Kyoto, Japan

The afternoon before Ran and Chen's little adventure, a pair of close friends were having tea at an outdoor cafe. Renko Usami was reading a book while Maribel Hearn was studying a picture. A waitress snapped them out of their activities when she brought them more tea and crumpets. She also had a newspaper with it. She sat it all down and walked off. Renko reached for the newspaper but stopped when she read the front page.

"Mary...take a look at this." She handed the paper to her.

As the blonde read more and more, her eyes began to widen.. Luckily, she had placed her teacup on the table before she read. Her hands where shaking so hard that she couldn't hold anything. Maribel stood up and walked away from the table. Renko quickly pulled out money and placed it under her teacup. She grabbed two crumpets and ran after her best friend. The wind began to blow and caught the newspaper. As it flapped through the wind, the front page head line was visible. In bold letters, it said "Multiple Embassies bombed, rouge nuclear state of Gensokyo is blamed".

Renko finally caught up to Maribel a few minutes later. She was tired from all of that running and had tears streaming down her face. She kept whispering one thing over and over again.

"It's not true..."

Hearing her with that tone broke Renko's heart. Renko rushed forward, spun Maribel around and held her tight. At first, Maribel was surprised at what had happened but seeing who it was, she began to cry into Renko's shoulder.

"They couldn't have done anything like. All of the people from my dreams, there's no way that it could have been them. It has to be a mistake."

"There, there Mary. There's no way that they should even know about Gensokyo. But every other nation on the planet is screaming for revenge. There's even talk about war."

"But that's too much. How could every embassy be attacked at the same time? There's too many of them."

"I don't know. Even though that article was almost half the entire front page, there wasn't that much information. Are you feeling a little better?"

"A little. I still need to find out what happened. I'm sorry. I know we were going to see that movie tonight but-"

Forget about that. You're right. Figuring out all this is more important. We should go ahead and get some supplies ready. If we have to go all the way to that old shrine up north, we need to catch the last train up there. We may even have to skip lunch, so here. This isn't much, but it's better than nothing." She hands Maribel the crumpet. "We should start by stopping by my place to get our bags."

Youkai Mountain, Gensokyo

For the first time, the kappa engineers were in awe. Yukari had managed to steal an aircraft from the outside. Ran and Chen had landed the helicopter in an open space near the kappa workshops. The gap youkai had left to deal with other pressing issues. Every kappa in the area was swarming the prize, taking panels apart, taking pictures, and staring at the controls. As the news spread, everyone from all over Gensokyo had to come see the machine for themselves. The fox youkai still wore the Russian Army uniform, but had replaced the service cap with her regular twin pointed hat. Chen had the service cap and was enjoying some miso stew.

Nitori was taking a panel off the side wall when she was hit with inspration. An idea popped into her head the same moment another kappa lost hold of a modular and let it fall on Nitori's head. She looked down and saw that Nitori had a certain look.

"Ran! Hey, Ran!"

The kitsune looked up from her handgun. "What is it, Nitori? Is something wrong with the helicopter?"
"This outfit you're wearing, it's the one you took off that guard right?"

"Yes. From what Lady Yukari told me, it's a dress uniform. They use it whenever they have to promote an image."

"Maybe we should have our own."

"What?"

"It's a great idea! We can have our own uniforms! That way, the outside world can know we're serious about defending Gensokyo. And we can look great while we're doing it, too!" The kappa was boucing up and down on the balls of her feet. "We should ask Yukari what she thinks. I'm sure she'll love it."

Ran knew that once the kappa was hooked on an idea, there was no letting go.

"Fine. Let me call Lady Yukari and see what she says."

The kappa bowed and ran back to the helicopter. Ran pulls out her cell phone and dials Yukari's number. After a few rings, the gap youkai picks up.

"What is it, Ran? I hope there aren't any problems."

"No, Lady Yukari. Nitori got an idea and wanted me to pass it by you."

"Go ahead. This might be fun."

"Nitori saw the uniforms that the outside world has for their military. She got the idea that we should have something like that as well. She seem really motivated by the idea."

"..."

"...Lady Yukari?"

"Do it."

"Come again, Lady Yukari?"

"Do it. That sounds like a wonderful idea. Does she have any styles in mind yet?"

"She really seemed to like the Russian Army one I stole off that officer the other day."

"Hmm, Russian Army might be a good start. But, I want to show her a few before we settle. Tell her to come up with more ideas and that I'm going to bring some of my own as well."

"Yes, Lady Yukari."

"Tell me, are you and Chen well rested?"

"We are, Lady Yukari."

"Good. Go ahead and head out to that next point I told you about. Remember to give me a call when everything's ready."

"As you wish, Lady Yukari."

The line went dead. Ran put away the cell phone and found Nitori.

"Lady Yukari seems happy with the idea. She says she wants you to come up with a few designs and that she's going to bring some of her own."

"That's great! We can do so much with this! We add a..."

Ran just stood there, listening to the kappa shoot off ideas. Nitori's energy was enough to bring a smile to Ran's face.