New Universe time! These stories are most likely inspired by a handful of magical girl stories I've been stumbling across, most of which remain incomplete/abandoned, which is a damn shame, since they were pretty good (at least as long as OC weren't involved.)
Edit: after realizing just how awkward having this first chapter split into three parts was, I finally decided to get off my ass and just combine the three into a true chapter 1.
Hopefully this will also help with my tracking of what chapter I'm actually on, since I nearly uploaded chapter 11 instead of chapter 9 the other day. That would have screwed me up.
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Hakurei Reimu sighed to herself as the ever annoying cacophony of her alarm clock wailed into her ear that morning, and she tried to figure out a way to shut it up in her half-asleep stupor, all the while growling to herself about stupid well-meaning friends.
"Stupid Marisa, stupid Nitori, ah, there it is!" Reimu finally cried in success, and promptly dropped a large rock on the alarm clock, which allowed the noise to die out, while the offending clock was now a sparking pile of plastic and wires on the girl's nightstand.
victoriously face-planting into her pillow, Reimu sighed in relief as she attempted to return to sleep, only to find a blue-and-white blur invade her room, and come flying onto her bed.
"Reimu-Sempai, Onee-Chan says it's time to get up!" The girl cried, kneeling beside the older girl and taking a handful of her sheets, beginning an attempt to pull them away from the iron grip of the senior.
"Leave me alone Cirno-Chan, I'll get up when I'm good 'n ready," Reimu whined back at the girl, though that only made the blue-haired midget puff up her cheeks in an adorable pout, and begin to shake the girl's shoulder.
Appearing in the doorway was an older girl with light blue hair, who watched the two interact with a small smile, but didn't announce her presence to the pair, watching on in silence at her blue-haired Imouto harassed their close friend.
Finally growing annoyed at the girl's pestering, Reimu sat up, and quickly lifted up the smaller girl by her waist, holding her up above the bed, and making the younger girl pout as she futilely kicked her feet in an attempt to get away, "Fine, I'm up Cirno-Chan, I'm up!"
"And it's a good thing you're up too, or I would have had to give your portion to one of your lovely freeloaders," Letty said, making her presence known to the two girls as she hid a chuckle behind her hand, finding their interactions adorable.
Cirno resumed kicking her feet childishly, also beginning to swing her arms around as well, while chanting, "Let me go," to the shrine maiden, but was promptly ignored by the Reimu, for she had her focus intently on Letty standing across the room, hissing at her in challenge.
"You wouldn't dare Letty-San," Reimu growled, but was disarmed by the kind smile the girl returned the challenge with.
Turning to leave the pair to their play, Letty offered a retort over her shoulder as her own form of challenge, "I guess you'll just have to get up and find out, "Rei-Mu-Chan."
Growling at the cool girl, Reimu returned her attention to the struggling blue-haired girl and muttered, "your older sister is really a pain in my ass, Bozu-Chan," and unceremoniously dropped the girl back onto the bed with a small oof, before finally getting up for the day and going to her closet to change, uncaring if the younger girl was sitting there.
Cirno just sat there in a daze for a moment, before picking up on the older girl's words, "Hey, I am not a midget!" she cried, hearing Reimu's chuckle as she disappeared into her closet, and settling for more pouting, crossing her arms over her chest.
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Of course the rest of the morning passed in a blur for the Brown-haired girl. Between getting into arguments with Cirno and her other freeloader, and dealing with Letty's detached attitude and cold quips, Reimu was in a noticeably sour mood as she walked to school, listening to her friend rant at her about something she most likely didn't care for. She did stop griping at one point to try and listen in.
"So you see Cirno-Chan, I wasn't the reason Alice-Chan's dolls got broken, it was all an unfortunate series of events, caused by Patchoulli being in the wrong place at the right time."
She immediately chose to return to her griping, instead of getting involved with another of her friend Marisa's little "love-quarrels" with her two friends. Unfortunately this only caused her mind to attract to the other member of their group, Whiterock-San.
Letty of course towered over the three girls, being a year older than both Reimu and Marisa, and several years older than Cirno-Chan. Being the oldest, Letty had quickly taken on a mothering role to all three, though sometimes Reimu felt as though there was something odd about the woman. Like there was a secret underneath her skin, that no one could explain.
There was also the matter of how her gaze lingered on the older girl whenever Reimu paid attention to her, but she always brushed that off as a matter of how their personalities clashed, and Letty's infuriating ability to get beneath Reimu's skin with the simplest comments.
Noticing the younger girl staring at her again, Letty smiled down at her in that way that made Reimu's blood boil, and regarded her, "Don't worry Reimu-Chan, I'd be happy to hold your hand if you're too afraid to cross the street by yourself."
Blinking in confusion, Reimu took notice of the fact Marisa and Cirno were already on the other side of the road, and were still chattering away, as the crosswalk light gave them the okay to go.
Roaring in annoyance, Reimu stomped across the street, knowing that Letty was following her, and the four resumed their walk to school in relative silence. Though Reimu couldn't help feeling a piercing stare aimed at her back for the rest of the walk.
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Class 1-C of Mayohiga High was bustling as everyone waited for their Sensei to arrive, chatting amongst their groups to pass the time, while a girl at a desk near the back of the room had her head cradled in her hands, and was groaning loudly to herself.
Beside the girl, her lifelong friend, Marisa, sighed as she listened to her friend complaining, "Oi Reimu, if you didn't get enough sleep last night, why didn't you simply go to bed earlier?" It was a simple question, but both girls already knew the answer.
"You know damn well why not, you monochrome thief," Reimu shot back, burying her head in her arms further, and causing her friend to wince.
As part of the girl's Scholarship to continue attending Mayohiga High, Reimu had been tasked with the upkeep of the school's Shinto shrine, which had garnered her the nickname "Red-white shrine maiden" amongst their classmates. And it was a fairly gruelling job.
The Shrine had not been kept up very well before Reimu had been tasked with it's care, and there were many rotting boards of wood that needed to be replaced, broken shingles which needed to be repaired, and many artefacts that required careful inspection before they could be donated to different foundations.
In all, it was a nightmare to take care of, and Reimu spent much of her free time after school making plans to continue fixing up the shrine, to her friend's chagrin.
It was a wonder the girl's grades never dropped for all the time she spent working on the shrine, and even when she did have time off, she often used it in order to study some of the musty old tomes about being a shrine maiden, which she had dug up in the storehouse.
Her friends were of course worried about her, but knowing how self-reliant the girl was, their words often fell upon deaf ears, and they figured that as long as she continued to keep her grades up, there was nothing to really worry about.
Finally their Sensei arrived, and class was ready to begin, until Marisa noticed something worrying, "Oi Reimu, wake up before Sensei notices," The girl stage-whispered, shaking her friend's shoulder in an attempt to awaken her.
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"Finally, lunch," Reimu moaned in half-asleep joy, as she trailed along behind Marisa out into the grand courtyard of the school, where cherry blossoms were blooming in all directions.
Marisa chuckled at her friend's antics, and grabbed her by the wrist, leading the sleepy shrine maiden over to a bench and sitting her own, before taking the seat opposite her, "Honestly Reimu, can you only show enthusiasm for food and being a shrine maiden?"
"School is boring, at least Shrine maidens help people," Reimu shot back sleepily, once again cradling her head as Marisa set down a sack lunch next to the girl.
"Yeah, but so do scientists, and doctors," Marisa pointed out, "Being a shrine maiden means a lot of sweeping, and keeping up a shrine with little thanks."
"Ah, Reimu-San, Kirisame-San," A green-haired girl cried as she approached the two, "I was looking all over for you."
"Hey, what's with the last-name basis?" Marisa cried, but was promptly ignored by the other girl.
"Reimu-San, you have to get over to the shrine quickly, I heard a few of the teachers talking about checking in on your work, and if you're not there they might give you a bad review," Sanae explained, causing Reimu to bolt upright and quickly stand.
"Sorry about missing lunch Marisa, I promise I'll make it up to you later," Reimu cried, vaulting over the bench and dashing back towards the school, catching the sound of Marisa sighing behind her, but trying to push it from her mind.
Strangely though, as the girl ran for the school, she couldn't help but feel like she was being watched again. Taking a moment to divert her attention away from her charge, the girl scanned the courtyard for anyone who could be watching her, and sure enough her eyes caught onto something.
Standing beneath a cherry blossom tree was the captain of the kendo club, Konpaku Youmu, her familiar wooden sword strapped to her back, along with one of the teachers, Saigyouji Yuyuko, known as the air-headed ghost amongst the students for her ability to seemingly appear anywhere. Both girls eyes were following the shrine maiden as she dashed towards the shrine, and it unnerved the girl slightly.
Just before she reached the safety of the school, Reimu caught sight of a head of blue hair out of the corner of her eye, and noticed how Letty was also watching her, though she looked concerned about something while she half-listened to her younger sister's babbling.
Reimu had to brush it off though, her shrine came first, and even though it had started as a chore that the school board had pushed on her, she had quickly grown to love working on it. She couldn't bear to lose another thing she loved.
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Drifting around the corner, Reimu was running full tilt for the site of the school's Shinto shrine, having had to stop in the girl's locker room to quickly change into her shrine maiden uniform on the way to keep up appearances, and was now hoping to beat the administrators to the shrine, in an attempt to look good.
Her heart dropped as she saw six men in black-suits ascending the stairs ahead of her, in a two-by-three line. Pushing on that last bit of strength, Reimu managed to close the distance, and hurried up the stairs after them.
The girl felt her heart drop further when she heard one of the men speak, "It doesn't look like much, does it? Seems that girl hasn't been putting much effort into it's upkeep after all."
Reimu was near tears as she heard the others agree. She had been putting all of her time into that shrine, worrying her friends for her health, and even using what money of her own she could sacrifice into supplies to further repair the shrine, for materials that the school was too cheap to purchase themselves.
finally reaching the top step, Reimu took in a deep breath, completely winded by her mad sprint practically across the school, gaining the attention of the six men.
"Ah, shrine maiden, there you are," One of the men said, and Reimu looked up to regard them, but was startled to find that she couldn't see their faces, their matching black hair covered their eyes and mouths like a veil, unnervingly.
"Yes, we must admit we expected more of this Shrine you were told to care for, but, perhaps they were mistaken in doing so, it doesn't appear as though you've been doing much."
"That's not true sirs, I've been working very hard, sometimes without food or sleep, in order to return the shrine to it's former glory," Reimu argued, though her voice sounded strained, and she was beginning to feel light headed.
"And so argumentative, perhaps they ought have chosen someone better to fix this place up, otherwise we would not be able to walk in here so easily," another of the men said, but Reimu couldn't tell which, and she found her vision beginning to blur.
"Perhaps we should have targeted another, such as that Kochiya girl, she seems like a savoury sort," another of the men spoke up, and Reimu noted that she was swaying, like a leaf in the wind. 'Sanae, taking over the shrine?'
"Ah, miss shrine maiden, are you alright?" one of the men asked, gaining the attention of the others. "I dare say, it must have been a real pain to run all the way across the school to try and get here before us." She noted the others mumbled their agreement.
"N-not at all sirs, I was just...not informed of your inspection today, and it was only thanks to one of my friends that I knew this was going to happen," Reimu replied, trying to be polite, and forced out a smile, though she was trying hard not to faint.
"Ah how odd, I was sure we had told no one about the inspection today," one said, turning to the man beside him, "Perhaps we have a traitor among us, for this was supposed to be a silent operation gentlemen."
The rest once again mumbled their agreement, and Reimu felt herself weakening further. Now trying hard to simply stand up, her legs were shaking beneath her, and her skin felt cold and clammy.
'W-what's wrong with me?" Reimu asked herself. She had never felt like this before, and she'd never had a fainting spell in her life.
"I am afraid dear shrine maiden, that you have stumbled into an unfortunate situation," She couldn't tell who was speaking now, her vision was far too blurry to make out anything, and their voices were starting to sound the same, "Our intention was to camp out here and wait until nightfall, so we could catch you unaware, and have this horrible job over with quickly and painlessly, but it appears that someone has sent you to your death prematurely."
"D-death?" Reimu asked in a daze, causing her body to jolt up. These people intended to kill her?
"Yes, alas, if things had gone according to plan, we would have quietly killed you later tonight, when no one was around, far too many chances for someone to stumble upon your corpse I'm afraid, and have enough time to dispose of you, but it seems that's no longer an option," Reimu faintly heard a strange sound, like a blade being unsheathed, but was too tired to even register it.
"Now, my dear future shrine maiden of paradise, please just Die!" one of the men shouted, and Reimu saw five of the men contort into lupine-like shadows and jump at her.
'S-so this is it?' Reimu thought, 'I'm going to die here?'
"I'm afraid your meal has been interrupted, Youkai-San," A firm voice announced, the smell of cherry blossoms wafting through the air between Reimu and the creatures which she couldn't make out.
Through her blurring vision, Reimu caught sight of long silver hair, a girl, with a sword sheathe strapped to her back, wearing a green dress. A second sheathed sword hung at her hip, and the smell of cherry blossoms covered the girl.
That was all Reimu could make out before her mind blacked out, and she fainted, though she managed to weakly catch , "Yuyuko-Sama, take care of Reimu-san," before everything faded to black.
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Reimu sat bolt upright as consciousness returned to her, but immediately regretted it as her body cried out at her, forcing her back into a laying position.
Groaning in pain, Reimu took a quick look around, and realized that she was obviously in the nurses office, from all of the complicated tools and instruments scattered about.
In an attempt to regain her bearings, and remember why she could possibly be in the nurses office, Reimu tried to recall what had happened before she had fainted but nothing came to mind.
She was startled out of her thoughts as a small blue blur came flying at her from her blind spot, and took a tight hold on her arm, causing her to wince in pain. Almost beginning to chew out whoever thought it was a good idea to attack her, Reimu was stopped by the distinct sound of crying.
Looking over, Reimu found Cirno hugging her arm and crying about something, causing a pang in the older girl's heart. She had never seen the girl openly cry before, and to be honest, she hoped to never see it again. Managing to lift her free arm, Reimu reached over, and allowed her fingers to run through the younger girl's hair, in an attempt to comfort her, in the same way she recalled her grandfather doing for her when she was young.
Now that she was beginning to wake up, Reimu noted that the girl was blubbering incoherently into her arm, but couldn't suppress a small smile at how cute the girl was being.
The moment was sadly ruined, however, as Letty stepped into the room, and carefully pried Cirno away from her aching arm, "Cirno, Reimu-san has just been in a bad situation, and you're hurting her," The woman gently chastised, gaining her junior's attention.
A smile tugged at her lips as she saw Cirno try to wipe away her tears unsuccessfully, and put on that cocky smile of hers, "Y-yeah, sorry about that Reimu-sempai!" The girl stated, back to her cheerful self that Reimu preferred.
"What happened?" Reimu asked quietly, her eyes refocusing on the white ceiling, her own mind drawing a blank.
"From what Konpaku-San told us, she had overheard what Kochiya-San had told you, and after getting the story from the girl she felt it was suspicious, so she'd followed you to the shrine," Letty began, "When she got there, she found a handful of thugs threatening you, and that you passed out when she arrived from fright. She got one of the teachers to bring you inside while she dealt with the thugs, but they escaped."
That was funny, Reimu swore she could remember the word Youkai, and strange wolf men before she passed out, as well as the captain holding a very real sword.
"How is Youmu-san?" Reimu asked, turning her head to look at the older girl, and was relieved to see her smile.
"Konpaku-san is just fine, she said that the thugs were no hassle, and that once they learned about her kendo skills they turned tail and ran," Letty explained, "She is hoping that they will not attempt to squat in the shrine again, but she has extended an offer of protection to you in case of future attacks, and most of the teachers agreed it was a good idea."
Reimu bit her lip at the thought. She didn't like the idea of relying on someone or inconveniencing them, especially Konpaku-San, who had her club duties to attend, but she didn't want anything to happen again, or ever be that helpless, so she gave a resolute nod of her head, "Please tell Konpaku-san that I would like to accept her offer."
"Tell her yourself," Marisa stated as she entered without announcing herself, "She's been standing outside the entire time, listening to you guys talk with that same stoic face she always has," The Monochrome-loving girl was silenced by a flick to the forehead by Letty, "Ow, hey, what was that for?"
"You shouldn't speak ill of the people that saved your friend's life, Kirisame-san," Letty chided, "Youmu-san, could you please come in here, I believe that Reimu-san has made her choice."
When she entered the room, Reimu found herself having a flashback to earlier that day, and immediately noticed the differences. Instead of twin swords on her back and hip, Youmu was carrying a simple kendo sword on her back, she was wearing the basic school uniform instead of her green dress, and instead of the long white hair she remembered billowing in the breeze, the girl's was short, barely brushing against her ears, with a small black ribbon tied into her hair off-centre.
Youmu immediately dropped into a bow when she came to stand beside the bed, and Reimu was left a little shocked at the respect the girl was giving her, "Upperclassman Hakurei-san, I apologize in advance for not getting there sooner, and for not bringing those thugs to justice."
Blinking a few times to regain her thoughts in light of the girl's formal speech, Reimu finally found her voice, and tried to give a bow of her own, but was hindered by her position, "That is okay Youmu-san, I'm just thankful that you were there, and that nothing bad happened," Reimu offered as comfort, "and please, it's just Reimu."
Youmu for the first time since entering seemed to lose her composure, and blushed at the older girl, "Hai Reimu-sempai."
Unfortunately Marisa chose to butt in again, and began to pinch the younger girl's cheeks from behind, cooing into her Kouhai's ears, "Aww, she's so cute! Can we keep her Letty?" She teased.
Bringing a hand to her forehead, Reimu almost wanted to punch her best friend, but was thankfully saved the effort as the school nurse appeared, grabbing the blonde by the head and purring menacingly into her ear, "Do you really want to keep her Kirisame-san?"
Yuuka Kazami was, by far, the most infamous teacher at Mayohiga high. The woman had her own garden on the top of the school in a reserved greenhouse, where she grew the many plants she needed to use in the drugs she gave to the students, and it was said she was a master botanist, having traveled the world in order to learn everything she could about plants, before she settled down to study medicine.
It was claimed by the students that the woman also had a wicked sense of humour, and was a closet Sadist, though that last claim remained unproven among the student body, and trying to ask the woman's adopted daughter, Camillia (who was also interested in studying medicine) usually ended with the girl threatening you with various poisonous plants she knew her mother had in her private greenhouse at home, though all were non-lethal.
The woman only seemed to have three soft spots. One was her aforementioned daughter, who she treated like a princess, another were her plants, which she treasured, possibly more than her own life, and the third was, oddly enough, another student. In fact it was one of Cirno's friends.
"Sorry Kazami-Sensei," Marisa chuckled nervously, "I was just joking around, Y'know?"
"Of course you were Kirisame-san," The older woman purred, and then straightened to regard the shrine maiden, "Oh my but you have had quite the interesting day Hakurei-san, attacked by a bunch of thugs on school ground, and saved by this little cutie here," Yuuka accentuated her point by pinching the young Kendo enthusiast's cheeks almost painfully, causing Youmu to begin whining pitifully in response.
"That's true Kazami-sensei, but when can I get out of here, I probably have a lot of things to do," Reimu stated, getting right to the point, and looking at the window, she noted that the sky had turned orange.
"Oh, you're free to go as soon as you feel well enough Hakurei-san, I didn't find anything wrong with you other than a bad case of fatigue, Though I would like to warn you in the future to not attempt a sprint across the school like you did today, that was probably why you passed out."
Nodding, Reimu kicked off the sheets and quickly jumped out of the bed she'd been placed in, and began to look for her clothes.
Yuuka thankfully began to herd the other girls from the room, though Reimu could hear Cirno making a fuss, but when she turned to look, Youmu was still standing by the door.
"Err, may I help you Youmu-san?" Reimu asked, holding onto her shrine maiden uniform tightly.
"I would like to walk home with you, in order to talk about a few things Hakurei-Sempai, I hope that you don't mind." The stoic young girl replied.
"No, it's okay, I'm sure Marisa and Cirno are leaving right away, and Letty has to go with them to make sure they don't get into trouble, so the company would be nice," Reimu replied, then remembered, "But could you please turn so I can get changed?"
She was amused how fast the girl's face grew bright red, and how quickly she turned away, and made an effort to quickly change back into her uniform, to not inconvenience the younger girl further. Once the comforting weight of her red and white bow was tied into her hair, she gave the girl the okay, "Well, shall we go Youmu-san?"
The smaller girl nodded, and the pair quickly left the nurses office, where Yuuka had remained unnoticed in her chair.
"So it's going to be Konpaku-san that is her partner then," The green-haired woman purred, "How interesting, when those two have never talked before."
The woman was broken from her musing when the door to the nurses office was slammed open, and a blonde-haired girl rushed in, carrying along with her a small blonde doll, "Kaa-san, it's time to go home, c'mon."
Yuuka chuckled at the girl's boundless energy as she hung up her white coat on the back of her chair, and followed the younger girl out of the room, "Yes, Yes, I'm coming Medicine-dear."
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The two girls walked in a comfortable silence as they made their way back to Reimu's house, the streetlights beginning to come on as the darkness intensified.
"I...thought you said you wanted to talk to me Youmu-san?" Reimu asked curiously, since the pair had been silent ever since leaving the school. being used to Cirno and Marisa talking non-stop, this was fairly unnerving to the brown-haired girl, but it didn't seem as though Youmu had anything to really speak of.
"Don't worry Reimu-san, I just don't think I'm the right person to explain everything to you that you'll need to know," Youmu replied calmly, making Reimu wonder if she was always this stoic.
Thankfully the older girl's house finally came into view shortly after the small exchange, but Reimu was unnerved when she noticed that the lights were on, when she distinctly recalled turning them all off before leaving for school that morning.
Rushing ahead and without hearing Youmu's advice to remain calm, Reimu slammed open the door to her house, and was startled by what she found.
Sitting at her kitchen table were three women, two somewhat familiar, and one a complete mystery to the girl. She quickly recognized Saigyouji-sensei, as well as Kamishirasawa-sensei, but could not put a name to the last woman, who seemed to be the most calm of the three.
Unaware of their new guest, the women continued to talk amongst themselves for a few minutes, "Oh Keine, don't be such a stick in the mud, this is wonderful, the only reason they had to attack her was because she had potential."
"I don't think you understand at all why I'm so upset about this Yuyuko," Keine-sensei replied, "One of our students was attacked, and nearly killed today, under our noses, and it was only thanks to your servant that they didn't kill Hakurei-san."
"You got to look on the bright side," Yuyuko-sensei replied cheerfully, "My darling Youmu got there in time thanks to Sanae-San's tip-off, and fought off those Youkai all by herself."
"Yuyuko-sama, I brought the girl with me," Youmu announced, having caught up with the other girl, and have the three women a small bow, while her Sempai remained at the door, dazed as her mind tried to comprehend what she was seeing.
"Ah, Youmu-san, wonderful timing, now could you tell your windbag mistress just why Reimu-san nearly dying today was a bad thing," Keine cried.
"I...don't think that would have any effect on her, to be honest Keine-sensei," The small girl answered, blushing noticeably.
Yuyuko had already crossed the room while the two had conversed, and was now inspecting the young shrine maiden, who began to feel nervous because of the careful look she was being given.
"She's not much, is she Yukari?" Yuyuko finally said, turning and obviously referring to the last woman sitting at the table.
Without replying, the woman only sipped her tea, keeping her eyes closed, and remaining out of the conversation.
Keine-sensei was quick to apologize for the woman's attitude, "I'm really sorry about these two Hakurei-san, Yuyuko tends to be that way, and I'm afraid Yukari is a bit of a...special case."
"How special, considering she appears to be brain-dead," The girl growled back, still a bit prickly over having her house invaded. A quick smack over the head from Yuyuko shut her up for the moment.
"No, Yukari has a special ability that allows her to detach her spirit from her body, and right now she is currently inspecting a few things that have been brought to our attention recently, so her body is sort of on auto-pilot for the moment," Keine answered.
"You mean like those monks you read about sometimes, who have learned inner balance?" Reimu tried offering, but was confused when both women began to laugh, "what's so funny?"
"Yukari as a monk, that is simply ridiculous," Yuyuko answered, before rolling into a new round of laughter.
"I suppose it's sort of like that, but there is a much more complicated explanation for it, which I don't think you would quite understand, Hakurei-san," Keine substituted, "But that's not really the reason why we're here, invading your home. Which I may add, was their idea," She justified, pointing at the pink and blonde haired women, "I was perfectly fine with calling you into the principle's office tomorrow, after you'd had time to recuperate."
"So why are you here?" Reimu asked, getting up in order to go make tea for herself, and possibly Youmu.
"We're here because you attracted a group of Youkai onto the school, endangered the lives of everyone, and because your powers managed to awaken without gaining our notice," The blonde woman sitting at the table answered, as her red eyes opened slowly, blinking sleep from them.
The woman's imposing image would have held up, if she didn't immediately have to stifle a yawn, which made Yuyuko begin to giggle, and Keine cover her face with her hands.
"Hey, it's not like I hired those guys to come to the school to do an inspection on the shrine, That was the principal's fault. He also forgot to forward the message to me about there being an inspection, and I had to hear it from Sanae, and rush over there," The brown-haired girl snapped, "It's no wonder I passed out, when I had to run from one end of the school to the other just to meet them."
When two of the women began to laugh, Reimu felt like she should just throw the three out, being her teachers or not. but when Yukari suddenly grew calm, she felt nervous.
"I never sent people to inspect the shrine, I've always trusted you to take care of it to the best of your abilities, though I must admit I believe you work a bit too hard on it, and don't put your health first," The woman explained.
"W-wait a second..." Reimu paused, "That means that you're..."
"Principal Yakumo Yukari," The woman introduced herself, getting up in order to give the girl a small curtsey.
Oh god, Reimu thought, I'm doomed.
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Slumping down into a chair conveniently placed by Youmu, Reimu tried to catch her breath as she came to realize she had just insulted her principal, who she had never seen before in her life.
"Oh god I'm so sorry Principal-sama!" Reimu cried, dropping into a deep bow, but smacking her head off of the table.
Both women were once again laughing, but where before Reimu had been angry, now she was simply startled and a little scared.
"Relax Reimu-san, I'm not here to give you detention, or expel you, though that would most likely solve most of our future problems," Yukari comforted.
"Yukari!" Keine chided.
"Right, right, anyways, we're actually here to fill you in on what happened today, and everything that you need to be brought up to speed on, so that we can get you paired up with dear Youmu here, and out on active duty as soon as possible," The blonde woman continued, ignoring the way Youmu blushed at the affectionate title.
"Fill me in?" Reimu asked, "What's there to tell, a handful of guys came to my shrine on the school grounds, claiming to be inspectors, obviously bribed Sanae-san into telling me about them and putting me into a rush, then planned to kill me when I showed up."
all three woman groaned and brought a hand to their foreheads once the girl finished her explanation.
"Oh, and Youmu-Chan here saved me," Reimu added, turning to the girl she gave her a small smile, "thank you by the way."
"I'm afraid, Reimu-san, that your information is a bit off," The kendo captain replied, "though you are welcome, I didn't mind saving you."
"Ah my darling Youmu, always so dutiful," Yuyuko gushed, leaning back in her chair to swoon, getting a raised eyebrow from Keine.
"No Reimu-san, whatever you had been told as a cover story was a lie, those six men were not simple thugs, and Youmu didn't simply chase them off the school grounds," The blue-haired woman replied.
"Then what other explanations could there be?" Reimu asked, "were they demons, planning to kill me and steal my magical powers or something? What a ridiculous...oh god they were?" The girl shrieked as the three women gave the shrine maiden a guilty look.
"We don't know yet how they managed to get onto the school grounds, or how Sanae-san managed to learn about them, and we're currently investigating her involvement in your attack, but yes, for all intent and purpose, a group of demons snuck into the school and planned to wait for you to show up before killing you and stealing your "magical powers," Yukari explained.
Everything was silent in the room for a few minutes. Reimu was staring intently at the three, who returned the stare somewhat nervously, and Youmu remained to the side of Reimu, looking slightly confused by the tense aura.
"Well that's it, I'm going to bed and putting this ridiculous day behind me," Reimu stated as she pushed away from the table and stood up, "Hopefully tomorrow I won't have a bunch of crazy ladies sitting at my kitchen table, trying to convince me that I'm some magical girl."
"Reimu-sempai!" Youmu cried, but was held back by Yuyuko, who had been the closest, and grabbed the young girl's arm tightly.
"Let her go Youmu, she'll see soon enough that she can't lie to herself about these things anymore, and by tomorrow she'll need answers," Yukari stated, "We need you to be there for her when she is ready, so consider this a temporary mission, in addition to protecting Hakurei-san from any additional attempts on her life."
"My blades will cut down anyone intending to harm Hakurei-sempai, my ladies," Youmu stated with a bow.
"Good, now if you lot will excuse me, I need a few more hours of sleep, Ja Ne!," Yukari said, before slumping in her chair. Keine sighed at the woman's bashfulness, and got up.
"I may as well clean up after us, and then I'll take Yukari home," The woman explained, "Yuyuko, are you okay going home by yourself? I think leaving Youmu here to stand guard over the house would be the best plan."
"Oh please Keine, I managed just fine for centuries before I got Youmu. Even with the rise in Youkai movement, I'll survive," The pink-haired woman reassured her friend.
"Good to hear, and goodnight Yuyuko-san."
"Goodnight, kamashawashiro-san," Yuyuko replied with a giggle before running from the house.
"For gods sake Yuyuko, get my last name right at least once!" the woman growled, before turning to regard her servant, "How in the hell do you put up with that woman?"
"Lots of aspirin," Youmu replied sagely, and Keine nodded in agreement.
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The next morning was rather slow going for Reimu. It seemed that Marisa, Cirno and Letty were not going to bother her, but she still somehow managed to wake up at a respectable time, and get ready for the day, before sliding into her shoes and locking up.
On the way to the school she finally ran into her three friends, along the familiar route that the three shared, "Ohaiyo Marisa-Chan, Cirno-Chan, Letty-San."
Quickly catching up with the three, Reimu sighed in relief as she was surrounded by the comforting noise of Marisa and Cirno arguing about something arbitrary, and Letty's calming presence.
At least, until she noticed something rather odd about her youngest friend, in a set of pointed blue crystals that seemed to be hovering behind her. Stopping to count them, Reimu came up with six crystals, three on each side of the girl's back, that seemed to be made of ice, and almost resembled wings.
"Err, Cirno-Chan," Reimu spoke up, "How are you feeling today?"
"I'm good, though it feels a little bit hot today!" The young Blue haired girl replied cheerfully.
"Hot? but the sun is barely up in the sky, and we're all wearing our blazers," Reimu tried to reply, but Cirno didn't seem to be following with her mindset.
"Don't mind her, we all know little Cirno has always been affected a little differently by the weather than the rest of us," Letty answered for the young girl, and Reimu was content to let it slide, until the four arrived at school.
All at once Reimu began to notice things she had never seen before. There was Alice, one of Marisa's close friends, with two small fairies hanging on either shoulder, while she held one of her textbooks under her arm.
Cirno bolted off the minute she caught sight of her friends, and Reimu couldn't help noticing the set of what appeared to be wings the girls were sporting. The green haired one Reimu had always been a little confused about the gender of was looking surprisingly more feminine, and a pair of what looked like antennae were sprouting from her head.
'Oh god what is happening to me?' The shrine maiden thought, holding her head as she tried not to hyperventilate.
"Hey Reimu, are you okay?" Marisa asked, noticing the way her friend was panicking, "Do you need to go and see the nurse again?"
"There is no need for you to be late to class Kirisame-sempai, I will take her," Youmu announced, appearing between the three girls with nary a sound, causing Marisa to jump.
"Ah, Youmu-san, well. the teacher's did put you in charge of caring for her...so if you want to go out of your way, I guess that's fine," Marisa said, mulling the matter over in her head for a moment before accepting her Kouhai's help.
"I hope it won't be too much trouble," Letty added, before the two girls took off, shooting the breeze as if nothing had ever happened.
"What is going on?" Reimu tried to ask, looking up at the silver haired girl, but winced as she noticed the changes in the younger girl. and recoiled away from her as if burned.
"Come with me, and I'll explain everything you missed last night, Reimu-san," The girl said, offering her hand.
Reimu didn't want to listen to more of this horrible prank, but between the mental breakdown she was having at the sight of all of these strange things, she really felt like she needed answers, and that Youmu appeared to be the only one who could give them to her.
"F-fine!" The shrine maiden growled, taking a tight hold on the smaller girl's hand.
Youmu smiled before the two disappeared in a flurry of cherry blossoms, and quickly reappeared on the roof.
Reimu stumbled, and nearly fell over, but was steadied by the younger girl's hands on her hips.
taking a seat heavily, Reimu took a deep breath, and tried to calm herself down. She was thankful that Youmu was patient enough to wait for her to catch her breath.
"It is always very startling when you first begin to notice everything strange about the world, I know that it took me several days to come to terms with everything, but it would seem like you are acclimating to it much faster," Youmu commented, before taking a seat beside the elder girl.
"Strange?" Reimu gasped out, "Alice had fairies on her arms, team (9) have wings and claws and antennae, I swear that Marisa was wearing a witches hat!"
Getting up and beginning to pace, Reimu continued with her rant, "and you, your not wearing your school uniform, and are carrying real swords! and your hair, I thought it was short!"
Youmu took a handful of her long-ish hair and gave it a look, "Well, Yuyuko-sama said that she wanted to see me with longer hair, so I have been letting it grow for a while now."
"And that's just it, yesterday your hair was short, Alice was just the strange girl that kept dolls in her backpack, and my best friend's little sister did not have ice crystals floating behind her back!" Reimu shouted.
"Reimu-san, please calm down, before you do something we'll both regret," Youmu warned, but went unheeded.
"What the hell is going on with me!" Reimu cried, her anger reaching an all-time high, before sinking to her knees and feeling a sudden surge in her gut, which almost made her want to throw up. Doubling over, she used her hands to brace herself, as it felt like a huge weight was now placed on her back.
"Interesting, you appear to have a manifestation ability," Youmu commented, making Reimu lift her head.
what she saw almost sent her into a new panic attack. Circling the girl was what appeared to be several large round yin-yang orbs, which were all glowing with a pale light.
falling back onto her ass, Reimu looked at the orbs circling her, and turned to Youmu, silently asking her what was going on with wide, fearful eyes.
"It's just like Yuyuko-sama, Yukari-sama, and Keine-sensei told you last night, your powers have awakened, and this appears to be the form your powers have taken," Youmu explained, "it might have something to do with you taking care of the school shrine."
"Why are you so calm about this!" Reimu shouted, "I'm summoning things from god knows where, I was attacked by a bunch of monsters, and now all of my friends are looking like freaks!"
The girl was stopped from her ranting when Youmu gripped her shoulders, and looked into her eyes, "Reimu-sempai, take a deep breath."
The girl didn't want to listen at first, but did finally comply, and did as she was told. "Now hold it for a moment."
Reimu waited for Youmu to continue instructing her, as she began to feel slightly light-headed.
"Now release it, slowly," The swordswoman stated, and Reimu was careful to follow her directions.
Youmu took a step back, and Reimu sighed as she crossed her legs over each other, and continued to steady her breathing.
"So what is up with the change in my vision, and these orb things?" Reimu asked, keeping her eyes closed as she breathed, the Yin-yang orbs continuing to circle around her head.
"Most likely your vision is being altered as you are becoming tuned-into the supernatural world" Youmu explained, "as for those, I believe they are the manifestation of your abilities, and we will have to wait and see just what you can do with them."
"Okay, so, who do we go to in order to get answers for this?"
"No one," the younger girl replied, "We've always believed in hands-on-training in order to become accustomed to our abilities, so you'll have to get on-site practice."
Reimu was startled when a cell phone came flying at her, and she managed to catch it with instincts she never knew she had. flipping it open, Reimu was surprised to see two characters staring at her from the main screen of the phone.
"TouHou."
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Chapter 1 - Complete
stay tuned for Chapter 2