This girl. . . she doesn't look dangerous at all, the Hourai Immortal thought. Oddly enough, she couldn't bring herself to see the girl dressed in black in front of her as a Youkai. Feeding her another piece of yakitori, she looked on as the childlike Youkai took a bite out of the piece of meat. Perhaps she could bring this girl along - she is quite easy to tame, after all. However, it would be harder than ascending to Nirvana if she wanted Keine to accept this Youkai girl into the group.
I'd better perish that thought, I guess, Mokou looked down at the girl. There was nothing much she could do. The group was already ready to go, and as much as she would like to take the little girl under her wing, she could not.
"Big Shister is nicesh to me," the young girl known as Rumia looked up along the human hand which extended to feed her, her vision tracing up along the arm until her twin ruby orbs met with the Hourai Immortal's eyes, speaking with her mouth full. Mokou looked into the girl, who sat there adorably looking at herself.
She recognised me as her big sister? Right! That's it!
Perhaps there was a way to keep the girl. She asked a favour of one of the villagers beside her to help her take care of the food cart before turning back towards Rumia. Kneeling down with one leg, she enlosed her arm around her newly recognised 'younger sister's' waist, then heaved her up. The girl dressed in black was oblivious to her movement as she was busy polishing off what was left of the piece of meant in her hands, and when she had finished linking the remains off her fingers, her eyes that looked through the gaps in between her fingers found the dusty ground one meter away from her. Turning around, she found herself looking directly into Mokou, who had gritted her teeth and knitted her brows. She placed her arm below the young girl, forming a ledge for her to sit on. Her muscles tightened visibly from the strain of carrying the petite girl, who was rather heavy for her size.
Perhaps Youkai were heavier than humans due to their internal makeup?
She carried the blonde girl and walked towards her human friend at the front of the group. Try to get her attention, she started, "Hey, Keine."
The blue-haired girl noticed her friend, turning around before stepping back in shock. "What are you doing with that little girl? Put her down!" The Hourai Immortal replied with a rehearsed line.
"Oh, but Keine, this girl is my younger sister-"
"Mokou, don't try to fool me. You are over a thousand years old, and you are trying to tell me that you have a sister this young and she lived that long maintaining her youth?" the teacher spoke exasperatedly, "Please, Mokou, you are too old for these jokes."
The white-haired girl immediately corrected her previous sentence, "No, no. I meant that she is my adopted younger sister that I took under my wing when I visited Eientei. I found her with a broken arm within the Bamboo Forest, the poor girl. So I visited Eirin's and got her fixed up. Since she did not have a family - or at least she doesn't remember having a family - she started calling me her elder sister and I just played along." The blonde girl let out a "Big Sister is nice to me!", in time with her act. She silently thanked the Youkai Girl for having inserted that line at a nice timing, and continued, "I left her in the Bamboo Forest at Eirin's before I left with the food cart, but apparently she found her way to me. . . hahahaha!"
The girl with the pale blue hair raised an eyebrow, somewhat in suspecion and disbelief, but did not question further anyway. Mokou let out a sigh of relief as the teacher did not suspect a thing, and congratulated herself on her successful lying. "Mokou, say, can I touch your little sister?" the teacher asked, and was quickly replied to. "Sure!" before adding on. "Her name is Rumia, by the way." The Hourai Immortal put on a huge grin and held out her 'younger sister'. The teacher reached her hand towards the girl. Whatever happened next caused the white-haired girl to curse her luck.
The youkai girl quickly shrunk back in response, visibly afraid of the blue-haired human before her. Before Keine and Mokou, the figure of the blonde girl was soon enveloped in a sphere of darkness. The teacher immediately recognised the darkness.
"Mokou! Put her down!" the girl held up her hands in an offensive stance, fully wary of the black sphere before her. "She's the Youkai from before!"
The Hourai Immortal immediately put her nearer to herself, and the darkness soon vanished as the scared youkai girl placed her arms around her 'elder sister', trying to seek comfort in the person she trusted. Mokou took a step back, making sure her arms were shielding her 'younger sister' before replying.
"She's not a Youkai - she has had this ability since the day that I have found her. I can vouch for her that she is definitely not a Youkai, even Eirin has proved it to me!"
The teacher still held her hands in position to attack, not believing her friends words. The white-haired girl just waited for her friend's eyes to meet her's. Simply looking into her eyes, she waited as the blue-haired girl's determination softened, then eventually put down her hands by her side.
"This girl, even if you do not believe Eirin's verdict on what species she belongs to," the white-haired girl was surprised that she was able to lie with such firmness in her voice, "would still be a valuable asset to us. Think about it: she blinded the whole village's people, she can blind our enemies too." The white haired girl loosened one hand from Rumia and reached into the left pocket of her pants for the 'tupperware'. She held up the transparent box, in which the blonde girl took off the cover with her hands and picked up a piece of yakitori and indulged herself in it. "This girl is my younger sister and I am still going to take her along even if you do not want it to happen." Completely absorbed into her role as the 'elder sister' of Rumia, she gave a serious look to the teacher. The teacher did not reply, and just turned silently away.
Mokou knew her friend well, and realised that she just gave her consent in the form of silence to her friend. The white haired girl walked back towards her food cart.
Making sure she wasn't in earshot of her teacher friend, she put the tupperware onto the food cart that the villager returned to her. Bringing up her now-empty palm, she struck her newly-gained little sister's comparatively small hand with her outstretched palm.
"Who's my cute little sister?" the white-haired Immortal posted a question at the girl dressed in black sitting on her right arm, and she soon received a reply as the youkai girl turned around to face her adoptive older sister,
"Rumia is!" the blonde girl answered with an innocent smile.
The group continued to move to the Hakurei Shrine, with a flower Youkai puzzled about her own feelings, a Hourai Immortal who has gained a younger sister and the ever-determined human teacher.
The teacher, however, started wondering about the absence of a monochrome magician and her colourful puppeteer friend.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Holding onto her broom, the magician summoned a pentagram, with each point coloured with a different colour of either red, blue, green, violet or yellow below her feet. She looked upwards at her friend dressed in red-and-white, standing atop the roof of the shrine and summoning a red pentagram of her own below her feet.
"Spell Card Set! Three Lives in Stock!" the monochrome witch shouted towards her friend, who merely took out three talismans before allowing them to dissipate into red light.
"Spell Card, Set. Three Lives, Set." the Shrine Maiden replied coldly. In the dark of the night lit by only the two oil lamps on either side of the shrine grounds, the magician of black and white stood against her Shrine Maiden friend.
The rainbow-coloured puppeteer released the buckles of her grimoire, ready to open it. However, the magician turned around at the sound of the unblucking, and turned to point thr tip of her broom at her fellow magician. "Stay out of this. This is between me and Reimu Hakurei, Alice," she spoke dryly. Her puppeteer friend reapplied the buckles around her book, then stepped aside to a corner of the shrine grounds. "Don't regret this," the blonde haired girl warned her monochrome friend, who just waved her away.
"Reimu, I don't want to fight you," the magician spoke loudly, making sure her red-white friend could hear her, "but you really leave me with no choice! What is wrong with you today!" The magician finished exasperately, and was replied with a cold voice.
"I told you, I cannot help and I will not help. There is nothing you can do nor I can do."
"Who," the magician questioned, "who caused you to become like this? Why are you like a different person completely? You never reject to help the humans with incident resolving! Who is the person who did not allow you to help?"
The shrine maiden answered by jumping off the roof of the shrine, repeatedly manifesting amulets and throwing them with deadly accuracy as she flipped through the air. Marisa brought up her broom, spinning it in an effort of block the amulets as she ran to the left, leaving the amulets hitting the ground behind her, buried in the ground from the force they were thrown with. The magician stopped parrying the shots with broom as many amulets stabbed into the handle of it, instead using her hand to fire bursts of magic, shooting down the white pieces of divine paper inscribed with red. She dropped her broom, moving her hands in a flurry as her eyes moved in twitch moments, tracking down every single amulet as the pupil darted from one amulet to another. The fingers reacted spontaneously, firing green-coloured missiles. The sky was soon covered in little, individual flames as each amulet burned up before they reahed the ground, turning into ash that fell like snow, adding grey to the pure white snow that fell from the skies. The Shrine Maiden landed on the ground, brandishing her purifying rod on her right hand. Running her index and middle fingers of her left hand on the purifying rod, it started to glow with a red aura.
The magician picked up her broom, plucking out the amulets from it and dropping them on the ground. Taking out her Eight-Trigrams Furnace, she muttered a few magical incantations, and rushed forward with either weapon in her hands. Taking a heavier step onto the ground to push herself into the air, she sidesaddled upon her broom, rushing towards her opponent. She held the Furnace towards her opponent as she fired a laser from it. However, the Shrine Maiden ran towards the laser with the purifying rod held in front of her, intercepting the laser.
She casted a barrier on the rod! So that was what she was doing!
With a half-circle turn of her wrist, the purifying rod directed the blue beam of light towards the ground diagonally towards the right, and the beam detonated when it hit, causing a large, bellowing cloud of snow in the area. The figure of the girl in red-and-white soon disappeared. The witch sitting on her broom recited another magical incantation, and the broom stopped moving, levitating in the air. She turned her head, scanning the area for signs of the girl. However, she saw nothing.
"Marisa, behind you!"
The blonde puppeteer's shouts were in vain. The Shrine Maiden jumped from behind the magician, and while the monochrome girl turned around in time to block the impact of the jump kick the girl delivered, the broom rolled from the impact, causing Marisa to fall over. Thankfully, she landed on her feet, however she staggered from the blow. The girl dressed in red-and-white soon delivered a cross-check with her purifying rod to the girl, resulting in a direct hit to her chest. A blue spell flash blinded the Shrine Maiden, and she held her purifying rod in front of both her palms to block the force of the resulting blue wave that deployed from the witch's right hand.
"I declare my Spell Card! Magic Cross 「Grand Cross」 !"
A card, lined with astrological markings and start signs appeared in Marisa's hand as she held it between her index and middle fingers with an outstretched arm towards the Shrine Maiden, standing firmly on the ground in a declaration pose. The card dissipated into blue light, then infused itself into the witch's hand.
"Reimu! What is wrong with you? I don't understand why you wouldn't want to help. Tell me the truth, Reimu!" The magician tried to elicit and answer from her friend, but the Shrine Maiden simply rushed at the her with her purifying rod, taking quick, hastened steps on the surface of the snow.
She's using her powers to float above the snow, raising her speed. Quick, think of something. . .
The red-and-white Shrine Maiden did not allow the magician time to think. The purifying rod crossed with the handle of a broom as Reimu took yet another leaping attack at the witch, with both her palms holding the purifying rod before them. The whole body weight of the Shrine Maiden caused Marisa to shift her right foot behind her left in an 'L' shape as she, too, placed both her palms onto the handle of the broom to provide extra support.
Quick, think! You won't be able to support Reimu for that long! The monochrome magician's body literally screamed at Marisa as she felt her arm starting to buckle from the force of the continuing assault. She forced herself to ignore the pain as she tried to think. In a split-second, an idea flashed before her.
Momentarily letting one hand away from the broom, she fired a red bolt of lighting at her opponent, forcing her opponent to release the magician from the lock, and dodging the attack with a somersault to the right. Marisa took advantage of that movement, and immediately gripped her broom with two hands as soon as she was released from the lock and did a horizontal slashing motion with her broom.
"Magic Cross 「Grand Cross」!"
The Shrine Maiden was hapless against the attack as she went through the motion of dodging the previous attack. A horizontal line, drawn with pure magical energy flashed blue as it appeared before Reimu, with another line, albeit vertical, intersecting the former as the magician brought down her broom vertically. Four points of light appeared at the ends of the two lines, with another four lines instantly forming, joining all the points with each other. The monochrome witch muttered one line of magical incantation, and almost immediately, the cross detonated into a brilliant yellow, the lines flaring with magical energy.
Immediately, a flash of red left a talisman on the Shrine Maiden's hands as she clenched her hand, crushing said object. Not expecting a Spell Card Counter, Marisa was thrown backwards, hitting herself against the exterior walls of the shrine as a red spell circle deployed from the Shrine Maiden.
"Declaration: Divine Spirit 「Fantasy Seal -"
The Shrine Maiden disappeared before Marisa's eyes as she felt a hard blow to her back, sending her crashing against the snow-covered ground, cutting a path through the snow.
" -Blink-」"
Reimu finished, fading into reality, standing before the downed Magician as she lost a 'life'. Opening her mouth to speak, she said dryly, "There are some things better off not known. Just. . . leave. I do not want to fight you, Marisa." The Shrine Maiden bent down towards the Magician, holding her head up forcefully, "Besides, you should be well aware of the fact that you are not strong enough to beat me in a duel." The human dressed in red-and-white let go of her hands, allowing the magician to fall, back into the snow.
"Reimu Hakurei, I'll teach you a lesson!" the puppeteer deployed a spell circle as she attempted to open her grimoire. The grimoire was left on the ground as the shrine maiden appeared point blank in front of Alice's face and threw it aside. The magician stumbled backwards, half from the shock, half in sheer horror from how fast the Shrine Maiden was.
"I would advise you two to get back home now. It is late, after all." The Shrine Maiden returned to Marisa, speaking wistfully. "I wouldn't want to hurt you more, would I?"
The magician lying on the ground disappeared into a mere circular white object.
"Love Sign!"
The Shrine Maiden turned around, only to witness various coloured rings forming in a straight line, with her being sandwiched between two rings.
"「Master Spark」!"
With that exclamation, a huge, multicoloured beam of light deployed from the Eight-Trigrams Furnace, blasting towards the Shrine Maiden. The snow in the shrine grounds instantly vapourised from the intense heat energy of the blast of light, leaving behind nothing but the scorch tiles that lined the shrine grounds as it ended. The puppeteer immediately stood up and picked up her grimoire, running towards her magician friend.
"What have you done? Reimu is not there at all! You know that you are not supposed to kill her, yes? Why did you use that attack on her?" the blonde puppeteer threw the barrage of questions at the offending magician, completely shocked by the outcome. However, the Magician merely walked where she formerly was as she picked up the broom.
"She was never Reimu."
The puppeteer gave the magician a puzzled look, so the magician explained further. "Reimu never fights by setting up a barrier on her purifying rod. She never, ever does that. Besides, her speech patterns totally do not fit her. The Master Spark wouldn't have killed her anyways." The monochrome magician continued to speak, "I set up my "Test Slave" familiar to take the place of me while the 'Reimu'," Marisa brought up her two hands, bending her index and middle fingers of both hands in a signal that meant 'inverted commas' before continuing, "was busy dealing with you, and prepared my Master Spark. I think I saw the fake Reimu drop into the ground before my Spark hit her. Not sure of it, though."
"So, you mean that the person we just fought is behind this?" Alice fired another question at her friend.
Marisa lifted her hand up to her hat, pushing it upwards a little before she replied, "That person who fought me just now, she must be it."
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
