Chapter 2

One month after Chapter 1

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"Reimu, wake up."

"Nnn…" Reimu murmured. With her head down in her arms, Reimu thought that she heard her name being called by someone.

"Reimu," the voice said again, only a little more urgently.

The black haired girl squeezed her eyes harder and buried her head down more. Right now, she didn't want to be disturbed.

"Rei-"

"Is there something you want to tell the whole class, Kirisame?"

"No-no, Miss Kazami."

"Are you sure? It looked important enough to bother Miss Hakurei about it."

Instead of answering, Marisa wilted down in her seat. Satisfied that she had silenced the insufferable witch, Yuuka Kazami smiled evilly, pushed up her glasses, and resumed lecturing. Only dimly aware of what had just happened, Reimu slipped back into her nap again.

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"I hope that woman dies in her sleep one day, so that we don't have to hear her lecture ever again," Marisa grumbled.

It was now noon, or lunchtime for Class 1A of Genso High. As usual, Reimu and her group of friends had congregated on the school's roof to eat. The lunar rabbit Reisen looked at her warily.

"Why does she hate you so badly anyways?"

"Probably because I had sneaked into her house a few days before the start of the semester and stole one of her parasols," Marisa replied immediately. "And I will say, it's a pretty good umbrella when it rains, da-ze."

"If you don't want her haggling you, you should return it to her," Reimu said indifferently.

"What? No way, finders keepers! And besides, she doesn't know that I stole it," Marisa responded, looking appalled.

"I beg to differ," Youmu muttered under her breath. Alice shook her head in disappointment, and Reisen sighed. Reimu continued eating her sandwich, not caring one bit.

"Oh right, that reminds me," the witch continued. She turned towards Reimu.

"I was going to say that you had missed an important announcement in first period. We're going to be doing a research project in Keine's class."

Reimu swallowed her mouthful of food.

"We are?" Reimu said, frowning.

"Yea. And apparently we're getting partners from Class 1B."

Both Alice and Patchouli perked up at the mention of their class.

"W-wait. This is the first time that I heard of this!"

"Well, of course. You both have your history class after lunch," Marisa mentioned offhandedly.

"Pick me, Marisa!"

"No way. I can find information faster than Patchouli can, Marisa!"

"!"

Reimu sighed as the usual quarrel over Marisa began anew. She looked directly at her magical friend.

"And the catch?"

"They're assigned to us already, ze."

The two girls beside Marisa suddenly stopped mid-fighting. They let go of the other's ear.

"Then, who are you assigned to, Mari-" Alice began.

"Hatate."

Reimu heard two disappointed thumps as the two magic users dropped down into their sitting positions in mutual defeat. Unfortunately for her, though, she needed a little more information.

"And my partner?"

Marisa leaned back and smiled. Reimu knew that look and pose all too well.

"…Taiyaki afterschool," she added tersely.

"Two."

Reimu scowled, but she assented.

"Fine."

"Your partner is Akyuu," Marisa replied. Upon hearing the name, Reimu laughed.

"No way, seriously?"

Akyuu Hieda was a quiet girl who sat in the front in Class 1B. She also happened to be the go-to expert on anything history-related and was Keine's most favorite student. In other words, Reimu would have no trouble acing this history project, with flying colors even.

"Yea, well, Hatate isn't too bad either when it comes down to it," Marisa mumbled. It was clear that she was a little miffed that she had not gotten Akyuu as her partner.

Reimu returned back to her sandwich, her mood noticeably happier and better.

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The rest of the school day passed by in a blink, and Reimu treated Marisa to taiyaki as promised. Briskly walking towards the local sweet shop, they made it before the hordes of other students looking for a snack afterschool could get there.

"I've been looking forward to this," Marisa relished, and she bit into the delicious sweet with gusto.

"I should hope so, because I'm not going to do this again for you," Reimu warned, but she enjoyed eating her own treat all the same.

They ate and chatted for a while about random things, but soon, Reimu had to go home and start her daily shrine maiden duties. Waving goodbye to Marisa, she turned around and launched herself upwards to fly back home.

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It was a few minutes before she reached the Hakurei Shrine. Arriving above the building, Reimu floated down and lightly landed in front of their donation box. One of her duties was to check the box for money, and so she proceeded to do so. Her eyes lit up when she saw something at the bottom, but it was only a crumpled piece of paper. She sighed. Lately, the donations had been coming in less and less. Although she kept a sharp eye out for robbers, it just seemed that people had been slowly stopped coming to the shrine (and donating). Reimu reached in and grabbed the offending piece of rubbish. She unfolded it and saw a poorly written message on it.

Deciphering the words, the paper read "Please help me make up with my friend." It appeared that a little kid had hastily written a prayer and then put it in the donation box. Sighing again, Reimu folded the paper up.

As much as she would love to help him or her (as in, she couldn't), they also weren't exactly the kind of shrine. According to her mom, the Hakurei Shrine's purpose was to "exterminate youkai." Except no youkai in any shape or form had ever appeared in Gensokyo. Or, if they had, they haven't caused any problems so far.

When Reimu was first appointed as the Hakurei shrine maiden, she had kept a diligent watch for these supposed youkai. She researched and imbedded in her mind what they generally looked like; monstrous ghostly, and sometimes wiggly beings. But as the years passed by without any major incidents, she began to suspect that her mom had been pulling her leg and couldn't think of a good enough reason by the time she was called up to give Reimu her gohei and charms at the ceremony. Yukari denied it, of course, but the knowing smiles she gave whenever Reimu accused her of lying only made the teenage girl suspect her of it even more.

So, she didn't really know what the actual point of her shrine was. But the donations helped put food on the table, and that was all that mattered. Reimu tucked the letter into her backpack to throw away later and stared at the box again. She wondered if she should start sweeping the shrine grounds or preparing a new offering first. Pity she didn't have any more taiyaki with her. Suddenly, she heard a noise off to her right.

"Reimuuu!"

Thump!

"Urgh!" Reimu made a sound as something collided with her side. It wrapped its arms around and nuzzled her. The thing's ears twitched in delight, and its two tails wiggled happily. Upon seeing the culprit, Reimu smiled and petted the bakeneko on the head. The small girl purred a little at the feeling of Reimu's hands in return.

"Hey Chen," the older girl said. She heard another voice call out.

"Chen, where are you?"

A taller woman walked around the corner and entered Reimu's view. She wore a long purple dress and a styled mob cap. Nine furry fox tails were displayed from behind her, and her fox ears twitched a little in annoyance.

"Chen, please don't run off so suddenly," she said, sighing. She noticed Reimu standing in front of her and bowed.

"Oh, hello Miss Hakurei."

"It's Reimu, Ran. Really, I wonder why you insist on doing that," Reimu remarked, faking a stern look.

"Because you are Yukari's most important daughter," Ran replied with respect, and she bowed again.

As far as Reimu could remember, the older woman had been with them for a long time, even coming to Gensokyo with them. She knew that when she was younger, Ran often babysat her whenever her mom went to work. In a way, she was like a second mom to her. But even now, Reimu was still unsure of their actual relationship with her mom. At times, she acted like a family friend, and at other times, she was like their faithful servant.

Reimu felt Ran's daughter pull on her school uniform to grab her attention.

"Hey, Reimu. Let's go to the playground!" Chen chirped excitedly. Reimu painfully smiled, as the playground was down the hill that she had just flown up.

"Er, sorry Chen, I have to-" Reimu began to say.

"Well, why don't you Reimu? It would be nice for you to spend some time with her," Ran interrupted.

"But I-"

"I'll take care of the shrine," Ran affirmed. "Well, just for today. Now, go play with Chen."

Reimu sighed as Chen cried out happily. Hoisting her school bag, she walked pass Ran to go through the sliding doors of the shrine/home and change into a casual shirt and shorts. After five minutes, she was ready, and she followed the small, and excited cat girl down the steps of the shrine.

There were actually two playgrounds in Gensokyo. One was in the heart of the human city. The other one was smaller and near the elementary school that Chen went to. But the smaller playground was closer to the shrine, and so they headed towards that one. Soon, they reached the place, and Reimu saw that a few children and their respective parents were there already. One of the younger kids noticed them and waved her hand.

"Cheeennnn!"

The bakeneko waved back and bounded over to her friend.

So much for playing together, Reimu thought sarcastically. She looked around for a place to sit and wait. Spying a spot, she made her way over to the benches on the sides of the area and sat down on one of them.

For a while, she watched them play in the kid-friendly space, climbing over the jungle gym and dirtying themselves in the sand pits. She frowned as quite a bit of dirt spilled into Chen's shoes as she shoveled a hole.

"Yahoo, Reimu!"

Reimu looked up and saw a girl with long black wings and a small cap waving at her from a distance above her. A smaller girl with similar wings and wearing a similar cap was by her side. Reimu lazily waved back, and the black-winged pair descended down to where she was sitting.

"I didn't think you were one to watch little kids, Reimu," the taller girl said.

Reimu sighed internally. Aya Shameimaru was sometimes a hassle to deal with. Being the president of Genso High's newspaper club, she had all kinds of access to information and forbidden knowledge. But more often than not, the Bunbunmaru newspaper was filled with lies, pointless articles, and distasteful paparazzi. Reimu didn't understand why the vice president, Hatate Himekaidou, followed her like a baby…well, like a baby crow.

"For your information, I'm only watching one certain girl and making sure that she doesn't get into trouble," Reimu said tartly.

At the word "information", Aya skillfully took out a small notepad and a pen from somewhere behind her. She jotted down what Reimu had just said.

"Got it. The Infamous Red Shrine Maiden Caught On the Prowl. Who Is She Stalking?" Aya brainstormed out loud, already imagining the headline. Reimu rolled her eyes.

"So, what's up?"

"We were, uh, just passing," Hatate nervously spoke up. Aya closed her notepad and put it back in its hidden pocket.

"Uhuh…" Reimu said, disbelieving her. Recalling the lunch conversation fro earlier, she directed her next sentence at the girl.

"So, I heard you were paired up with Marisa for this history project."

Although Hatate smiled a bit in response, her wings visibly dropped.

"Ahaha…," she weakly laughed. "I guess I'll just have to work harder, for both our sakes…"

Reimu almost felt sorry for her. While Marisa wasn't the worse student in their year, she was ranked pretty far down the list. She looked at Aya instead, who was adjusting her cap.

"How about you?"

"I'm with Youmu," the other girl replied nonchalantly. "But I'm not so picky about partners."

Aya paused and then suddenly pulled the other crow closer to her side.

"Well, perhaps when it comes to this one only."

"A-aya," Hatate stammered, blushing furiously.

"Ah!"

Thud.

Reimu heard a cry and looked back to where Chen was playing. Chen had ran and tripped over the low sandbox edge while getting out of it, falling down onto the harder and grittier ground beneath her. When she stood up, Reimu saw that her knees had scraped a little. Chen started to sniffle a little, and tears appeared at the corner of her eyes.

"Uwaa…"

"Oh dear."

Reimu quickly got up and walked over to the crying girl. She knelt down and closely inspected the knee. It was very dirty from the dirt and sand, and she saw a little red lines begin to appear and bleed. Reimu raised her hands to wipe them away and then hesitated. She didn't want the small wounds to get infected and leave scars behind, but she didn't have any Band-Aids or a first aid pack with her.

Instead, she gathered up her shirt's edge and she gently wiped the small cuts and scrapes with it, making sure not to blend the dirt in too much. Ran will have to properly clean it later.

Feeling that she had done the best she could, Reimu let her stained makeshift cloth fall and wrapped her arms around Chen to soothe her.

"There, there," she murmured, patting Chen on the back. "It's just a small fall."

Comforted by the older girl, Chen soon stopped crying and sniffled only occasionally. Reimu suddenly became aware of the eyes and smiles of the other parents on her, who had watched the scene unfold.

"Aw, just like a caring older sister would do!"

"How lovely!"

*Click* *Snap* *Snap*

Reimu's face grew red as she heard the telltale sounds of a few cameras going off. She turned her head and saw that Aya and Hatate had already disappeared with their prize. She groaned inwardly. It was going to be a very long day when the school newspaper came out again. She only hoped that whatever pictures they took wouldn't be on the front page.

"Reimu?"

The older girl heard Chen's voice and turned her head back towards her. She saw that Chen had fully calmed down and was looking at her with still puffy eyes. Smiling a little, she wiped the rest of the tears away with her sleeve.

"Better now?" Chen nodded and hugged Reimu back.

"Thank you Reimu!"

"Mhm," Reimu said awkwardly.

Not wanting to stay any longer, Reimu beckoned for the bakeneko to say goodbye to her friend. And they take off into the air to fly back to the shrine and have Ran look at Chen.

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The Next Day

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Reimu laid her head down on her desk and sighed. Another day of school. Another day of boring History. She heard the rustling of other students coming in and chatter among themselves. All of it was started to cause her a slight headache, and she scowled.

Don't they realize it's freaking 8 in the morning, Reimu thought. Soon, though, she heard the bell ring outside in the hallway and the sliding door close to signal the start of the day. Her classmates got into their assigned seats, and Keine's voice rang out clearly in the classroom.

"Good morning, class! I have a new announcement to make regarding the history project."

Keine paused before continuing.

"After some…persuasion from some of your fellow students in another class, I have decided to redo the partner pairings."

A low murmur rose up, and Reimu lifted her head up slightly to hear better. The were-hakutaku cleared her throat and looked down at her sheet.

"Ahem. Mokou Fujiwara, you are with Kaguya Houraisan."

"Ehhhh?"

"Reimu Hakurei, you are with Sanae Kochiya."

At this, Reimu's ears perked up, and she raised her head. The name sounded familiar, but she could not place where she had heard it. She looked directly at Keine for an explanation, but she had already moved on, continuing down the roster and naming the new pairings.

"Marisa Kirisame…"

Here, Keine took another breath.

"You have both Alice Margatroid and Patchouli Knowledge."

"Eh? Why do I have two partners, da-ze?"

"Well, that's just how the roster turned out," Keine stated, but Reimu could see her distaste dripping off of what she just said.

So it was those two that had "persuaded" her, Reimu thought wryly. When it came to Marisa, they would do anything to get close to her. Hell, they probably begrudgingly banded together after lunch knowing that they had a better chance that way.

Marisa leaned back and shrugged. For her, having two partners was a benefit and much, much less work for her in the end.

"Youmu Konpaku with Hatate Himekaidou"

"Er…"

And so on and so forth till Keine reached the last name.

"And last but not least, Sumeriko Usami, you are partners with Satori Komeiji."

Keine put down her list and clapped her hands.

"Some of you may be friends already, but some of you may not have ever met your partner before. Therefore, I would like all of you to spend the first five minutes or so of the lunch break to meet and greet with your partners. I already told Classroom 1b yesterday, and they can expect the same from you."

And with that, Keine picked up her history textbook, flipped to the bookmarked page, and started to lecture.

At this point, Reimu would have fallen asleep. But she was intrigued. The name Sanae Kochiya had struck familiarity with her, and it bothered her. And for once she listened to Keine lecture for the whole period, awaiting the start of the lunch break and the chance to meet her new partner.

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