revealing information, but instead of answering questions it just created more! What a troublesome youkai.

"Well... Ah! Gotta go! Find me again later if you really wanna know. Or maybe I'll find you!" she called, and suddenly a large gust of wind rushed through their short-lived battlefield, pulling her away faster than Genji could follow.

"Wait! Ugh. What was with that girl? That parasol girl who knew too much..."

With only one clue to go on, Reimu set off in the direction Aya had been pulled off to, blasting more fairies as she went. It was only another thirty seconds or so before someone else appeared in front of her though.

Ahead of her another blond girl floated in midair. Unlike Aya from before, this one had large, bat-like wings keeping her aloft, and her dress was black.

"That damn parasol thief..." the girl was grumbling to herself. "First she manages to break into the mansion undetected, and now she insults me, calling me a 'mere stage two boss'? What does that even mean!?"

"If you don't know what it means, how do you know it's an insult?" Reimu asked in curiosity. At least it seemed she wasn't the only one to get confused today. It seemed like it was the same girl who'd confused this one, too.

"Huh? Another intruder!" the girl said, as she quickly spun to face Reimu.

"Me? I'm not intruding on anything! If anything, you're the intruder here," Reimu told her angrily, waving her Gohei at the strange girl.

"O-oh right, I forgot. A-anyway, I'm busy right now. I have to catch that thief before mistress gets mad at me."

"I knew it, you're involved in this, too! Tell me what you know!" Reimu demanded. "I won't let you get away!"

And Reimu began firing.

The battle this time was much longer and more satisfying... seeing as she actually managed to hit the bat-wing girl.

"Alright, alright! I'll tell you what you want to know! Just stop attacking me!" the girl said, her clothes ripped and her hair in disarray from the battle.

"Why is there sunflowers growing all over Gensokyo? Who was that parasol girl? And who are you, exactly? And who is this 'mistress'?"

"Hey one question at a time!" the girl said, but then proceeded to answer all the questions at the same time. "I'm Kurumi, guard to the entrance of Mugenkan, the dimension where my mistress Yuuka Kazami resides. That girl stole mistress' parasol! So mistress is growing sunflowers all over the place to find her."

"Wha- why would anyone steal a parasol? Did she steal anything else?" Reimu asked, perplexed.

"No... just the parasol. Anyway, I have to go. Ohh, mistress is going to be so mad at me..." Kurumi said, before suddenly taking off extremely quickly.

"H-hey! ...She's gone. Why must you be so slow, Genji!? All these youkai are escaping all the time!" she shouted, slapping the top of his shell with her palm.

"You could always walk?" Genji said, amusement in his rumbling voice. "Shall I land? You could find the source by yourself, right?"

"N-no, that's okay."

And so they continued.

[Stage One Complete]

[Stage Completion Bonus 1,000,000]

AN: This is just a short fic I felt like writing quickly without really thinking about it. I'm trying to keep to the same style as the Touhou games, which anyone who's played knows have terrible writing, people doing things for no good reason, people attacking out of nowhere, and so on, so don't expect a masterpiece. If you actually want to read this, sit back and relax and have fun trying to work out the mystery. It shouldn't be too difficult. As far as the place this fic fits in the timeline, it's halfway between Touhou 3 and 4.