Touhou Gensokyo Girls

Episode 26 Flames of rebirth (Everlasting bird)

EIENTEI: midnight

The bamboo forest was everything but silent, as two immortal beings engaged in combat, fire and deadly bullets destroyed everything in their path, the local animals were scared away and hundreds of bamboo trees didn't survive that night.

Reisen got up from her bed after several failed attempts to fall asleep, she put on an extra robe to shield off the chill of the night, she found Eirin and Tewi sitting at the opposite sides of a small table playing cards.

Eirin looked up as Reisen approached them, "Can't sleep?"

"No Master, do you have any idea how much longer they will keep killing each other?" Reisen asked as she looked out of the window, where she saw colorful stars colliding with burning bullets, creating flames in rainbow colors.

Tewi smiled as she cut in, "FOREVER! They are immortal you know." She also drew another playing card.

"But 'I' don't HAVE forever! " Reisen shouted back, trying to outshout the noise that the battle gave off.

"Come on Reisen, sit down, play with us." Tewi pushed her into playing cards to divert her from the booms and yells from the outside.

"Sure, why not..." Reisen said and sat down, but she had serious difficulty concentrating on the game as the noise outside got louder and louder.

Eirin, who sensed Reisen's discomfort said, "don't worry, they are about to launch their final spell for tonight." she assured the sleep deprived rabbit, who perked up a little.

And no sooner did the sky explode in grandiose rainbow colored flames. And then, total silence...

It wasn't long until Kaguya wandered into the mansion, her clothes were torn and burned, and her body had been skewered by several deadly bullets. Was it not for the immortality elixir, she would have been dead several times over.

"So, who won?" Tewi asked genuinely interested in the outcome of the im-mortal combat.

"it was a draw.." Kaguya answered in an indifferent tone that clearly told everyone, that she didn't care, "We blasted each other with that last spell."

"I will prepare some new clothes for you right away, your highness." Reisen rubbed her left eye while saying that and then she yawned loudly.

"You look tired Reisen." Kaguya observed, very concerned about her servant.

Reisen bowed her head in apology, "Sorry, my lady, I still haven't figured out how to sleep from the noise."

"You are a rabbit and you do have rather long ears." Kaguya teased her with a glint in the eyes.

"So has Tewi. But she doesn't seem to have a problem..." Reisen was really tired and that made her a little grumpy, she felt that it was unfair that some could tolerate the noise.

"I'm just used to noise, that's all." Tewi hastily replied to heed off an unwarranted discussion with a sleep deprived Reisen.

Knowing her apprentice's limit, Eiring decided to take over from here, "Just go to bed Reisen, I will take it from here." she said with soft smile.

"Thank you Master. Good night everyone." Reisen bowed and went back to get some sleep.

BAMBOO FOREST: night

Outside, the other combatant was equally wrecked, "Well that was one more pointless fight." Mokou said to herself as she traveled home, rubbing the base of her neck with a hand.

She was tired and in so much pain that she couldn't walk straight, but she was now so used to pain, that it didn't really matter anymore, it only meant that it would be very late before she got to bed.

Back in the day, she and Kaguya fought with hatred and ill intent, but now, hundreds of years later, it was mostly just to feel somewhat... alive.

Sometimes in the past, Kaguya would send someone else to kill her, even though she knew that it was futile.

But now the past barely mattered anymore.

Despite the pain, she actually found the long walk relaxing, "So peaceful tonight, it's like even the youkais are sleeping." she began humming a simple tune as she continued her travel towards home.

When she finally arrived at her little home deep within the bamboo forest, she opened the door and used her pyrokinetic abilities to light up the house and keep her warm and comfortable.

She sat down with a cup of tea and leaned back in her chair, "What should I do tomorrow?"she thought, being Immortal gave her, literally, all the time in the world, "Let me think, it's a weekend tomorrow, so I could go and visit Keine." she pondered it for a moment, "I'll take a trip to the village tomorrow morning." She finally decided before going to rest for the night.

BAMBOO FOREST: morning

Mokou woke up at her usual time that morning, she was still very sore from last night's battle, but all her wounds were mostly healed overnight and for the most part she felt just fine.

She got out of her bed, got into her clothes and made some quick breakfast, which mostly consisted of mushrooms from the surrounding area, she grilled it with her smoldering hand.

As she sat in silence, enjoying her meal, she began to wonder why Keine hadn't visited her in a while, "well she probably has her reasons, being a teacher and all, kids these days are hard to control, but nevertheless, I will see how she holds up anyway," She finished her meal and took flight.

When she arrived over the human village, she noticed that there was a lot of commotion, "Some kind of event, maybe?" she muttered to herself and landed a bit outside of the village, just so she wouldn't attract too much attention.

Mokou wandered around casually in the little town, while she was looking for Keine's house, she saw some dealers with many new shiny items from the outside world, one of them tried to wave her over, but she ignored him, she mostly just found it interesting to see how technology progressed over time, it was a good way to reminded herself that the world around her evolved.

Mokou turned a corner and there, Keine's house stood, "finally, I was beginning to think that I was lost." she thought as she walked up to the front door and knocked.

No sooner had Keine opened the door to see her old friend standing outside, than Mokou greeted her with a soft smile, "hello Keine."

"Mokou!" Keine said joyfully and embraced Mokou in a big hug, "come inside, I got tea and biscuits."

As they sat around a small table in the living room, Keine asked eagerly, "What brings you out here?"

"Aside from visiting a friend, nothing really." Mokou said with a grin and took a sip from her tea,"So how are things around here?" she asked in turn.

Keine shrugged her shoulders, "not good at all I'm afraid, you see there have been a lot of youkai attacks lately."

"Sounds pretty serious!" Mokou replied gravely.

"One of my students lost his parents a few days ago." Keine said when tears began to form in her eyes.

Mokou was shocked by the sudden outburst of emotions, "I think its the first time I have ever seen you cry!" she said while stroking Keine on the head.

"...I promised to bring the criminals to justice... But I can't find the ones responsible." Keine wept in sheer frustration, for a number of minutes before she took a deep breath to calm herself down, "I have been getting help from a new friend, you remember the magician Alice?"

Mokou thought for a moment, "Alice... The one who was together with that completely over-the-top witch?"

"Marisa, yes, Alice has been looking around for clues in my stead, while I protect the village." Keine explained.

Mokou asked in a somber way, "Has she uncovered anything at all?"

"I haven't heard from her yet." Keine answered

For moment no one said anything at all, until Mokou asked, "If there is anything I can do to help, just ask?"

"Please, keep your eyes and ears open for anything related, and just be around in case of future attacks. That's all I ask." Keine pleaded, she really pleaded, when she changed her mind, "it would be an honor if you would stay at my home for a while." she said as she bowed so deep that her nose touched the floor.

Mokou looked slightly baffled by such a deep gesture, but she smiled because she knew how much this meant for her friend, "I would gladly stay over, its so long time I have slept at someone else's place."

"Thank you my friend." Keine said relieved, "I feel so much safer when someone is watching my back."

Mokou lay a hand on Keine's shoulder, "no one will hurt you as long as I am here."

A bit later someone was at the door again, Keine opened up, and Reisen stood outside, "Miss Udongein, please, come inside."

"Thank you miss Kamishirasawa, I've got some few news to tell." Reisen replied and walked inside.

Reisen followed Keine to the living room, where Mokou sat sipping tea, as soon Reisen saw the long haired Mokou, her blood froze and she just stopped in confusion, "why is she here?!" she whispered to Keine.

Mokou, who could easily guess what that was about, turned towards them and said to Reisen, in a calm yet irritated manner, "Relax, I am not going to start a fire, or what else you are afraid I might do." Mokou replied coldly, "I'm here because a friend asked me for help."

"I'm sorry Lady Fujiwara, please forgive my behavior, it was ill mannered of me." Reisen, bowed in apology, sat down and was handed a cup of tea.

Mokou looked indifferent but at least her tone was polite, "apology accepted."

Deciding to get to the point, Keine stopped further small talk, "Reisen, please tell us what news you bring."

Reisen took a deep breath and began, "I have been told by my fellow rabbits that we have seen no youkai activity in the Bamboo forest, and it has unusually quiet lately, some of us thinks they simply moved away."

Mokou nodded, "Yes, it has been very quiet, these past days, but this is not the first time it has been quiet for long periods."

"There is more." Reisen continued, "My master have looked up our lack of medicin sale, and it shows that a month ago, a lot of youkai medicine was sold, several times more than normal, but now our sales have been very weak,"

Keine put the information together in her head, then asked the question that formed, "so what you are saying is that all those youkai have disappeared somewhere?"

"What we think is, that they may have moved closer to humans." Reisen was completely serious with that statement.

"Then It's worse than I feared, they could attack from everywhere, and in packs they would be difficult to fend off." Keine's blood drained from her face and she looked to be rather pale.

"it sound like some kind of scheme to me." Mokou, who weren't on the best of terms with youkai as it were already, sniffed disdainfully.

Reisen nodded in agreement, "Yes I believe so too, but we still only have a vague idea of the numbers that have gone missing, however it's somewhere around thirty.."

"That MANY?!" Keine got even more worried.

"Yes, if not more..." Regretfully Reisen had to be blunt and realistic, even if she didn't want it to be that way.

Keine looked bleak, "...Let's hope Alice finds them... before it's too late..."

...To be concluded...