It's a beautiful autumn morning at the Hakurei Shrine, and after enjoying her breakfast, Reimu now sits on the shrine's porch, calmly drinking her tea with a piece of cake baked by Rika, waiting for Rika herself to finish her bath, so she can take her own.

She takes a sip of her tea, takes a nibble form her cake, cleans some icing from her cheek, then sighs and contently asks herself "ah, just how long will this peace last this time?"

There is a loud boom to her right, and a thick cloud rises from the ground in a specific area, and from inside the thick cloud, Tenshi's voice comes through as she happily shouts "good morning, Hakurei Shrine! I've brought PEACHES!"

Sounding annoyed, yet trying to sound nice, Reimu replies "The celestial again. Good morning. Are you leaving yet?"

Tenshi steps out of the dust cloud with at least a dozen peaches resting on her skirt, looking at Reimu with curiosity in her face as she says "but I just got here."

Reimu sighs in defeat, takes a sip of tea, then says "Rika will be out in a minute... so why don't you start sweeping some leaves while you wait?"

Tenshi asks "why don't you help me?"

Reimu replies "I'm very busy."

Tenshi sweats and twitches, almost dropping her peaches, then says "then I'm busy too."

Reimu takes another nibble from her cake, then replies "then you should leave."

Tenshi smiles smugly and says "you're just lazy."

Reimu smiles back, then says "I'm still cute."

Tenshi twitches again, letting one peach fall to the ground as a drop of sweat slowly rolls down the back of her hair.

The sound of a sliding door catches both their attention, and from inside, Rika asks "miss Reimu, is everything alright?"

Reimu turns her torso around, smiling and saying "yeah, everything's just fi-", then suddenly drops her teacup, which lands straight and only spilling a little tea on the porch, her hair stands on ends, and she opens her eyes wide.

Tenshi just gasps as her eyes hide under the shadow of her own hair.

Inside is Rika, wearing her shrine maiden's outfit as always.

A long red skirt with white bands at the bottom borders that rise to her waist on the sides, a white kimono-like shirt with long sleeves and red ribbons tied just below her shoulders, her red scarf with the fire design at the end, and the kanji letters that read "The Will of Fire", wrapped around her neck, along with her sapphire yin-yang necklace.

Her innocent and kind sky blue eyes, and her long wavy hair that reaches to her waist, add a certain charm to her already charming wings, and now, over her apron, she wears a large ribbon wrapped round her lower torso, and ties it into two small bows in front, which enhances her womanly features even more.

She looks at Reimu's and Tenshi's faces, and with a concerned look, she asks "miss Reimu? Tenshi? What's wrong?"

Reimu feels slightly annoyed, noticing that, although she is taller than Rika, her maid still possesses the one thing she wishes for, and as she looks at her own chest, she whispers "er... a-are you sure you want to wear that? It's, umm... still a little hot from summer."

Tenshi looks at her own chest as well, however, when she looks at Rika, her cheeks turn pink and a bit of blood trails down her nose, and with a smile on her face, she says "I don't know, Reimu. I think she looks great."

Rika blushes and giggles, lowering her head a bit as she smiles and says "thank you, miss Tenshi. You are most kind", then flaps her small wings involuntarily.

Tenshi gasps and opens her mouth wider, her face turns redder, and more blood gushes down her nose, staining the peaches.

Reimu simply blushes and turns around, arching her body to hide her chest, then continues to drink what is left of her tea while thinking "calm down, Reimu. Just calm down."

Meanwhile, at the Moriya shrine, Budou sits under a tree, humming to herself as she picks a few small yellow flowers from her right, and places them on her long teal hair that reaches to her back, next to her white ribbon with black borders, giggling occasionally.

She wears her usual brown little dress with her teal apron, her pink socks that allow her nails to go through without tearing them apart, and now wears a black necklace with a small gold rose around her neck.

There is a loud blast and Ail's scream, and Budou's smile disappears as she sighs, then says to herself "they're at it again."

From the lake, Ail shouts "dammit Sanae, I'm not in the mood for this now!"

Sanae replies "that's irrelevant! I'm a shrine maiden of Gensokyo! Kanako says I have to hunt youkai, and that's what I'm doing!"

Ail shouts "Kanako, you fat hag, stop messing with me!"

Kanako flies from the shrine, breaking a hole on the roof, surrounded by fire as she roars out loud.

Suwako flies after Kanako, shouting "Yasaka, you idiot, you're destroying my shine!"

Budou stands up and looks up to the sky with her violet, pupil-les eyes, saying "well, let's stop mama... eh?"

Rapidly, Budou crouches and holds her skirt down, and almost instantly, Ail, Sanae, Kanako, and Suwako fly by in that order, going so fast, they cause a small vacuum that knocks all the flowers off Budou's head and threaten to knock her off her feet, if it weren't for her large wings, which she uses to balance herself.

Ail wears his usual violet shirt, long black shorts with many pockets, his brown boots, and the golden blessed bracelet in his right wrist.

High in the sky, he takes a stand and prepares a dense white and blue orb and threateningly says "Sanae, I'm warning you, I'm going to attack!"

Looking quite happy and confident, Sanae smiles and says "bring it on! No matter how strong, youkai must be punished by humans. Even half ones like you! Just like lady Yasaka says!"

Ail glares at Kanako and says "lady YASAKA is not always right!"

Kanako roars and says "you take that back, whelp! I'm NOT a hag!"

Suwako reaches Kanako and pulls on her skirt, getting her attention before it falls off, then angrily shouts "you idiot, look what you did to my roof! And what's this about hunting Ail! I thought we agreed: No More Attacking Ail!"

Kanako spits fire as she shouts "Sanae is a shrine maiden! She has to hunt youkai! And he called me a hag!"

Sanae smiles and says "here I come, Ail!"

Ail shouts "dammit, don't make me attack!"

Sanae replies "you pantsed me twice!"

Ail shouts back "that's no reason to try and blast me for the fifth time in two days! Uh-oh!"

Ail suddenly gets inside one of his gaps, and before Sanae or the goddesses take notice, Budou's paralyzing screech reaches their ears and leaves them all trembling in the air, unable to move, yet managing to keep afloat.

Ail opens a gap to Budou's left, and as he walks out of it, with a neutral face and tone of voice he says "now Budou, you know it's not polite to paralyze people like that."

Budou chuckles nervously, rubbing the back of her head while her cheeks turn pink, then says "I'm sorry papa, but I was wondering if you could open a gap for me."

Ail looks curiously at Budou and asks "oh, and where to?"

Budou smiles and says "I was supposed to go see smart-sis Cirno today, but I got distracted."

Ail crosses his arms over his chest, and sounding stern, yet understanding, he says "now Budou, you shouldn't rely on my gaps so much. If you do, you'll turn into an exercise deficient old lady, like a certain someone."

Somewhere in Mayohiga, Yukari prepares herself to go to sleep on Ail's old bed, and as she places the sheets over her body, she sneezes so suddenly and so loudly, the bed rattles, and the sheets float in the air for a few seconds before slowly and gently coming back down and cover her up.

Yukari sniffles and says "ugh, must be all this dust. Ran~"

Back at the Moriya Shrine grounds, Ail continues "...so you should always remember to exercise properly, eat some vegetables as well as your fruits, and-"

Budou smiles and interrupts Ail, saying "the paralysis is wearing off."

Ail grabs Budou's arm and opens a gap straight to the Misty Lake's shore, then smiles and says "come on, Cirno's waiting for you. You must not be late!"

Ail and Budou enter the gap, then it closes up just as a red star and a sacred log crash on the ground beneath where it was.

Sanae pouts and says "aww! He got away!"

Kanako clenches her fist and says "I'm not a hag!"

Suwako grabs Kanako by her ear and drags her back to the shrine, looking annoyed as a vein pulsates on her forehead and saying "you're fixing the ceiling right now!"

Sanae sighs, then shouts "Suwako, Kanako, I'm heading to that mansion's lake! I'll be back before dinner!"

Suwako replies "bring back some sweets from the village~!"

Moments later, at the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu lazily cleans the dishes, while Rika sweeps the shrine grounds with some help from Tenshi, who refuses to leave Rika's side, and it's been this way ever since the day they saw that memory of their meeting in the past*.

Reimu finishes with the dishes and walks outside with a bored look on her face, while she cleans her hands with a small white cloth.

She stops at the backside porch, looks around the ground, then sighs and says "and yet another unwanted visitor."

Remilia seems to jump from the roof, then she slowly lands in front of Reimu with an urgent look on her face.

Reimu's bored expression quickly changes when she notice's Remilia's face, then Remilia says "I need your permission to hunt down and kill a despicable human, Reimu!"

Reimu stares back at Remilia with a frightful, yet straight face, unable to give an immediate answer.

The maiden finds herself landing at the Scarlet Devil Mansion's gates a few minutes later, and Remilia lands to her right, while Rika lands to her left.

Reimu asks "so, where exactly did that celestial go to?"

Rika giggles and says "I asked her to go home, seeing as this is official shrine business."

Reimu grumbles and thinks "Tenshi never listens to me. It's got to be that new outfit you're wearing, Rika."

Remilia closes her parasol as she heads to her mansion, since the trees surrounding the area block the sun from reaching the entrance.

As soon as they enter the mansion, they find Meiling sitting on the stairs, apparently being treated unsuccessfully by Patchouli, seeing that as soon a she tries to stand up, she falls back down again in a daze.

Rika takes notice and immediately heads over to them in order to assist.

Reimu notices the bloody bandages around Meiling's head and says "if he drew that much blood form Meiling, he certainly must be something."

Remilia calmly says "that's not all he did, Reimu. He tried to soil Sakuya. He was all over her, in all the meaning of the word. Due to some luck on her side, she managed to escape him, but she..."

Reimu gasps, placing her hands on her mouth, and asks "oh no! He broke her?"

Remilia rubs her forehead with her finger and thumb, then says "I thought that was the case too... until-"

There is a loud explosion from the basement, along with the clattering of various metallic items, then Sakuya's enraged voice makes the entire mansion vibrate as she shouts "dammit Sakuya! You're failing your mistress again! What's the matter with you?"

A large sweat drop rolls down Reimu's left cheek as she takes a step back in surprise and says "whoa... how long has-?"

Remilia immediately answers "she blew up the kitchen this morning, then stabbed ME, thinking I was slacking off."

Reimu tries to suppress her laugh, but her chortling quickly reaches Remilia's ears.

The vampire sighs and says "there's a reason I called for you, Reimu. Maybe you can talk to her. I keep telling her she didn't fail me, but she insists she lacked discipline... then broke the teacup on her hand."

Reimu face palms, then says "Remilia, I'm not a miracle worker."

Before Remilia answers to that, Rika screams out loud, getting Reimu's, Remilia's, and the few fairy maids' attention.

Rika hyperventilates while holding the bandages from Meiling's forehead on her left hand, looking at Meiling's bullet wound and pacing left and right, gently holding Meiling's face and looking into the wound every time she stops.

She starts to tremble, then manages to calmly say "Patchouli, she has a metal object inside that hole. Please, you have to pull it out!"

Patchouli gently strikes her left fist on her right hand, then looking as unfriendly as ever and sounding calm, she says "so that's why it wouldn't heal. Metal object... are you sure, miss Rika?"

Rika's eyes turn glassy and tears start to run down her face as she urgently says "yes! It's a bullet! Please, take it out!"

Patchouli opens a book she pulls form under her robe and looks through the pages, while Rika rips off one of the bars from the stair's rails, orders Meiling to bite down on it, then grabs the gate guard's right hand with both of hers.

Patchouli smiles and says "alright... Let's take that thing out."

Patchouli raises her left hand as it glows silver, while Meiling looks at Rika curiously, asking through her teeth "miss Rika, why am I... AK!"

Meiling's entire body tenses up and she squeezes Rika's hand, though doing her best not to use all her strength.

Rika squeezes back and nervously says "take a deep breath. It's going to hurt more!"

As Patchouli says "I can see something", Meiling grips the step she's sitting on with her left hand and squeezes it so hard she cracks it with ease.

Rika gently rubs the gate guard's head as she says "shh, it's almost over."

Meiling clenches her eyes shut as tears run down her cheeks, and the wooden bar she's biting cracks down as it's about to break.

Meiling whimpers for a moment, and finally, after another two seconds, Patchouli manages to pull the bullet out of the gate guard's head.

Meiling collapses, her body completely relaxes very suddenly as she takes in many deep breaths, recovering from the pain.

Rika grabs Meiling and sits her head on her lap, then gently rubs her head with her mint-colored glowing hand, whispering "it's alright, Meiling. You'll be just fine now. It's out."

Patchouli uses a water spell to clean the bullet from all the blood, then admires the small chrome-colored cylinder with the narrowed end, saying "what sort of magic is this?"

Reimu and Remilia approach Patchouli, while Rika angrily says "that's not magic, miss Patchouli! That's a bullet. That thing I was telling you about last time I stayed here."

Patchouli yelps and drops the bullet to the ground, thinking it's going to explode on her hand, but Rika angrily says "no, it's not going to explode anymore. You see, it needs a gun for that. That cowardly weapon of death!"

Reimu looks at Rika with concern, then asks "Rika, what's the matter?"

As if caught in her own thoughts, Rika says "guns are horrible weapons meant to kill. Some claim it's to defend, but only cowards use those things. Those abominations only take lives away and never protect anything. Everything those guns shoot, everything those bullets touch, simply dies!"

Remilia stares at the bullet and gulps, then says "thank goodness Meiling is so strong."

Rika gently brushes the unconscious Meiling's hair, then says "she needs a doctor! Even if she's not dead, those bullets still destroy! It's all they can do!"

A gloomy silence takes over the foyer as the girls on the ground floor continue to stare at the bullet, then a gap suddenly opens to Remilia's right.

Ail pops his head from the gap and exclaims "hello everyone. Came to see how's everything."

He notices the looks on the girls' faces, then notices Meiling's bullet wound, and the gate guard bleeding on Rika's lap, then he gasps and exclaims "what the hell? A bullet wound?"

Rika immediately exclaims "she needs a doctor!"

Ail exclaims "come, we'll take her to Eirin's! Miss Reimu, I left Budou outside. Could you check on her for me and tell her I'll be back soon?"

Reimu nods, then she, Remilia and Patchouli find themselves jumping to the air with a yelp, avoiding Sakuya's rampage cleaning.

After almost crashing over them with her broom, Sakuya stops and trembles as she turns her crazed sight to the girls, then says "I-I-I must clean... G-get out of the way! O-oh no! Meiling! Argh, I failed again!"

Remilia shouts "Sakuya, stop that already!"

Sakuya starts to cry and shouts "I disappointed my lady again~!", then drops her broom and runs toward the grand hallway.

Remilia and Reimu chase after her, Remilia shouting "wait, Sakuya~! Stop!", and Reimu shouting "no, Remilia, calm down! You're only scaring her!"

Meanwhile, down at the lake's shore, Budou stands under a lonely tree near the edge of the water, while Cirno sits with her legs crossed on a frozen patch on the lake's water, closing her eyes and meditating.

Budou loudly and calmly says "alright smart sis. You concentrate... focus... and when you feel you are ready, you open your eyes and summon as many of those orbs as you can."

Cirno doesn't respond and simply takes a deep breath of air.

Budou stares at Cirno and asks "smart sis, did you hear me?"

Cirno keeps quiet, takes another deep breath, then her head tilts to the left.

A vein pulsates on Budou's forehead while her eyes hide under the shadow of her hair, and her teeth turn jagged inside her widely open mouth as she angrily says "and she fell asleep!"

The little bat youkai calms herself down and simply stares at Cirno with a calm glare, then lifts her index finger and prepares a light-green spark on its tip.

She points her finger at Cirno, smiles, then whispers "wakey-wakey miss ice fairy~", then shoots a thin laser beam that strikes Cirno's butt to the left, making the ice fairy scream and jump in surprise and pain, and fall into the water.

Many bubbles surface from where Cirno fell to, away from the shore, but Cirno jumps out of the water right beside the shore, shouting "hey, what's the big idea?"

Budou sighs and says "I told you smart sis, if you fall asleep, I will punish you!"

Cirno's lips wriggle as she lets her hands hang, then looks at Budou and asks "I fell asleep?"

Before Budou answers, she and Cirno yelp and jump in place when a young man speaks behind them, roughly asking "where is the Human Village?"

Cirno and Budou look back and see a young-looking man, hiding his face under a a black hood with chimera designs on the sleeves over a black shirt with skull designs on it, black jeans, black sneakers with red laces, a pair of fingerless gloves with red skull designs, on his chest there is a spade that pulsates like a heart, and from this spade, random grey strings seem to spread all over his body.

Budou looks back at the man and defiantly says "you better get away from us right now, mister."

Cirno threateningly adds "you are in the presence of a very strong opponent. You don't want to make me angry now."

The man smirks and softly chuckles as a red glow escapes from under his hood, then raises his hands and reveals a black staff, emanating thick black magic from it, then twists the middle part of the staff to reveal two cracked red blades that make it look like a small, bloody scythe.

Cirno gulps with fear and stutters as she says "y-y-you b-b-better be c-c-c... careful! Y-y-y-you don't want to make me... m-mad!"

The man swings his weapon without hesitation, aiming straight at the bat's and fairy's necks, then a bright yellow barrier forms around the flinching girls before it hits, making the man tremble after his attack is reflected.

Phredia hovers right next to Budou, glaring dangerously at the man for a few seconds before turning to the girls and nodding.

Budou places her right hand on her chest, clears her throat, then suddenly starts to cry "mama~! Papa~! He tried to kill me~!"

The man stares at Budou with confusion, then says "how pathetic. I'll just kill your parents instead!"

From the other side of shore, a massive explosion frightens all the fairies away, and almost immediately after, the hooded man in black finds himself flying for dear life, while Ail and Sanae chase after him, shooting massive bullets straight at him, making him sway in the air to avoid being hit.

He looks back and notices Ail, then shouts "Ail! I found you! Prepare to... WHOA!"

His challenge falls on deaf ears, and all he can do is continue to fly away from the enraged boy and shrine maiden, getting hit by one of Sanae's red stars, then getting struck by one of Ail's exploding orange orbs, getting sent through the air to one of Gensokyo's farthest corners.

Moments later, Budou and Cirno find themselves being hugged by both Ail and Sanae, both giggling and Budou saying "thanks mama and papa! You're the best."

Later, at Eirin's Clinic, Ail opens up a gap directly inside the small waiting room and whispers "how is she?"

As he walks out of the gap, Rika walks to him from a nearby seat with a faint smile on her face, and says "she should be waking up at any-"

Before she can finish, they both flinch when they hear Meiling's loud voice coming from the examination room, shouting "what if he comes back tonight? No, I HAVE to go back, NOW!"

Ail and Rika look toward the closed door to the next room with surprise on their faces, then Ail says "oh, she's awake alright."

The door suddenly bursts open and Meiling storms out of the examination room, loudly saying "I am much stronger than I look, so I'll be just fine!"

From inside the room, Eirin sounds ominously calm as she says "sweetie~, if you neglect your health now, I'm going to have to give you a special treatment~!"

Meiling turns to look back inside the room, ready to give Eirin a piece of her mind, but before she can speak, she gasps, her hair stands on ends, her eyes expands, her iris shrink, then she finds herself running behind Ail and Rika with a terrorized expression.

Eirin walks out of the room with her ominous smiling face, looks straight at Ail, then asks "now, you aren't planning on interfering with the treatment, right?"

A cold chill creeps up Ail's spine, robbing him from his thoughts and preventing him from responding, so Rika steps up with a natural smile on her face and calmly says "it's alright miss Yagokoro. Please, if you'd be so kind as to give me the medicine, I'll make sure she follows your instructions to perfection."

Eirin looks at Rika for a few seconds and completely calms down, then smiles more naturally and says "alright miss Rika. Yours is a face I can trust."

Ail and Meiling look at each other and ask at the same time "but she can't trust mine?"

Eirin turns around to look into the examination room and says "Udonge, please bring the medicine for miss Hong."

Half a minute later, Reisen walks out of the room with a nervous smile on her face, offering the medicine to Rika and saying "please make sure she drinks one every twelve hours for two days."

Rika bows her head while smiling, then says "for two days. Don't worry, she'll do it, or I'll do it for her", then smiles, flaps her small wings, and giggles.

Eirin covers her face to hide her red cheeks and bleeding nose, Meiling smiles widely and whispers "so cute", Ail's face turns a bit pink, and Reisen smiles while she freezes in place, staring straight at Rika's face.

Rika looks back with concern, then asks "um, what's wrong?"

Reisen suddenly wraps her arms around the shrine maid, smiling while whispering "ah, miss Rika~"

Meanwhile, at the SDM, explosions, crashes, breaking glass, and all sorts of loud noises unsettle the peace of the normally quiet mansion.

Budou, Phredia and Cirno look to the mansion from te lake with curious faces, then Budou shrugs and says "mama must be having fun."

Inside the mansion, Reimu and Sanae fly down the great hallway and stop when in front of the clock tower doors.

Reimu shouts "Sakuya, it's me! Look, Remilia's very concerned for you, so why don't you just come out already."

Sanae quickly adds "miss Sakuya, please come on out. Let's have some tea and talk things over."

Nobody answers, and after waiting for a bit, Reimu says "alright, do it."

Sanae smiles and says "oh look, the doors miraculously opened up!", and the doors open up on their own.

When they look inside, they realize Sakuya isn't inside, so Reimu rushes in and looks up, making sure the top door isn't open.

She sighs and says "I don't know how, but she stopped time without my notice."

Sanae smiles sheepishly and asks "you can tell?"

Before Reimu replies, she and Sanae turn their attention back to the mansion's entrance after there is a loud crash, quickly accompanied by Flandre's scream of terror and Remilia's angry shouting.

Flandre and Rumia fly down the corridor to the dining room, both with tears in the eyes and knives all over their backs.

Flandre looks back and cries "but they are crumbs! We can't do anything about them!"

Rumia nervously adds "that's how it is!"

Sakuya flies after them, holding more knives on her left hand and throwing them with her right, shouting "that's no excuse! You are both LADIES and should behave as such!"

Flandre cries "wah~ Onee-sama, do something!"

Remilia flies after Sakuya with rage on her face as she shouts "Sakuya, that's enough! Stop picking on Flandre!"

Sakuya gasps and looks shocked, yet continues to fly after Flandre and Rumia as she cries "no~! I failed my lady again~! She's mad at me~!"

Flandre cries "just stop already Sakuya~!"

Rumia adds "I still haven't eaten the red and white one! I can't die yet!"

Remilia screams "Sakuya, you haven't failed me, dammit!"

They finally reach the dining room, where Flandre and Rumia despair and end up cowering on the farthest corner, trying their best to hide behind a large red curtain, but failing to do so.

Rumia trembles and nervously says "wh-where the hell is Agava when you need her?"

Flandre's tears rush out her eyes like large waterfalls as she cries "I want my onee-sama!"

Sakuya enters the room, but goes straight to the pantry, instead of finishing off the two blondes cowering in the corner.

Flandre and Rumia both look to where Sakuya is going, then follow after her just as Remilia enters the room.

They stop just before reaching the door down to the pantry, where they hear Agava's voice coming from below, saying "oh? Hey, miss Sakuya-maid lady~! Say, do you know where's the sake around here? Hey... what are you doing? KYAH~!"

The girls from outside can see a dozen knives fly to the open door and getting stuck on it.

Shortly after they all gulp, Agava runs out of the pantry, holding a drumstick, some sausages, and with her back covered in knives.

She runs toward Flandre and Rumia, and with tears in her eyes she cries "that maid is crazy~!"

She wears her usual, tight purple sleeveless ninja outfit with the tattered grey shorts and blue open jacket on top, her knee-high black boots and has her long black hair tied to a ponytail that reaches her waist.

Rumia embraces Agava and pats her head, and she and Flandre say at the same time "tell me about it", then Rumia takes a bite from one of the sausages Agava is holding.

Remilia stares angrily toward Agava and asks "what the hell were you doing in there? And what are you doing with my food?"

Agava turns her head around until her head is completely backwards, meeting her dark blue eyes with Remilia's scarlet eyes, then brazenly replies "eating it."

Remilia reaches for Agava's necks with her own hands, bearing her claws as she gets closer to her target, but she stops after a loud thud, then notices a large knife with a red and white hilt sticking out like an eyesore between the smaller blue and black hilted knives stuck on the open pantry door.

Remilia ignores Agava and decides to go down, but she feels a hand grab her shoulder and pull her back with force.

She turns around to complain with an angry face, but when she sees the one pulling her is Reimu, she settles down and steps aside after looking into the maiden's eyes, as if already knowing what she's thinking.

Reimu silently makes her way down the pantry, then disappears from view immediately after she takes a left turn after the short steps.

The pantry is dimly lit by a single candle on the main side of the room, which is just after the entrance.

The other segments of it are so dark, a lantern would be needed to see properly while in there.

Sakuya sits to the far left of the room with her back against a set of giant barrels, hugging her knees and burring her face between them.

Reimu sighs and approaches Sakuya, and without saying a word, she sits besides the chief maid and rubs her back.

Sakuya lets out a quick sob and says "what was I thinking? I am a human! Without my knives or my powers, I am nothing!"

Reimu sighs and asks "Sakuya, what happened? What did he do to you?"

Sakuya lets out another sob and looks at Reimu, revealing her tear-filled face, her puffy reddened eyes, and her usually elegant face expressing the look of a frightened child.

Reimu pulls Sakuya to her, allowing her to cry on her chest while saying "it's alright. You are not weak. But Sakuya, taking all of this out on yourself and those around you will not help."

Sakuya sobs on Reimu's chest, then manages to say "he was all over me! I was so scared! I just ran away... All I did was run. Reimu, I am weak!"

The chief maid starts to cry and sob again and her next words become slurred and unintelligible.

Reimu embraces Sakuya and gently brushes her short silver hair with her fingers, saying "shh, shh, it's alright my friend. But if you were feeling like this, why didn't you talk? I'll listen. And if not me, why not Patchouli, or Meiling... or even Remilia? They are your family!"

Sakuya sobs louder and tries to recovers her breath to speak, but only manages to stammer Reimu's name.

The maiden closes her eyes and continues to embrace Sakuya, until the maid finally manages to calm down and says "I failed them, Reimu. I am supposed to take care of them, but I couldn't! He could have killed me, then nobody could protect them! What good am I without my knives; without my powers?"

Reimu looks around while still holding on to Sakuya, trying to find words of comfort for her friend, yet they seem to escape her.

Reimu simply closes her eyes and tightens her embrace, then Meiling's voice seems to brighten the room as she says "that's no reason to break down, Sakuya Izayoi!"

Both Reimu and Sakuya turn their heads to the right and find Meiling standing tall next to the small steps with a bloodied bandage around her head.

With fire in her aquamarine eyes she rapidly approaches the girls, grabs Sakuya by her shoulders and lift her up to her feet.

She bends down a little so that she can be face-to-face with the chief maid, then says "you are not weak, Sakuya! You are a very strong human; stronger than many humans! Heck, you may even be as strong as miss Reimu, miss Sakuya, but if you feel you are weak, then you must get stronger!"

Sakuya slowly lifts her head and her tear-filled eyes to meet with Meiling's resolute eyes, then hesitates for a moment, looking to her left, but she forces herself to look at the gate guard once more.

Meiling stares back and sees the despair inside Sakuya's blue eyes, then says "train with me, miss Sakuya! Becomes stronger!"

Sakuya's tears suddenly stop, yet in her eyes there is still some doubt.

Meiling shakes her lightly and says "strengthen your body; allow me to teach you how!"

Doubt continues to cloud Sakuya's vision, until Remilia's stern, yet caring voice reaches her, saying "you will train with Meiling and get stronger. That is an order, Izayoi!"

Meiling lets go of Sakuya and straightens up as she turns around to look to the small steps, while Sakuya slowly moves to the left to get a better view of her mistress.

Remilia sits on the third step, crossing her legs and smiling mischievously as she says "do it and show me I didn't make a mistake all those years ago, when I made you my chief maid. And Meiling, you make sure she doesn't quit."

Sakuya stares back at Remilia with longing and admiration for a short moment, and as if synchronized with Meiling, they bow and say at the same time "as you wish, my lady!", though Sakuya still sounds a little doubtful.

Moments later, after they all exit the pantry, Sakuya being helped by Meiling, Rika approaches them and repeats the instructions for medicine Eirin gave the gate guard, making sure Sakuya hears them too.

Remilia and Reimu both walk out of the pantry together, but before they join the others, Remilia pulls on Reimu's left sleeve and hesitantly says "um... thanks... Reimu."

Reimu looks back at Remilia with curiosity at first, but then she smiles and nods.

Later that night, at the Kappa-pa resort, Nitori and Guzman stand next to the elevator that leads back outside.

Guzman is wearing a cowboy hat the turns white when he takes it off, and brown when he wears it on his head, his white jacket with a red shirt underneath, and over all, he's wearing a cloak that seems to turn him invisible, as well as his red ring and his gun.

Nitori smiles and says "have fun outside! I hope you find your friend. Oh, and if you find him, please bring him here! I would very much like to meet him!"

Guzman smiles widely, showing his teeth to Nitori, and sounding very friendly, he says "oh sure, sure! If I find him, I'll bring him over se we can all get well acquainted!"

Nitori gets a bit giddy and giggles while clenching her fists under her chin and swaying her body around.

Guzman smiles naturally, then pats her head and steps inside the elevator as soon as the doors open.

Nitori waves at him and says "bye~! Be good and be careful! Even with those items, youkai can still be dangerous for you!"

Guzman smiles back, winks, then says "I'll be back in one piece, my friend", and after that, the elevator doors close.

Inside the elevator, Guzman's friendly face changes to the malicious and twisted face of evil intent, and as soon as the doors open again at the surface, his face brightens up even more, and with that malicious smile, he steps right out of the elevator.

Back at the resort, Nitori's smile seems to brighten the immediate area as she looks around, thinking "all of this became possible thanks to him!"

A woman, wearing a red business suit that covers down to her knees, a pair of red slip-on shoes, a pair of golden specs over her lime-green eyes, pink lipstick on her lips and wearing her blond hair rolled up into a bun, approaches the little kappa.

Nitori looks at the woman with her bright smile, then says "Julia! So you finally decided to use the hologram again! How do you like it?"

Julia adjusts her glasses, then says "it's much more comfortable, and I don't feel like I will crash, unlike last time!"

Nitori giggles and says "great! The modifications worked!"

Julia stares neutrally at Nitori, who says "come on, it's time to do the rounds."

After being quiet for a while, Julia finally asks "you seem to be in a most pleasant mood, lady Nitori. What happened that has you in such bright spirits?"

Nitori giggles again and takes three quick steps away from Julia before stopping, placing her hands behind herself and winking at her while saying "I'm just so happy to have such a great friend like Guzman. I am also so happy about this place, my accomplishments... you! It's all so great and perfect! It's like I'm living in a dream!"

Julia manages to smile as she says "well, I am very glad you feel this way... Oh, what's this? I feel rather strange myself. It's as if I want to suddenly run and jump and smile, just like you, lady Nitori."

Nitori continues to smile as she gets closer to Julia, grabs her hand, then says "I installed emotions into you, Julia. Right now you feel happy because I am happy. That makes me feel even happier."

Tears run down Nitori's face, and Julia's smile is replaced by great concern as she asks "but why are you crying if you are so happy?"

Nitori signals Julia to continue walking with her, and as they make their way to their next destination, she says "you'll understand in time that not all tears are bad. These are tears of happiness!"

Julia sighs and says "emotions seem to be so complicated."

Outside, near the tengu's waterfall, Guzman looks up to the top with a disappointed and angry face, noticing the uproar with the tengu.

He growls inward and thinks "dammit, of all nights! Damned tengu sure know how to ruin my fun! Bah, I better go somewhere else."

As he makes his way back down the mountain and back to the forest, he looks to the sky and thinks "well, what should I do for fun now? Wait... if I remember correctly, there should be another shrine to the east! Yes, that's my next target! I'll go and pay a visit to that eastern shrine, ha~!"

Meanwhile, at the Hakurei Shrine, while Budou and Sanae sit in Genjii's back to watch the stars from the lake, inside the shrine, Ail, Reimu and Rika sit around the living room's table, having a serious discussion about what had happened at the SDM.

Reimu stares at Ail's eyes, then says "and she tells me he was wearing a pair of purple glasses over his eyes. That's all she could tell me."

Ail roars with rage as he punches the table and angrily says "Guzman! He followed me in here!"

Suika and Mima sit by the door's archway, listening quietly.

Suika takes a big gulp from her sake cup, looking seriously at Mima, who looks back equally serious.

Ail continues "that man is a monster! Reimu, we have to find him and get him the HELL out of here! What he did at the mansion is NOTHING!"

Rika, who sits next to Ail, looks at him and sternly says "calm down, mister Ail. Getting upset won't solve a thing."

She turns her attention to Reimu, then says "my lady, I wish to ask you to allow me the honor of helping mister Ail deal with this man!"

Both Reimu and Ail stare at Rika with surprise, while both Mima and Suika's faces look as though each just swallowed something unpleasant.

Back at the youkai forest, Guzman laughs heartily while avoiding the claws of a beastly fox youkai.

The youkai tackles him, yet Guzman doesn't even budge, while the youkai is repelled by a strange barrier.

Guzman smiles and shouts "come on! Is that all you got, you mangy mongrel! COME ON!"

The youkai roars with rage and immediately rushes to attack again.

Back at the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu stares at Rika and says "there's more about this than what you are telling. What are your reasons, Rika?"

Rika gulps and looks away, but quickly recovers and says "not only did that man hurt two friends, my lady. He's carrying that abominable weapon with him! I want to personally destroy it, turn it to pieces with my sword!"

Ail and Reimu both look concerned at Rika, then Ail says "even with magic on our side, he's no pushover. Don't underestimate him, for he will NOT underestimate you! He will come at full force, and I fear for you, Rika. I fear for all of you girls, even Sanae and Budou!"

Reimu looks at Ail with curious concern, then asks "why is that? What do you know?"

Ail sighs and says "he sees women as objects of pleasure. When he says he likes you, that means he'll try to take you before killing you."

Both Mima and Suika's faces get filled by an ominous shadow, then look with concern to Reimu.

Rika stands up and confidently says "more reason for me to help you! I can't allow that monster to do that to anyone!"

Reimu's face now shows urgency and great anger, and staring at Ail with this face, she says "before I agree to this, Rika Onkamikami... Ail will tell me more about-"

There is a loud explosion from a distance; a loud bang that catches everyone's attention.

All in the shrine are now alerted to danger, then Ail says to Reimu "I'll tell you on the way!"

Back at the Youkai forest, Guzman has the fox youkai on the ropes, making it back away with its tail between its leg, yet keeping it on his sight, edging the tired creature to attack.

He runs at the youkai and kicks its belly, making it yelp out loud as it flies to the air, and crashes its back against a tree.

After the creature falls back to the ground, Guzman snarls and with an ominous tone of voice he says "let's see what makes you tick, shall we?"

Guzman stops walking and smiles, then says "well, are you going to give me some sport on its stead?"

Around Guzman, eight more fox youkai with glowing red eyes surround him, all growling softly, threatening the human.

Instead of fear, this human feels excitement, and with a wide smile on his face, he says "well, come and get me then!"

All eight youkai rush to attack in unison, but then a girl shouts "you leave that human alone!", and razor sharp autumn leaves fly by the pack of youkai and scare them all away, including the first attacker.

From the left, sounding concerned, the girls asks "sir, sir! Are you alright?"

The girl is Shizuha Aki, and she looks with concern at the man with the cowboy hat and frameless purple glasses, who stands still and doesn't say a word.

Shortly after, Minoriko, her younger sister, runs to her sister and says "nee-san, there you are! Why did you...? Oh, did you save that man?"

Guzman's eyes narrow as his face twists with rage.

This girl took away his fun, and he's not happy about it.

Shizuha gets a little closer, though Minoriko pulls her back, whispering "there's something odd about him, nee-san."

Shizuha groans but stays put, then loudly asks "sir, are you alright?"

Guzman pulls his gun and points it at the girls, then fires a single shot, making them scream.

He sheathes his gun, presses the button in his ring under his cloak, then zips away, looking like a thin beam of light.

Minoriko shields her head with her forearms, trembling while she crouches as low as possible on the ground.

After calming down, she peeks and sees the strange man is gone, and after a loud sigh, she says "phew! Nee-san, what was that all about? ... Nee-san?"

Minoriko notices the body of her sister lying on the ground with her arms and legs spread apart, a blank stare on her face, and a steaming hole on her forehead.

Minoriko trembles and moves around her sister, whispering "nee-san? Nee-san? Wake up. ... NEE-SAN!"

Minoriko is now filled with fear; her sister doesn't reply or move.

Cold thorns make their way from her stomach up to her heart, and after she feels those thorns poking her every heart-beat, she shouts "nee-san! Nee-san wake up!"

Shizuha's body turns to dried, red autumn leaves, and a green spark that hovers above the ground for a moment gets inside the largest leaf.

After witnessing this, Minoriko grabs the leaf with her trembling hands and stares at it.

She places the leaf on her chest and begins to sob, and after taking a deep breath, with all her might, she screams "Shizuha~!"

Shizuha's name echoes all over the forest, reaching Hina who stares sadly into the river, watching as her sad reflection looks back from the calm waters, then sadly says "how unfortunate."

A tear escapes her left eye and falls to the water, rippling the calm waters and making the river move again, taking her sad reflection away with the currents.

To be continued...

Characters, Spell Cards and Scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-

Ail, Budou, Phredia, Agava, and Guzman were created by Willie G.R.

Rika Onkamikami was created by Snapshot 2010

The hooded man in black was created by Hydroviper

AUG 25 2010

Written by

Willie G.R.

A/N:

* = For more information on this event of Rika's and Tenshi's past, look for Sword x Sword (Ch. 3)

Yes, this is more my style... until the end. I do love happy things, but this particular "reality" we live in makes sure the happy leaves as soon as it comes. IT's sad, and I wish it weren't so... but it is. That last paragraph was something I wasn't even expecting to write. It just came to me and I thought that with this, you have a better idea as to how far this human can go... and he can go farther than this. Still, as they say: "It's always darkest just before dawn." Sometimes we all wish the dawn would come sooner. Thanks for reading and please leave a comment/review. I will be very grateful, especially concerning how I did with this chapter.

Also, thanks to an earlier review, I was able to at least make some parts clearer on chapter 1, though it's still hard to see a way to completely fix it. I will try to fix this, but please remember that we are all humans and not perfect, though... we can learn from our mistakes.