"Ah, such a windy day."
"Don't you agree?"
Marisa turns toward her, barely able to clutch onto her purple pointy hat before it blew away. However, Reimu stood no different, holding her gohei and staring off into the distance. Her hair and ribbons blowing in the wind, she lets out a small sigh.
"It is. Though, I wish it was a more gentle breeze than before." Reimu mutters.
"Haaah? I kinda like this too. Not too strong or too weak. It's perfect when it's a summer breeze!" Marisa grins. Reimu watches as the pink petals dance in the air, the winds guiding them along into the sky. She looks back at her, letting a small smile spread over her face.
"Yeah, this is nice too."
Marisa nudges her shoulder, smirking.
"See? You're just too stubborn sometimes to enjoy nice things in life, Reimu. Plus, you always walk around with that face like someone stole your offerings!
Cheer up a bit-two, yeah? I like seeing you smile."
Reimu didn't know how to respond to that. It made her feel a little happy knowing that her friend worries so much about her. It also made her a bit sad too. Is that how she really looked all the time? She didn't notice anything wrong.
...Maybe that's part of why they fear her.
Reimu let out a small laugh, looking up at the sky. The wind has died down some, as her violet shade of hair sway in the gentle breeze. She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes.
"Maybe so."
Marisa looks up too, covering her eyes with her hat from the brightness of the sun. She held her ball staff down, leaning on it for support.
"Hey, Reimu?"
"Mm."
"What's it like to have so much power over yourself? Can you even control it, with those yin-yang orbs of yours?"
Reimu opens her eyes.
"I don't have much to control. Most of it feels like it just comes naturally. I don't know how to explain it, but it's like I'm bending the will of nature with my mind."
"Hah! So, you can't explain to me why you once walked over a river without getting wet? Or that other time when you phased through bullets like it was nothing? Are you secretly a god or something?" Marisa leans towards her, pointing her staff in her face.
Reimu laughs loudly, pushing her staff away.
"Me, a god? I don't think I have the power to be called one. Perhaps in another 500 years?" She chuckles to herself.
"Argh! You obviously know what you can do and still won't admit it. That's why I wanna get stronger. Watch 'an wait, Reimu. I swear on magic itself that I'll beat you one day! No matter what it takes!"
Marisa steps back and points her staff at her. Almost like a challenging threat. Reimu raised an eyebrow, smiling.
"Well, I'm sure you will one day, with how hard you train. Ahh, I can't imagine getting beat by the likes of you, though." She giggles.
Marisa stomps her foot down, annoyed.
"Oh, you think you're so cocky now. I'll have you know I'm training under one of the most powerful mages in Gensokyo! My mo- Er, I mean- Lady Mima!" she loudly proclaims.
"Speak of the Devil..." Reimu points behind her. Before Marisa could react, she yelped as she was picked up and spun around several times. Marisa drops down, scrambling to pick up her staff.
"Uagh! Who was-" she says.
"My my, I didn't know my little pupil looked up to me so much." Mima grins, kneeling down to Marisa's eye level.
Marisa's face flushes red with embarrassment as she realizes she's been heard. She hides her face behind her hat, looking away. Mima smiles softly and gently pushes the hat away.
"I'm so glad that you do, Marisa. It's really an honor, coming from my only and favorite apprentice."
Marisa looks up.
"You really think so?" Her eyes glimmer with delight. Mima nods.
"Oh, then if you really think so, I'll continue to always try my hardest!" she laughs.
"Yes, I see you have a lot of potential. Don't worry Marisa, when the time comes to fight Reimu, I'm sure you'll be a lot stronger than before."
Marisa, taking this praise, nods with more confidence than before and looks back at Reimu. She just heaves a sigh, smiling at the tomboyish witch-in-training.
"Thank you for staying with Marisa, Reimu" Mima stands up, nodding to her.
"Ah, it's not a big deal. She often comes over a lot, so I'm used to it." Reimu says.
"Alright," Mima says, taking hold of Marisa's hand. "Shall we go back home now? Dinner's ready."
"Alright!" Marisa gladly accepts, and she grins down at her. It was adorable when she was all flustered up and such.
Mima waves back towards Reimu before leading Marisa off, walking down the hill. Reimu's smile slowly fades, watching the two of them laugh as they hold hands.
It made her heart throb.
She turns around, sighing. Reimu walks back inside her shrine, comes out with a cup of tea and sits on the porch. She gently holds her cup, blowing on it.
It was a beautiful day.
Shoving the covers off her, Reimu groaned in protest of the sunlight's glare casting its glow over her face and body. She sat upright, her hazel hair falling down her face. She rubbed her eyes, shaking off the last of the sleep and exhaustion from herself. The futon was warm with her body heat all night.
Reimu got up, and changed into her clean shrine uniform. She had a quick breakfast by cooking herself some ramen, and sat outside her porch, enjoying the early sunrise.
Every day, it was like this. She would always wake up around when the lights of morning spread their golden colors across the sky, when the birds sang their first morning songs.
Reimu hoped that someone would come visit her shrine again.
Ah, well, it wasn't that her shrine was always so lonely. Marisa would often drop by each day for some tea, and maybe a bit of the latest gossip. Alice sometimes comes by with Patchouli, often when they are on walks.
Though, it's when she's often alone that Suika or Aunn show up, coming to chat with her or just to loiter around.
Rarely would Yukari pop out of her gap to say hi, but whenever she does, Reimu appreciates it more than she should.
But for now, it's quiet around the grounds. She just hoped no fairy or youkai would try to pick a fight or wreck her shrine again. She wasn't in the mood for that early in the morning.
Reimu slowly ate her ramen while it was still hot, not wasting any more time to gaze about. She went back inside and put her bowl in the sink. The sun had now fully risen. She stretched and went to her shelf and pulled out a large metal watering can. Along, she also took out a pruning shear, and filled the watering can full. She stepped outside, walking all the way to the front of her shrine, where there stood a red Tori, both sides surrounded by bright green bushes and rich buds.
It was spring, and many of them were close to blooming, so Reimu had to take extra care of them.
She first pruned off leaves that grew too long or stuck out of the bushes, as well as branches who extended their arms beyond their areas. After a quick check on the conditions of their buds, she watered their roots and the dirt surrounding it. It only took her two trips to refill her can, since it was so big.
She set the canister down, wiping her forehead. It was getting quite hot, with the sun fully shining down on her. Since her work was done, a nice and relaxing cup of warm tea would be the perfect brea-
The sound of old wood breaking and splintering makes Reimu turn her head to see an enormous gap on the side of her shrine. She dropped her watering can, barely able to gasp or choke out a word before a certain black and white silhouette climbed out.
"Whoops! Sorry about that, Reimu!" she shouted, waving her arm.
Of course, it had to be Marisa Kirisame.