False Advents (Chapter 4: Visitors):
Reol found himself trapped alone in a small room.
The interior of the room was pitch black, without a single point of entrance. There was no furniture in the room either, with the exception of a small table. On the table was a strange black box with various buttons all over it; an object which he very vaguely recognized to be a projector.
Reol walked over the projector and pressed what he assumed was the power button, and a film began to play out.
Much like most of his memories, the film only showed him a few seconds to each clip, before cutting directly to the next. Most of the clips took place in a strange island-like location that he did not recognize. Many of the clips featured what he could only assume were him and his siblings and their day to day life. Others included memories of him cloud watching and stargazing with a silver haired girl about his age. Almost every clip, however, featured a cyan-haired man whom he, as with the others, had no recollection of.
Much of what Reol saw left him in a confused state, while others made him feel slightly warm on the inside. He didn't understand much of what was going on, but he was somewhat certain that the events were unfolding chronologically.
The final portion of the film showed him dressed in a similar outfit that he had come to Gensokyo with. He, or who he assumed was him, seemed to have cut a white gap in the space in front of himself and stepped into the gap. The final seconds of the film featured a pure white screen without any audio before the projector abruptly switched itself off, immediately followed by the shattering of the pitch black room he now identified as his subconsciousness.
When he came to, he found himself in an extremely familiar setting that gave him a sense of deja vu. He glanced around the room and immediately realized that he was back in the infirmary. Judging by the mostly damp, bloody, bandages that were now wrapped around his limbs, he hadn't been unconscious for very long. A deep, searing sensation of pain was emanating from his solar plexus, likely lashback from exhausting whatever was fueled to fire that absolute monstrosity back there.
He couldn't quite feel his arms or legs, but whenever he attempted to move either of his limbs, he could feel the same searing pain shoot through his body, effectively paralyzing him. Neither Eirin, Kaguya, nor Mokou was anywhere to be seen. The only individual who was in the room along with him was a rabbit eared girl about the same height as Rumia with dark red eyes, black, shoulder length hair, and wearing something akin to a nightgown. She was sitting on the hospital bed to the right of his.
Unlike Eirin, this girl immediately noticed that he was awake. She hopped off of the hospital bed and began to poke at Reol's face. Reol, however, barely seemed to have noticed.
"Hello~?" The girl asked after prodding at his left cheek for about a minute straight. "Are you even awake?"
He nodded ever so slightly.
She leaned over the side of the bed and put herself face to face with him and stared into his eyes.
"You… don't look very old." She commented. "How old are you?"
"...Probably fourteen or so."
Reol wasn't too sure of it himself. But judging by his memories, or whatever's left of it, he should be around that age.
"You're kind of short for someone who's fourteen… What's your name?"
"Nea, Reol." He responded. "Just call me Reol."
"Reol... That's a strange name. I'm Inaba, Tewi." The girl did a little curtsy, "Leader of the Earth Rabbits and part time prankster."
He stared at her for a long while, shifting his gaze from her eyes to her nightgown, to her rabbit ears.
"You're a youkai too, I assume?"
She nodded and grinned, "I could eat you right now, you know, and nobody would notice."
Reol continued to stare at her and smiled. "A youkai with a sense of humor. I think we'll get along well."
Upon hearing his comment, she looked at him with a somewhat confused expression and narrowed her eyes. "You're an oddball, you know. Are you sure you're a human?"
He shook his head. "Not at all."
The two simply sat in silence for the next minute or so. Reol was beginning to wonder where Eirin had gone when he suddenly noticed that the hallways had just gotten a whole lot louder and the atmosphere more... aggressive.
"Kaguya, move over!..."
"No, you mustn't! He's still resting"
"Out of my way, princess! I wanna have a few words with whoever my competitor is."
"Please don't overdo things Marisa."
"Reimu, hold her down. I've something for this situation."
"...Lady Remilia, why have you decided to tag along?"
"I simply wanted to have a little chat with the one who shattered most of my mansion's windows."
The ruckus grew louder and louder, until he was certain that he was just barely on the other side of the door. He heard a few more muffled voices, followed by a very clear and distinct voice that yelled "Outta the way, I'll handle this!". Shortly after hearing that statement, he began to feel something tingling within him, and specifically towards the general direction of the door at that.
"Tewi." He said in an urgent tone.
"Yeah?" She responded.
"Duck."
Tewi immediately crouched down, and a split second later, the infirmary's door was kicked down. The door was kicked with such force, it soared straight past his bed and just barely grazed Tewi's head before crashing into the room's wall and breaking into two halves.
From the doorway emerged five ladies; one with black hair, amber colored eyes, and a red and white shrine maiden outfit, two with blonde hair, with the former wielding a broom and wearing a witch's outfit and the latter wearing a light blue dress with long white sleeves, one with silver hair, blue eyes, and a maid's outfit, and the last individual being a red eyed, periwinkle haired girl wearing a light pink mob cap and a dress of the same color, along with large, batlike wings attached onto her back.
Judging by what he heard, their facial expressions, and the tense atmosphere which now lingered around the room, Reol could imagine that out of the five individuals, neither of them was pleased with the aftermath of his stunt. He could spot Kaguya on the opposite side of the hallway, bound by a length of rope with several red and white talismans taped over her mouth.
"Um… uh…" Tewi's squeaked in a voice about an octave higher than usual, "I'll go get doc, be right back!"
She dashed out of the room at top speed before anyone noticed.
That left Reol with five other girls who very likely wanted him dead.
The first person who noticed him was the girl in the witch's outfit. She spent a good fifteen seconds scanning the room before finally taking notice of Reol and immediately flinching at the sight of his injuries.
"Jeez kid, what happened to you?" She examined his various blood soaked bandages, "Had a run in with a youkai?"
"That, followed by backlash from firing a god-defying energy beam." He coughed. "Sorry for the trouble."
"Guess you're the idiot we're looking for..." She sighed and pulled out an octagonal instrument from behind her back and pointed it towards him. "Hey Reimu, can I just blast 'im for good measures?"
"No, Marisa." The shrine maiden said, "I have a few things I want to ask him."
Reimu pulled a stool over to Reol's bed and sat down. Despite the fact that she was smiling, an aura of extreme danger was emanating from her. The fact that she was gripping her exorcist's wand hard enough for her knuckles to whiten didn't help with the mood either.
"Now then. May I have your name?" She requested
"Nea, Reol." He answered. "Just Reol is fine."
"Alright, Reol." She continued. "Answer my questions truthfully, otherwise I'll be forced to crack your skull open, fortune teller style. The same applies if you're lying to me."
He stared at Reimu as she continued to smile, tightening her grip on the wand even further.
"...Go ahead."
"First and foremost: Do you know who Yukari is?"
He sighed. "Why does everyone bring this up?"
"No." He answered. "Who is this Yukari who people keep..."
Reol's paused momentarily and glanced around the room. His senses were telling him that something felt… off. He had been experiencing that same sensation ever since he arrived in Gensokyo; that strange feeling which had kept him uneasy, an instinct which told him that he was… constantly being watched.
"Come out already. I know you're there."
His gaze landed towards the far left corner of the infirmary. Although he couldn't see anything, he could definitely feel it; something was there, gazing at directly at him.
"Come on out." He repeated, " Don't keep us waiting."
"My oh my~, aren't you a sharp one."
Appearing in the center of the infirmary was what Reol could only describe as an extremely grotesque portal. Hundreds upon hundreds of eyes were staring straight towards him, as if they were gazing into his very soul. From within the portal emerged a purple eyed woman with long blonde hair, wearing a deep purple dress and a light pink mob cap. In her left hand was a paper fan, while the right carried a pink lace parasol.
"Am I right to assume that you are Miss Yukari?"
"You would be correct." She unfolded her fan sat down on the portal she had just made, "Now that we've all gathered, let's clear this up, shall we?"
Author's Note: Once again, sensing some issues with canonicity, although they should be dealt with in future chapters.