Reimu's eyes opened and she looked around her. She appeared to be standing in a small grove of aspen trees. She saw that the sky was blue and the golden leaves were shivering in the wind. There was a large river moving to her left. It disappeared into a dense fog in the distance.
"What?" Reimu said, putting her hand to her heart. It was beating at a steady pace. "But, I thought..."
"You are dead."
She looked up to see a girl carried toward her on the river by a boat. The boat glided silently on the blue-grey water. The girl had a scythe leaned over her shoulder, and her red hair was tied up into two big pigtails. She was wearing a blue vest over a white dress.
"Welcome, I am Komachi. I have to take you across the river and bring you to speak to the Yama. She said meeting you was of the utmost importance or whatever." she yawned. She planted the scythe on the deck and then leaned on it, lazily.
"But...don't I get a continue or something?" Reimu asked.
"No breaking the fourth wall. What are you waiting for? Get in, unless you wanna stay on that side of the river."
Reimu peered into the boat, and took a careful step in. The wooden deck creaked as she came aboard.
Komachi tapped the edge of the boat with her scythe, and the little craft reversed course from the shore, carrying the two girls toward the gathered fog. The sounds of the river were peaceful, and Reimu found herself almost drifting off to sleep.
"So, what's it like? Dying, I mean." Komachi asked.
Reimu flinched at this intrusion into her semi-sleep. "Oh...uh...it's um... well it's not that great, really." Reimu answered. She felt that the question was a bit rude.
"I'd think it'd be a little exciting." Komachi responded, yawning again. She sat down on a bench that ran around the inner edge of the boat. She tilted her head back. "I'd like to die someday. It sure would be better than what I'm doing now." She promptly fell asleep, her snoring penetrating the river noises lapping at the boat. It felt like hours passed, and Reimu began to feel uncomfortable. Her butt hurt from the hard wood of the bench and her shoulders and lower back ached.
"How much longer?" she asked.
Komachi woke with a start. The red-haired girl put a finger into her mouth and dug at her teeth. Reimu waited for a response, tapping her foot, but the girl took her time.
Finally, she stopped digging, apparently removing whatever had been stuck, and replied, "Well, we are almost to the other side, just give it a few days."
Reimu stood up, causing the boat to rock side to side. "A few DAYS!" she yelled, her voice echoing off the fog. "Why's it gotta take so long?"
Komachi just ignored her. "Honestly, I don't see the point in my job. Why even put a river here? Why not just make it like Hakugyokurou and have stairs? Do you think they need someone to help people up the stairs? No, of course they don't!" she continued complaining, her mutters punctuated with wild jabs of the scythe.
Reimu sat back down, annoyed. She listened to Komachi while her muscles stiffened up once more and she felt her teeth grind in frustration. She whipped around to yell at the girl to shut up, but she slipped off the bench as the boat hit the shore, and her head smacked the aged planks.
"We have arrived. Thanks for taking the Komachi express." The girl kicked Reimu, who had just stood up, causing her to fall out of the boat to land face down on the shore.
"Now for the next lucky soul." Komachi rowed away and the fog wrapped itself around the boat. Reimu pushed up onto her elbows and checked herself for bruises. She found none, and rocked up onto her knees to get a good look at where she had so unceremoniously landed. Towering above her was a round, bronze building. Golden lines and symbols covered the surface. Reimu walked through an open arch and found herself in one large room. A light coming from high above her descended and beckoned her into the middle of the space.
"Welcome, Reimu Hakurei. You have been brought here because you have died. What do you have to say for yourself?"
Reimu peered above her to find the source of the young voice. A small girl holding a carved golden rod stood behind a podium on a railed balcony. A blue and white hat topped her asymmetrical, green hair. There were ribbons on her sleeves that matched the large bow on the back of her hat.
"Do you know who I am?" the girl asked.
"No, I don't believe I do..." Reimu began, confused.
"I am Shikieiki Yamaxanadu." she interrupted, very loudly. "I believe my subordinate mentioned me?"
Reimu gave her a look, implying that she still didn't understand.
"You still don't know who I am?" Yamaxanadu asked angrily.
Reimu shook her head. "No. Sorry."
"I judge the dead. In other words...you."
"Oh." Reimu said, giving the girl a sour look.
"I want to know, Reimu Hakurei, why you chose to try and stop the red mist, resulting in your death."
"Well, it was keeping everyone asleep...how would anyone donate to my shrine?"
"PERJURY!" the judge cried out, causing Reimu to jump.
"What?"
"PERJURY! You just want all the human's money for yourself! You have no good intentions in your soul!" The ribbons on her sleeves fluttered as she swung the golden rod dramatically.
"No! I..." Reimu shifted on her feet, trying to think of a less-selfish reason.
The judge pointed her rod at Reimu. "I convict you to one-thousand years in hell!"
Trumpets sounded and rainbow colored confetti showered down upon her.
"No no no!" Reimu started to cry, "I don't want to go to hell!"
"NO TAKEBACKS!" The judge screamed at the top of her lungs, as a crack opened in the floor to Reimu's left. She felt the heat come blasting out of it and she could hear the screams of a billion souls.
"But..." Reimu's tears poured out, "Who will Marisa be friends with? What will the humans do without their shrine maiden? Who will make sure the Hakurei border is kept safe? What will the gods think, if their shrine has no maiden?" Reimu sobbed, thinking about her shrine and how it might fall to ruin without her watching over it. She had never been this sad about anything before.
The judge bit her lip.
"I just..." Reimu continued sobbing, not sure she would ever stop. "I just..." She repeated, trying to find some inner reason for her troubles.
"You just what?" The judge demanded, "Spit it out!"
Reimu thought about why she was a shrine maiden. She remembered when the shrine was part of the real world, and she would stand on the porch and sweep.
"I guess...I want the red mist to go away, because if people don't visit the shrine, who will they have? The world needs something or someone to believe in." She wiped the tears from her face.
The judge's face relaxed into a gentle smile. "Well, why didn't you say so?" the judge asked, and then she screamed at the top of her lungs, "DO-OVER!"
Reimu looked up in confusion, "But didn't you say no do-overs?"
"HUSH! I'm busy!" The judged shushed her, stopping to think.
"Why did you, Reimu Hakurei, want to stop the red mist?" he judge asked again. She eyed her meaningfully.
Reimu's face brightened up as realization kicked in. "Because it's my duty as a shrine maiden to protect the faithful!" she said, proudly.
The judge yelled, "THEN I RESCIND ALL CHARGES!"
Reimu squealed with delight. "You mean I can go?"
The judge nodded with a smile. "You may go." She waved her rod.
Reimu awoke in the darkness of the mansion hallway, gasping for breath. She smiled. A knife was sticking out of the mansion's red carpet. She grabbed it, feeling the weight of the knife in her palm. She grinned, realizing what she had to do.
Marisa was being barraged from all sides. Danmaku slammed into her back and sides, trying to get at her. The books flapped their pages as they clawed at her. They pulled at her hat and it toppled off. Marisa's hakkero fell out onto the ground next to her. She grabbed it before a book could snatch it away. She felt her heart beat against the hakkero. Thump. Thump. Thump. The wooden block began to feel warm in her hands. Marisa grinned.
Patchouli pushed her glasses back onto her nose. "Serves that witch right. Koakuma saw her trying to steal some books from the storage room."
She floated away, her spell ending. The books around Marisa stopped their assault and settled into stacks around her. Patchouli flicked her wrist, and the library reverted to its original shape with a groan. She sat down at her round desk, adjusting her glasses once more. The desk was constructed from the inner, polished bark of willow trees. Piles of books covered its surface along with curled papers and pots of ink. The book she had been reading flitted to her. She stroked the spine and it cooed at her happily, settling onto the papers with page ten open. She wrapped her thin fingers around the desk drawer's jewel encrusted knob and pulled it open. She removed several pieces of a Gundam model and a bottle of glue. Patchouli began carefully gluing the piece to a portion already assembled atop her desk as her glasses began their slow slide down her nose.
"LOVE COLORED MASTER SPARK!"
Patchouli turned from her work, and saw that a bright green tornado was flying out of Marisa's hakkero. Star-shaped danmaku were sailing around the library. They kicked books off shelves and pulled open cupboards. As a book tried to get away, it was sucked into the tornado and slashed into confetti. Patchouli's face was wroth with anger.
"How dare you!" she screamed, dropping the Gundam model on the desk. "Now you shall see my true wrath, you thieving wretch!"
Marisa's spell stopped and her hakkero felt warm in her hands. It had fully charged. Marisa hopped on her broom ready for battle. "Bring it on, four-eyes!"
The librarian's bows began to glow and her body emanated a purple aura. "Now you shall face a true magician!" she taunted.
"As if!" Marisa retorted.
Patchouli screamed in anger. "Rage Trilithon High Level!" she yelled. The library began to churn once more. This time, the bookshelves pushed up against the walls, leaving a cleared area of marble floor.
Marisa covered her eyes with her hand as Patchouli was surrounded in a blinding light. Bright little orbs began breaking off and shooting toward Marisa, who couldn't see well from the glare. Dodging around the orbs, she was able to avoid being hit, but she couldn't get a good look at Patchouli.
"Toadstools! That light is strong!" Marisa said. A bright orb rushed by her. It forced her to jump to the left. She lifted the brim of her hat and reached inside. She triumphantly pulled out a pair of sunglasses. "Yeah, this is more like it." she said with a grin. She rocketed forward and aimed her hakkero. A beam of light came shooting out. It went straight through Patchouli's light, and knocked the librarian back.
Patchouli held her arms up and a shield of magic protected her from the next blast. "Not bad, witch."
"The name's Marisa," the witch replied, "and I don't see why you are attacking me...all I wanted was that treasure hidden under the Library. Not your stupid books!"
"STUPID?" The librarian screamed.
"Well, they are!" shrugged the witch.
"Emerald Megalith!" Patchouli cast her final spell. A gigantic emerald was conjured. It rose out of the floor of the library. Its shine was illuminated by candles, the facets glittering like fireflies. Patchouli hovered above it.
"If you won't get out, then you leave me no choice."
"What, a big rock?" Marisa jeered.
The librarian glared. "This rock is going to be the end of you, Marisa." The rock began to glow and hum. A huge green orb came jolting out of it.
Marisa, taken by surprise, just barely managed to get out of the way. She looked up to see the brim of her hat was on fire. "Aaah! My poor hat!" she cried out.
She waved it in the air to try and put the fire out. When it was out, she put it back on and gave Patchouli a mean look. The librarian laughed evilly. Patchouli waved her hand and hundreds of huge orbs flew out of the crystal. Marisa thrust forward, a look of determination on her face. She dodged three orbs but just as those were cleared, small rows of tiny green danmaku shot out of the megalith. They buzzed and crackled. As Marisa grazed by one, it shocked her. She toppled off her broomstick, but managed to hang above the library floor, her hands gripping the handle. She hoisted herself back onto the broom. She was now halfway to her target. The librarian smirked as she watched the witch struggle.
"I knew she didn't have it in her. Dumb blonde." she said, snidely.
Marisa's face grimaced. "What did you just call me?"
"A dumb blonde."
"I am not dumb."
"I beg to differ. You really think there is a treasure under this library?"
"I AM NOT DUMB!" Marisa shouted, her cries echoing off the walls of the library.
She catapulted from where she was floating and careened through the danmaku. Patchouli watched as Marisa flew past her bullets. Marisa reached Patchouli and slammed her fist into the girl's chin. Patchouli went flying, over the tip of the crystal, and skidded onto the library floor. Her purple eyes rolled upwards to show the whites and then closed. A key bounced out of her pocket and skittered into a corner of the library. Marisa was breathing heavily.
"Nobody, and I mean, NOBODY, calls me dumb." she muttered.
Patchouli's spell ended abruptly. The monolith descended back into the floor. The bookshelves danced back to their spots. Calmer, Marisa floated down to Patchouli's body. Patchouli was unconscious. Her glasses were askew on her face.
Marisa turned to walk back toward the keyhole, massaging her hand. She peered down at it, but saw nothing except darkness. "Hm..." she said, scratching her chin. A glint in the corner caught her eye. There, next to a cupboard, was a small, carved key.
"Ah! This must have fallen out during the battle."
She hopped over to it. It was cool in her fingers as she plucked it off the floor. She inserted it into the hole, and turned it to the right. A loud click followed by an even louder ka-thunk came from somewhere below her. A part of the floor adjacent to the wall slid back to reveal a flight of stairs descending into darkness. Marisa happily waltzed over to the stairs and began descending, a greedy look in her eyes.
"I am gonna be so rich!" she said, as she went below the library and into the dark underbelly of the mansion.