Epilogue

"So you're going back underground?"

"Yes," Cirno said. She and Wriggle were by Eientei's main entrance. "Utsuho had to settle something with Eirin, but I do believe she's on her way out now. I know she's going back down, and I want to go with her. Although we won't be hiding anymore."

"Why did you stay hidden, anyways?" Wriggle asked.

"At first, we were simply trying to avoid the twisted, but once they left? Well… I'm not really sure, actually. Utsuho's the one who insisted we remain hidden. I know there were concerns over how people would react to what we were doing, but… well, I'm not really sure. We won't be doing it any longer, though."

"You'll still be living in the.. "Palace of the Earth Spirits', was it?"

"Yeah," Cirno said. "Although the 'palace' part is really meaningless now, something left over from… however long ago it was, when the place actually was used as a palace. But yes, we'll continue living there. You're welcome to come visit us. Mystia, too. And speaking of the old group, what ended up happening with Rumia?"

"Eirin decided to 'postpone judgment', as she put it. Rumia's out there somewhere. The current one, at least. Ours is…"

"I know," Cirno said. "Sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"It's not a problem," Wriggle said. "Don't worry about it. Anyways, yes, I'll come to visit. And I'll bring Mystia."

"Good. I haven't seen her in… well, in as long as it had been since I last saw you. Are you living with her now?"

Wriggle nodded. "Yeah. You'll see her soon; we'll come visit together."

"Be careful coming down," Utsuho said as she exited the mansion.

"Oh, come on," Cirno said. "You, too?"

"What do you mean?" Wriggle asked Utsuho.

"Well, I'll tell Yamame and Parsee about you, so they should let you down, but… well, Parsee has something of a problem with jealousy. She strikes out at people sometimes. So be careful with her."

"I think we can handle that," Wriggle said. "Well, I should be getting back to Mystia. Thanks for the help, Cirno. Oh, and you, too, Utsuho."

"See you soon," Cirno said. As Wriggle flew off, Cirno turned to Utsuho. "It's done, then?"

"It is," Utsuho said. "Eirin gave it to me, and I took it. And it didn't tast nearly as bad as I thought. Actually, now that I think about it, it didn't really taste like much of anything. Not that it matters, seeing as how it's not something I'll be tasting again."

"I still don't think the significance has really hit me yet," Cirno said.

"It probably hasn't hit me yet, either. But it will. Anyways, shall we be going, as well?"

"Yeah," Cirno said. "Back underground, right?"

"Right. Although I'm not sure what we'll do now."

"No reason we can't keep training ourselves."

"No," Utsuho said, "I suppose there's not. You enjoyed it too, then."

"Yeah," Cirno said. "I did."

"Well, then, let's see just how far we can go."

Well, there we go. Story's done. Don't get disssapointed that it's over or anything, though; I've already got another Touhou story on the way. It's probably be... well, more smoothly Touhou, if that makes any sense. This was my first Touhou fic; I wasn't completely sure how to work with some elements, especially earlier on (I've gotten more used to it as time went on). So, yeah, the next story's likely to be better. I plan to call it 'Orphan', and it'll be up... well, whenever I write the first chapter. I hope to see you there.