Scarlet Devil Mansion, Gensokyo
It felt strange to be back in the mansion while she still wore her old uniform. The only modification that she made to her uniform was to put on her maid headdress. To Sakuya, it was combining her past and present lives.
She opens a door and looks at her guests. "This'll be your room. There's a second one attached directly through the door over there. Milady has told me to make sure that both of you are comfortable during your stay here. We usually don't have many guests around here. But I'm sure that everyone will be happy to have both of you around."
Maribel and Renko were amazed by the luxury that was in front of them. Neither of them had ever seen such comfortable beds and soft carpets before. Sakuya felt a sense of pride at their amazement. "I do try to keep everything in the mansion in order. I hope you find it acceptable."
"But…a mansion this big…how do you…" Renko couldn't form the question she was wanting to ask.
"How do I do all of this by myself?" Sakuya's eyes began to have a sparkle in them. "I have fairy assistants that I finally managed to train, but it was all me before then. You see, I have a special ability."
Before the pair could blink, the maid had disappeared. Then they turned around when they felt a presence behind them. They turn and she Sakuya with a smile still on her face. "It's a surprise the first time you see it. I know the feeling. But I can stop time and move around."
"Stop time…how is that even possible?" Renko was stunned.
"I'm not too sure about the science behind it, I rather think of it as magic," Sakuya's smile faded away. "I hope that you don't feel uncomfortable around me because of it."
"Of course not!" Maribel walked forward and took Sakuya's hands in her own. "I know how it feels to have a strange power. I've had to keep mine a secret for my entire life. It gets a lot easier when there's someone that accepts you for who you are that always stays next to you."
Sakuya smiled again. "Thank you. That does meant a lot to me. I should be on my way, Milady probably has more things she wants me to take care of. If either of you need anything at all, please don't hesitate to ask us."
With a bow, she turns and walks back down the hallway. Maribel and Renko sit down on the couch at the end of the room. The sun had begun to set, casting an orange glow around everything they saw. The sky that was visible through the window was empty, not a plane or person flying about.
For the next few minutes, the pair sat in silence. The events of the day replayed themselves in their minds. Neither of them had expected any of those events to end up like they did. Renko felt something heavy in her pocket. Pulling it out, she realizes that she completely forgot about the Colt Single Action Army revolver that Ran had given her.
Maribel stares at the firearm, a tired look on her face. Seeing it reminded her of what they had to do at the shrine. Even though she hadn't been able to kill anyone, she still felt regret at having to fire at another living person. But she knew that by agreeing to help Yukari, she would be forced to actually kill someone eventually.
The door opens, interrupting their thoughts. A head with short blonde hair pokes in and looks at them with red eyes. Recognizing her as Flandre, the pair stand up. Even with Flandre's appearance as a child, Maribel and Renko was still a little uneasy due to her being a vampire.
"Don't worry, I just had a small snack," Flandre smiles. "I was just wondering if both of you would like eat some dinner. It is getting a little late after all."
The two humans remember that their last meal was before the battle. They nod and Flandre leads them to the dining room. On the table there, a rich and diverse array of food stood prepared for them. The fairy maids immediately have red wine ready for them and serve all three of them.
In front of them, Maribel and Renko have French onion soup, steak frites, baguettes, Comté and Bleu de Bresse cheeses, mousse au chocolate and mille-feuille. The smells of the food played with Maribel's nose, making her mouth water and her stomach rumble.
"Go on, you're welcome to anything on the table. If there's something that you would like, please ask. You're our guests, after all." Flandre took a sip of the water in her glass. "Unlike my sister, I'm not really into wine. I prefer chocolate milk."
As the trio ate, they were joined by Remilia and Marisa. Maribel and Renko explained the events that caused them to arrive in Gensokyo when they did, getting an approving nod from the ordinary magician.
"Both of you ran through that artillery barrage and getting shot at without being hit? Sounds like you two got some serious danmaku skills," Marisa nodded. "I'm sure that Remiu's grateful that you protected her shrine from that attack. That might buy you some time from being shaken down for donations."
Patchouli chose that moment to walk in. She had an exhausted look on her face and downed the entire glass of wine in one gulp. Remilia gave her a sad shake of her head when the librarian took a big bite out of a slice of baguette. "I've never seen you this hungry, Patchy. You might end up eating the entire mansion at this rate."
Waving the comment away, Patchouli responds. "That medicine the Lunarian gave me helped my asthma but gave me a big appetite. Even though, it might be my body's way of telling me to eat better."
"I wonder, could she give me something to make me immune to the sun," Remilia muses. "It would be nice to not have Sakuya carry that parasol everywhere."
"Milady, I don't mind carrying it around."
"Don't worry, I was just going to have you carry around my rifle instead."
Sakuya couldn't think of a response. Remilia looked at Marisa as she began to eat a mousse au chocolate. "I have a feeling that I should ask you why you're here."
Flandre leaned towards Maribel and Renko. "Marisa doesn't live here. She just likes to visit a lot. I even asked Sis about giving her a room here, but she refuses."
"You know that you think of me as another member of the family," Marisa grinned. "You still owe me for the time you kicked me into that fight on the moon."
"I invited you to the beach party when Remiu got back!"
"Beach party? You mean the one with the small pool, two bags of sand and the middle of winter?"
"Those two do that all the time. Don't mind them." Flandre took a bite of steak. "How's the food?"
"It's amazing." Maribel could hardly explain the tastes that she was experiencing. "I've never tasted anything like it before."
"The fairy cooks will be happy to hear that."
"Anyway, I have a favor I want to ask the two of you." Remilia had stopped her argument with Marisa to talk to Maribel and Renko. "It's about the mission that Yukari's going to send you on."
"Sis, I hope you're not asking them to destroy the British all by themselves," Flandre sighed. "Anyway, aren't you always stopping me from destroying in the first place?"
"I'm not going to ask them to do something that extreme," Remilia scoffed. "I want to be the one to deliver the final strike against them. What I will ask is this: I'm going to write a letter that I would like delivered to the Leader of the House of Lords. Can you do that for me?"
"A letter to the Leader of the House of Lords?" Renko blinked in surprise. "I don't think that we could do that. We're not exactly going in as tourists."
"I know. But Yukari has faith in you, so I will too. How about this: I'll write the letter and give it to you. Then if you get the chance, you can deliver it. If you can't, it's not a major problem."
"When you put it like that, it seems not so bad." Maribel nodded. "We can try."
"Good. That's what I wanted to hear." The Scarlet Devil took a sip from her wine glass. "You're probably wondering what the story is behind me and the British. It's a long story and all of us have had a long day. I'll be happy to tell you tomorrow."
Clinic, Eientei, Bamboo Forest, Gensokyo
Eirin had read over the service record for the fifth time ever since she had gotten back. She kept reading it even more, wanting every detail she could find. Her patient begins to stir, prompting her to put the file down. She grabs her stethoscope and rolls her chair next to the bed. Noticing that she still had her old uniform under her lab coat, she debates whether she should take off her ribbon rack. She decides against it, it would be hard enough to do this with them anyway.
Reisen Udongein Inaba begins to groan in pain as she regain consciousness. Eirin reaches out and pets her on the reassuringly. "Don't move so much, you're still wounded. The battle's over."
"Master…is that you?"
"It is. I'm right here next to you." Eirin rubs the metal disk of the stethoscope to warm it up. "I'm going to check your vital signs. Don't lash out."
Reisen stiffens. "Master, I…"
"Pulse is good, heart rate is good. I know about your condition. The amount of dead bodies that you left in that clearing made it obvious. You shouldn't have gone into battle if you were this bad." Eirin was careful to keep her voice and tone firm but gentle. "There's no shame in asking for help."
The moon rabbit stayed silent. Eirin was careful to keep her lab coat from hindering her movement, just in case of worst coming to pass. Tears began to form in Reisen's eyes. She felt so hurt that her own master was uneasy around her.
"Reisen, you're in a delicate state right now. I know that you won't hurt any of us, if you were back to normal. But with this mental state and your powers, I can't take a chance. This is to protect you more than us."
"Master, what are you talking about?"
"I'm pulling you out."
Reisen couldn't understand at first. But once it clicked, she felt even worse than before.
"It was my mistake not having you out of the main part of the battle. I should had you in one our support positions. Even if you weren't able to use your full skills, it would had been a lot better to ease you in. But it's too late for that now."
"Master, I can't stand back and watch everyone else fight."
"Then you need to come to terms with what set you off in the first place. I know your service history." Eirin walks over to the desk and grabs the service file. Sitting down on the chair again, she opens it up and puts on reading glasses. "You started out in the 2nd Regiment of Foot, then you were transferred to the Royal Special Development Combat Command. There you helped to test out new weapons and equipment being proposed by the research department. Following a few decades there, you were transferred to the 1st Regiment of Royal Foot and made the aid de camp to the Watatsuki sisters. Your unit was the first one to face off against the assassins during the Lunar War. The section that you were in was on the mountain range were we had the worst friendly fire incident in our history. It was at that time when you fled from the field of battle."
Reisen stayed silent. She had been to enough performance reviews and this was triggering her training. Eirin was done reading the file, so she tosses it on top of the bed next to her. Taking off her reading glasses, the doctor looks her patient straight in the eye.
"You had an exemplary career. Why did you run?"
"I treated everything like a game."
"I need more detail than that."
The moon rabbit took a deep breath. "Every time I've been in battle, I've always treated it like a game. I realized it when I was with the SDC Command. First, I was proud that I was making sure that only the best was getting to my comrades. But then I saw what happened when their equipment failed. After that, I saw firsthand that none of this was a game. So many of my friends died and it didn't hit me until I was on that mountain. Then that artillery barrage…"
"You distanced yourself from the effects of battle. I saw the awards that you have on record. Numerous citations for being the last survivor of many battles, impossible raids, and risks to rescue your comrades when they were pinned down. So many after action reports have the soldiers you rescue wanting you be recognized for your bravely. They even appeared at panels to testify in favor of you being awarded medals."
"But I left them, I can't ever look them in the eye again."
"Running from a situation like that is normal."
"I couldn't keep a promise I made back then."
"A promise to who?"
"One of the assassins. I ran into him and killed him over a piece of paper. It turned out to be a picture of his family. He had a letter that was stained with his blood, but I promised to rewrite it and deliver it. Then another assassin appeared but I accidently killed him too. I still have the letter."
Eirin sits there for a minute. Then she stands up. "Where is this letter?"
"On my desk, Master."
"I'll be back." She walks out of the room, leaving Reisen there. About thirty minutes later, she returns. "There, you fulfilled your promise."
"How, Master?"
"I gave the letter to one of Reisen's General Staff. They're going to give it to one of the soldiers that Yukari let come back into Gensokyo to gather the dead bodies. I gave them strict orders to make sure that it's delivered."
"Thank you, Master."
"It's been a long day for all of us. I need you to get some rest. Your wounds should be fully healed in the morning."
"Yes, Master."
"One more thing, Toyohime and Yorihime wish you well. They miss you and would like for you to think about coming back to the LDC."
"But, I'm happy being under you, Master."
"I know. They also offered me the chance to come back as the commander of the 1st Regiment of Royal Foot. If I do accept, I'll need a good aide de camp and bodyguard."
"What about the Princess, Master?"
"She wants to see the world, even if it's only on the battlefield. It sometimes slips my mind that she's trained the same way as every other soldier in the LDC. She doesn't have as much power as I do, but she's still a strong woman. It's time I treated her as one."
Eirin leaves, letting Reisen sit there with her thoughts. A few minutes pass, then there's a knock at the door. Reisen looks up and sees a familiar face looking back at her. The commander of the 4th Regiment of Royal Foot herself had come to visit her. She walks in and sits down in the chair that Eirin left.
"How are you feeling?"
"I've seen better days."
Reisen II nods. "I heard about what happened in that clearing."
"I heard that you're a Regimental commander."
"Princesses Toyohime and Yorihime felt that I was the right person for this post."
"Are they treating you well?"
"I like being with them. They talk a lot about how they miss you too."
"I miss them too."
"Are you…coming back soon?"
"I don't know…"
"If you come back, there's always a spot on the staff of the 4th."
"Thank you."
"I know that you need your rest, so I'll let you go." She stands back up. "The Regiment's about to head back for the Lunar Capital as soon as the remaining human soldiers get sent out of Gensokyo. Lady Yukari doubts that there'll be another attack until at least next week. Get well soon."
