Although it was usually Marisa's style to be as flashy and bombastic as possible, she had opted for a stealthy approach for her current visit to the Scarlet Devil Mansion as a change of pace. It had paid off, because now she was walking away from the library with a newly-acquired spellbook in her hands.
"Success! And without a hitch!" Marisa celebrated as she took light steps down the corridor.
Granted, she only got away with it because it seemed like most of the people in charge, including the librarian and the devils, were busy elsewhere or sleeping in. There were barely even any fairy maids up and about. It had been so uneventful that Marisa was even feeling a little disappointed that nobody had managed to catch sight of her since she arrived, nor tried to pick a fight. ...But she got a new book out of it, and that would have to be enough to make up for all that this time.
"And to think, I didn't need to use any of the trinkets I brought with me today." Marisa laughed to herself, feeling her heavy pockets that were filled with all sorts of prepared items for a hasty getaway.
Barring those, she had also brought along potentially magical objects she considered discussing over with Patchouli, and colourful novelties that Flandre might have liked playing with. Regardless, they would now all go unused and unseen by anyone. ...Her celebratory mood soon shifted to a sulking disposition, as the full force of her disappointment came forth.
"Being stealthy is lame. Next time I'm going to bust down a wall on my way in. Bet that will get everyone's attention..." Marisa's shoulders slumped as she practically moped her way down the hall.
"What's this about busting down walls?" However, a cool voice was suddenly heard right next to Marisa's left side.
"Wha-!" Marisa sharply turned her head, only to see nobody there. However, she then felt the book she was holding snatched from her right side. She grimaced, before slowly turning around, and was unsurprised to see the silver-haired maid standing less than arm's length away.
"Honestly, don't you have any consideration for who has to clean up around here?" Izayoi Sakuya stared down Marisa, unimpressed and disapproving. "But I suppose you are being exceptionally less disruptive than usual right now. Maybe you are learning after all these years after all."
"You know how much I love learning…" Marisa said with an awkward laugh, filled with mixed feelings.
Typically, Sakuya was the very last person Marisa ever wanted to come across when she came to the mansion to 'borrow' something, but after the lonely trip so far, Marisa might have possibly believed she was feeling relieved to be confronted by the devil's maid.
"And I'm pretty interested in learning from that book right there." Marisa said with her typical audacious smirk. "I'm also prepared to get rough for it. So are we going to do this the hard way, or…?"
"As if you need to ask." Sakuya replied, giving a frigid glare… which instantly vanished in the next second, when she suddenly seemed to realise something. "Oh, wait. No, actually."
"No?" Marisa just stared in confusion, as Sakuya hurriedly took out her pocket watch with her free hand and checked for the time, which only further baffled the witch. "What, are you running late for something?"
"I was in the middle of something, actually. I don't really have time to spare for this, I'm afraid."
"Oh, is that right?" Marisa asked with a cheeky tone. "Well, I'm not going anywhere without that book, so in that case, maybe you should just give it to me so I'll be on my way."
"Hmm…" Sakuya didn't respond right away, instead thinking deeply as she glanced back and forth between the book, her watch, and Marisa.
"Wait, you're actually considering it?" The cheek in Marisa's voice immediately dissipated, and was replaced with something closer to concern. "Well, uh… What if we tried being really quick, like one spell card each? Or we could even throw them both out at once if you're really stretched for time."
Sakuya shook her head. "It wouldn't be proper or polite of me to give you a half-hearted effort. I doubt you would be satisfied."
"I dunno, I think maybe if we just went all out to start-"
"No, no, even if it works for you, that would be utterly inelegant, completely unsuited for a perfect maid like myself." Sakuya put away her watch. "There's no good decision to be made right now, so I'll just have you wait for later."
"...'Wait for later'?" Marisa blinked curiously at Sakuya. "I'm not just going to stand around here until you're done, you know?"
"I know." Sakuya frankly replied, before outstretching a hand and gripping Marisa's shoulder.
"Sakuya…?" Already, Marisa could tell she didn't like where it was going.
"There." Sakuya dusted off her hands as she glanced upwards at Marisa. "We'll pick up where we left off as soon as I'm able to."
"And when the heck is that?!" Marisa angrily protested as she dangled in the air, suspended from the ceiling by a chain that had been wrapped around her. "You can't be serious about this!?"
"As soon as I'm able to. Didn't I just say?" With the spellbook tucked under her arm, Sakuya turned around and headed elsewhere, leaving Marisa by herself.
"Come back here…!" Marisa was still in disbelief, at how quickly Sakuya had done this, at the fact that Sakuya thought it fine to just leave her like, and at the fact that anything about this situation was actually happening. Naturally, she had no intention of just waiting patiently to be tended to.
With some effort, Marisa tried to dig inside her pockets and just barely managed it. As she rifled around for what she was looking for, several other objects fell out of her clothes and down to the floor. She winced when she heard a few vials break as well.
Finally, she managed to reach her mini-hakkero and pulled it out. With a bit of concentration, admittedly difficult since her body kept swaying in every direction, she managed to produce a small flame from the tiny furnace.
"This would be a really bad time to set myself on fire…" Marisa gulped as she carefully angled the mini-hakkero towards her chains.
An undetermined amount of time, Marisa was only sure that it was too long, had passed when she finally managed to break free of her suspended state. Usually such an embarrassing defeat would have her heading straight home to tend to her pride, but Marisa wasn't quite ready to call it quits yet.
She stamped down the halls with an angry face, ignoring the few fairy maids she passed who were too intimidated to cross her path. Marisa was working with the current, shaky assumption that if Sakuya was that busy with whatever was occupying her time, then she probably would hold off returning the book to the library, which in turn means Marisa still had a chance to collect her prize from the distracted maid.
As Marisa contemplated a plan of action for when she eventually found Sakuya again, she came across the large set of doors leading into the main hall. She could hear quite a bit of activity from behind the doors, which she thought strange because it wasn't anywhere close to any mealtime.
Marisa slowly opened the doors to peek in, and was surprised by what she saw. She realised then, why she had barely come across any fairy maids, because the majority of them were congregated in the main hall, moving to and fro as they worked inside. Even stranger, none of them were dressed in their usual maid outfits, but instead in cute gowns and dresses of different colours.
The hall's two floors were both currently being decorated with various candles and flowers, among other things, and several tables had been set, which converted the space into a banquet hall. At the center was a particularly wide table, and sitting on top of it was a very large, but featureless, white cake, probably unfinished.
"They're throwing some kind of party?" Marisa considered stepping past the doors and just walking in, but if all of the fairy maids inside came at her simultaneously, that could prove tricky to deal with. She was just about to decide that it was worth trying, before something else came into her view. Something that put a halt to all her current thoughts.
She saw someone walking across the upper floor of the hall, speaking to some accompanying fairies. It took Marisa a fraction of a second before she realised she was looking at Sakuya, because the maid also was not wearing her usual attire.
For one, Sakuya forgoed her usual headdress, leaving her silver hair fully uncovered. For another, and more pressingly, she was wearing a dress, spotlessly white, intricate flower-like patterns along the torso, and a voluminous skirt that trailed along the ground.
Marisa hadn't seen many designs like it outside of western tomes, but she instantly recognised the outfit as a wedding dress. Her first thought was how even from that distance, the dress elegantly accentuated all of Sakuya's best features. Her second thought was realising that she was peeking into the preparations of a wedding party, which in turn meant…
" She's getting married?! " Marisa resisted the urge to yell out in the midst of her shock. " Here?! Now?! ...And to whom?! "
The possibilities raced through Marisa's mind at a thought per millisecond, resulting in an intense, burning curiosity that convinced her to slip past the doors and sneak towards the closest side-room. Stealth became essential once more, as Marisa absolutely did not want to get thrown out before getting the chance to find out who else was involved in this special occasion.
Marisa ducked around the corner of a wall. Fairy maids were still flying about, and Sakuya had walked out of sight. The witch contemplated her next move, since her black-and-white garb had limits to the amount of stealth it provided.
An opportunity presented itself to Marisa, when she saw a fairy wheeling a clothes rack towards her way, containing a selection of different wedding dresses. Marisa waited in the shadows for the fairy to wheel past her, before following closely. She was hoping these dresses were to be taken directly to wherever the other potential bride was waiting.
However, after half a minute of following into an empty corridor, the fairy was instead just wheeling them into one of the closets. Marisa hid behind a potted plant as the fairy turned around and left, but the witch was quick to formulate a backup plan...
Admittedly, now that she was into the thick of said 'plan', Marisa was becoming aware of more and more faults with it, especially since a lot of it banked on the hopes that none of the fairy maids either looked too hard at her or thought too hard about her presence. Even for fairies, Marisa might have been asking for a lot.
She was walking along the upper floor of the hall, far more stiff in her posture than she would have liked. Half the reason for that was because she didn't know how relaxed or how refined her posture should be in order to avoid suspicion. The other half was because she was absolutely not used to wearing a wedding dress.
She was lucky enough to find one that fit her, and it even conveniently came with a veil to hide her face. But the skirt was so heavy and thick that it was like walking with a weight strapped to her, not to mention how tightly the corset hugged her body. The only consolation Marisa found was that the long skirt hiding her legs meant she didn't have to change out of her brown boots, although it did make her feel a little fashion-conscious the whole time.
Slowly but surely though, she got used to it enough to ignore the discomforts in order to focus on her mission. Fumbling around the lower part of the hall hadn't been helpful. She saw no names on any banners or decorations, no pictures, no postcards, and the cake was still featureless. She obviously couldn't just ask any of the fairies either, since that would blow her already very flimsy cover as 'probably one of the brides'.
It was honestly rather strange, the more Marisa thought about it. With everything so discreet, she wondered if perhaps this wedding is meant to be done entirely in secret. Was there some shame or scandal to be uncovered in the mansion today as well?
" ...I'm starting to think too much like that reportage writer. " Marisa shook off that frightening thought as she continued.
On the upper level of the hall, near the far-end of it, she finally came across something promising. An altar of some sort had been set up, with a fancy flower-covered structure in the middle, clearly to serve as a backdrop where the main event would take place. No fairy maids were currently present up here, so Marisa let herself relax a bit as she took a closer look, stepping onto the altar itself and glancing around.
...Unfortunately, the altar provided no more insights than anything else she had seen that day. No names, no pictures. "What the heck, is she marrying a ghost or something?"
With a disappointed sigh, Marisa spun on the heel of her boot, ready to leave the altar behind. As soon as she turned around however…
"Fancy seeing you here." Sakuya was standing right there. She was only a hairbreadth from Marisa, who was still frozen in place as Sakuya raised her hands and slowly parted Marisa's veil, revealing the witch's stunned expression. At least seeing Marisa's face seemed to elicit a smile from Sakuya. "I never get tired of this kind of reaction."
Marisa's body finally caught up with her brain, and she quickly jumped back half a step before stammering for an excuse. "Sakuya! I was going to… I'm not… This is just…!"
After a few seconds of scrambling for words, which Sakuya waited patiently to pass, Marisa let out a defeated groan.
"You know what, I got nothing." Since everything on her end was out of the bag, Marisa frantically addressed Sakuya again. "You have to tell me what's going on, please! I'm dying to know!"
"I bet you're looking for this, right?" Sakuya put on a teasing tone, and with some deft hand movements, she produced the spellbook from before, holding it tauntingly in front of Marisa.
"I don't care about the book!" Marisa pushed the spellbook aside, and ignored Sakuya's pouting at her sleight-of-hand being ignored. She marched closer and gripped Sakuya by the shoulders. "Please tell me who this wedding is for! I swear I can keep a secret! ...Well, this specific secret!"
Sakuya was mildly confused at Marisa's interest. "Well... I suppose it's for me."
"You and who?!" Marisa shook Sakuya with each word. "Is it Remilia?! Is it Patchouli?! ...Or is it a human you abducted from the village, and you fell in love before you could turn them into livestock!?"
"I don't do… any of that. And the wedding is just for myself. Although I suppose it's also a joint effort with the rest of the mansion's fairies."
The fervor in Marisa's expression slowly disappeared in place of puzzlement as she released her grip on Sakuya. "...I don't follow."
Sakuya, however, was happy to explain. "Did you happen to see the cake downstairs while you were trespassing?"
"The big white one? It looked pretty plain, I guess. What about it?"
"I've been interested in preparing a glorious wedding cake ever since I saw illustrations in some old records. But it's been quite difficult, and the fridge is stuffed full with my dissatisfied results. Thus, I got the staff to help me try to get in the 'spirit' of the craft."
The initial puzzlement on Marisa's face now gave way to an expression of complete, incredulous disbelief. "...You're kidding. You set up an entire hall of decorations, made multiple elaborate dresses, and also chained me to the ceiling… because you wanted to hold a fake wedding? To get inspiration for baking a cake?"
"The type of mindset you're in, and the atmosphere that surrounds you, is very important when it comes to culinary arts." Sakuya stated with pride.
"Okay, just to be clear on something, because now I'm not so sure about this…" Marisa scrutinised Sakuya's face for any sign that this was all leading to a punchline she wasn't yet aware of. She so far did not see any such sign. "...Do you know what a wedding actually is? I mean, do you know it requires more than just a single person as the bride?"
"I know that's the conventional way to go about it, right?"
"It's more like a requirement, I think."
"Well, this is for my own personal interests, so I couldn't trouble anyone else." Sakuya said, but then glanced up and down Marisa. "But perhaps… I could trouble you, Marisa?"
"Huh?" There was an immediate implication that Marisa naturally assumed, but she was hesitant to assume anything when it came to Sakuya so far. "What do you mean...?"
"I mean, won't you be my bride?" Sakuya outright said with a friendly smile, like she was casually asking to be passed a napkin.
A few moments passed, and Marisa couldn't even force a laugh. "I'll be honest, that was a rather weak joke."
"Who's joking? You know I don't do anything with a half-hearted effort. You are already here, in the thick of my activities, and although I'm not happy you went and put on one of the dresses without asking…" Sakuya's eyes seemed to wander all over Marisa for a moment. "...You do look quite fetching in that."
"I know I do, but that's not the problem." Marisa calmly stated, even if her face did suddenly feel warm. "And also being 'already here' is a really poor basis for marriage…"
"You're overthinking things. Just for today, you could help me see what it's like, really embrace the emotion of the occasion. In exchange, maybe I'll let you take that spellbook. ...But only outside the mansion, before I start hunting you down for it."
Marisa had another snappy response in mind, but she put it on hold when Sakuya moved closer to her, and took one of the witch's hands in her own. Those frigid eyes were staring down at her with an emotion that was impossible for Marisa to place. No matter how much time passed, she could never get an entirely proper read on the maid, who could sometimes be deadly serious about the most trivial things, or possess a warped sense of humour about things most people wouldn't joke about.
The only thing Marisa knew for an absolute certainty… was that Sakuya also looked quite fetching, frustratingly so. Without ever averting their eye contact, Marisa moved her other hand, so that both now held one of Sakuya's.
"I've decided..." Marisa calmly said.
"Yes?" Sakuya asked, intrigued and curious.
"...that there's no good decision to be made right now." That was all Marisa offered, before she took action.
Before Sakuya even thought to ask what that meant, there was a distinct sound of thin metal clanging together, and at the same time she felt something cold press over her wrist. Marisa then moved abruptly, just barely ducking under Sakuya's arm before she could react, brushing against her body, and then scurrying past her.
Sakuya turned her head towards Marisa, who backed up several steps from her. When the maid moved to follow though, she was surprised to find something pulling her back. She turned her head again to see that there was a familiar, slightly burnt, metal chain shackling her wrist to the flower-covered structure in the middle of the altar.
Her gaze darted back to Marisa, who was standing there… with the spellbook in her hands, and a satisfied smile on her face. Sakuya's eyes widened, and for a second or two she was at a loss of words. But eventually, her features smoothed to a calm, comprehending expression. "...I'm impressed. Not unlike how I would have done it."
"Yeah, well… I had to pick it up from you eventually, after how many times you've swiped stuff right from my hands." Marisa happily said, beaming with gratification and also a bit of relief. "Listen though, I'm feeling a little offended."
"Because of me?" Sakuya asked, tilting her head at Marisa.
"Yeah! If someone wants to wed an esteemed magician like myself, even for just a day, they need to put in a lot more effort than you are! ' You are already here ', I mean come on! Have you ever talked to a lady before? Of course anyone will just take what is her's and leave you."
"Oh… I apologise for my discretion!" Sakuya said and offered what looked like a genuinely remorseful bow, before sorrowfully staring at the chain at her wrist. "But what a cruel turn this has taken! My bride has cruelly taken everything for herself, and is running away on the day of our wedding. ...I'm envisioning a very somber aesthetic for the cake."
"Funny thing is, I used to imagine as a kid that if I ever actually tried to get married, it would turn out exactly like this." Marisa said with a depreciating tone, gesturing vaguely to the general situation around them. "...But I won't leave you empty-handed."
Although her pockets were still heavy with unused items, Marisa had at least one 'trinket' she had an excuse to show off now. She pulled out a white envelope with a heart-shaped stamp, and threw it at Sakuya who effortlessly caught it, before looking over it. "Is this... mail?"
"It's… a symbol of my appreciation, I guess. I don't want you thinking I'm running because I don't like you or anything. It's also the closest thing I have to a consolation gift for ruining your weirdo, one-woman wedding… and for borrowing this dress, because I'm starting to like it." Marisa gleefully added, as she glanced down at herself.
"Am I supposed to do something with this though?" Sakuya asked, balancing and flipping the envelope between her fingers.
"Other than reading it? Not particularly. I don't know if the person who gave it to me meant it as a gesture of goodwill or as a prank, but the emotion behind it is real, I'm pretty sure."
"Wait, so this is a hand-me-down?" Sakuya immediately became less impressed with the offer.
"Look, when you read it, you'll understand, okay?" Marisa then lifted the spellbook, her first prize at the beginning of all this, while her other hand waved goodbye. "I'll just help myself out, so I can enjoy this book on my own time."
"Oh? I'll be with you in just a second though." Sakuya placed the envelope within her dress, before pulling out a knife from somewhere on her person.
Marisa just laughed, self-assured and worry-free. "Good luck with that. I'm pretty sure I'll be having dinner at home by the time you cut that-"
Sakuya then used the tip of her knife, and struck the structure itself that she was chained to. Against all odds, the structure started to visibly crack and come apart. She paused, and glanced at Marisa out of the corner of her eye. "You were saying?"
Marisa opened her mouth to say something… and then closed it. She proceeded to turn around, lifted up the hem of her dress, and took off running as fast as she could.
Sakuya just smirked at that, before plunging her knife once more into the structure, destroying its foundation and causing it to collapse.
The maid took a moment to stretch her arms, taking off in a flash after the witch, and the two would end up chasing one another through the rest of the mansion, and also a good ways outdoors while in their matching white dresses.