Note: After a long and arduous journey, I have been enlightened. I now realize that all I have in this life is my OC and the plot. All other rights go to ZUN
"HERE WE GO DA-ZE!" is all I heard before we rocket off into the sky. I started to scream at the top of my lungs and beg for mercy to some higher being that I might live through this.
After a minute of screaming, my lungs stopped wanting to work at that capacity and I was left panting for breath in the thinner air. "Whats wrong? Done already? Most people scream for 5 minutes on their first ride da-ze." exclaimed Marisa.
At this point I have given up the notion of mass panic seeing as with the thinner air it would probably make me pass out, and that doesn't sound fun when you're flying on a broom. I release my death-grip from Marisa and raise my head.
I slowly open my eyes and wipe the tears from them. As I slowly crack my eyes open, the first thing that strikes me is how beautiful the landscape is. Now that I'm in the air I can actually make out more features in the landscape.
There is a small village in the central area relative to where we are. Off to the south, I can see a dense bamboo forest. Looks easy to get lost in so I decide to try to stay away from there as much as possible. There are also two more forests north and north west of the village respectively. In the forest due north from the village, I can make out two clearings with what looks to be houses in them. I can't say for sure but I think that the other house belongs to the previously mentioned 'Alice' person. It's just a hunch though as I don't know for sure.
Looking further north, I can make out the massive sunflower patch that belongs to Yuuka. I advert my attention southeast and notice a large lake with a island in the middle and a western style mansion on the south east shore of the lake. Funny, what an odd place for just a mansion.
Marisa grabs my attention and points ahead. "See that? That's where we are going. Hakurei shrine, the home of the poor miko." Marisa said with a snicker. I guess ill find out what she means later... speaking of which, the ground was very fast approaching, this gave me little time to realize just what was about to happen. I let out the most air from my lungs I possibly could and screamed. Things got a little fuzzy then blacked out.
I hear a voice speaking, it wasn't clear and sounded muffled. All I managed to hear was broken, "...as...saying...you should throw more...". Cracking open my eyes, I am presented with a open wood ceiling where I can see the support beams of the shrine. I turn my head to my right and I can see two girls talking, well it looked more like arguing to me.
"And as I said, YOU people never clean up afterward! I always have to do it and it takes me days! Honestly if you and that drunk oni want to throw parties, actually lend a hand next time... sheesh...". Proclaimed the girl in red and white. "But Reimu, look at it this way. If you throw more parties, more people will come to your shrine... and that means more donations."
At hearing this, the girl called Reimu stopped and thought for a second. "Maybe so... but you still need to help out with the preparations you old man.".
"Old man?" laughed Marisa, "Don't you mean hag?" at this point I could not ell what was going on anymore so I decided to just continue listening.
"Well regardless, help me out and maybe we will do it again..." said the miko while rubbing her temples. As my eyes started to focus, I could finally sit up. I chose this moment to speak up and let my new found consciousness be known.
"Excuse me," I said politely, slightly taken aback by the sound of my voice I hesitated for a second, receiving looks from both girls, "where exactly am I?" I asked. We were probably at that Hakurei shrine but it can never hurt to ask, at-least I don't think it can.
The miko diverts her attention to me and speaks, "Your at my home, the Hakurei shrine. Ah- please do leave a donation! The gods will be pleased if you do so!" she said in what seemed like a very practiced manner.
"Eh Reimu... I don't think she has any money, you did pay attention to when I was filling you in on what I know right?" Marisa said while smirking. It seems that she enjoys this.
Reimu, in what I can only describe as robotic in manor, proceeded to get up and smack Marisa in the head with a stick with some paper decorations on the top of it. This made me giggle a bit. I did feel a little bad for Marisa though. But seeing how robotically Reimu just hit her, I would venture a guess that this happens a lot between them.
I get up and join them at the small tea table. All the while Marisa is rubbing a nice sized lump on her head. I notice there is an extra cup on the table filled with tea. I take the cup and start to drink the steaming liquid.
"So, getting down to business." Reimu starts, still visibly annoyed. "You don't know exactly how you got here, you just kinda woke up here. You got turned into a girl and don't understand anything around you. Does that about sum it up?"
"Yea, that sounds right, well as right as something this bizarre can sound but yes." I reply while still sipping my tea. Honestly, what would the world do without tea? Its such a great thing.
"So, despite all this, I still don't know your name because," Reimu throws a quick glare towards Marisa who looks fairly guilty of something, "this hag never bothered to ask for your name, as hasty as ever..."
"Ah, my name is D-" I stop myself and try again, "um, my name is Rita, nice to make your acquaintance." I say while bowing my head slightly towards Reimu. Reimu returns the gesture saying her name with a curt bow. Voicing my question, "So what can you tell me about gensoukyou? Anything I need to learn or know?" I ask with excitement in my voice evident by the fact that it went up an octave.
Visibly amused by my display Reimu thinks for a second then answers, "Well first off I think it would be best to know that you may get eaten by some wild youkai. That brings me to my second point. Do you have any powers? Any abilities?"
I think for a moment about what I am good at. Well I am good with a gun, but I doubt they have guns here, my martial arts are ok I guess, I have been in a few street fights and only got hit once or twice, managing to knock-out the other guys. All in all I would say that I am slightly above average in my fighting ability.
I think about it for a second more then tell her what I think. "I know how to shoot, I can also fight to and extant. Would any of that be fine?" I ask Reimu. At hearing that I can shoot, Marisa perks her head up, this seems to have gotten her attention.
"You know how to shoot one of them 'guns'?" Marisa asks while pretending to shoot a pistol to help with her point. "I think I saw a few of those at the Kourindou." muses Marisa. She then speaks again, "But I think reddie over here was talking about magic ze." she says while holding out her finger. Out of the top of her finger, there comes what looks like a mini firework that then explodes into little tiny stars.
I stare on in awe at the mini display. This causes Reimu and Marisa to giggle at my wonderment. Surely this type of thing is amazing to people. Honestly it was very pretty. "This is only a small display of magic," Marisa says as she stops the display on her finger so as to adjust her hat, much to my disappointment. If you have ever seen someone get an idea and you swear there is a light-bulb above their head, now is when I would say this happened to Marisa, though, based on her previous display, there very well could have been.
"Say Reimu... How about we have a danmaku match? Its been a while da-ze." Marisa says while pulling out a octagonal box that fit just perfectly into her palm while gripping. "How about it. I win and we throw that party ze." declares Marisa while standing up, staring down her friend.
"And if I win, you sweep the shrine for the next week." retorts Reimu, stating her conditions while staring down Marisa with an equally aggressive stare. One thing I notice though, is that they don't appear to be mad at each other, they are both wearing smiles on their faces.
They rush outside onto the clearing in front of the shrine, it is nearing the end of winter at the time so the trees surrounding the area are barren with only a few pink flowers and some new buds on them. Reimu and Marisa take opposite sides of the clearing and prepare.
"Lets make this quick ok? One spellcard, first to hit wins!" Reimu shouts to Marisa at the opposite end of the clearing. "Your gonna lose you hag!" shouts Reimu.
"In your dreams reddie!" Marisa shouts back. They both take the the air. Suddenly the area is quite for a moment. Both girls staring at the other intently. I watch on with anticipation, my heartbeat picks up in anticipation of what is to come.