Real Quick, I wish to offer thanks to both Basrutten and ForAllEternity987 for their help with Suffix troubleshooting, and want to apologize for any earlier mistakes I've made regarding the Japanese language.
The people in charge of Localization have been sacked. And whoever gets that reference gets an imaginary Cookie.
Ja Ne!
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Morning classes passed relatively quickly for the newly awakened Tenshi, but Reimu found herself taking occasional looks over her shoulder, at the seat of her green-haired classmate, who had indeed been missing for the last two days.
'I need to ask Youmu, if not Yukari-Sama, if they've learned anything about her involvement yet,' The shrine maiden thought to herself, before returning to her class work, though the thought continued to bother her for the rest of the morning.
Luckily by the time Lunch came around once again, she had mostly been able to ignore the nagging question, and met up with Marisa to go to their normal table, where the blonde girl offered her the usual bag lunch she so graciously made for her friend almost every day.
"Oh Marisa-Chan, what would I do without you," Reimu sighed dreamily, as she unpacked the lunch, noting how her friend blushed at her airy tone.
"Shrivel up and die, most likely," Marisa tried to joke back, but Reimu could tell she was uncomfortable from the girl's half-smile. She ended up brushing it off, and began to eat, but was soon distracted by something out of the corner of her eye, "Oh hey, there goes Youmu-Chan."
"So? I know she saved your life and all Reimu, but she's still a year below us," Marisa said dryly.
"Don't be like that Marisa-Chan, I'll be right back," The brown haired girl said, and hurried over to the silver-haired girl, "Ohaiyo Youmu-Chan!"
"Ah, Reimu-Sempai, what is it?" The younger girl asked, looking around nervously. She was startled as the older girl grabbed her hand, and began to drag her along behind her to the table she had been sharing with Marisa.
"Come sit and eat with us," The brown-haired girl offered, making Marisa squawk in indignation, "Oi Reimu, you have to stop inviting all of these freeloaders along, or else people will get the wrong ideas."
Reimu gently pushed Youmu into a seat beside her, before taking up her own place once more, and began to dig in anew, smiling to herself. Once she at least had a bite, she turned to regard her long-time friend, "Marisa-Chan, Youmu-Chan saved my life, and is going out of her way to protect me. The least I can do is be friendly to her, and besides, the poor girl was all by herself," The shrine maiden explained, before turning to regard her silver-haired partner, "You don't mind, do you Youmu-Chan?"
"I...err," Youmu spluttered out nervously in response, and Reimu gave an understanding nod, before glaring at her other friend, "You don't mind, do you Ma-Ri-Sa-Chan?" She emphasised the words to push her point home 'do not argue with me about this.'
"Yeah, fine," The blonde huffed, resting her cheek on her hand and pouting, but not putting up any more of a fuss. Giving a content smile, Reimu turned to her new friend as a recent question came back to mind.
"So Youmu-Chan, have you heard any rumours about where Sanae-San might have disappeared to?" The brunette asked at face level, but what she was implying was 'Have you gotten any information about her involvement?"
"No, it would seem that no one in my class has really noticed Sanae-Sempai's disappearance," Youmu replied, the answer was clear, making Reimu groan.
"Why do you care so much about her anyways Reimu?" Marisa asked, "We don't even really talk with Sanae, except when it comes to group work."
"She is our class-mate Marisa-Chan, that means we should be at least a little bit concerned when the good girl of the class goes missing for two days after another student was nearly attacked on school grounds," Reimu chastised.
"I didn't mean anything like that, besides, She's probably just home sick or something," Marisa offered, before returning to her pouting. This did give Reimu an idea, and she turned to regard her partner, but was dismayed by the subtle shrug she received, making her pout as well.
"Oh my, it would seem we have attracted another one," an airy voice said, causing the three girls to turn and find Letty standing there, holding the hand of Cirno. Alice and Patchy were also on either side of the girl, though both had their noses in books.
"Oh great, the gangs all here," Marisa muttered, before blowing a raspberry at Alice.
"Please try and act your age for once Marisa-Chan," Alice chided, before taking a seat beside her fellow blonde, and pulling out her own lunch. Patchy said nothing, and took a seat next to Youmu, so she would be sitting across from Marisa, and the Whiterock sisters took opposite sides of the bench, facing each other.
"I wouldn't have to act my age if you'd grow a sense of humour Alice-Chan," Marisa teased, her good mood miraculously returning at the prospect of harassing her friend. Reimu knew no good could come of this.
"So Youmu-Chan, what brings you to our little corner of the world?" Letty asked, while keeping a careful eye on her little sister, who was happily and surprisingly quietly eating her own lunch.
"Oh umm, Reimu-Sempai had me come over to sit with you all in thanks for the work I've been doing helping her reorganize the shrine, and protecting her," The girl quickly supplied, though Reimu knew it was a lie, and began to wonder if bold faced lies were another aspect of being a Tenshi.
"Hey Youmu-Sempai, isn't kendo just hitting people with big sticks?" Cirno suddenly asked, gaining everyone's attention, and causing the argument between Marisa and Alice that Reimu had been ignoring to stop for the moment.
"Well, kind of," Youmu offered, unsure of how to explain it to the younger girl.
"Then isn't what me and my friends do down at the lake Kendo? we swing sticks at each other and play fight with them," The girl announced, sounding rather proud of herself.
"I think Kendo is a little more complicated than that, Bozu," Marisa said, patting the young girl on the head, mostly to get a rise out of her.
"Hey, isn't that the principal?" Alice asked, once again gaining everyone's attention as they all turned towards the main entrance to the school.
"Yeah, that's weird, you don't usually see Principal Yakumo come out of her cave," Marisa said, and was promptly smacked over the back of the head by Alice.
"Show at least a little respect for our principal, you monochrome thief," Alice hissed, though Marisa seemingly took the jab as a challenge, and the pair were off once again in an argument.
Reimu was about ready to break the two up, when she felt a hand on her wrist, and found Youmu helping her to her feet, "C'mon Reimu-Sempai, she probably wants to talk to us about that incident the other day," The girl explained urgently, and Reimu nodded in understanding.
"I do hope that you won't be in trouble about what happened," Letty said, watching Marisa and Alice continue arguing with some amusement, though her real attention was on the two girls, and how Youmu was still holding her Senior's wrist.
"Don't worry Letty-sempai, she most likely just wants to ask us a few questions, and then we'll be free to go," Reimu explained, and followed Youmu after their principal, who had retreated back inside the building. Letty's eyes didn't stop following the pair until they disappeared from view, then she finally got up to break apart the warring blondes.
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Luckily the Principal's office was on the first floor, which saved the three girls from an extended awkward silence, but Reimu did notice that the entire time Youmu had not released her arm, and in fact may have tightened her grip upon it.
Once the three were safely in the office, and Yukari-sama had closed and locked the door, they each released a breathe they didn't know they'd been holding.
"I so rarely leave my office these days that I'm not used to making public appearances," Yukari commented as she crossed the room and took a seat at her desk, interlocking her fingers and resting her chin upon them casually. Both girl's took the silent offer and found seats before the older woman's desk, waiting for her to begin. "Last night Ran-Chan finally found some information regarding the Kochiya girl, which I thought you might be interested in, but I didn't think was fair to only tell Youmu-Chan about."
"So what is it Yukari-Sama, where has Sanae-San disappeared to?" Reimu asked urgently, wanting to get the answers as soon as possible.
"Girls, there had never been a Sanae Kochiya at Mayohiga Secondary, it was all an elaborate ruse caused by a group of Youkai, so that they could infiltrate the school," Yukari replied straight faced.
"W-what?" Reimu was understandably surprised about this knowledge. The girl she had known for 5 years, since the girl transferred in from a different area, had always been a lie?
Unfortunately, the moment was ruined as Yukari could no longer contain her mirth, and began laughing at the top of her lungs, making both girls blanche at her, "Oh you two should have seen your faces."
A blonde woman appeared behind the principal, and swiftly smacked her in the back of the head, "Yukari-Sama, please be serious for a moment, would you."
Reimu immediately noticed the long, furry ears protruding from the woman's hair, and the four fluffy tails that waved behind her, and quickly recognized her from Youmu's description. This was Ran, the Youkai who had been dominated by Yukari-Sama.
The brunette immediately stiffened, which was noticed by everyone in the room, "Is something wrong Reimu-Chan? I know my joke was a little harsh, but there's no need to be so surprised."
"Err, actually Yukari-Sama, I think it might have something to do with your Shikigami, who I mentioned to Reimu-Sempai the other night as part of her initiation," Youmu explained, "She has not had very good encounters with Youkai so far, and from the picture I painted, Ran-Sama is a fairly powerful one, in order to stand against you in combat."
"I'm sorry Yukari-Sama," Reimu quickly snapped out of her daze, "Anyways, you were saying about Sanae-San."
"Oh yeah, that," The older woman replied casually, "She's just fine, came down with a nasty cold the day after that terrible incident at the shrine, and has been home sick. for the last two days, being nursed back to health by her two aunts," The woman quickly explained.
"Then how did she know about the fake inspection?" The girls asked simultaneously.
"She was tricked into hearing the information from two of the Youkai among the group that intended to attack Reimu-Chan, but for what reason, as we know they originally intended to ambush her after school, remains currently unknown," Yukari told the pair.
"So two of their own sabotaged their plans, in order to get me to show up before they were ready?" Reimu asked, "Do you think they intended to get all six of them caught by Youmu-Chan here, and had been intending to betray the rest of the group?"
"That remains to be seen," Ran spoke up, making Reimu shiver at her cold and calculating tone, "as we do not have any of their numbers to interrogate, and considering all of my attempts to track them down have proven fruitless, we are left with simply theories, which cannot be trusted."
"So what would you have us do next, Yukari-Sama?" Youmu asked the older woman.
"For now, continue Reimu-Chan's training as planned, and wait for orders from either Ran-Chan or myself. We will be having you go out on active patrol tonight, after seeing Reimu-Chan's performance the previous night, and believe that it will help her hone her abilities further," Yukari explained.
"Understood," The two girls replied.
"With all of that said, you two should hurry to your fifth period classes, and try not to think too hard about this strange case we are beginning to see unfold. Leave this matter to us for now."
"The two of you are dismissed," Ran announced, receiving a nod from the pair, and they marched out of the room.
Once the door was shut once more, Reimu felt she could finally breathe normally again, and doubled over, "Oh my god but that woman has such a suffocating aura," Reimu complained, referring to Ran.
She jumped as she felt a small hand rubbing her back, and looked up to find Youmu smiling at her, "Don't worry about it, many newly awakened Tenshi get that way around Ran-Sama, she is very imposing."
"Imposing might be an understatement," The older girl replied, before straightening up, "Thank you again."
"It's no trouble Reimu-Sempai, now c'mon, like Yukari-Sama said, we ought to hurry to our next classes."
"Okay, I'll see you tonight Youmu-Chan," The brunette said, running ahead and waving over her shoulder at the younger girl.
Youmu blushed as she watched the girl go, before snapping to attention as the bell rang for fifth period, causing her to fly into a panic.
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Chapter 4 - Complete
And I'd like to note, if I'm still making any errors in the Japanese translations, please let me know, I'm trying to be as authentic as I can about this.
Before anyone asks, yes Marisa's disrespectful lack of honorific is intentional. She's just like that.
Stay tuned for Chapter 5