~Grand Voile Library~Kyou POV~

"Ah, Miss Patchouli!"

"Oh, Koa, you took your time. And this is..."

"Er, hi. I'm Fuurin Kyou, and outsider. I came here with Marisa."

Patchouli...was both what I expected and what I didn't. Her silent but knowledgeable tone and the crescent emblem on her hat depicted her as an accomplished witch as Marisa had stated. From the book that she was reading, I can see lines of text written in some arcane language. Maybe some sort of language that only witches know?

But I wasn't expecting Patchouli to wear that of all things. I could pretend they're robes, but it's hard to describe them other than say...

"Don't start. Marisa went too far by giving me a bottle of sleeping pills. Said it helps with amnesia, and that "

...Oh, so she's self aware.

"Okay, not another word."

"Good. Now, before we start, mind telling how you came here?"

"...Oh, you don't know? Marisa used some sort of secret passage to get here, and..."

"Oh geez..." The librarian practically slams her head into the book open in front of her. "And you gave her the liberty to do practically anything in my library?"

Koakuma answered before I could respond. "Actually, she's preoccupied at the moment. Mistress Flandre is..."

"What!?" Patchouli abruptly stood up. "Don't tell me she's playing in this very library!"

"W, well Flandre-sama was getting restless, and Marisa was just there, and Mister Kyou here insisted..."

Patchouli turned her glare to me.

"...Look, I know this is your library, and a very impressive one. I apologize for any..."

"You'd better." Patchouli's heavy voice silenced me. "Do you have any idea what those two can..."

BOOOOOMM!

"Whoa!" The ground rumbled from a small but destructive explosion that came from between the shelves, luckily meters away from where we are. If either Patchouli or Koakuma were surprised, or even concerned, though, they sure did a good job of hiding it.

If anything, Patchouli's glare on me got a whole lot sharper.

"...Okay. Apparently I overly underestimated Marisa or Flandre's power."

"You sure did. Honestly, outsiders..." Patchouli took this time to catch her breath.

...And clutch the table tightly, yet subtly.

"Um, miss Patchouli? Are you..."

"No." After a while, the witch regained her breath, though quite a lot of fatigue appeared on her face. Asthma? No wonder. "It's a horrible day. My best friend turned on me, I was forced to 'babysit' her sister, of all people, and now my mortal enemy came. At least she's distracted by the moment, but mark my words..."

"Um...Miss Patchouli?"

"Please, excuse her. It's been an especially bad incident, and Patchouli had to take extreme measures that unfortunately took too much of a toll on her well-being..."

"Extreme measures?"

"A barrier that prevents anyone from entering without her will, and is impervious against any and all types of magic."

Oh. I guess that would take a lot. Even for a healthy being.

"...Wait. Then why were able to go through? Even if it was a secret passage, I would imagine that such a barrier can..."

"I'm...not sure myself. At most it should have warned us of your coming, but...maybe a fluctuation? Magic this strong tends to mess up at random times."

"So...we were lucky."

"Basically. Gods that Marisa..."

"Miss Patchouli, you shouldn't..."

"Shut up." Patchouli slowly stood straight, slowly turning toward me. Even weak with asthma, her very presence was very similar to one of a man-eating demon.

I remember Marisa saying how different true witches are compared to 'ordinary' ones. Right now, I'm ready to believe that she can literally drill her gaze into her soul.

"So, Marisa asked you to cover? You're don't seem much...but maybe I should commend you, for even coming here amidst all this."

"Well...thanks?"

"Say that after you get out of this mess. Now, where to start..."


~2 months ago~

"Remi. What's wrong?"

"Hm?"

"Don't give me that. How long do you think I've listened to your whining?"

"Wha-...that's what you say to a friend in need!"

"So there is something."

"...Dammit, Patche...It's just..."

"Make it quick, will you? I'm at a good part."

"I'm not sure...All I know is that something's about to happen. I just don't know what exactly."

"...That's not like you. Can't you use your power?"

"If I could, would I even be here?"


"Her power?"

"Remi has a special power that is very similar to one of clairvoyance. It seems that she wasn't able to see or change the coming future, which is why she consulted me."

"...So basically, she's free to do anything? Just by willing it?"

"Well, not exactly, but I'll explain that later. Anyway, I did my part to brace for anything...weird. Nothing special happened, until last month..."


"...Well, well. Patchouli. Rare for you to be out of your library."

"Hmph...Just wanted to talk."

"So much so that you took your precious energy to come here?"

"..."

"...What?"

"...Forget it, it's nothing."

"...Huh. Give your assistant my best regards, will you?"

"..."


"I'm just guessing, but...something was strange with Remilia, wasn't there."

"Well, aren't you perspective? What gave it away?"

"Your tone, for once. And the fact that your friend never referred you as 'Patche'. And, um...the fact that she stated that you went outside of here?"

"...That was sarcasm, Kyou."

"I know. Again, from your tone."

"And by the way, that last one wasn't one of the reasons. And no, don't ask."

"...Um, okay."


"Um, Miss Patchouli?"

"What, Koa?"

"Is there something wrong? You look worried..."

"It's nothing to worry your little head about. Just put these back, will you?"

"...Are we going to do another incident?"

"Huh? What are you...?"

"Dammit, Miss Patchouli! Why am I the only one out of the loop this time!"

"Koakuma, I don't know about any incident..."

"Don't play dumb with me! I consulted Miss Sakuya and Meiling, but they didn't even acknowledge me!"

"...!?"

"At least tell me what's going on, Miss Patchouli! I haven't even seem Mistress Remilia in a week, and..."

"Go get Flandre."

"...Mistress Flandre? But..."

"Explain later. Just get her. Now!"


"Thankfully, Flandre was still how I knew her. But even she realized that something was wrong with Remilia, and even Meiling. Not surprising, considering she's the sister of the former, and carries a parental bond with the latter."

"...And this happened..."

"The day before yesterday. We've been stuck here for three days straight. Flandre's been getting restless."

"And the others? You mentioned a Sakuya..."

"She's our head maid. You two might get along...She's a human like you."

"A human working for a vampire. Why did i not see that coming?"

"Oh, she's actually very devoted to working for Remi. And no, we didn't anything."

"Oh...can she, um, do anything special?"

"She has the ability to stop time..."

"Okay, she's human, right?"

"That was a mystery to me too. Personally, I think she came from the moon, but..."

"The moon, huh..."

"Yeah, Remi saw, and actually fought a Lunarian. There's no denying their existence."

"Well, that just proved how ignorant we are. Huh, there actually is a man on the moon...Next thing you'll be saying is that hte moon is actually a big blob of dairy..."

"Um...sorry to interrupt, but aren't you straying from the point...?"

"Oh...right. The incident."

"...Right. Thanks Koa. Can you get more tea?"

"Yes, immediately!"

...Damn, we went a little too far there. It was interesting, though.

"...Anyway. So, the basis is that we're stuck here until we figure out what's exactly happening, and whether we can fix this ourselves or need outside help. In other words, a coup d'etat."

"Hey, wait. How much food do you have, anyway? I don't think you thought that far ahead..."

"This is a library. I'm not going to let anyone leave a stain on any of my books, especially considering..."

KABOOOOMM!

"Marisa, Marisa, catch me if you can!"

"Hah! I can take on all four on you before breakfast! Take this!"

Beyond the horizon of a particularly tall bookshelf emerged a familiar white laser.

"...especially considering how rowdy the regular visitors are."

"I...see."

"As for your question, we witches don't need food or water to sustain ourselves."

"But what about the other two..."

Patchouli reached under her desk, and took out a large piece of paper. On it was a diagram of a very glorified triangle, with the Japanese characters of Wood, Water, and Earth.

"Uh, what..."

"Just watch."

She touched the paper with both her hands, and some magic energy or something began to flow through the piece of paper, making it shine green, blue, and yellow. Before long, a damp pile of soil materialized in the middle, from which a miniature apple tree sprouted.

"Whoa..."

"I can basically create my food using my...Cough!"

"You okay!?"

"Cough cough...Yeah, I'm fine. Just my asthma acting up..."

So this is why Patchouli can't use her full strength...Even without her sickness, she has two others to support. In Gensokyo, it must be hard at its hardest.

"...So, that's our situation. I'm glad that Marisa's here, but I'm not sure even she's up to it..."

"Um, about that, she almost lost against the gateguard. Meiling, right?"

"...That's what I was afraid of." Patchouli slumped into her chair. "Being the main...or, the only magician in this mansion, I have a general idea of the magic that flows throughout the mansion. And right now...I'm not really sure."

"You can't detect it anymore?"

"Not that. I meant...outside the library, there are three particular spots where most of the energy is concentrated. One is outside, so presumably Meiling. One is throughout covering the whole mansion, so that's Sakuya. And the point with the strongest point is Remilia, in her throne room."

"Bigger than Meiling's?" That had me worried. Meiling had almost defeated Marisa and I don't think magic was a factor here. If the supposed boss Remilia has power that surpasses that martial artist...

"Miss Patchouli, Mister Kyou, your tea."

"Thank you."

"Oh, thanks."

We both took a long sip from our cups, reflecting on the situation at hand. Having seen what type of stuff happens in Gensokyo, both jovial and serious, and getting caught in the midst in a major incident has me really feeling the weight of what I'm getting myself into.

And I gotta say...

"...By the way, Patchouli?"

"Hm? What is it this time?"

"A while back, Koakuma hear said that the barrier will last a few more hours. Is that..."

"Koakuma? You doubt my skills?"

"No! No, that's not what I meant!" Koa quickly gives me a glare, which I shrug off. "I meant...in your current state..."

"Stop worrying. I can hold this barrier as long I...Oof!"

"Miss Patchouli!" Koakuma quickly rushed to her aid, quickly supporting her before Patchouli completely fell from her chair. I also get up to see her face.

It looked far worse than her earlier attack. Her coughing fits were more frequent, and she was clutching her chest hard. How long did she have asthma, anyway?

"Here!" From out of nowhere, Koakuma produced a glass of water and brought it to her mouth. Patchouli weakly sipped the water, and after a few seconds turned into more calm and composed gulps. After downing the glass, Patchouli had regained her breath.

"...Haah. Thanks, Koa."

"Like I said...in your current state."

"You're not giving me a choice, are you?"

"Er...I'm sorry..."

"Why are you apologizing?" Patchouli ruffling the flustered, tear-eyed Koakuma would have made a very funny, yet heartwarming picture...

..if it weren't for the cold sense of foreboding that gave birth in my heart.

"Um, Patche...can I call you that? It's shorter."

"...What?"

"First off, are you okay? That asthma attack wasn't didn't look very light..."

"You get used to the ill effects of a chronic disease after a few hundred years. Doesn't mean I enjoy them, but I can live with it. Why?"

"Well, um, not might be a good time for this, but...Is the barrier still holding?"

Silence.

"...Um, Kyou? I just said that it's natural. And if the barrier just broke down with every asthma attack I had, we wouldn't still be here, now would we."

"...Okay, but what about during the attack? Does the barrier stay the same, or..."

"...It weakens considerably, so that anyone to go through, but they'd have to have an insane amount of timing or luck to pull it off. At best one second, and the barrier will fix itself. Cone to think of it, that must have been how you two..."

"There doesn't have to be luck."

"What?" Patchouli, and Koakuma who was supporting her, looked up at me. I can't see my face, but from their looks, I could say that it was very grim.

"All they have to do is to predict when exactly the enemy will let their defenses falter. Or better yet, make it happen."

Koakuma still looks confused, but it only takes a second for Patchouli to get my meaning. She looks at me with desperate eyes, and a brief silence prevails.

A silence that is broken by numerous explosions. And Flandre's yell.

A second.

That's all it took for all of us to sprint (...okay, Patchouli and Koakuma floated) towards the explosions.


~Marisa POV~

"Flandre! You okay!?"

"Yeah...But..."

"Dammit, how did Patchouli's barrier break...? It's her, I know she wouldn't..."

"Btu she did...a minute amount of time, but that's all I need." From the emerging smoke, emerged the one person that I don't wanna fight in the current situation.

"You should know, Marisa." Izayoi Sakuya stood, stopwatch danging from one hand, silver gleaming knife in the other. "In my hands...time is useless"