Hello new readers!

I am someone new to writing that been lurking in this place as a silent reader for a year.

This is truly my first ever story I write for fun other than simply school work.

You may or may not have seen this some week ago with only little chapters but I deleted it for various reasons. I decided to work on it again as I realise people do read this story. It just that... it was really quiet and I thought it was just bots or it was uninteresting. Then the PMs comes in asking why it was deleted...

Anyway, without further ado, I will be releasing them every few days for now.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1: The Memory of this World

"H-H-hello."

A young shrine maiden nervously greeted a small child wearing a light-pink mob cap.

"Hello."

A cold and scary reply was returned.

There was a long awkward silence and the shrine maiden simply left the child alone.

A fearful voice rang into her mind as she briskly walked along the streets. The child glanced with her eyes following her rapid movements, still putting on her cold demeanour on the stranger that had just randomly greeted her. There were always a lot of people who did this to her because of her identity so the encounter was like any other day.

Meanwhile, Reimu Hakurei, the Shrine Maiden of Paradise, pulled on her bag and headed towards one of the nearby park areas to stroll around to clear her thoughts.

As it was an early morning where everyone headed to do their normal things on a weekday, there was no one in the park, thus she simply sat on one of the benches by the side of a playing area.

"Sigh… what am I doing…"

It's downright impossible.

She just got no idea what she should do.

Should she keep on even doing this? Does she even need to? Her pride would continue to plummet to the ground over time if nothing improved. But if she stopped here, then her life and everyone in this town will be swept away and there wouldn't be any more left of her former home.

That's what that mysterious letter she received a few days ago told her.

As the wind blew her sleeveless red top and her red skirt gently, Reimu closed her eyes to sleep. There was a small bag that she brought alongside her, containing the purification rod that had been gifted to her a long time ago, but it's pretty much useless as it was mostly for ceremonial purposes with the current situation.

Apparently, the letter mentioned too that it had a strange purpose.

A minute passed when Reimu picked up a noise nearby. The shrine maiden opened her eyes and turned her head around.

A creature…? Something watching me?

Her instincts kicked in, so she went through the bushes behind it, searching for the source of the sound.

Going through the thick bushes, she came across a path with a road beside it.

She leaned her head to her left. Suddenly she saw a small glittering blue light of a human form with some red marks on it, lying on the path near the road. There was a small faint cry coming from it.

Without hesitating, Reimu dashed across the path.

The shrine maiden paused as she crouched, hesitantly observing a small creature at the side of the road.

It was a small blue fairy.

She looked at its curled up body, with its right leg flowing with blood. It appeared weak and thin, with its very bones through its skin clearly visible.

Reimu pulled out a handkerchief from her bag and wiped away the dirt and blood.

"I must take her to the doctor. But… I can't take her alone."

She scanned her surroundings anxiously for anyone to assist her but there was not a single soul to be found.

Cursing her luck, the girl gritted her teeth and reached out gently to pick up the fairy to her arms. It was just a few seconds when her face got extremely pale, staggering her movements to properly stand up.

"Be careful!"

The shrine maiden's body was about to hit the ground hard when she felt an arm wrapping around her waist, just barely enough to prevent her from the worst situation.

A long deep breath could be felt in front of Reimu while her eyes were closed.

"What are you doing?" A cold, indifferent voice said.

Reimu coughed and sneezed before clearing her eyes.

It was the child with the cap that she greeted before. The shrine maiden was more shocked about the child rather than her situation.

Did she just follow me all the way here?

Reimu revealed the small fairy in her arms, "I… I am trying to bring the fairy to… sniff…"

"That's enough," the child lowered Reimu to the ground and placed the fairy from the shrine maiden. "Are you allergic?"

"Y-yes…"

The child simply sighed and looked with pity. "Here, I'll help you get up."

"Thank you, um… "

"Remilia Scarlet, the Scarlet Devil." The saviour replied immediately. "I am a vampire."

As Remilia introduced herself, she gave out an imposing aura. Reimu already knew her name but pretended not to. It was common knowledge that she was a vampire. Especially with the bat-like wings on her back which anyone could see.

She was wondering how Remilia knew she was here.

Did she follow her all the way here? Or was it by pure coincidence?

Reimu quickly shook that thought away. What's more important now was that she was saved.

"T-thanks, Miss Scarlet."

Reimu took a deep breath before introducing herself, "My name is Reimu Hakurei, the Shrine Maiden of Paradise."

"Hmph," the Scarlet Devil nodded casually, releasing Reimu.

Immediately, the young woman's confidence plunged.

Reimu dusted herself off as she tried to ignore her feelings and checked on the fairy they had placed aside. "I-I need to go quickly. It's losing blood."

Remilia shook her head, "Well if you are going alone, I'm afraid that it won't be the only one staying in the hospital."

The vampire picked up the injured fairy by herself carefully and started leaving the area. Reimu quickly followed behind.

They didn't exchange words at all as they walked at a distance between one another. Once they reached the hospital, as it was still morning, they were able to quickly get the fairy patched up through the vet. The doctor told them that this fairy was most likely abandoned by an owner and wasn't a rogue fairy at all. Due to that, Reimu was thinking if she should adopt the small creature. However, the allergy she was having made her hesitant.

"No need. I can do that," Remilia offered.

"Really?"

"Yes. I don't mind."

Reimu smiled, her eyes sparkled with gratitude.

Meanwhile, Remilia remained stoic and had a cold indifference which immediately put off the shrine maiden's gratitude.

Seemingly satisfied, they settled the required vaccination and formalities. It became official and they returned to where they came from. Coincidentally, they lived next to each other in an apartment. Like the previous moment where they went to the hospital, both of them did not say anything going back home, thus there was a complete silence atmosphere among the two.

"Do you know what to name it?"

The vampire asked so suddenly that the shrine maiden slightly jumped and took a while to respond.

"I… don't know."

"You found it, so I believe it's proper."

Reimu placed a finger on her chin and went into deep thought.

She noticed her wings being slightly white-bluish, while her one-piece dress was blue and white. Somehow it reminded her of someone she met before.

"How about… Cirno?"

A poker face was quickly given to the taller girl, making the latter keeping a larger distance between them.

Reimu explained herself hurriedly, "It's because it's small… and a pet… "

"Ok."

Reimu felt relieved.

Fairies were after all small and defenceless. They tend to wander at night for those without owners so people tend to keep them as pets. For some reason, this fairy reminds her of a vague memory of a certain fairy that annoys her to no end. It just looked exactly like this small fairy she found.

A residue of the old memories I have perhaps…

The mysterious letter again. It did write about this phenomenon.

They arrived at their apartment and went into the lift together. They were just living side by side, so when Remilia entered her home, Reimu just looked on without saying anything. The vampire's aura still gave an intimidating atmosphere and she didn't glance back at her neighbour as she carried Cirno into her apartment unit.

"That… went well," Reimu said once she had the door to her home closed. "Better than any other days I ever had with her."

The shrine maiden sat on her bed, her face looking up at the walls of her room.

She wondered how a child could be terrifyingly hard to approach and converse with.

She laid her body and looked up at the ceiling.

"Seriously, you old hag… why are you making me do this…"

Reimu turned her body to the side and looked at the small drawer next to her bed. On top of it was a piece of a paper formatted like a formal letter.

She landed her eyes on the long piece of paper containing many strange words.

This paper was sent to her anonymously one day.

It was full of fantasy concepts like magic and battles using a system of spell cards. It added that her purification rod, which she owned since young, was not just some ceremonial item. It was instead something that aided her in using magic. However, the most crucial info was about Gensokyo itself.

It said that the one she lived in now wasn't the actual Gensokyo.

That it was altered and changed and that there was an original version of Gensokyo before this. And everyone has their memories altered.

Naturally, she dismissed it immediately at that time.

She had never believed the concept of such a fantasy. There was never a time for her to waste time on such thoughts.

This was despite the fact their family has a shrine maiden background for generations, with the remaining possession being the rod she was responsible for right now.

However, as days passed by, she was suddenly hit with some vague memories which she never expected to experience. Especially when she kept thinking and looking around the places it mentioned across town.

Then, suddenly a certain name came to her mouth a few days ago.

She was the sole reason for all of Reimu's recent actions.

The recalling of her name convinced her that perhaps… there was a shred of truth to some of this.

Gensokyo wasn't meant to be like this, Reimu imagined that person saying it to her.

However, aside from that, she had no idea what else she was supposed to do. But if today was any confirmation and if that letter was all true, that would mean she has to do something quickly before everyone would disappear.

The Shrine Maiden of Paradise closed her eyes, her thoughts drifting at the only name she could only remember fondly in the past.

"Yukari Yakumo. Just where have you gone off to?"