"Oh, sweet freedom!" Karin bounded out the doors, her companion following several steps behind her. "So, how do you think the test went?"
"Disastrous for me, no doubt about it." Darius rubbed his head. "Who would've thought three questions would be that difficult?"
"I think I did decent, you know?" She looked at the nearest clock, then hopped on the spot a bit as she tried to decide what to do next. "Hey, you wanna hit up the ice cream shop? We gotta get moving fast, though, they close at sundown now." As usual, she didn't bother waiting for his answer and immediately skipped off.
"Hey, Karin! Slow down!"
She turned, still running backwards as she called, "What's the matter, Darius~? You're a head taller than I am! Put those legs to use!" After downing the last of her coffee, she flung it aside and broke into a run.
"I'm serious, get back here!" Darius followed suit and ran after her.
They managed to slip in just as the sun touched the horizon. Thankfully, the owner took mercy on them. They were quite out of breath, but also his most frequent customers. Well, at the very least, Karin was his most frequent customer. It really astounded Darius how much that girl could consume on a daily basis. Then again, it was rather prominent, where all that fat and cream as going...
Better not say that one out loud.
They got seated soon enough. Darius had opted for a simple vanilla-chocolate twist. Karin pulled out all the stops as usual, grabbing an extravagant three-layer bowl with what looked like every ice cream flavour and dressing in the shop.
"Itadakimasu!"
"Itadakimasu..."
Once they were about halfway done, Darius decided to speak up. "You seem to be feeling better."
"Well, yeah. Food's always great!" Karin continued digging in, only briefly stopping to speak. "Besides, you and I both know I get grumpy when I have to go too long without food."
"We literally ate thirty minutes before heading to the shrine."
She licked her spoon clean, then bopped him on the head with it. "And that's too long without food!"
"Hey, stop that!" He pulled a hair out of his ice cream and kept eating.
"No, but really." Her exuberant voice quieted a little as she wiped off her spoon and set it down. "I mean, I can still feel it. Well, actually, I guess I don't feel it and that's what's setting me on edge. You get my point. Hopefully it doesn't kill my marks, you know?" After drumming her fingers on the table a bit, she got back to work whittling away the slowly melting mountain of ice cream. "Weird things happen, you know? Stuff falls over around me. I hear things. Sometimes, I think I see a lady who looks like me, watching from a distance, but she always vanishes when I look closer."
"You've told me about it, yeah."
"Well, it stopped about a week ago, too." Karin scooped the cherry from the top of the pile and ate it. "I don't think it's the medication, because that's never worked for me, you know? Whichever one I tried didn't help stop things from falling over when I didn't touch them. And I still saw that lady, and always in the weirdest places. On buildings, in trees, on street lights... I think I told you about when I saw her on the wing of our plane. I'm not crazy, really." She frowned when he failed to follow up. "Hey... you think I'm crazy, don't you~?"
"Wha - no. No, I don't!" He looked away, pushing aside his empty bowl. "Well, you do act a little too outlandish sometimes..."
She shrugged. "Fair enough. But come on; a conversation relies on knowing what the other person is going to say! You're ruining my flow again, you know?"
"Sorry."
"Ah, forget it. Point is, I know they're real. Okay, maybe the stuff I hear not so much, but I promise you, the lady's real! She's shown up everywhere I go! When we got our high school diplomas, she was in the audience clapping. She rode on the subway with us that one time, but I didn't get a chance to reach her before she left. I even almost bumped into her at the airport here!"
"... You don't think it's a stalker, do you?"
"No, it can't be. I've been seeing her since I moved next door to you back home, but I was, what, two or three? Now I'm nineteen, she's still around, but I don't think she's aged at all! Plus, she's always wearing the same poofy dress!"
Darius cast a look around the shop. They were the only ones there, save the manager, and he knew better than to try and listen in on Karin's bizarre rambles anyway. "You wouldn't happen to believe in ghosts, would you?"
She shrugged again. "I can't think of any other explanation." Her bowl was also empty now. "Besides, a lot of things break or fall over if I'm around them too long. All those vases in your house, remember that?"
"I don't think Mum ever forgave you for that one," he muttered.
"But I'm not responsible! The car, how about the car? We went into McDonald's for five minutes and when we came out it it looked like an invisible hippo jumped on it! Nobody could vandalize a car that fast, not that much damage and with that much stealth!"
"Well, if that's the case, it would explain why I have to keep sending this" Darius grabbed a handful of his coat's fabric "in for repairs every other week. Look at how much it keeps getting ripped near the bottom."
"And that's the thing, it happens almost once a week. But nothing's happened this week, you know? That's freaking me out, because she's leaving me alone!" Karin's back suddenly straightened and a bolt of fear went through her eyes.
Darius immediately tensed. "Karin? Karin, what's wrong?"
Over his shoulder, out the window. In her white mob cap and elegant dress, with her parasol opened to block out the sun, there she was!
"She's here." Karin got up, nearly toppling her chair. "She's here! She's right outside!"
"What-" Darius also rose to his feet. As he did, the lady turned, vanishing from the window's sight. But the way she turned would bring her around the corner, to the shop's front door!
"Hey, you haven't paid yet!" the managed protested as Karin rushed out the door.
"Sorry, we'll be back in five minutes, promise!" Darius made one brief bow to him, then immediately chased after Karin. It didn't take him long to find her - she was just around the corner, in front of the window where she saw the lady. "Karin, what - Karin, are you alright?"
She ignored him, taking several slow steps forward. He made chase, rounding the bend after her, but stopped dead at what he saw.
"This is it," she breathed. "I can feel it."
It was like space had torn open, leaving a seam in its wake. He could see the distortions along its outline, and the two red ribbons holding its ends together. "Karin... what is that thing?"
"It... it wants me." Karin took another step towards it. "This is what it was. I was right. There's more to me than just this." She began laughing somewhat shakily. "Darius, can you believe it? This is incredible!"
He took a step back. "Um, no, that's not incredible at all!"
"Do you even get what it means, that this is here?" She turned back to him, gesturing to the rift. "We're headed for something big, Darius! I told you, I want to be remembered. I want to make my mark! And this... with this, I can!" She faced it once more, taking another resolute step towards it.
"Karin, no!" Her footsteps stopped at his call. "You don't know what's in there!"
"I know it's worth more than what I have now!" A sharp intake of breath made her turn yet again. Karin bit her lip as she registered the implications of her words. "I'm unsatisfied. I'm not going to just live because I can. I'm not going to be forgotten. This is my chance, and... I'm afraid. If I don't take it now, I'm afraid I won't get another." She took a deep breath and faced the rift once more with absolute resolve. "My fate is here, after seventeen years. If I let it go now, it'll drift away, and it won't come back. I need answers. What happened to me? Who is following me? And... why am I here? The answers I need... they're in there. All of them!"
"Don't do it." Darius finally forced his feet to move. "Don't go in there."
"You're afraid. But I'm not! I'm going, with or without you!"
He stopped again. "What? No, that - I can't-"
"Then goodbye."
"Karin!" He finally broke into a sprint just as she took one last step forward. As soon as she had entered, the ribbons slid together and untied themselves into nothingness, leaving his hands to grasp at air. "... Hey. Where...?" His arms lowered and he looked around. There wasn't anyone. She was gone, just like that.
She has to be here somewhere. He wanted to move, but his feet wouldn't let him. He wanted to find her, but a faint voice in the back of his mind told him he wouldn't. He couldn't look for her. She'd come back on her own. This was just some sort of prank, like the ones she always pulled. She'd be back by morning, no doubt. Karin wouldn't just up and run away. It's not like she actually went through some sort of portal! Right?
...Right?
– TOUHOU –
Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
Darius swatted the alarm clock silent. He rolled over, slowly getting up and rubbing his eyes. "Nn. Morning, Kar-"
...Right.
He blinked, then lowered his hand. Where... where was her stuff?
He got out of bed, observing the room. Her bed was perfectly made - neither he nor she made their beds that often, and nothing with that level of perfection. His eyes moved to the shared desk in the corner. The textbooks were still there... but there was only one copy of each one. Not a single piece of Karin's scrap paper was there. He got on his knees and checked under her bed, where everything wound up if it wasn't on the floor or the table. He found nothing but a few lonely dust bunnies.
Once he got up, he sat on her bed and tried looking around from there. The closet was open, but only his clothes were in it. Her backpack was gone, too. After several seconds of silently debating it, he tentatively lay down and sniffed the bedsheets.
Nothing. Not even detergent. Completely unused. As fresh as when they came in from the store.
"What's going...?" A sudden thought came to his mind. "Oh, hell no."
Within minutes, he'd thrown on his jeans and shirt, grabbed his coat from the hanger, and, just this once, holstered the bulky handgun and hid it under his coat. Then, he took off to the university library to get on one of the computers there. It was still in the early hours of the morning; only a few other students were milling around.
"Come on, hurry up."
As soon as the computer had booted up, he logged in and checked the class lists. Karin Muyoka was nowhere on any of the lists.
"Excuse me." He flagged down a passing classmate. "Do you know who Karin is?" As the resident ace student, her name must have been-
"Who?"
Darius' train of thought immediately crashed. "Um... K-Karin Muyoka. The only one who scored nineties on our last test?"
"Never heard of her. You're not trying to play a trick on me again, are you?"
He got up and bolted out of the library, this time heading to class and looking for a professor. No matter who he tried to talk to or where he looked, he got the same results - confusion and the tiniest hint of concern. Nobody knew who Karin was. All of her records were gone. Her possessions vanished overnight. Even the ice cream shop owner didn't know who she was (though he definitely gave Darius crap over not paying last night). It was like she never existed in the first place.
With a heavy sigh, Darius finally made his way to the defunct shrine again at four, like he did every day. He sat down in front of the donation box, looking up at the shrine. "What even happened?"
The shrine, of course, did not respond.
"Nobody remembers her," he said aloud. It wasn't like anyone was listening. "All her things are gone. I even tried calling her number, home and cell. It turned out that the numbers aren't even in use. There's no trace of her social media, either. Her accounts are gone. Her e-mail address doesn't exist. I don't think I can even call the police. Odds are, they're not going to get anywhere, either."
One way or another, he came here with a reason besides moping. He dug around in his coat, scrounging up a small pouch of coins. It was a fair bit more than he usually brought with him. "Well, I've donated every day ever since I came here. Maybe this time, I can finally call in a favour... if anyone's listening."
He didn't have anything to lose, after all. He turned the bag upside down, emptying its contents into the box. Once he put it away, he closed his eyes and sighed. "Maybe I should have gone with her. No... I definitely should have. I had the chance, but I didn't. So..." Darius fell silent as he tried to think of how to word it. Then, at long last, he opened his mouth.
"I wish I can follow her."
A sudden crackling noise made his eyes snap open. He looked up, but immediately regretted his decision. All around the shrine, in a wide circular pattern, was a nearly blinding wall of light. It was a pillar of light... and he was in the center of it!
He had to get out! He made to run for the edge, but just as quickly arrested his movement. No! Was this his chance? There was a feeling of anticipation and a thrill of fear running through him. He didn't have to run. He had to stand his ground. He looked back up, watching as the sky changed. As if the sky were a dome, and someone were pouring black paint over the top of it, it faded to complete black, only the pillar of light providing illumination as the sun was drowned out.
Darius flinched as a massive red eye opened in the sky, rolling in its socket and slowly coming to focus on him. Another, and another, until all the sky was filled with them, all staring down at him.
I'm not supposed to be here. This isn't where I belong.
"Shut up," he whispered under his breath. "Shut up!" He remained firmly grounded, not moving a single inch as the ground beneath his feet shook. The light brought down by the eyes above turned truly blinding, drowning out even the pillar of light and completely filling his vision with red. He shut his eyes again and yelled, the strain finally about to overwhelm him-
He blinked the spots out of his burning eyes. His chest hurt... when did he fall over? The ground wasn't shaking, but his head was definitely still spinning. Why was his entire body sore? What had just happened?
"Oh, boy. Here we go."
That was a girl's voice, but not one he was able to recognize. Where was he?
Darius slowly got to his feet. He was at a shrine just like before, but this one actually looked lived-in. Maybe this one still had a shrine maiden?
"You can stand?"
He turned around, and then really saw the difference. No more streets, no more high-rise buildings or cars or anything. Framed in the gate of the shrine, it was green, lots of it. Forests and rolling plains, as far as the eye could see. There was even a mountain, so tall there were clouds passing what looked like mere meters over its peak. But was that a flying ship? And a blood red manor of some sort down by the lake...
Something in his mind snapped, followed shortly by his balance, and he tumbled back to the floor with more than a little pain.
"Never mind."
His vision struggled to resolve itself. He could see someone in a red and white outfit standing over him, but also another woman in a white dress.
A woman in a white dress? But that's...
Before he could think any further, something else snapped, and this time his consciousness went with it.
– TOUHOU –
"My mistake… I intended for them both to cross over at the same time, but complications arose. I didn't expect him to be so… shortsighted. He should have had a natural affinity for magic. His signature is much more human than youkai... I forgot of this effect. He must have regressed into a much more human-like mindset to survive outside of any magical zone."
"Yukari, that's nice and all, but where's the other one?"
"Resting. She suffered boundary shock as well, but not nearly as much. Give me a moment to check... she got up an hour or so after crossing over, but he ought to awake within a day or so. I suppose his body needs more time than hers to adjust to the magic surge."
"I… see. Let me guess, they're staying at my shrine."
"Only for the time being, of course! Once they have adjusted and begun developing, they will be free to go wherever they wish."
"They look like a mess… why couldn't you have grabbed those two girls? They were quite nice."
"Careful what you wish for, Reimu."
"Hey… you got sloppy, Yukari. Look, he's stirring."
"He is? Oh, he is! I am rather out of it today, aren't I?"
"Are you going to fix it or should I?"
"Not to worry – if you do it, you would likely cause irreversible dain bramage. I'll handle it. Sleep tight, little youkai!"
– TOUHOU –
Already out with another update, yes.
This chapter was also completely redone. In fact, likely all of them will be, so I'll look at the general plots for comparisons.
Karin and Darius were fleshed out much more here. You can see Karin's adventure drive a lot more, and she was sent over before Darius, not after. Darius himself went through the Hakurei Shrine instead of a gap. Well, my interpretation is it takes a little work on both Reimu and Yukari's sides to pull people over the border. Also, neither of them have woken up yet, and so they haven't set out on their first incident yet.
In general, Karin will be reworked to have a far larger impact on the story. I've taken a shine to her.
I'll be trimming down on the main cast's numbers, so any other OCs who show up will likely be delegated to cameo roles. Unfortunately, humour will likely also be massively changed. Don't be surprised if it gets much more cut and dry.
