"When you said you fight with butterflies I thought you meant actual insects, not energy blasts with wings."

Taylor glanced away from the smoking crater the butterfly spirit had created in the boulder and at Yuyuko. "Great job! This is going so much better than when I tried to teach Youmu."

It had been going well. Yuyuko barely had to explain how to form the mental link with the butterfly spirit before Taylor had already established one. Sending orders to the spirit felt natural, a concerning idea that she was doing her best to ignore. She was about to ask what had happened to the spirit when it reformed by her side, a feeling of satisfaction being transferred through the mental link as Taylor dismissed it.

"Butterflies enjoy blowing themselves up?"

Yuyuko nodded, "Apparently they get annoyed about how everyone across trillions of worlds only ever associates them with peace and beauty and enjoy having the chance to destroy things every once in a while."

The concept that butterfly souls were enthusiastic suicide bombers was almost as concerning as discovering insects had souls at all. Taylor was starting to feel guilty for the uncountable amounts of 'junk insects' in her swarms that she had forcefully fed to the ones she had deemed useful. She forced herself away from that train of thought, knowing precisely where it would end up.

"Well I'm glad I have some talent for this, but I don't think my previous experiences controlling butterflies will be much help for either of us; I mostly used them as a distraction for my other insects."

"That is very useful in danmaku. Getting your opponent to dodge out of the way of the big flashy attack and into a quicker smaller one is a classic strategy." Yuyuko's eyes seemed to light up. "I know! You just need to see a demonstration."

Yuyuko cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, "Youmu!"

"Isn't that dangerous? Youmu is alive and that," Taylor gestured at the crater, "would kill a person if it hit."

"Don't worry Taylor. We will be invoking Spell Card Rules."

"How would rules stop Youmu from being blown up?"

"Spell Card Rules were created so that powerful Gods and Youkai could duel without killing each other as well as anyone else who happened to be in the surrounding area. Once a duel is invoked the rules of reality are temporarily overwritten preventing fatal damage.I once hit the human that created the rules straight in the face with one of my butterflies and she ended up no worse for wear." Yuyuko giggled, "Though she still does get annoyed with me about it when she gets a few too many drinks in her."

"We can temporarily overwrite the laws of reality in order to stop people from dying. How does that even work?"

Yuyuko shrugged, "I never really thought about it. If you want to know more you should probably ask Reimu or Yukari."

Taylor made a note to ask about those people later as she saw Youmu enter the garden.

"Yes Lady Yuyu-" Youmu's voice trailed off as she glanced at the boulder Taylor had blasted. "Lady Yuyuko, why is there a hole in that boulder?"

"Taylor shot it."

Youmu's eye began to twitch slightly, "Lady Yuyuko, why did Taylor shoot the boulder and not one of our practice targets?"

"I couldn't remember where we left those and the boulder was convenient."

Youmu closed her eyes and took a deep breath before talking again, "What did you call me for Lady Yuyuko?"

"Oh, I wanted to show Taylor what danmaku is like. Care for a match?"

Yuomu crossed her arms, "Well I would normally not mind, but apparently I need to pull a boulder out of the rock garden and go find a replacement."

Yuyuko pouted, "Please, Youmu"

Taylor watched as Youmu's facade broke down, "Fine. But only a quick one, okay?"

Yuyuko hugged Youmu, "You're the best!"

"Let's just get this over with."

A moment later Taylor felt a jolt of surprise as both of them took off into the air. Taylor was about to call out when Yuyuyko turned around, "Come on Taylor!"

"How? I can't fly."

Yuyuko laughed, "Of course you can fly, you're a ghost."

Taylor paused, she really couldn't argue with that statement. She focused on the memory of using the jetpack Defiant had built for her and leaped into the air, only to fall straight back to the ground.

Yuyuko landed right in front of her. "Don't think about it so hard. Just fly."

"How? I need more instructions than that."

Yuyuko furrowed her brow before perking up, "I know, I'm going to pick you up and let you feel what it is like to fly to see if that helps you do it."

"That doesn't seem safe."

"Taylor, you are an eternal soul. There really isn't much that is unsafe for you anymore."

"Alright, let's try it."

Yuyuko pulled Taylor into a tight hug. "Hold on."

"Wait, this isn't the correct way to carry someone while... " She was cut off as Yuyuko launched into the air and Taylor wrapped her arms around the girl and held on for dear life. A moment later they stopped and Taylor glared at Yuyuko's smiling face.

"Try to focus on the sensation of flying."

Taylor did as instructed. It was odd; she wasn't in enough pain right now for the way Yuyuko was carrying her. After she had been given her jetpack she had been forced to attend multiple classes by the PRT about proper ways to carry another person while flying before she had been allowed to take it out on patrols. Injuries caused due to improper methods of carrying while flying had been one of the leading causes of lawsuits against the Protectorate during the early years after it had formed.

With the way Yuyuko was carrying her she should nearly be falling right now. There should be a strong pinching sensation across her back and her arms should be straining to keep herself up. The more she thought about it the more the expected discomforts began to arrive.

Yuyuko leaned forward and whispered right in her ear, "Has anyone ever told you that you have the loveliest eyes?"

"What?" Taylor yelped. As she did so Yuyuko released her and slipped out of her own grip.

Taylor looked down, realizing that she was now hovering in the air completely under her own power. She looked where Yuyuko was hovering a few meters away, her hand over her mouth as she completely failed to hide the fact that she was laughing.

Taylor willed herself forward unsteadily until she was only a couple feet away and asked, "What was that about?"

Taylor had to wait a second for Yuyuko to get herself under control so she could respond. Finally she said, "I needed you to stop thinking about falling."

"I wasn't thinking about falling. I was remembering the flying lessons I went through when I was with the Wards."

"When you were alive the goal of flying was to not fall. Now the only reason you will ever fall is if you think you can." Yuyuko twisted into the air facing towards where Taylor could see Youmu hovering in the distance. "Let's go, it would be rude to keep Youmu waiting too long."

Yuyuko shot off and Taylor followed at a more sedate pace. As she did she felt a small giddy feeling grow in her gut. Even while she had been at the height of her one minded obsession with saving the world, flying was one of the few pure pleasures she had allowed herself. This felt even better than flying with her jetpack. There was no mild discomfort from the harness or need to carefully regulate the thruster outputs, flying felt as simple and natural as walking.

Taylor slowed to a stop a few feet away from Yuyuko who turned to her, "Alright Youmu wants this to be quick so whoever lands a hit first wins. You should retreat so you don't get caught in the crossfire."

Taylor did as requested and floated to a spot roughly between the two and a ways to the side in order to watch.

As Taylor turned to face the duelists she felt something she could not describe shift. Then Taylor jumped as the air between the two was suddenly filled with hundreds of balls of energy firing in every direction. It was impossible to tell what was going on, the air was so filled with light that it almost hurt to look at. She had seen less energy blasts in the air during the coordinated Blaster attacks she had fired off against Scion.

After just looking in awe at the chaos for a second Taylor realized that she needed to focus in on one of the duelists, trying to track all of the attacks was impossible. She turned her to where Youmu had been and focused on the girl.

Youmu had both her swords out and was effortlessly navigating through the attack, slipping into larger gaps and slicing balls of energy that came too close with her swords. With each swing Taylor saw nearly a dozen lasers arc off her towards Yuyuko.

After about a minute of dodging Youmu dove low and swung both her swords, releasing a large energy blast that tore through Yuyuko's onslaught. Taylor watched as the blast flew high above Yuyukon and then exploded. From the explosion thousands of glowing cherry blossom petals rained down on Yuyuko.

Taylor turned her attention to focus entirely on the ghost princess and she could just make out a smile on her face as the attack enveloped her. It was impossible to see Yuyuko through the petals and the only indication Taylor had that she had not been hit was that Youmu was still in a ready stance.

Yuyuko erupted from the top of the cloud of petals, one hand raised above her head, a ball of light hovering over it. From the ball lasers began to fire directly towards Youmu. As the gardener dodged Taylor noticed hundreds of spectral butterflies emerge from the cherry blossom forest beneath them and start moving to cut Youmu off. Unable to change directions due to the lasers, Youmu plunged into the swarm but continued to avoid the butterflies.

As Taylor watched she noticed that the swarm was not acting properly: the butterflies stayed in their rigid pattern instead of focusing in on Youmu, leaving holes for the swordswoman to navigate through. Still after a couple of seconds in the swarm she tripped up and a butterfly landed on her back before exploding.

Immediately the swarm dispersed and Yuyuko stopped firing her lasers and started cheering. "I won!"

After a moment both Yuyuko and Youmu were flying towards Taylor. As Youmu approached Taylor saw that she was wincing slightly and rubbing her back, "Are you alright?"

Youmu looked up at Taylor, "I'm fine. The attacks don't cause any damage, but they do sting to let you know you got hit."

Yuyuko arrived a moment later, "Great job Youmu. The petals were so pretty I almost forgot to dodge." She turned to Taylor, "So what did you think?"

"It was impressive," it really was, she didn't think Legend could fire off even half of what either duelist had done. "But your swarm of butterflies was weird. They didn't seem to respond to Youmu properly."

"You have to leave enough space for your opponent to dodge or it wouldn't be fair." Taylor snorted at the thought of a fair fight, that seemed overly optimistic. Yuyuko continued undeterred, "Come have tea with me and we can discuss all the rules."

Professor James Murphy watched the political talk show host hold up a copy of his book from his office. When he had written the book on Khepri he had expected it to stay largely underground. Despite there being a decent amount of evidence for Khepri's existence during Golden Morning it was quite obvious that the Wardens were attempting a coverup and the rest of the Parahumans had gone along with it.

When he had anonymously published the small print run for the book he had thought that would be the end of it. That the book would find its way into fringe groups but it would be mostly ignored by the general public. He had only even released it so that he could know that the truth could be at least available for people who wanted it. But apparently someone else had different plans.

Someone had gotten ahold of the book, translated it into dozens of languages and released it across multiple Earths. The book was quickly becoming a cultural phenomenon even as the Wardens continued to call it baseless fantasy. It was a bit terrifying, while he had taken every precaution available to himself when he released the book he had mostly been planning on its relative insignificance to keep himself safe. After all, no matter how many precautions he took there was no way to stop some Thinker from just pulling his name out of thin air.

He jumped as he heard the door creak open, he had sworn he had locked it. He frowned as he looked up at it only to see a girl wearing a purple gown and mob cap of all things step into his office. He let out a tiny sigh, seeing that despite the odd clothes she wasn't wearing a mask. He did not recognize her but she looked to be about eighteen so he assumed she was one of the students from his larger lectures.

James forced a false smile onto his face, "I'm sorry Miss, but my office hours are on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from two to five. Do you think you can come back then?"

The girl ignored him and shut his door then he felt a pit form in the middle of his stomach as she pulled out a copy of his book. "Miss, I asked you to leave."

The girl smiled serenely, "I so wanted to meet the author of this book. Do you think you can sign it?"

James stood from his chair, "I have no idea what you are talking about! Now get out before I call security!"

The girl sighed dramatically, "Drop the act, Professor. I have put no small amount of effort into making sure your book was read by as many people as possible and I would like to discuss it with you."

James dropped back into his chair, "Are you a parahuman?"

The girl smiled as she sat in front of him, "I am no such thing. You can call me Yukari."

James nodded, "Why did you publish my book?"

"I just wanted people to know the story."

James frowned at her response. "You had it translated into multiple languages and released on multiple Earths. That cannot have been cheap. Not to mention the fact that the Wardens are probably hunting you down this very minute, along with myself." He paused at that thought, "How did you find me anyway?"

"You would be surprised at the power of a good story. It can take on a life of its own."

"You didn't answer my question."

Yukari just continued lounging in her chair and smiling at him.

"Fine, just tell me what it is you want from me."

"I was wondering if there were any details about Khepri that you kept out of the book?"

There were. James had been careful with the book, focusing on the evidence of Khepri's existence as well as what they had done and how they had likely done it. He had left out theories about who Khepri might be. One did not spend their life studying parahumans without realizing what things you could not publish without getting hunted down and killed, and accusing a cape of being Khepri, even a dead one, was definitely on that list. Still the puzzle of it had rankled him so he had spent quite a bit of time looking into it anyway.

He leaned back in his chair, "No, I put everything I had into the book."

Yukari sighed dramatically, "I know you aren't particularly happy with me right now. How about we make a deal, you answer my questions truthfully and I will ensure that no parahuman will ever find you."

James stopped to think, if Yukari here had been able to track him down he doubted the Wardens were far behind. He didn't really think that she could stop the Wardens but if she was able to get his book released on multiple Earths then she had to have serious resources. At the very least she had better odds of hiding him then he did.

"Fine." He opened a drawer and emptied it before pulling up the false bottom. Underneath it was a file. He pulled it out and handed it to Yukari. "I think the most likely source of Khepri is a Second Trigger. It is unlikely that a fresh trigger would be experienced enough to do what Khepri did. I compiled a list of the most likely candidates from the death records the Wardens provided. I assume they just listed Khepri as being killed by whatever caused their second trigger since it is the easiest way to keep the coverup consistent."

Yukari thumbed through the dossiers before setting the file on her lap.

"So what are you planning on doing with that information, if you don't mind me asking? Are you crazy enough to release another book?"

Yukari laughed politely, "Oh no, I have no desire that the true identity of Khepri ever be known. I rather enjoy all the discussion the mystery has caused, don't you?"

James shook his head, "Whatever. So what is your plan to stop me from being found?"

Yukari stood up, still holding onto the file. "That is simple. I will send you to an Earth with no parahumans."

That made sense. She obviously had interdimensional connections given what she had done with his book. Still travel between the Earths was heavily regulated. "How are you going to arrange that?"

As soon as the last word left his mouth he felt a sensation of weightlessness and then he and his chair fell straight through his floor. Looking up he saw a black opening filled with glowing red eyes above him. A moment later an envelope fell out of it and onto his lap.

James smacked his forehead; of course the mysterious woman who showed up asking about his book had been a parahuman. It had been stupid of him to believe her. Still everything she had said had been oddly compelling. He wondered if it was a secondary power other than just her portals.

James stood from his chair and looked around. He appeared to be in an aisan village based on the architecture and people he saw staring at him.

Opening the envelope three notes slipped out. Two of them were written in what he thought was japanese and had a number written in the top left corner. The third was in English.

'Give the first note to a villager. They will make arrangements for you to meet a shrine maiden. Give the second note to her. You will be given a house in a couple of days and I will deliver you select items from your home and office when you do. It would be wise of you to stay within the village until you learn the language and its customs, Gensokyo can be quite dangerous for those who do not know its ways. With this our deal is complete. I hope you find satisfaction in your new life.

-Yukari Yakumo'

Not seeing any other options, James walked towards the villagers.

A/N: Thank you to skyedelaciel for beta reading the chapter. I hope my first attempt at writing a danmaku duel worked. It's honestly kind of difficult coming up with rules for two equal opponents fighting like it is in the lore as in the games it is just a boss battle. It also doesn't help that the game's most iconic spell card breaks the canonical rules of danmaku by being a screen filling laser beam rather than something dodgeable. I ended up using MinusT's 3D animated danmaku videos as inspiration. On a related note I suggest that anyone who has an even passing interest in Touhou watch those videos since they are great.