Chapter 2


Kyle and Aster found themselves several miles outside the city on a stretch of highway. Like in most movies with such a scene, the road was almost completely empty save a car or two passing by every few minutes. Kyle scowled at the distance to the city as he didn't know if Aster would allow him to carry her like he did with Tash in his previous mission. Aster was scowling the distance as well, but probably for a different reason...I don't know what it is, I'm not an omniscient narrator. Anyway, Kyle let his eyes wander from the city and then spotted a payphone at a nearby rest stop. Giving Aster a quick tap on the shoulder, Kyle rushed over to the payphone with an idea in mind.

He had picked up the receiver and was sliding his special paycard into a slot for phone cards when Aster came up behind him and asked, "Who are you calling, Kyle-kun?"

"A precaution," Kyle responded as he rapidly dialed a series of numbers. Aster merely gave him a strange look as he waited for the call to go through. When he heard someone pick up, he gestured for Aster to remain quiet.

"Hello...This is Kyle...Sorry, this isn't a social call...Yes...Touhou...As a precautionary measure...Who's available?...Ouch," Kyle got a pained expression on his face for a brief moment. "Tell her that I may call upon her within the next few days...Alright...Standard fare then?...That right?...Just make sure she's informed...Oh, he just got back?...Tell both of them then...Yes, yes, Standard fare all around...Well, talk to you later then...HE SAID WHAT!...Once I'm done with this, I'm personally coming over there and beating him up and about the head with a hard, blunt object...I don't care that he's currently catatonic!...He'll still feel it when he comes back...Alright, alright, I'll calm down...Thanks for the sentiment...Alright, I'll let you do that in my place...I almost feel sorry for him then...See you later...Bye."

Kyle hung up the receiver with a sigh. Aster stepped out of the way as Kyle walked away from the payphone.

"Kyle-kun, who were you talking to?" She inquired. Kyle looked at her over at her before replying.

"A group I call on if I think I'll need their help for trouble. I'll tell you more about it if I have to summon one of them." He faced the city, sighing as he tried to mentally figure the distance. After a moment, he knelt down and motioned for Aster. "Normally, I'd be against something like this, but it'll be faster if I carry you."

For her part, Aster merely nodded and climbed on. She was secured in place as Kyle stood up. Taking a deep breath at the additional weight, Kyle started running and then activated his Accelerator. They shot off, blurring as Kyle raced towards the city. Aster was enjoying it, apparently, as she was screaming with excitement in Kyle's ear. By the time Kyle stopped running, they were within the city limits and just outside of a nice park. Just then, music started playing from somewhere on Kyle. Aster climbed off so Kyle could pull out his Mood Music Maker.

"Kyle-kun, what's that song?" Aster asked as Kyle looked at the device.

"Shunshun Shuugetsu~Mooned Insect. It's the theme song of Wriggle Nightbug. She's around here somewhere." He replied as he stared at the park.

"Then let's just find her," Aster spoke as she walked into the park. Agreeing with a nod, Kyle followed after. While walking along, they came across a children's playground.

"Mama, you look tired." Kyle and Aster looked over at a green haired little boy standing in front of his green haired mother, who was sitting down on a bench. The strangest thing about their hair, yes even more strange than the fact that it's green, is that two tiny spots of hair stuck up like insect antennae. Kyle recognized it almost immediately.

"Wriggle Nightbug?" He asked as he approached the bench. The kid and his mother looked at him.

"My maiden name is Nightbug, yes. I haven't been called that in years. So who are you and how do you know me?" The woman asked. Kyle took a moment to think about the answer so he could compare his knowledge of Touhou to what he was seeing.

"My name is Kyle and I'm familiar with Gensokyo," He replied. The Wriggle that he knew from Touhou was a Firefly Youkai who could control any insect at whim. She looked like a child and dressed boyishly, making it easy to mistake her gender. This Wriggle, however, was much different. Her appearance had definitely matured, her feminine figure easy to see through her shirt and jeans.

"Ge..Gensokyo?" She had a look of surprise on her face, but it quickly gave way as a look of sadness sprung up. "It's been...so long. All my friends...I miss them."

Then she started crying. She put her head in her hands and wept.

"Mama, please don't cry. Please." Her child said as he gave her a hug. Wriggle hugged him back as she continued to cry. After several minutes, she stopped crying and let her child go. Her sadness was still evident on her face when she turned back to the Agents.

"I'm sorry about that," she said.

"I should be the one apologizing. I didn't mean to bring up any painful memories," was Kyle's response. He sat down on the bench while Aster walked over to the playground.

"It's alright, you had no way of knowing," Wriggle answered with a shake of her head. Her child saw that the two adults were going to chat, so he followed Aster's lead and headed towards the playground.

"If you don't mind my asking, what happened to you after Gensokyo faded?" Kyle's voice was as calm as he could make it. Wriggle turned her eyes forward and waited a few moments before speaking.

"I was so confused. My powers were gone and I was no different than any normal human. My friends and I would still meet relatively often, but eventually those meetings became few and far between until we just stopped meeting altogether. When that happened, I just started wandering and I ended up here, in this city. After what seemed like years of trying to adjust to living like a human, I met the man who eventually became my husband. I've basically been a housewife after my first child was born...I love my children, but many times, I wish I could be back in Gensokyo with my friends again."

Kyle listened and deeply empathized with her. Several faces passed before his eyes, faces of people he used to hang out with, but separated from for various reasons. His eyes closed for a few moments and then opened them with a decisive look on his face. Standing up, he flicked a wrist and a piece of paper appeared in his hand. Turning to Wriggle, he held it out for her to take.

"Here, I'll let you have one of these." She took it, looked at it for a moment and then looked up at him. He continued, "Keep that with you and we'll be able to stay in touch while I'm in this city. I'm staying for a few days on business. Since it involves Gensokyo, I'll keep you informed."

Wriggle stood up and turned to the Agent, holding the paper to give it back, "I appreciate the thought, but I've given up on Gensokyo. It won't return and I accept that."

Shaking his head, Kyle pushed her hand back and replied, "Keep it anyway. If only so I have a way to reach you when I can prove that there's still hope for Gensokyo."

Sighing at his insistence, Wriggle merely nodded in acceptance and went towards the playground to get her child so they could go home. Shortly thereafter, Aster came back and gave Kyle a curious look. From aways off, Wriggle was escorting her child home when she turned back to look at Kyle and Aster. She saw Aster piggy-back on Kyle and then both of them seemed to just blur out of existence. Her child looked at his mother as she seemed frozen in time. Only one thought crossed her mind as she snapped back to reality.

..."There's still hope for Gensokyo". Please be right about that...please!


Several minutes later, Kyle and Aster were walking down a slummy street. Kyle was munching on some energy bars while Aster was walking alongside with a manga in her hand that was given to her by Kyle. Don't ask which manga it is, that's not important to the story. As they were passing an alley, Kyle's Music Maker started up again.

"Meiji Juushichi-nen no Shanhai Arisu, the theme song of Hong Meiling," Kyle spoke up, speaking the Japanese part a bit slower than the rest of the sentence, after listening to it for a few seconds. Aster looked up from her manga to give Kyle a look.

"You're pretty good with that, if a bit slow in actually speaking. Did you take Japanese classes?"

"Only for about a year or so in high school, but I'm also a big fan of several Anime." Kyle answered with a shrug. The music stopped while they were a couple meters away from the alley. Kyle stopped and had to put a hand on Aster's shoulder to keep her from going on without him. Aster looked up from her manga to watch him go back to the alley and hear the music start up again. "That Yukari is pretty clever. To keep us from having to do a lot of heavy searching, she made it like the game Hot n Cold."

Aster just shrugged as she sauntered back over. When she reunited with Kyle, they both strode into the dank backstreet. While about half way through, someone leaped out from behind a dumpster and put a knife to Kyle's back. Aster stopped walking but didn't look up from her manga as Kyle once again put his hand on her shoulder.

"Take out your wallets and drop them on the ground," came a female voice with a slight Chinese accent. Kyle turned his head as best he could to look at his attacker. She was a rather tall redheaded woman wearing a well cared for, if quite grungy, Chinese style dress. She wore a hat that matched her garb with a tarnished star on it. Kyle recognized her faster than he recognize Wriggle.

"H-Hong Meiling!" The moment those words left his mouth, the woman's eyes widened in surprise and then she lowered her knife.

"You know who I am...you even know my name...WHO ARE YOU?"

"My name is Kyle Griswold," was his response. He turned around to fully face her and Aster looked over at the woman before going back to her manga. "My current job is to restore Gensokyo."

"G-Gensokyo..." Hong Meiling breathlessly spoke. She collapsed onto her knees as the shock caught her in its grip. The knife fell effortlessly from her now limp fingers. At this point, her stomach chose to signal its hunger by growling, though she wasn't in a state to respond to it.

"Hey, are you ok? When was the last time you ate something?" Kyle questioned as he knelt down to check on her. Hong Meiling didn't seem to register the question for a few moments, but then she said.

"I...I think...about four days ago." Now, Hong Meiling is one of Kyle's favorite Touhou characters and to see her like this made him ticked. His face darkened to a scowl as he whipped an arm up and into his Astral Vault. Upon seeing this display, Hong Meiling almost fainted from the shock. When he pulled his arm out, he was holding...

"A b-b-b-baozi...!" Hong Meiling couldn't believe her eyes, weakly reaching up a hand to take it as Kyle was handing it to her. She stared at it for a second before taking a hesitant bite. As she chewed, it finally registered that it was real. Her lips smiled while she chewed, tears of joy welling up in her eyes. The sight of her joy melted Kyle's scowl almost instantly. Reaching into his Astral Vault again, he pulled out a plate of baozi and set it down in front of her. Meiling was taking her time with the first one, savoring each bite like it was the best one. When she finished it, she exclaimed, "Delicious! I haven't had food of my native land this good in years!"


Back at the Library Arcanium, Adrian was watching Kyle on the monitor, a precautionary measure since he was recovered from the Endless Abyss of the Night Sky. Currently, he was feeling a bit exasperated.

"He's been expanding his Astral Vault's stock again. I'll have to talk to him about that." At that moment, one of the members working at the massive computer spoke up.

"Sir, you'd better come take a look at this." Adrian quickly strode over to the Society member. "That reading we've been tracking within the Touhou fandom...it's getting stronger!"

Adrian frowned at the news, "the reading isn't of the Sue, that's already been checked." I've got a bad feeling about this, yet I get the feeling that Kyle and Aster can handle it. Whatever the case may be, I'll have a rescue team on standby...just in case.


Hong Meiling was finishing the last of the baozi as Aster bugged Kyle for another manga for her to read. Kyle sighed before he pulled one out of his Astral Vault and handed it to her, causing her to move away and start reading. Standing up with renewed energy, Hong Meiling bowed to Kyle for the meal.

"I'm in your debt for your assistance." Kyle waved it off and then replied.

"Anyway, can you tell me what happened to you after Gensokyo's barrier faded?" Hong Meiling sighed as she prepared to tell her story.

"It was many years ago. At the Scarlet Devil mansion, everything was chaotic. The fairy maids were in a state of panic because of their missing magic. I still stood at my post by the gate as it was my job to be the guard. I think my mistress, Remilia Scarlet, had a plan for dealing with this crisis, though I apparently wasn't included in her plan as the head maid, Sakuya Izayoi, had left in a hurry with Remilia's sister, Flandre. Remilia, herself, left the next day with the mansion's librarian, Patchouli Knowledge, in tow. She told me that all of the mansion staff had to fend for themselves. After that, I started wandering...getting work and food where I could get it, but it's been a lonely journey. Somehow, I ended up in this city and haven't been able to find a job to support myself since. I've only really survived this long because I met others who were in similar situations."

Kyle listened while doing his best to keep his temper down. As she finished speaking, Kyle made a decision. "Alright then. I'll hire you."

Hong Meiling snapped her head to look at Kyle in shock. It took a few moments for her voice to come out, "Y-you mean it? You'll employ me?"

Kyle rubbed the back of his head before replying, "Well, I don't really have money to pay you with, but I can give you food and stuff in compensation." He was caught off-guard as the Chinese youkai glomped him, taking him down while thrown off-balance. They got back up, Hong Meiling giddy like little kid at Christmas while Kyle could feel a headache coming on.

WIth a sigh, Kyle spoke again, "Well, this is a step in the right direction at least. Though, how am I going to find other previous residents of Gensokyo?"

The Chinese youkai paused at the question, but then she grinned and said, "I can help you with that. If you're looking for something, it pays to have friends in low places."

Kyle looked at her for a moment, "Those 'others' you mentioned before, right? You think it's possible that they'd know where other Gensokyo people are?"

She nodded, "One thing I noticed about Remilia and the others before they left is the fact that they looked the exact same without their powers. Having a network of friends like I do will make finding people from Gensokyo within the city limits easy. You can find useful things among the dredges and refuse of society."

The male Agent nodded in agreement to her last statement. "Classic 'diamond in the rough' scenario. Well, why are we sticking around here then? Let's get going!"

The gatekeeper youkai cheered as Kyle got Aster's attention. Within moments, they were out of the backstreet and on their way down the road.


This is it for Chapter 2. Browny points for anyone who can make up the other side of Kyle's phone conversation. It doesn't have to be serious at all, it just has to make sense with what Kyle says. Whoever makes the one that I like the best will be allowed one request. Whatever that request is, within reason, I'll see what I can do. It may not seem like much, but it's what I have to offer.