Gensokyo, Japan. Around 2013 AD.

The incident had started out normal enough. It was your standard affair: a mysterious stone artifact appearing out of nowhere, youkai going crazy—the normal deal. So, Reimu grabbed the artifact—thinking it would be nice to sell later—and decided to investigate. Of course, her "investigation" was really just beating up everyone who ran across her path until she eventually found the right person. Her intuition hadn't failed her so far—and it didn't this time either. After, er, pacifying several rowdy youkai who had been aroused by the chaos and fighting Marisa again for good measure, she eventually discovered the source—a vengeful spirit that had the ability to open portals to the land of the dead. It was a tough fight, smashing a decent bit of the Forest of Magic, but eventually Reimu emerged victorious.

"Go home," she said to the defeated spirit. "Celebrate Halloween or whatever, I don't care."

"You've no idea what you've just done," the spirit replied, cackling madly. "I was but an envoy. The main force has yet to come."
"Huh? Speak clearly, you two-bit ghost," Reimu snapped, annoyed. "Just die again or something so I can get back."

The spirit laughed, eyes wide in insanity. "Oh, you pitiful fools! Soon all shall come to ruin! And all will join the Eye!"

"Yo, Reimu!" Marisa called from a ways below them, followed by Sakuya and Youmu. Of course, they were flying. "Ditch that loser and let's go raid Kourin's for junk!"

"Yeah, yeah," she dismissed. "Anyways, keep it cool and I won't have to beat your hide five times over next time." She began to fly away, Marisa already ahead and promising to "only leave the crappy dregs."

None of them saw the spirit carve a strange eye-shaped symbol onto its ethereal chest.

None of them saw the spirit's body contort into a long, jagged, pitch-black spear.

None of them saw a dark hand reach through an unclosed portal and grab the weapon.

As such, none of them were prepared to do anything when Reimu felt something impact her from behind. She slowly looked down to find a midnight-colored edge spouting out of her chest, covered in crimson. Faintly she heard the screams of her companions, and, through a haze, she dimly noted that she seemed to be falling. The world turned upside down.

She didn't even feel it when she hit the ground.

With a start, the Shrine Maiden of Paradise woke up to a blurry—and surprisingly wet—world. Panicked, she thrashed about in the water for a bit before instinct kicked in and she broke clear of the surface. She tread water for a few moments, gasping for breath. "Where in the seven hells am I?" she muttered before taking a good look around.

She appeared to be in some kind of forest. Trees stretched out in front of her, and a waterfall to her back. The miko noted that she had ended up in some kind of river—hence the drowning. Climbing onto the shore, she flopped onto her back and stared at the sky, trying to process all that just happened.

"Reimu!" A cry came from off to the side. Startled, she stood up and saw the source of confusion. A distortion wavered in the air, showing what looked like the Forest of Magic. Marisa, Sakuya, and Sanae—and was that Yukari off to the side?—were crowded around a body on the forest floor. She couldn't see their expressions from this angle, but it was apparent they were deeply upset. Marisa kept on shaking the uncomfortably familiar red-dressed body and shouting—

Ah.

She fell to her knees, wide-eyed in panic. She was dead. That was her body laying on the forest floor, with that ungodly spear poking through her chest and oh gods there was so much blood. She felt sick—but couldn't throw up. "I can't be dead . . . right?"

"Want to live again!?" a voice boomed out from the top of the waterfall. Startled, Reimu whipped her head in the sound of the voice, only to shield her eyes as a bright light offended her retinas. The light died down, and in its place stood a robed figure. "Well, of course you do!"

"Who the hell are you!?" she demanded, her eyes still smarting.

"Everyone, yet no-one," the voice, now discernible as an older male's, said from behind her. She whipped around to be greeted by a white-haired man wearing what seemed to be robes and some kind of hippie headband. "Quit that BS. Who are you?"

"For now, you can call me Sage," he said, walking over to her. "And what I'm here to do is—"

"You can bring me back to life?" she interrupted, rushing over to him, voice filled with desperation. "I need to! Gensokyo needs me to—"

The next thing Reimu knew she was flat on her back again, winded. "Fool! Have patience!" the one named Sage reprimanded her. "Listen to what I'm about to say."

"That thing that killed you—it's called a Ganma. It's a vengeful spirit from another realm." Sage paced as he talked, can tapping the ground. "It's quite dangerous—and one of many that are trying to force their ways into your world as we speak." He stuck his cane right at her chest. "That eye that you're holding. Bring it out."

Confused, she reached into her clothes and brought out the strange relic. "You mean this? I found it at the start of the incident. But what does that have to do with—"

"It's called an Eyecon," he said, ignoring her outburst. "It currently houses your soul. You're lucky you had that on you when you died—else you'd be rotting in hell or stuck in purgatory, I dunno. In any case, treat it with the utmost care. It's your life."

She stared at the thing in her hand. It seemed so . . . fragile. "You mean . . . this thing is me?"

"Indeed," he nodded, relieved she had finally fallen into his pace. "Now, you have a choice. You can either move onto the afterlife from here, or you can . . . shall we say, attempt to get your second chance."

Reimu's head shot up. "So I can come back!?"

"You're getting ahead of yourself," he chuckled. "You see, there are other Eyecons out there in the world that contain the essence of heroes. One could say that Eyecons are the very souls of heroes themselves!" Here he drew a glyph in the ground—a strange eye that was aflame. "If you collect fifteen Eyecons, you will be granted one wish. You can do anything with that power—like come back to life, for example." Sage winked cheekily.

"You'd better not be pulling my strings, old man," Reimu shot up and glared at him. "Where are these Eyecons?"

"Wait, wait," he waved his hands in front of him. "It's not as easy as it sounds. There are plenty of Ganma gunning for the Eyecons—that's why you were killed. You had an Eyecon it wanted."

Once again, Reimu stared at her soul, now almost toyetic in appearance. "So I just have to beat them up and grab fifteen?"

"Ah, but you can't beat them as-is," Sage tutted. "You'll need a certain kind of power."

"What is it? How can I beat them? I gotta know!"

Sage smirked. "Are you willing to risk your very soul to combat the Ganma? To save the world—both yours and what you call the outside—from eminent destruction?"

"Yes," Reimu said with a fire in her eyes. "I'm going to do whatever it takes to come back."

Suddenly, the Eyecon in her hands flashed. When the glow faded, it had changed slightly—now slightly more squarish and colored. "This is . . . ?"

"One more thing," Gramps said, pointing a finger at her waist. Before she could react, an orange flame flickered to life around her midsection, before burning away, revealing a strange device. "You'll need that."

"What is this?" she said, startled.

"You ask too many stupid questions," a patronizing voice said.

Jumping again—and now thoroughly tired by all these sudden voices—she glared at the new arrival. It was an orange colored spirit, its head dominated by a huge eyeball. "That's Yurusen," Sage explained. "It'll fill you in on the details."

"Wait, what?"

"Off with you!" he shouted, shoving her back with an incredible force. She flailed back, falling into the water, water filling her vision.

Back in Gensokyo, the other incident-resolvers were still in shock. They hadn't moved from where they were. Marisa shook Reimu's body yet again, her voice hoarse from calling her name. "Marisa, she's gone," Sanae said wearily. "She can't hear you."

"No!" Marisa screamed. "She's not dead! She can't be dead!"

Sakuya simply turned away, not wanting to see her companion in such a state.

All of a sudden, a golden glow burst out of the sky. Even as they shied away, Reimu's body disappeared in a shower of golden sparks.

"Reimu!" The three frantically searched around for her body. Marisa, in her off-kilter state, immediately assumed some youkai stole her body and charged off, yelling incoherently. Sakuya and Sanae were quick to follow, worried for her safety.

Reimu wanted to punch someone. She had been yelling at them for the past minute, but they apparently couldn't hear her. "I guess I really am a ghost," she muttered. She walked around a bit, dejected. "Now what am I supposed to do?"

Yurusen poofed into existence. "Hey, kid! Quit spacin' out, we got trouble!"

Reimu was about to fire off a retort when a noise caught her ear. "What was that?"

She turned to face a blackened creature, skin as midnight. Its chest, rose and dell with shuddering breaths, exposed ribs jutting through its skin. It opened a jagged-toothed mouth and growled, a foul sound harsh on the ears.

"Is that a Ganma?" Reimu asked, stepping back. "Gross."

"Hey, hey! If you want to beat that thing, you gotta transform," Yurusen called out. "You can't use your normal powers as a ghost—and even if you could, it wouldn't matter."

"Well, how do I do that?"

"Click the switch on your Eyecon! Then load it into the belt and pump the lever!"

Reimu stared at the floating eyeball, before shrugging and clicking the switch on her soul jar. For a moment, it flashed with a strange letter she couldn't read—she thought it was English. Tugging on her driver's case and finding it easy to open, she loaded the Eyecon into the slot she supposed it went and closed the case.

"Aye!"

"Huh?" She wasn't quite prepared for something to come out of her Driver. "Wait, what?"

"Come on, pump the lever! He's right there, ya know!"

Shrugging, she grabbed the orange handle and pumped it out and in. That annoyingly excited voice—which she would later learn was the Driver itself—chanted "Eyes open! It's me!" before falling silent as neon lines ran up and down Reimu's form. Before she could say anything, the lines flashed, and she was covered in a suit of strange, glowing armor. "What's going on?"

The thing she had conjured earlier floated towards her. She tried to bat it away, but it easily flowed around her waving and settled on top of her. Reimu felt something fit over her—almost like a jacket—even as a mask clicked onto her face. "What-what is this?"

The only answer she got was the roar of the Ganma and her Driver chanting, "Let's go! Dead set! Go-go-go-Ghost!" Confused, frustrated and scared (though she'd never admit it), she lashed out with a loud "Shut up!" Her fist connected with the monstrosity, sending it flying back with a power she never had.

"You are Kamen Rider Ghost," Reimu's otherworldly companion explained even as she stared at her hand in wonder. "You have been burdened with the task of protecting this world from Ganma and other supernatural threats."

"I don't get it, but that thing's going down!" With renewed fervor, and plenty of vengeance, she launched her assault on the shadowy creature. "You think you can kill me and get away with it, huh!?"

The Ganma crumpled under her onslaught, occasionally trying to lash back, only to miss and to be rewarded with a boot to the face.

"Kid! Finish it off!" Yurusen called out.

Reimu paused momentarily from beating it over the skull with a heavy branch. "What?"

"Pump the lever again!"

Tossing her instrument of abuse away, she did as she was told. Her Driver announced "Eyes wide open! My Omega Drive!" as she felt her foot burn with energy.

"I see," she grinned beneath her mask. "It's like a Spellcard."

"A what?"

The Ganma, howling with pain, lept at her, claws outstretched.

"Omega Drive: 「Wind God Kick」!"

Reimu kicked upwards, flipping with the momentum. She followed through with a second, third, and fourth somersault kick, all straight to that thing's jaw. There was a moment, when it seemed time had paused. Reimu hung in midair, suspended with the Ganma in space. Then that moment ended and she kicked it once more, her heel smashing upwards. The monster flew back, howling, as it flew into a tree, smashing the bark. Something black seemed to peel off it, and then there was an inky explosion, almost knocking Reimu off her feet.

". . . Was that it?" she said. She absentmindedly opened her Driver and pulled out her Eyecon. Her armor dissolved around her. "Did I win?"

"Sure did!" the constantly-smiling Yurusen giggled. "And now ya gotta go!"

"Huh?"

Reimu suddenly fell through a portal, shouting in surprise. She landed hard into a body of cold water. "Ugh, not again," she groaned as she climbed out. She took a look around. "Wait, I'm back here?"

"Welcome back," Sage greeted her. "Unfortunately you must leave Gensokyo at once."

"Wait, what?" Reimu demanded. "Why?"

"Because," a familiar voice responded. "You have a job to do."

Reimu groaned as the Princess of the Netherworld descended, followed closely by her eternally-present gardener. "Ugh, I should have known you would be involved."

"Hi, Reimu~" the seemingly-airheaded ghost waved cheerfully. "Sorry, but you can't stay—for now. You'll need to go to the outside world."

"Why?"

"Becaaaaause," came the airy reply. "I'll tell you later. For now, bye-bye!"

In that moment, Reimu sympathized wholeheartedly with Youmu. As torturous as those few minutes with Sage were, she couldn't imagine what sixty years of similar treatment would be like. "Ugh, fine. Where do I go?"

"Down that way," Yuyuko answered, pointing to a thicket of trees. "Youmu will escort you."

And with that, with annoyingly cheerful waves from both Sage and Yuyuko, Reimu set off, followed by the white-haired swordsman. Eventually, the thicket thinned, and they found themselves standing at a large hole in the ground.

"This is where we part ways," Youmu said. "I wish you the best of luck in returning to life."

"Yeah, well, thanks," Reimu peered down the hole. "I'm still confused as to what is going on."

"As am I," Youmu sighed. "You know how eccentric she can be."

Reimu spared her a sympathetic glance. "You, uh, have my sympathies."

Youmu looked slightly surprised at her sentiment, but smiled slightly. "I'm used to it, but thank you." Chuckling slightly as Reimu blushed, embarrassed, she said, "Look for the Daitenku Temple. That's all I know."

Reimu took a deep breath. "Okay. Sounds simple enough. Just follow my gut." She nodded to Youmu. "Uh, take care and tell Marisa to stop whining. And she can't have the tea I've been saving for months."

Youmu bowed. "Very well."

With one last nod, Reimu took a few steps back before jumping into the hole.

She fell for several minutes, her surroundings getting darker and darker as she plummeted. "Uh, hang on," she said with growing dread. "I can't fly, can I."

Yurusen popped into life, hanging onto her sleeves. "No powers, buddy. You're dead!"

"That's, uh, pretty bad." Reimu gulped.

"Don't worry, you can't die," the spirit said. "You're already dead."

"That's encouraging?" she said uncertainly. "Hey, is that light?"

Indeed, they were rapidly approaching a source of light. Reimu shielded her eyes, engulfed by the brightness. When the glow dimmed, she lowered her hands. "Huh? Sky?"

They were in the middle of the air, falling freely. She craned her head to look back, and she saw the hole she came out of close slowly until it vanished. "Great, now what?" she muttered, the wind buffeting her face.

She fell through the sea of clouds, cutting through them like a hot knife through butter. It was then apparent that the ground was approaching at an uncomfortable rate. Trying desperately to slow her fall, Reimu shrieked as she plummeted like a red-skirted meteor to a brown building. She braced for impact . . . And phased right through the roof. She dared to open her eyes

Wham

and was greeted with the most painful landing she'd ever had. "Oh, ow, I think my everything's broken," she wheezed out.

Yurusen popped up. "Just because you can't die doesn't mean the pain won't make you wish you did."

"Tell me that sooner."

"Life ain't easy, kiddo." the spirit chortled.

Groaning, Reimu rolled to the side, wincing as she stood up. "Never again," she moaned. Something caught the corner of her eye. "Wait, what?"

"I think you used him to break your fall," Yurusen said.

Indeed, she had landed on a brown-haired man in a floral shirt. She knelt down and shook him roughly. "Hey, are you okay?"

The person groaned and then slowly opened his eyes, which quickly flew open in shock. "Huh? Who are you!? What are you doing in my house!?" the stranger demanded. Then he winced. "Ow, my head."

Reimu was flabbergasted. "Wait, you can see me? I'm a ghost!"

His eyes got even wider. "Wait, what?"

She nodded and stuck her hand through him. He yelped. "See?"

"W-woah!" He jumped back. He then frowned. "Wait, I've never been able to see ghosts! Why now?"

What happened to the denial that ghosts exist? Reimu shook her head. "Don't know, don't care. Uh, can you direct me to the Daitenku Temple?"

"Well, you're here," the man replied.

"Huh?"

He smiled. "Welcome to Daitenku Tenple. My name is Tenkuji Takeru."