Luigi finally stepped out the portal back into the main field of the Dream World.

"Okay, what the heck."

He looked at the now THREE maids.

Next to Mugestu and Yumeko was a green-hair girl, also in a maid outfit. Luigi couldn't help but think that the green one was a bit soulless-looking...

Yumeko was the first to pounce. "Ah, Luigi's back. Never had a doubt for a minute."

"You're the one who was saying 'oh lol look at him suffer i hope he suffers even more'." Mugetsu argued.

"Pics or it didn't happen." Yumeko had a smug face.

"Waaah?" Mugetsu pouted. "That's unfair."

"I should have a picture in store." The green hair maid smiled.

"Do not, Ruukoto!"

"R-Ruukoto?" Luigi was utterly baffled. Every time he completed a trial, a new maid spawned. And of course, here was no different. What would be left of them after the third trial? A silver-hair maid? Luigi couldn't possibly imagine any SILVER hair maids. Then again, this is Gensokyo, so that option couldn't possibly be considered 'off the table' for now. All Luigi could do is bite his tongue in prayer that he doesn't jinx himself.

"Aaah. This is Ruukoto." Mugetsu pointed.

Ruukoto softly waved. "So, I heard you went through trials, and this was your..."

"Second one..." Luigi mumbled.

"Sooo..." Yumeko kept her smug attitude. "How was it?"

Luigi pointed down. "You, Yumeko. Sit down."

"Huh? Who are you to-" Yumeko was quickly interrupted by Ruukoto shoving her onto her behind with a broom. "Hey! What was that for? That's genuinely abuse!" She whined.

"Remember, we were brought here to comfort Luigi if he needed."

"So why'd you shove me-"

Luigi walked over to Yumeko. The maid getting into a deep sweat due to... probable fear. "Wait, I'm sorry I was such a bully-" Before Yumeko could fully get her apology out, Luigi stopped moving altogether. He then started to topple down forward.

"Wah, Luigi's falling-" Mugetsu panicked, but Luigi calculated it and landed his face right on Yumeko's legs.

"Waaah!" Yumeko nearly screamed. "He's using me as a lap pillow but with his face down?!" The sheer horror on her face could be easily overlapped with any kind of horror film. Speaking of horror, Yumeko felt something "A-and I can feel his BREATHING!" The maid blushed from this odd situation. "You're lucky this is a well-clothed dress, otherwise I'd smack you!" She threatened Luigi.

Mugetsu stared in awe at this situation. "You mean you don't like someone breathing on your dress and probably your legs too?"

"Heck no! It's WEIRD!" Yumeko nearly yelled. Just then, she felt something... A stain on her white apron. "Great! Now I have to wash it... Or do I? Do you have to wash things in the Dream World-AAAh!" She got cut off when Luigi's breathing got irregular.

Wait, stain on dress? Irregular breathing? Yumeko slowly stopped her protests as she realised.

Luigi was crying.

"She was gone too soon..." Luigi stifled through sobs.

Yumeko slowly headpatted the face-down plumber as he cried through her lap.

"I want Koishi back..." Luigi mumbled.

"It's that rough, huh?" Mugetsu pondered.

Ruukoto breathed a simple sigh. "I've only just met him and yet he's already down to tears."

Just then, a fourth voice called out from the distance."You wouldn't know, you're a robot."

Luigi stopped his crying as he recognised that voice. He slowly supported himself on his feet and looked at the fourth person. A red-white shrine maiden. "Reimu!"

"Yeah, it's me. Finally caught up to you, and you're already crying without me."

"It's not that, it's-" Luigi paused from his excuse to add a very valid question: "Where were YOU the whole time?"

"Ooooh. You see, Doremy decided to be a troll and put me in a VERY long maze. I only got out, like, 5 minutes ago."

"You came just in time, Reimu.." Luigi wiped a stray tear from his eye. He looked back on himself only to see one portal left when there was previously three. "I'm on the final trial. And apparently, it's a boss fight."

"Ah, you want me to babysit you? That can be arranged. If not, I'll just ask Sakuya when she eventually barges in my shrine."

"Who the hell is Sak-"

"Eh. Sooner or later you'll meet her. She's immensely popular."

Luigi looked at the camera with an unamused face. "This is gonna bite me, ain't it." He then turned back to Reimu, ignoring his just-recent fourth wall break. "Whatever you say.. But we can't meet her if we're still in the Dream World. Let's get this boss fight over with, hop out and commence forth."

"Uuuuh... yeah." Reimu gave a thumbs up. "Sure. Whatever you just said sounds like an insane plan that might actually work."

"Okay! Let's a go!" Luigi jumped into the portal with Reimu right behind him.

Ruukoto looked at Yumeko's stained dress. "Glad he didn't cry on me, or else I would have short-circuited.

Finally, smile towards a happy future.

Luigi woke up in a field of grass.

"Huh... We leave a field of grass and enter another field of grass." Luigi looked up in the sky, but regretted doing so as the dazzling sun nearly blinded him although it was inside a dream. "Although... this place is giving me deja vu..."

He then turned to notice a sleeping Reimu. "Oh heck no! Wake up, Reimu! It's dangerous to fall asleep in a dream!"

Luigi paused to think. "Okay, how to wake someone up... Mario and Peach say to gently shake them with your hands..." Luigi reached his right hand out to Reimu... and just as he was about to touch Reimu's cheek, he recoiled his hand horizontally from Reimu's cheek...

And gave her a big slap in the face! "WAKE UP."

Well, that was not gentle at all. Reimu springed up, holding her cheek in pain. "Owowowowow..." She then glared daggers at Luigi. "The heck was that for?!"

"You wouldn't wake up, so I had to get creative." Luigi shrugged.

"Oh, right, we have the third trial to do..." Reimu slowly got her bearings. "Will Doremy even allow this?"

Luigi eyed his left side, then right side, keeping a watchful eye. "If she didn't allow it, we'd be hearing her by now..." He then turned to look behind himself and froze up. "But... she's... not..."

Reimu felt Luigi's breathing go haywire. "Oi, you're freaking out AGAIN. What is it NOW."

Luigi took a few steps back and simply pointed to where he was looking.

Reimu's gaze soon met Luigi's, and she nearly coughed out yesterday morning's tea.

Both of their eyes saw a sunflower field.

"..." Reimu took a few seconds to process it. "Wait, why are we here? I-Oh..." She clicked it together. "Right. The time you became a husk?"

"I don't wanna talk about that phase." Luigi shivered. "And I don't wanna be HERE either!"

"So... Why ARE we here?" Reimu looked around. "If you hate this place so much, you'd try to block it out of your brain, right?"

"It's because..." A new voice spoke out. "I sent Luigi to all these places myself."

That voice wasn't new to Luigi and Reimu, actually. They heard it before. The smug attitude and tone of a certain dreamy girl as she poofed in. Blue hair, overly long Santa hat... it was Doremy again.

"You sent me to Hell, three times?" Luigi held up three fingers.

Forcing him to admit his true feelings to Mario...

Forcing him to say goodbye to his childhood friend, Koishi...

And now, this.

"I did." She smiled. "But was it worth it?"

Luigi paused to think about those two trials.

"One crucial error, Doremy." Luigi raised his finger.

"Huh?"

"Mario and Koishi wouldn't let me make my decisions so easily. Mario would definitely jump irrationally at Starlow if I admitted my true feelings, and Koishi would stay longer with me because it would make me happy." Luigi smirked. "Your dream fabrications can't hold Mario! He's too awesome for you to make an impersonation of him!" He leaned forward, glaring at Doremy. "Don't mock Mario."

Back to Doremy's smug face. "Oh, confident, huh? Almost makes me feel bad for this trial you're about to do."

"I'll... conquer it." Luigi didn't sound so sure.

"Aaaah, I see! Well, I'll leave you to it." She snapped her fingers as a orange glow radiated within the flower field. With another snap, Doremy disappeared.

Luigi used his own dreamy powers to summon his Poltergust. "Ready."

Reimu turned a sign glance to Luigi. "You sure? You don't look like it at all."

"I-I am."

Reimu slowly moved her hand to hold hands with Luigi.

Luigi blushed a bit. "Don't be that lewd... I already have Daisy."

"It's just comfort handholding!"

Luigi put his Poltergust into Hammer mode. "I'm ready. Thanks for worrying." He then dashed towards the glow. "Cuz I'm gonna win this!"

Then the glow started to materialise into physical form, it slowly formed into a human.

Luigi swung his hammer, but missed due to him being in shock on what that human figure was.

A short blonde hair girl with blue eyes..

"Don't tell me..." Luigi couldn't process it. "I have to fight-" Before he could say the name, the girl kicked Luigi right on his back as he tumbled to get his bearings. Luigi rolled his body to the girl.

"Alice..."

"I beg your pardon?!" Reimu shouted. "Alice is awake in her own house! She shouldn't be here! In fact, Ruukoto shouldn't be here either! She's a robot!"

"What are you implying?!" Luigi shouted.

"This is probably a fake dreamy Alice that Doremy conjured up!" Reimu finished and then Alice fired a bunch of sword dolls at Reimu. One got the slip and sliced at her leg - "Ow, okay, but the attacks totally feel real!"

"Feel real? My attacks will feel real to this... fake...!" Luigi aimed his Strobulb at Alice but couldn't press the button. In fact, his arm seemed to do the opposite. It was quivering. Shaking.

"Luigi! Just attack her!" Reimu yelled.

Luigi put his Strobulb back on his Poltergust as he looked at his shaking arm. "Stop shaking, you... Stop... stop...!"

Luigi was about to aim his other fist towards his own arm to discipline it, but this wasn't just a defiant arm. This was Luigi himself. He was just too afraid to fight Alice.

Fear? Probably... Guilt? That was guaranteed. The inner guilt of having to harm a friend, even a dreamy fake version.

"Luigi...!" Reimu had a worried glance as she ran and fired some danmaku to counter some dolls that were just about to attack Luigi. "Get it together!"

"I... I can't!"

Reimu gripped Luigi, threw him over her shoulder and she leaped to avoid a burst of danmaku. Reimu landed, putting him down. "Then you're useless in this fight! Go sit in the corner!" Reimu persisted with her danmaku as Alice jumped back. Reimu jumped forward to keep the pressure on them as the two kept firing bullets.

Weak.

Afraid.

Coward.

Scaredy-cat.

Lesser brother.

Incompetent.

Dumb.

Useless.

...not anymore.

Luigi opened his eyes to realise he had whammed his hammer into Alice's face. "...Huh?"

"...I think you just defeated the boss?" Reimu glanced at Alice's body.

"Really... In one hit? Man, the people are gonna complain about the lack of fight scenes..."

"What, drama's good sometimes. It's nice to vent out your anger." Reimu turned her head to find another portal. "Third trial done, I guess. Man, that was a short one... for you, it must feel like. These danmaku battles drag on ages for me."

"Really?" Luigi walked towards the portal. "I wouldn't know. I was busy suffering from self-esteem for a second."

"...I'm sorry." Reimu apologised.

Luigi decided to go for giggles since his mood was sour. "I'll pay you in coins."

"I'm REALLY sorry, then."

"Wait, so that last apology was half-assed?!"

They went through the portal before things got heated.