This fanfiction takes place a few weeks after the events of Mountain of Faith.
Parties. A source of entertainment for many, where friends could gather and share food and drink… however, for the host of these parties, it was more of a giant pain, having to deal with the clean up, food service, and crowd control. It's even worse if your so-called friends just decide to barge in unannounced and assume you have no plans.
That was Reimu's day in a nutshell. The poor Hakurei shrine maiden had finally resolved the tension between her shrine and the new Moriya shrine that had appeared one day (by breaking into their property and beating them up), and finally had the chance to kick back and relax. Then suddenly, the gap youkai Yukari Yakumo had to show up with everyone and say that there was a party being held here, and all of Reimu's friends were invited.
Naturally, she wasn't amused with her friend's intrusive declaration. Now, she was forced to bring everyone food and keep them all fed. "Every year with this," ranted the shrine maiden, as she handed her freeloading oni friend Suika some manju. "A party is held at my shrine, without my consent, and I am forced to wait on everyone's demands…"
Suika took the manju and thanked Reimu. "Sh'ank ya Reimu…" slurred the little girl, as she took a bite. Despite looking like a child who could not be any older than eight years old, the horns on the side of her head told a different story. The girl was an oni, a youkai with power that can crush a mountain with her strength, and wisdom to match. However, Onis love to drink, and because of that, the girl was always drunk to some degree.
"That ol' lady took mine earlier… S'ho I still needed somethin' to eat." She laughed, pointing to Yukari. The youkai of boundaries sent the drunken girl a harsh glare. One of the things that were sure to make her mad was to suggest that she was old.
Yukari pulled out her fan and held it over her face. "You are drunk, so I'll let you off with a warning right now Suika… Don't call me old…" she said, quickly closing the fan and pointing it at Suika.
The girl in a scarlet dress who had been quietly sipping tea for most of the party, Remillia Scarlet, placed her cup on her lap. "Yakumo," she began. "That girl is always drunk. Did it occur to you that maybe she is trying to provoke you?" she asked, as her silver haired maid Sakuya Izayoi poured her another cup of tea.
That superior manner… that vampire child always managed to bug Yukari. She was aware that Suika was trying to bait her into something, but she still needed something… Some excuse for what she was about to do next. "I am aware of that Remillia," said Yukari as she waved her hand to the vampire, brushing her off. "So Suika… to me, calling me an old lady is one of the cruellest things you can say to me. Now since we are such good friends, I assume you know that." She said, giving off her playful smile. "So tell me… what do you want from me?"
Suika laughed as she pulled off the gourd that was chained to her belt. "Drinking contest! First one to pass out loses."
Reimu nearly dropped the tea she was drinking. She finally gets a moment's rest, and something as reckless as a drinking contest between two of Gensokyo's most powerful youkai was about to commence. 'No way… Yukari wouldn't take her up on that…' she optimistically thought. 'She knows she can't out drink Suika… no one can be that stupid.'
The gap youkai smiled. "My, that sounds like fun!" she said, as she clapped her hands. Finally, she had an excuse to get even drunker than she has been in the last few years. Using her power to create a gap, she reached in and grabbed two sake dishes. Passing one to Suika, she held her own up in the air. "Cheers!" she said, as she used her powers to siphon some sake from Suika's bottomless gourd.
Reimu was visibly horrified at the events that were unfolding. The idiocy of the events that were unfolding around caused a strange urge to surface… the need to bury her face into the palm of her hands. Turning to her best friend, the Ordinary Witch – Marisa Kirisame, she mouthed a single word. "Why?"
Marisa however, ignored her friend's cries. You see… she was too busy cheering on the two youkai. Reimu once more buried her face into her palms hands, silently begging for someone to end her suffering.
The contest lasted for an hour. Suika was rolling on the ground laughing at Yukari's drunken stupor. She kept on taunting the drunken woman, calling her names like 'Gap Hag,' or describing her power as 'Gapgina.' That alone would have been amusing enough, but it was truly Yukari who was now the life of the party.
In a drunken haze, the mighty youkai of boundaries- the strongest being in all of Gensokyo, had stripped down to her under garments, and was now singing songs in foreign languages. "Crawling~ in my skin! These wounds~ they will not heal!" she sang, belting out lyrics in a tone that was almost painful to listen. But hey, she was drunk. It was just amusing to see her make an idiot of herself.
As much as Reimu hated to admit it, this party was fun. She was worried that that little drinking contest would get so bad that Yukari might cause an Incident of some sort in this state. So far though, the worst she has done is hurt everyone's ears.
Looking around, it seemed that everyone was drunk to some degree. Aside from Suika and Yukari, the worst one off was Remillia. Someone slipped some sake into her tea, and despite her being a five hundred year old vampire; she still was a child by their standards. The sake worked well enough that she passed out shortly after getting drunk.
Reimu got an idea in her head. Turning over to Marisa, she whispered her plan into her ear. "Ah, sounds good Reimu!" she said, as she wiped some sweat from her forehead. "Let's do it!"
Reimu got up and walked over to Sakuya, trying not to trip over herself. The maid was beginning to panic at her mistress' state. "Sakuya, maybe it is about time you took Remi home." She said, trying to get her attention. "The sun will rise in a while, and if she wakes up to that… well, I think you may need a few umbrellas to keep her safe."
The silver haired maid stopped for a moment, catching her breath. "Right… Thank you, Reimu, I think you are right…" she said, bowing to the miko. As she turned to gather her mistress, she let out a shocked gasp. Marisa had somehow conjured up a calligraphy brush, and was drawing faces on Remillia's face. Screaming in terror, Sakuya grabbed her and stormed off. As she left the shrine, she gave Marisa a glare that was colder than anything that Cirno could throw.
The party continued for a few more hours until everyone slowly began passing out. As Reimu's consciousness faded, she laughed. "Ah… tonight was fun…" she said, as she passed out, followed by Marisa right on top of her.
Yukari was the last one to pass out. Just before she hit the floor, she let out a smile… the kind she would let out whenever one of her schemes was coming to fruition. Something was definitely up.
In the late night streets of Ikebukuro, there was a sight was quite out of place. A young man was walking around, dancing to the music on his iPod. Now, the dancing was enough to get people to stare… but what really caught their attention was the person dancing. It was a brown haired foreigner, clearly spending his first night in town. This teenager was supposedly here to meet a friend over the Internet, and was walking… err, dancing his way to the destination. "Ski-bop-ba-bop-da-bop. Ba-bop-ba-da-bop. Ski-bop-ba-bop-da-bop. Ba-bop-ba-da-bop."
The man kept on dancing down the streets, not paying attention to his surroundings. He bumped into a few people as he passed by, quickly apologizing in the middle of his song. As the foreigner continued his way, he unwittingly made his way down a dark alleyway. As the song finished, he saw a group of tall men. They all had the face of a thug, and the man confirmed the thought by the fact they were all wearing red bandannas. A colour gang. "Hm… I didn't know the Bloods had chapters in Japan." He said in English. Looking around, he saw the address of the alleyway and realized something. The quickest way to the destination was through this alleyway. Cursing, the teenager walked down the alleyway, trying to avoid conflict. "Well, fuck my life…"
About halfway down the alley, one of the gangsters grabbed him by the shoulder. "What do you think you're doing kid? Crossing us without paying the toll?" he said. The man simply ignored him, and continued on. "Hey! I'm talking to you, you damn foreigner!"
The brown haired boy sighed, and did a 180 spin. He barely knew any Japanese, and could only speak a few broken phrases. "Me… Me no speak Japanese." He said, his accent heavy. As he backed away, he bowed like a coward trying to weasel his way out of a bad deal. "Me so sorry… so, so sorry…"
One of the other thugs laughed and grabbed a baseball bat. "Hey dude, he doesn't speak Japanese! I think we can charge him for passing without getting in trouble!" he said, as he slammed the bat in his hand.
"Crap… they're getting ready to mug me…" said the foreigner, as he tried to remember something his friend told him. A phrase that would shock a person so much, that they would be unable to move for a few seconds, giving you a chance to run away. "Right! Now I remember!" he shouted. Clearing his throat, he uttered the phrase that he thought would save his life. "I killed your sister, and defiled her corpse." He said, totally unaware of what he had just said.
It did indeed work. The thug was shocked by the words for a second. However, it was only a second. In the next moment, the thug screamed loudly and tried to cave in the foreigner's skull, missing by a hair. This caused the foreigner to run down into the alleyway.
The chase ran on for about a minute before he ran into a dead end. "Oh fuck… someone help me please!" he begged, as he slammed his hands against the wall. The thugs found him. Each one of them carried some sort of weapon on them; switch blades, baseball bats, chains, knuckle dusters. The kid was toast. As he sat down on the ground and curled into a ball, he felt one of the thugs kick him. He went flying backwards, straight for the wall.
However, the impact never came. He felt himself falling, and falling. "Oh shit!" he screamed, as he fell in this strange void.
The sun was rising in the Hakurei Shrine. Reimu was slowly waking up, her head pounding from the hangover. As the light shone over her face, her eyelids slowly opened.
"Ah… she's cute. A cosplayer?" murmured a voice.
"No… I think she's a real shrine maiden! Awesome!"
As she opened her eyes, the Shrine Maiden of Paradise saw many people dressed in strange clothing standing around her, as well as Marisa and Suika. Yukari was no where to be seen, meaning one thing. 'That damn gap!'
As the foreigner finally landed with a thud, he got up and cracked his joints. "Ow…Dammit, that fall took forever…" he muttered, as he looked up to the sky. His eyes widened when he saw that the sun was up, making him wonder how long he had been 'falling.' Sighing, he decided to continue onto his destination. As he reached into his pocket to get his iPod out, something dawned on him. He was no longer in the bustling streets of Ikebukuro, but rather the roads of some backwater village. "…Okay, where the hell am I?"