AN: The small peek into Reimu's affairs...
Interlude – Yumeko, again…
"Patchouli, we need your help…" – The massive wooden double door was violently opened by Reimu's kick. It took almost full hour for her, Ran and Suika to get into the Scarlet Devil Mansion grand library. Since the mistress of the mansion was not in the cooperative mood, the Hakurei Miko asked her companions to persuade the older Scarlet the hard way, while she herself entertained the chief maid.
Dropping unconscious Sakuya on the sofa and leaving the fox and oni to deal with aftermath, Reimu wandered deeper inside the labyrinth of bookshelves. Unlike Marisa, the miko was not impressed by the variety of magical books. She disliked the unhealthily stale air inside this hall, full of ancient and not so manuscripts. Koakuma, the demon librarian, was nowhere to find as well, so it was impossible to ask for directions.
"L-l-l-la-d-d-d-y P-p-p-patchou-l-l-li," – The tiny frightened voice reached the miko who was ready to blow up the entire place, after walking circles for several minutes. Following the sound she discovered the hidden door behind one of the shelves and opened it without any thoughts. The view made her frown. There were three persons inside the tiny, almost empty basement-like room. The trembling Koakuma was standing in front of the collapsed magician, armed with some kind of arcane tome and orb, which could look comical if not the situation at hand. The third one was the reason of Reimu's displeasure, the very annoying, arrogant and extremely ruthless head maid of Pandemonium Fortress, Yumeko. She was standing with a relaxed smile inside the sophisticated magic circle that was drawn on the floor.
"Lady Yumeko… How…" – The little librarian was at her wits end. It should have been the simple summoning of some low level demon from Makai as an experiment but instead something terrible appeared. Even rural and young demon like herself knew about this woman in the red dress with white apron.
"You are quite rude, little one…" – The cold carefree smile on the otherworldly maid face scared the Patchouli's familiar senseless.
Yumeko turned her head toward entrance and smiled more warmly when she saw the frowning miko. She slowly made one step out of the magic formation, forcing it to crumble without any effort – "I was looking for you, the Hakurei miko. It is pleasure to meet you again…"
"I would like to avoid meeting the likes of you…" – The rude answer that came out of Reimu's mouth almost made Koakuma pass out from terror. The miko shrugged her shoulders and waited for the maid to come closer, completely ignoring the little librarian – "It is just your princess and that stupid friend of mine got into accident…"
"Yeah-yeah, I am sorry for my outburst. Still, it seems that Yakumo took care of my blunder, so let bygones be bygones," – Such nonchalant remarks got on Reimu's nerves. After all it was not a simple outburst, that hellish maid had almost killed her best friend! Not that Marisa was not at fault though…
"What are you doing here?" – Instead of prolonging the useless exchange of words, the miko decided to get to the main topic. There was no a hint of fear in the girl's eyes. Yumeko was courteous to some extent so Shinki had accepted the deal with Yukari. As long as they would manage to get Alice back, everything should be good.
"Oh, so much hostility…" – The Makai maid continued to smile. She walked closer to Reimu and patted her head – "You grew up a splendid young woman, Hakurei…" – Yumeko looked at the fainted magician – "I presume that this person could help us to find our princess?"
"Us?"
"Princess?"
Reimu and Koakuma, both had their own questions about the last statement. Both were ignored by Yumeko, who surprisingly gently picked up the unconscious Patchouli and moved toward the exit…