Disclaimer: Touhou belongs to Zun, and the only things that belong to myself would be Usagi the mimic, and Moegi the japanese beetle. Everything else belongs to their rightful owner.

Y/N: Daily, hmm?

A/N: Yeah, yeah...

Y/N: This doesn't feel like daily.

A/N: Yes, I realized this.

Y/N: Why is it not daily?

A/N: I'm having problems getting myself to write. Last chapter, I was originally planning to make it a single part.

Y/N: You still have time to go back and do that - You haven't even begun to write the next chapter yet.

A/N: I... ...You're right. Fine, I'll go back and make it longer.

Y/N: Good girl.

A/N: Do you have to treat me like a dog...?

Y/N: Yep~

A/N: You didn't even have to stop and think about that...

Y/N: Of course not, my little doggy. Oho? Seems calling her a doggy made her blush...

A/N: That's... not why I'm blushing.

Y/N: Then why?

A/N: You called me your doggy.

Y/N: Ahh, I see~

A/N: A-anyways, how about we get on with the show?

Night, Outside World, Renko's PoV:

I let out a groan as I caught my new hat once again after it had tumbled onto the ground and begun to roll away on its brim like a tire, I muttered as I placed it back atop my head, "I don't get how she does it..." Looking to the sky, I noted that it was 7:58.

Giggling at my misfortune, my partner in this farce replied, while holding her own hat due to the sudden strong wind, "I think she uses magic, Renko."

Letting out a sigh, I admitted, "Why do you have to choose such times to make so much sense..." The two of us had decided to dress as the well known black-white witch. Curiously, the costume emporium had all we needed to look just like her. Took a couple hours to actually find the stuff, but when we did it looked just as it was supposed to, apparently.

Grinning a bit, Mari replied, "Because I like it when you let out those cute little sounds!"

At that my brow twitched just a bit, but she didn't seem to notice. After a long silence, I let out another sigh, and replied, "The sounds I let out are far from cute..." They're more like grunts, if anything, or so I thought. And how could a grunt be cute? Simple answer: They can't be, as far as I am concerned.

Chuckling, the usually bubbly blonde replied in a more sedated manner, "So you say." Just by that, I already could tell that she didn't agree, but I hardly cared. Let her think me... cute. Let her watch me with that cute grin of hers. Let her giggle as I blush at her ever watchful eyes being upon me. I don't mind her disagreeing, as we get to talk more for it. Passes the time.

Sighing one last time, I asked, "I wonder how long until we get picked up for the party? I expected to have the ground fall out from under us by now..."

Continuing her bit of calmness, Maribel countered, "Well, maybe we weren't meant to receive the invitation."

Furrowing my brows, I replied, "I doubt a youkai would make such a careless mistake..."

Raising a brow, she countered again, "Well, youkai are people too. People make mistakes."

Raising a brow right back at her, I said, "We are probably one of the few pairs of humans that know of them, and they just happen to drop an invitation on us?"

Sighing in return, she simply replied, "Yup."

Shaking my head, I stated, "I call BS. There's no way that such a thing would happen."

Furrowing her brows, she answered, "There very much so is a way, it's just that there's a slim chance."

Groaning, I began to speak a counterpoint, but found myself gobbled up by a great hole in the pavement below. We suddenly found ourselves falling through a vortex of eyes momentarily. Purple eyes. Just like the ones from-

I landed hard on my rear, I found myself on the outskirts of a field of dirt, which was bordered with a fair bit of grass. Moaning in pain, I chose to point out the obvious, saying, "That... hurt..."

As my hat slowly drifted down onto my head through the gaping hole filled with eyes, I noticed that we were in a pumpkin patch. There had to be at least a hundred ordinary pumpkins somewhat near us. They were without face or fire, making them only slightly intimidating. What is it about pumpkins that makes them so...?

From beside me, Mari brushed her rear of dirt, and asked, "So, you going to stay down there all night?" She let out a short giggle, offering me her hand.

Accepting the hand, I felt myself suddenly being pulled to my feet, as I expected to be. That girl always was good with upper-body strength for some reason or another. Brushing off the back of my own outfit, I looked up and found the hole in the air that was lovingly termed as a 'gap' by the one who creates them, or so Mari says, to be gone. Smiling to the girl that picked me from the ground, I said, "Thanks, Mari." Looking away from said girl, I began to look around, finding my fancy little witch hat to be on the ground beside where I had landed, and so I bent and picked it up, placing it firmly atop my head.

Before us an ethereal maid asked, "You two are human, aren't you?" She had an odd gleam to her eye as she asked this, which made me a bit nervous. By the way Mari took a slight step back I could only guess that she was also unnerved by the ghostly girl.

Stammering a bit, Mari decided to say one of the things that would suit the bearer of this outfit just fine. "N-no, I'm a youkai!"

Grinning quite literally from ear to ear, the maid asked, "Really, now? Then I'll have to inform you that you'll have to take your true form for this party, Miss Youkai~"

At that the two of us flinched, causing the maid to simply grin wider. After a moment, I stiffly said, "Neither of us... have one."

Giggling, the woman said, "Impossible. All youkai have one! Heck, even some humans... If you really are a youkai, then you must!"

I wasn't sure if that was true or not, as Mari would be far more likely to know, but I decided to simply give in. Sighing in defeat, I said, "Fine, fine, we're human! Jeez..."

Giggling, the maid said, "I already knew that. I can feel your life force slowly draining as we speak... That only happens when I'm around humans." At that bit of truth, the two of us backed away from her.

Nervously, Mari asked, "You... you're draining our life away...?"

Giggling to herself, the happy little maid replied, "Well, I am a poltergeist. But you don't have to worry your pretty little heads. That's far too slow a process to affect guests that won't even be around me the whole night enough to make a difference. At most, you'll probably lose a few minutes~"

Swallowing, I asked just to makes sure, "You mean we'll die a few minutes sooner?"

Nodding, the maid replied, "Mmhm~"

At that the two of us looked to eachother, before Mari asked, "And... where do we go from here?"

At the question, the maid pointed behind us, and the two of us looked over our shoulders to see a grand mansion of a generic color and look. It looked like something made in the 1800's - nothing like the scarlet mansion owned by a devil that Mari spoke of. Closing my gaping mouth, I swallowed, and turned my head back to the maid, before saying, "Well, we'll be seeing you later then..."

Grinning, the poltergeist replied, "That you will~ Sooner than you think, most likely."

With that ominous little statement said, the two of us headed for the mansion. It took us a minute of walking, but eventually we arrived at a pair of oaken, open double doors. They were simple in design, but quite large. Although, as soon as my attention left the pair of doors, my jaw just about flew off my face it dropped so quickly. Inside the building was every sort of magical creature imaginable, many looking alien to us, but we managed to spot a few. There were ogres, orcs, a dragon, a troll, and many less easily identifiable creatures.

Looking about the inside of the building, Mari asked, "Is this... real...?"

Looking about as well, I said in disbelief of my own words, "It... it may be..."

Feeling her reach over I suddenly felt her pinch my cheek quite hard. I then proceeded to wake up.

I wish that were the truth, but I continued to be awake. Instead, my cheek now hurt a bit, and I rubbed at it. From beside me, my partner said, "I guess it is, if I'm still awake..."

Reaching up, I pinched her cheek quite hard. "You're supposed to pinch yourself, idiot..."

Rubbing her now sore cheek, my stupid partner said, "W-what was that for, Renko...?"

Simply smiling at her, I replied, "What do you mean? I merely helped you wake up..."

Gulping, my friend asked, "Y-you're not mad, are you?"

Mad? Me? With that same smile, I replied, "Well, let's go in, shall we?"

Sighing, the normally smiling girl replied with a frown, "You're mad, aren't you..."

With that said, I continued to ignore her and headed in. Not wanting to be left behind, Mari rushed after me.

My smile soon faded away as we walked through the sea of monsters that was curiously parting for us. Eventually we came upon the poltergeist again, who seemed to be carrying drinks. I proceeded to walk past here, but she called out to me, saying, "Hey there, humie! Want a drink? I've got wine~"

I quickly put a hand over her mouth, not that it would help anything. Afterwards, I looked around, and found the youkai to be avoiding us still. Letting out a sigh of relief, I said, "You know, calling people human at a party like this is pretty dangerous..."

Giggling, the maid asked, "So? Will you take some wine?"

Before I could say no, Mari grabbed a pair of glasses from the tray, saying, "Don't mind if I do!"

I let out a sigh at that, and replied, "Mari, is it really a good idea for us to be drinking...?"

Frowning at the comment, she replied, "It would be rude if we had none."

I palmed my face with an open hand at that, and said, "Fine, but if I get eaten I'm going to haunt you."

Giggling, and handing me the second wine glass, my idiotic friend answered, "Fine by me! If you get eaten, I'll probably get eaten too."

I let out a sigh at how blasé she was being about it, and took the wine from her, taking a sip. "...This is pretty good..."

Grinning, the poltergeist exclaimed, "Thanks! We brew it ourselves~"

Raising a brow, I asked, "So it's moonshine?"

Furrowing her brows at the question, the maid said, "No! It's made with all the love of any brewery. It's wine that I made with my own two or so hands!"

Blinking in confusion, I asked, "...'Or so?' "

Giggling at my confusion, I was surprised when Mari answered, saying, "I think that means she has more than two arms."

Nodding her agreement, the maid replied, "Of course! I must take care of all of the chores, so growing a few extra hands, and arms, and bodies to attach them to is just common sense!"

In the crowd, we could have sworn that we heard someone shouting something about common sense, but I ignored it, saying, "So... you grow extra people...?" I mean, from Mari's tales of Gensoukyou, that is far from strange, but that's still a bit...

Nodding, she replied, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, "Of course! My sisters and I are a workforce to be reckoned with~"

Sighing, I said, "I'll bet you are..." Beside me, Mari was sipping her wine happily, not having a care in the world. I simply let out a sigh at her carefree manner, and said, "Well, let's get going. We need to do things one does at a party, and talking to the hired help hardly seems a good way to spend our time." While I said that, I truly meant that I'd rather keep the loss of my life to a minimum. Who knows how precious a few minutes of life could become in the future?

Stopping her sipping, my friend replied, "Fine, fine." After a moment of silence, she asked, "Hey, where is the snack table?"

While I considered what might be on a snack table for youkai, and hoping that the obvious wouldn't be there, the maid pointed towards the western side of the great dance hall if the main door were considered south. To the east there seemed to be some big event going on, but we can head there later when less people are gathered.

Giggling to herself, Mari said, "Thanks, Miss Maid~" As Mari said her thanks to the maid, I dragged her along by the arm towards our destination. As was the usual by this point, we were given a wide berth by the youkai.

When we finally arrived, Mari saw fit to remove herself from my hold with ease, and made her way to the table. On it were a wide array of sweets with a Halloween feel to them, although the flaming pumpkin pie was far from an ordinary sight. They had a wide array of snacks and sweets ranging from what may be pumpkin doughnuts all the way to what is probably pumpkin- Blinking in surprise, I carefully brought my hand near the flaming treat, and upon finding it to be just as cool as the invitation, I nabbed a piece and popped it in my mouth, carefully chewing the soft little powdered blob. Chuckling to myself, and taking another piece, I said, "I never expected mochi at a western party..." Popping the other soft blob of mochi into my mouth, this one having a layer of icing or something on it, I added, "This place is alright."

I looked to my partner, and let out a sigh when I saw her to be stuffing her face with sweets. From cookies to pie, she was devouring everything much like that ghost she likes to speak of when speaking of glutony. Still don't get what makes a ghost so hungry, though... Then again, I doubt anyone does. It just sounds like the sort of thing there is no answer to.

Wiping a dab of the creamy filling of a donut from her cheek, my friend popped her finger in her mouth, presumably licking it clean. Seeing that I was watching her, she smiled, asking, "Isn't this great? So much free food!"

Feeling the need to point out the flaw in that, I said, "Sweets aren't food."

Pouting a bit, she retorted, "Tell that to the younger vampire sister..." As she spoke, she pointed a ways further down the table, where a certain blonde bat with an interesting pair of wings was stuffing her face with a tad less fervor than Mari, perhaps in part due to both her size and lack of actual hands. Although, she was curiously grabbing things with greater ease than you would expect of someone with nothing but what look like tiny tree branches lined with crystals to grab things with.

Remembering being told that said vampire apparently lives off of sweets was enough to wrest a sigh from myself, and I returned my gaze to Mari. "Mari, you also said that the maid laces those with blood... A lot of blood, at that. So, in the end, they're just a means to an end. They are made a meal through ingenuity."

Continuing to pout at me, she added, "And yet they're still sweets."

I let out a sigh of defeat. I really didn't wish to argue over something so silly, so I said, "Fine, you win. Finish your 'meal', and we'll go look about the party a bit more."

Nodding, she turned about and faced the desert table once more. She reached for pastry after pastry, gobbling them all up. She's probably going to gain a few pounds from today, but that's her problem.

After a good ten minutes, Mari finally said, her stomach ever so inflated, "Okay... I'm done."

Shaking my head, I replied, "What am I gonna do with you...?"

Rubbing the back of her head, she answered, "Ehe... Well... I can't help it!"

Raising a brow, I replied, "Yes you could have. Quite easily, at that."

Pouting a bit, she tried to make an excuse, saying, "But it's western food! You know how much I love western food... It's been years since I last had some..."

Sighing, I retorted, "Again, it's not food."

Ignoring my remark, she said, "Imagine if you had to live off foreign food for years upon years... Wouldn't you jump at the chance to eat all you can of food you grew up on?"

Looking to her breasts, I asked, "So you grew up on sweets? No wonder they're so large..."

Shaking her head, Mari answered, "No, I didn't, but you should still understand my plight... I love western food, and to have to live off of everything but it for as long as I've been in japan, it's just..." She let out a sigh, not sure what to say after that.

Sighing myself, I said, "Fine, fine, I won't judge you on it so harshly. Happy?"

Brightening instantly, the blonde exclaimed, "Thank you, Renko! Thanks for understanding." She then proceeded to hug me, causing me to nearly drop my glass.

I couldn't help but blush a little, and after calming down a bit I returned the hug awkwardly with my free arm. I honestly wasn't sure what to do in this situation. I didn't mind having her this close, but it felt as if I should push her away to regain the status quo. In the end, I held her near for a bit too long, not that Mari seemed to mind. After a full minutes hug, I released her.

The two of us stood there, averting our eyes from each other for another minute still. It wasn't an uncomfortable silence - we were perfectly comfortable to just stand there. It wasn't until we heard a beastial roar that we and everyone else around turned towards the eastern end of the building, where the crowd had dispersed a bit from by now.

Looking to eachother, we silently decided to let curiosity get the better of us, making our way over to the other end of the great hall. As we made our way there, another large gap swallowed us up, and we fell into nothingness.