Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Touhou characters, settings or any other original material created by ZUN or any other affiliates. All Touhou copyrights belong to their respective owners.

Okay... been sometime since I returned to this story. Just want to get these chapters out of the way first, before the start of my exams. Thought a foreseen hiatus should be compensated by a good chapter, so here's one... at least, I hope it's a good chapter. Enjoy.

Ch. 21: Left right centre

Winter was fast coming. Before Kirisame Marisa knew it, another year would have passed. She would have gotten older. Marisa rubbed the bags under her eyes sleepily; she certainly felt old.

"Hey, Marisa, here, have a warm drink," Alice smiled and passed her a glass of eggnog. It was near midnight, and Marisa was over at Alice Margatroid's house. Sleepover. Between teenagers (outwardly anyways) way past the age for having sleepovers. Marisa looked over to the coffee table in the sitting room piled with books, chemicals and chalk used to draw magic circles. Okay, so it was not the sort of usual sleepover. Whenever Marisa went over to Alice's house, the usual topic on the table was magic.

"Getting chilly isn't it?" Marisa observed.

"Hmmm…" Patchouli Knowledge murmured, and pulled the coat serving as a blanket tighter around her. Patchouli had joined them this evening, and as the first to start feeling sleepy, had taken the couch. Despite her layers of clothing, her act of pulling the coat tighter around her body accentuated her curves, which was not that hard to do if you had plenty of curves. Marisa huffed, and turned to observe Alice. Alice herself was wearing her night clothes, with a dress tee as a top. The dress top adequately demonstrated that Alice was not without ample curves herself.

Marisa looked down at her own chest. A year had almost passed. So contrary to her previous sentiment, why doesn't she feel any older at all…?

Marisa got up from the kitchen table and walked over to the fireplace. Seated there was Reimu, hugging her knees to her chest, trying to get warm. Out of all the girls, Reimu was probably wearing the least cold-warding clothing, consisting of her usual costume with its tank top, detached sleeves and whatnot. She was also the most slender amongst them, a little under Marisa in terms of figure… Feeling a sort of fraternal bond with Reimu, Marisa sat next down next t her and leaned on her shoulder.

"Wh-Wha…? H-Hey, geroff me," Reimu shook her head sleepily. She had nearly fallen asleep by the fireplace.

"Were you asleep?" Marisa asked.

"I was…" Reimu grumbled.

"I suppose it's getting really late," Alice said, eyes not showing the slightest bit of tiredness. Patchouli too was wide awake now, still lying on the couch, staring in the general direction of the fireplace…

"Marisa, I said get off…" Reimu was gradually getting heated with embarrassment at her current situation. Marisa's head was nodding off on her shoulder, drool dripping down from the corner of her mouth, the viscous liquid slowling sliding down Reimu's skin…

…Huh? Is Marisa drool- Urgh, Ugh! Reimu abrubtly pushed Marisa away from her, causing Marisa to hit the floor and yelp in pain. "M-Marisa! Ugh! You drooled on me!" Reimu got up and started wiping off the drool, flicking it back at Marisa.

"Hahahaha…" Alice and Patchouli laughed. "Ah… Marisa, if you want to sleep, you should take the futon," Alice suggested. "You too of course, Reimu."

"Thanks," Reimu walked to the kitchen table as Marisa rubbed her injured head sheepishly. "I will after I drink something first," she grabbed herself another glass of eggnog. "Sigh… why am I even here in the first place?"

"Good question. Why are you even here in the first place?" Patchouli asked from the couch, pulling her body up a little against the couch arm so as to sit up a little.

"Ask Marisa," came Reimu's reply. "She dragged me here."

"I was at Reimu's place," Marisa explained. "Thought it'll be nice to not have to go alone."

"What, do we scare you that much?" Alice asked, half openly jocking, half secretly serious.

"I'm surprised you have to ask after so long, Alice," Marisa jockingly retorted.

"If you ask me, we're more terrified of you than you are of us," Patchouli admitted half truthfully. "And really, there was no need to bring Reimu here," Patchouli said, careful to let only the sincerely concerned part of her be heard. "It's not like she's enjoying herself."

"I'm not," Reimu plainly agreed.

"Aw, c'mon! It's more fun with more people-ze!" Marisa threw her arms up and stretched. "It's like a sleepover!"

"With tedious, redundant research," Reimu yawned.

"Not to mention you nearly exploded my house. Again," Alice reminded Marisa rather irately.

"And no games or anything, on top of that," Patchouli pitched in. Not that she would have played them…

"What? What's wrong with no games? Magical research is fun!" Alice defended her favourite past time.

"Your fun…" Reimu said sarcastically.

"Don't just look at me, it's her favourite past time too," the seven coloured no-lifer pointed to the seven day no-lifer on the couch.

"Heh…" Patchouli gave a small sheepish smile, then leaned onto her side and propped arm on the couch arm, and her head on top of that. "Though I have to admit, Marisa," she addressed Marisa, "It's not bad having gatherings like these once in a while."

"See! Even Patchouli agrees!" Marisa grinned. "It's just nice to hang out with your best of friends, isn't it?"

"Best of friends?" echoed Alice, Patchouli and Reimu with various degrees of disappointment.

"Yup! … What?" Marisa asked, sensing the slight shift in mood. "We're… friends aren't we?"

What Marisa truly wanted… After the incident with Sakuya, she had come to realize that what she wanted was…

"Are you content with just that level, Marisa?" Alice, the most disappointed of the three let slip.

"Content… with…?" Marisa repeated tentatively. Alice… guys…

"She's asking if you're really of the age to still be thinking of parties," Patchouli quickly covered up.

... Huh?

"Whuzzah? Where did that come from?" Marisa was genuinely surprised. Alice looked over to Patchouli, her eyebrows slightly knitted, mouth open as if to say something, but then simply turned away to look at the fireplace, relief overcoming the anger. What was she thinking! Letting it out like that…

"Hmmm… Marisa," Reimu squinted her eyes in scrutiny. She decided to play along…

"Wh-What?" Marisa asked nervously. She did not like the way Reimu was eyeing her. It told her she had a nasty verdict…

"You're never going to get married," Reimuu said after five seconds of consideration, with at least three seconds dedicated to reviewing the validity of her verdict three times.

"Huh?" Marisa exclaimed. "Why?"

"Hahaha… How very true…" Patchouli laughed into her coat sleeve.

"Why?" Marisa asked again. This was insulting…!

"T'ch, who would marry you?" Alice allowed herself a smirk. Making fun of Marisa was always very cheering.

"Yah? And who would marry you Alice?" Marisa fired back. In response, Alice twirled around and pulled down on her dress tee seductively and teasingly, further emphasizing her very much more womanly body.

"Naisu bodei!" Reimu chuckled, and looked over to a fast blushing and indignant Marisa.

"Gah! You're not much better, Reimu!" Marisa pointed out, eliciting a retributive chuckle from Patchouli.

"Oh, quiet Patchouli!" It was Reimu's turn to be annoyed. "And what about… you…" Reimu immediately regretted her outburst.

"Largest assets," Patchouli shamelessly and flatly declared, putting a hand under to heave up her referenced assets, her expression a well polished pokerface.

"I… can't believe you just did that…" Marisa said, slightly seeing red. On the other hand, a highly annoyed Reimu was whispering to herself, "… It doesn't matter… It doesn't matter… It's not the body that determines the marriage…"

"Speaking… haha… Speaking of which," Patchouli allowed herself a little laugh at the scene, but decided to change the topic to diffuse any anger. "Speaking of which, is Marisa even of marrying age? You're around Reimu's age, aren't you Marisa?" It was so difficult to keep track of Marisa's age. Marisa's lifespan was so much shorter than hers. Than Alice's.

And Marisa was just content to just stay friends… Doesn't she know she'll be gone soon? Patchouli looked at Alice. She could tell Alice was thinking the same.

"Uh, well," Marisa began, snapping both Patchouli and Alice out of their anxiety. "Depends on my drinking age," she said secretively.

"That's like, fourteen, maybe even twelve in Gensokyo…" Alice said. "You can't be just fourteen, can you?" Alice had always seen Marisa as a woman. A full-fledged woman. Fair game.

"You know her real age, don't you Reimu?" Patchouli asked. It was vital to know her age… how much time was left…

"Can't tell," Reimu said, turning to look at you. "Wouldn't be right letting some people know, won't it?" she continued to look at you.

"Whatever…" Patchouli disregarded Reimu, who took to staring obstinately at the window. Sigh… she'll just base her estimate on the worst case scenario then, and estimate that Marisa had about what… sixty years left? In any case, she too, like Alice, viewed Marisa as a woman.

Over in Alice's head, Alice had been secretly waiting for the response from Reimu as well, her mind on the same thing as Patchouli. Ah… Looks like she won't tell us Marisa's age, Alice thought sadly. So that leaves me with what? Sixty years approximately?

Both Alice and Patchouli mentally sighed. They had on numerous, separate occasions, actually asked Marisa to consider to become… like them. Magicians. Love lived beings, living far longer than the average human. They both knew the methods, they both could change Marisa, forcibly if they wanted too… But Marisa had also just as many times obstinately turned down the offer. Although Marisa had admitted to considering it before, ultimately she turned it down. Both Alice and Patchouli took it as fear of change, but they knew Marisa had deep, personal feelings, and never forced her against her will. Still, the temptation was great… and each time they suggested it, they attached to it the sweet carrots of long life, greater experience of the world, greater time to explore, research, investigate and have fun in general…

Sometimes Alice and Patchouli sickened themselves. They knew they were not asking for Marisa to chase a longer life for her sake. They were selfishly asking her to chase it for theirs. But still… but still…

"Yawn…" Alice, Patchouli and Reimu all anticlimactically let out their drowsiness at the same time.

"Oh? Haha… I guess we're staying up waaay pass our bedtimes," Marisa said, and grabbing Alice and Reimu by the hand, dragged them to the couch Patchouli was sitting on.

"H-Hey…" Alice and Reimu began.

"C'mon!" Marisa forcibly got all three of them to squeeze in with Patchouli, who was a little startled at Marisa's actions.

"M-Marisa, what are you doing?" Patchouli asked, a little annoyed. Reimu, Marisa, Alice and Patchouli was the sitting order. Patchouli was a little annoyed at being forced to squeeze in with three others, and a little annoyed at being at the other end…

"Aw, c'mon…" Marisa snuggled up to a heavily blushing Alice. "It's cold! Let's cuddle!"

"Wh-What's gotten into you?" Reimu asked, on behalf of a speechless Alice.

"Shhh… isn't this nice?" Marisa asked, rubbing her face into the flushed shoulder of Alice. "It's almost like we're young again."

"It… kind off does, I guess…" Reimu got into the mood and cuddled with Marisa.

"What are you talking about? You girls are young," Patchouli grinned, and relaxed. I guess these sorts of things are nice… Patchouli cuddled into Alice's other flushed shoulder.

"Just… spare me…" Alice managed. The other three giggled.

Later that night, when Reimu and Marisa had fallen sound asleep, Patchouli turned to Alice. All four of them were still on the couch but frankly, Patchouli was considering moving over to somewhere more comfortable.

"Hey… Alice, you awake?" she whispered.

"Yah?"

"You want to move? I can't sleep like this."

"Nah…" Alice gently moved her shoulder to shift some of the weight of Marisa's head to another spot. Alice savoured the warm feeling Marisa's cheek left on the previous spot, and the feeling of the rest of her cold, bare skin being warmed by that same cheek. It was such a nice feeling, this warmth… "Can't move. Marisa's leaning on me," she said a little tauntingly at Patchouli.

"Lucky bastard," Patchouli allowed herself a mild expletive and a small, good-natured smile.

"You want to switch?" Patchouli offered.

"What? How distasteful are you? Marisa's not a commodity to be shared!" Patchouli smirked. "You keep her!"

"If I get to keep her, I'll keep her forever," Alice smirked back.

"… Ugh… You guys… Stop this perverse conversation," Reimu grumbled sleepily.

"Oh? You're awake?" Patchouli asked. "Wait? D-Did we wake Marisa too?" she asked nervously, afraid Marisa had heard their conversation.

"Nah… She's sleeping like a rock…" Reimu leaned deeper into Marisa and hugged her a little tighter. What time was it anyway...? Zzzz…

"Hmmm…" Alice started to drift back into sleep too. Across Marisa, Reimu had already fallen back asleep.

"Hey, Alice," Patchouli asked, keeping her up a bit longer. "What do you think?"

"What…?" Alice croaked out.

"The pace things are progressing…" Patchouli whispered. "I don't think… never mind… just don't think anything's going to happen by waiting, is all..."

Alice's eyes opened, although she remained completely still.

"I know," she breathed into Marisa's hair.

P.S: After all this TIME! I just realized that ? ! does not show up if I don't put a space in between them! Oh...! Argh! That makes a lot of my sentences lose their tone... Grrr expletive expletive expletive... Too late now... Not going to go about fixing all of them...

P.P.S: Also just realized ! ! ! does not show up either... nor does ! ? ... Someone please just tell me I'm stupid... or the system's stupid either one...