IV.

Koakuma was a funny sort of girl. She was a fine, red-haired student of average height and a pleasant demeanor; a girl who flitted around from crowd to crowd, smiling and laughing her way to fame like a little devil – this, of course, affording her the nickname – and turning heads wherever she went. She was one of those girls that everybody liked but nobody actually liked; she was far too friendly, a feat which people had a tendency to receive poorly and with jealousy. Considering this, most would actually think her quite generic – and in this they would not be mistaken – but Koakuma was only a funny sort of girl insofar as she didn't actually care for attention. While warranting it in great amounts, she never sought it, or revered in it, or hated it. Koakuma was a funny sort of girl, and naturally, she only cared for funny girls.

As it so happened, Koakuma had a great fondness for books. She loved everything about them; their styles, their textures, their smells, and all the meticulous writing and scrapping and writing and scrapping and screaming and smiling that shaped them. For all that, though, all of her favourite books were the same in that they were all invariably headed by a funny sort of girl in a funny sort of world, barely getting by with her funny sort of ways. If only these girls were so easy to find in reality as they were on pages and in words, Koakuma might have found living life far more worthwhile than burying her cute little nose into far off worlds. But while funny sorts of girls were not so easy to find, she was bound to find one someday.

That day, as the reader is no doubt beginning to grasp, was the day about to be described.

To say it was a day like any other would be both ridiculous and clichéd, as it obviously was not. Koakuma would never have been so eager to flutter around asking questions with feigned ignorance and cute little inclinations of her head as she were that day had she not heard the rumours that she had. The rumours that she had heard that day were of a mysterious presence in the school library; a muted, lavender aura of infinite knowledge that blessed or cursed whoever encroached on its territory. Of course, no one was aware of the fact that anyone used the library at all (when in fact Koakuma was there more often than her own bedroom) but she was fairly certain that nothing about her brought on thoughts of lavender, or of wisdom. By the time the story had been published by Shameimaru Aya – or had it been Himekaidou Hatate? – the redhead was certain it had to be more than rumour. And if it were more than a rumour – if there were any truth to it – that meant she had to find this spirit, beast or person and remove it from her sanctuary as soon as possible.

The anticipation of ghost-busting generally doesn't comprise a day like any other, so Koakuma was probably expecting it to be a funny sort of day when it began. She'd be lying, though, if she said that tiptoeing to the library door in the middle of the night with bobby pin and flashlight in hand wasn't giving her an ever-so-pleasant rush of adrenaline. Her fingers shook with energy and her eyes were alight with excitement as she picked the lock, turned the handle, silently pushed the door open, and ghosted into the library.

Koakuma's first thought when she entered was that the room wasn't as dark as she thought it would be. It was dark, but the shelves were bathed in a weak, yellow light that shook like a flame, and somehow scared the shit out of her more than complete darkness might have done. Gathering herself with a slow swallow, Koakuma pointed her flashlight ahead, opting to leave it on so she'd at least have a chance of blinding her enemy, and searched soundlessly for the source of the eerie light.

After a moment of surveillance, the unused librarian's desk was beginning to look promising. As Koakuma drew ever closer, sweat began to blanket her brow, and her feet felt heavier and heavier. She forced herself forward another step, and another, and another… and–

"EEP!"

The red-haired girl hardly knew what was happening in the next moment. There was a splash of purple and a rustling, and the flashlight fell from her sweaty hands. She scrambled for it frantically, just catching it before it hit the ground and thrusting it ahead with two trembling arms at the beast below the desk.

"Oh," said the beast. "Can I help you?"

A small girl with purple hair looked up nonchalantly from her book. Her eyes were deep, intelligent and piercing, and Koakuma could not admit to knowing what she might be thinking or feeling (if she was even capable of either), but somehow her eyes were calming.

"Um…"

Suddenly Koakuma realised herself, and in realising herself felt ridiculously stupid. She cleared her throat, switched off her flashlight, and gave a small, introductory bow.

"I'm sorry for disturbing you," she blurted, "I heard some rumours about someone hanging out in here and I was surprised because I've never seen anyone else in the library before. It's always locked, but I always sneak in, but then I lock it on the way out, so I thought maybe I should investigate… or something."

Koakuma breathed. The girl's face was unmoving, but her eyes seemed to change.

"I've always been in here," she said matter-of-factly.

Koakuma flushed. There was no fucking way she hadn't noticed someone else in the library for... what, a year now? Someone who went to her school, too, someone whom she had never seen… ever. Now that she observed it, the girl was wearing a cute little lavender nightie and had her school uniform folded neatly beside her. Had she been staying overnight? An onslaught of other questions arose at that – where was her family? Where did she get food? Where did she even get money? And why was she camping out in the fucking library anyway? – but Koakuma didn't say a word. The girl sighed.

"I'm Patchouli," she offered, "Patchouli Knowledge."

Right. Names. Why hadn't she wondered what her name was?

"My name's–" she shook her head, "Well, everybody calls me Koakuma."

Patchouli Knowledge stared. With what, Koakuma didn't know, but somehow she got the feeling that Patchouli Knowledge had known this already.

"Don't let my presence disturb you," she said, finally, "We're both merely here to read."

With that, Patchouli turned back to her book and Koakuma just stared at her for a moment, reveling in the complete absurdity of the situation. Then, she took a book from those scattered across the desk and laid it on the ground beside Patchouli, who was still. Koakuma then lowered herself under the table, next to the smaller girl, and unzipped her hoodie.

"You must be cold," she observed, dangling the clothing item towards the purple-haired girl. When Patchouli was silent, Koakuma draped it gently over her shoulders and picked up her own book.

In the silence, she smiled, and thought that Patchouli Knowledge was a funny sort of girl.

It was a harsh truth, but the school nurse was virtually useless. At Gensokyo Girls' High, students had a tendency to be uncannily resilient, and rarely suffered from sprains or broken bones – in which scenario they would probably be sent to hospital anyway – and they were all far too lively ever to be taken ill, either. If anyone needed to visit the nurse at all, it'd probably be just to grab a plaster or a pressure bandage and run off protesting that they were fine.

Inaba Reisen, however, was mysteriously injury-prone. Almost every day she would fall off the stairs, sprain her ankle playing football, cut herself in woodwork, or pass out in the middle of class. She was probably in the nurse's office about twice as much as she was actually in the classroom, and eager to learn about medicine too. That was what the rest of the student population – Shameimaru Aya included, oddly enough – were content to think, and Reisen was content for it to remain. For the truth, as the universe would have it, was that Yagokoro Eirin was a stupidly attractive woman of about twenty (she had graduated high school a year early and was a fresh nursing graduate), who was stupidly intelligent, stupidly amiable, and with whom Reisen was stupidly in love.

As if the situation weren't messy enough to begin with, Reisen's feelings also made her subject to pointed abuse from a certain jealous Houraisan Kaguya, who all but made the poor girl her slave in exchange for keeping her secret. Kaguya loved Eirin with a ridiculously tsundere front, and a scarily yandere substance. Suffice to say that the dark-haired girl was spoiled like a princess and far too used to things going her way to be able to handle loving someone else well at all. Instead of doing something about her feelings, she thought it'd be better to take them out on Reisen, who was clearly the nurse's favourite. Fujiwara no Mokou had a tendency to intervene, though, and Reisen's little sister had a tendency to play vindictive pranks on Kaguya on the weekends, so she wasn't alone. Not entirely.

"Inaba-san? Are you okay?"

Reisen blinked. Eirin was staring at her with evident concern that only served to make her more feverish.

"F-fine," she assured, looking down at her bloodstained hand, "I think I hardly know how to feel pain now."

Eirin smiled a little, but didn't seem entirely convinced. Her soft grey eyes brushed over Reisen's shoulder, and soon her hands followed with a wet, limp towel. The pink-haired girl cringed a little, and the muscles of her back rippled with tension, then relaxed again.

"How did this happen?"

How had this happened again? Reisen had to admit she was enjoying herself far too much to remember.

"Um, Hime-san told me to climb a tree, I think. Her scarf had gotten swept up top by the wind, so I went after it, and must have lost my footing. Something will have got me on the way down, probably a branch."

Eirin sighed, fumbling around for a bandage. Reisen sat, listening contently to the clatter of tools and the rustle of papers immediately behind her, like the harsh push and pull of stormy waters. Eirin's frustrated half-whispered curses were the call of ships for salvation, which began to subside as they caught sight of the shore.

"You're very badly cut up. Would you mind taking your shirt off?"

"N-no. Not at all."

That was a lie, of course. Reisen was so fucking hot she felt she might burn, and her skin was certainly turning as red as fire might have made it. Slowly and with trembling hands, she loosened her tie even further and pushed it up around her neck, moving as stiffly as she could to undo her buttons. Somehow, though, her fingers refused to do her bidding.

"Oh, it's okay if you're tired. Here."

Reisen's breath caught in her throat. She hadn't even noticed the nurse leaning ever closer until she was right – right there. She was right there, with her hands on Reisen's collar, pulling it open gently, killing her softly. Her fluttering eyelashes, her tongue brushing across her upper lip, her nose closing in on Reisen's cheek – right there.

Everything began to grow rather faint, rather fast. Before she knew what she was doing, she was clutching onto the sleeves of Eirin's labcoat, and then–

The door flew open, and Suika stood in the doorway, oblivious.

"Yo yo yo, how's it hangin'? Got'ny asprin nur-san?"

Hungover and ruining the moment. Typical Suika.

"Of course. Let me get you some water."

Eirin walked off rather quickly, before Reisen could catch sight of her expression. The pink-haired girl frowned; she'd fucked it up, she was going to be expelled, fuck. No other words could describe.

"FYI Rei-rei," said Suika, downing a handful of pills with water, "paaartaaay for Valentine's Day, Fridaaaay! My place! Be there!"

Reisen tried to glare at the little redhead as best as she could, but her expression only served to come out as a tired, acknowledging glance. As the door clicked behind Suika, Eirin resumed her work cleaning and wrapping Reisen's deep, jutting flesh wound. This time, however, she approached from behind, so that Reisen could feel her breath slow and heavy by her ear.

"You can lean back if you'd like, Reisen."

She might have imagined the tenderness of Eirin's tone and the sound of her own given name, but the pink-haired could hardly tell her own limbs apart by this point. So she opted to do as recommended and leaned back onto a shoulder, quickly falling asleep.

A/N: Omg, it's only been a month and a bit since my last update! This is a record orz

Anyway, have some new characters/plot bunnies! (OH GOD I'M SO PUNNY)

Psykoakuma: I've been having a bit of an ongoing struggle with writer's block, but fear not, for I shall never abandon this fic! (Seriously it's pure yuri goodness I could never leave it unfinished orz)

Haha, I'm glad you enjoyed them, they're one of my favourites hehe. Oh don't worry, the fish in the sea thing is exactly the reference. I'm so punny

Gaaaah, I'm so excited to write more for you! The MariAli side will get good. Veeery good. And as far as the title is concerned, I shall give you a hint… coughbossthemecough! As far as why I picked that particular one, that'll become clearer with time… MWAHAHAHAA…

I3UNONOTRLLY: I'm sorry! :( I'll try to be better with updating in the future, but I can't make any promises! I'm a straight A student grumble grumble and I've been slacking off grumble grumble… :(

Eat Well And: That's awesome, I'm so glad you think I've improved! :D

Why thank you, I try my best with characterisation. As far as the reason why Marisa fell for Alice, I think that'll become clearer with time, but suffice to say she hasn't fallen yet. She's intrigued and has kind of a crush at the moment. Same with Alice's grudge against Marisa; all shall be revealed in time. ;)

LelUCares: Thank you so much! I'm really chuffed everyone seems to think I've improved. :D

Olive343: Oh wow, thank you for noticing that! I've fixed it now. Thanks! :)

Kenji, L, & Yuugi Hoshiguma: Thanks! There shall be more!