"I count six people now, all females too." Chiyuri stated. "Are women more gifted with magic, or are they the only ones gutsy enough to do this?"

Yumemi replied, "I can't say for sure, but six is enough for now; at least one of them should be good enough to take back to the university."

Chiyuri questioned, "So, do you know what the contest will be?"

"Why yes," Yumemi said, "I've formulated it within a matter of moments. Let's introduce ourselves now."

"Um."

"What is it now?"

"What if someone else comes?" Chiyuri asked.

"Shoo them away. And don't make me look stupid."


What looked like some kind of door opened on the side of the pyramid structure, and a path lead down to a balcony for conveniently giving speeches. Two figures walked down the path; one of them was a woman with short red hair and red eyes, wearing a red vest and long red skirt over a white long-sleeved shirt. The other was a shorter girl with yellow pigtails and yellow eyes, who was wearing a white sailor uniform, a white hat, and a blue neckerchief. The red-haired woman addressed the audience, "Welcome one, welcome all!" The six participants stopped what they were doing and focused their eyes on the speaker. "I am Yumemi Okazaki, and this is my assistant Chiyuri Kitashirakawa."

"Hi!" Chiyuri blurted out.

Yumemi continued, "You have come to partake in a contest to hopefully win whatever your heart desires. But before we get started, I want you to introduce yourselves: tell us your names, a little about yourselves, and also how you acquired your magic." She made an aside to Chiyuri, "Get out the clipboard and start taking notes." She told the audience, "Don't be shy now; just stand over there and give us an introduction."

"I'll go first!" Marisa insisted. She stood in front of the crowd, between the guests and the balcony where Yumemi and Chiyuri stood, and spoke, "I'm Marisa Kirisame, and I'm a witch! I wanna be the best witch ever! See that woman over there, the one in the blue clothes? She's Mima; she's also a witch! She's been teaching me magic for a while now. She told me that learning magic is easy, because, like my mommy and daddy told me, my great-great-great-great-whatevers were youkai hunters, and they knew all these magics that were needed to fend off the youkai, and I guess I have that ability as well." She then struck what looked like a pose, "MAKE NO MISTAKE! I WILL WIN!" She then went back to Mima.

"Next." Yumemi reminded.

A woman with a long red ponytail stood in front of the audience. She wore a purple robe with red floral markings on it and a yellow ribbon in her hair. She looked on with her red eyes, "My name is Kotohime. As you can tell from the name, I am a princess of rabbits, but I am more than just that. I am also an enforcer of the law of Gensokyo. I have come here today to procure something to add to my collection, and also to make sure none of you act in an unlawful manner."

"What about your magic?" Yumemi asked.

"My magic?" Kotohime repeated. "Ah yes. I am like the girl who came before me; I come from a line of youkai hunters. You'll find that most Gensokyan humans are like that. Otherwise, I have nothing here to add. Respect the law, and it will respect you." She left.

"Next contestant." Yumemi sounded.

Reimu went up and addressed everyone next. "Hello. You probably already know who I am, since my family is famous in the human village, but our guests are new, so I'll say that I am Reimu Hakurei. I am the next in line to protect the Hakurei Boundary, the same boundary that you two must've bypassed somehow."

"Oh! So that's why getting in was so hard!" Chiyuri mentioned.

Reimu continued, "I too have inherited my powers, but my powers are different. They are not magics in the purest sense of the word, but the summoning of divine powers. It works like magic, but it's not something anyone can use. Only virgin women of my family bloodline can use this power. You see, in my family, there are always two children born in every generation; one to continue the bloodline, and the other, who must be a girl, to actually protect the Boundary. That's why I'm being taught by my aunt instead of my mom, since my aunt, Misao Hakurei, is the current shrine maiden, but because of that, she can't get married and have kids. I'm going to replace her eventually. Also, Aunt Misao put me up to this. If she hadn't, I wouldn't be here right now." She went back to the crowd.

"Very good, child! Next!" Yumemi said.

The next speaker was a young woman with long purple hair, who was wearing a white lab coat. Her small round spectacles covered her purple eyes, she had a yellow ribbon on her chest, and there was a white ribbon in her hair. "I am Rikako Asakura. I am a woman of science. I too can wield certain magics, but I value science above all else. After all, were it not-"

"-BLASPHEMY!" Reimu erupted. "Science is worthless! There is only magic and divine power!"

Rikako directed her gaze at Reimu, "Perhaps in Gensokyo, where magic makes anything possible, but think for a moment; do you think the human race would have lasted for as long as it has had it not been for the scientific process? Biology, geology, physics, chemistry, astronomy, so many disciplines of science influence us in every way, and you would deny that?"

Reimu answered, "Of course! Science never did anything for the people devoured by youkai! And the Boundary was not created with science, but with magic!"

Rikako's voice became sharper, "Listen little girl, I don't care if you are the future Hakurei shrine maiden, if you don't shut your mouth right now-"

"-Okay, that's good enough, Miss Rikako Asakura." Yumemi interrupted. "You may go back to the others now. No need to get excited just yet. Next!"

Mima floated in front of the others, "I'm Mima. Like Marisa said, I'm a witch. You may've noticed that I have a ghost tail where my legs should be. That's because I had a mishap in the past. As for my magic, I'm like everyone else; I inherited it, but I didn't get anything special like the Hakurei girl; just ordinary magic. However, word of warning; if Marisa doesn't win, I will. I can promise you that!~" She said with a smile before returning to the crowd. She thought to herself, wow, lying comes so naturally to me, "A mishap in the past," that's classic!

"Okay, just one left now. Go on, don't be scared!" Yumemi reassured.

The last speaker was a girl wearing a blue maid's uniform with a white apron in front. She wore white elbow-length gloves and a white wide-brimmed hat with a red ribbon to the side. She had medium-length blonde hair and yellow eyes. She said, "H-Hello. I'm Kana Anaberal. I'm not like everyone else here, for you see, I'm a poltergeist. I was originally human a long time ago, but when I was a human, my life was nothing but misery. I didn't realize it at the time, but I was very mentally unstable, and I would always see or feel things that weren't really there; things that scared me, hurt me, and made me feel terrible. Over time, it got worse and worse. Eventually, I just couldn't take it anymore, so I got hold of a knife and killed myself. I then came back as a spirit. For the first time since I could remember, I was free from the delusions, and I felt true happiness for the first time ever. I took up shop in a European mansion, and the owner didn't mind me haunting the halls. However, recently, the owner started ignoring me, and I became very lonely, but then I caught wind of a contest. If I win, I want a new home, that's all I ask. Oh, also, poltergeists are magical beings, so I guess using magic is just a part of my nature now. Thank you all for listening." She returned to the crowd.

Everyone (except Mima) became downcast from hearing Kana's speech. Chiyuri was wiping tears off her face with a handkerchief. Yumemi, trying her best to hide her anguish, addressed crowd, "Now that we're done introducing ourselves, you're probably wondering what the contest is. It will be an elimination tournament. If my studies of Gensokyo are correct, you people love to settle things with magical duels. This is what you'll do: in the first round, there will be three one-on-one duels. The winners of these duels go on to the second and final round, which will be the three winners fighting each other to see who is number one. I will decide who fights in the first round. The first heat will be between Marisa and Rikako. The second heat will be between Reimu and Kotohime. The last heat of the first round will be between Mima and Kana. Now then, Marisa and Rikako, get ready."

Rikako asked, "What are the rules?"

Yumemi became flustered, "The rules? Um, I didn't think that far ahead . . . keep shooting at each other until your opponent falls down or admits defeat. There will be no ties nor time limits."

"What are the boundaries?" Rikako asked.

"Uhh . . . anywhere within my line of sight. Now then, stand away from the crowd and face each other, but don't start until I say so."

Marisa and Rikako took their positions. Rikako had strapped what looked like a rocket pack on her back. "I'll show you that magic alone will not win duels." she told Marisa.

"Your science is nothing against my strength as a witch!" Marisa responded.