So er, yea, this is a thing I guess. Nothing much to say right now, since I haven't even started writing the chapter you're reading below at this point. I'll probably have more to say in the future.

Something something quarantine something something boredom.

Uh…

Oh yea, that's right.

Touhou canon is a bit all over the place, being split up into a few books, like three different manga artists, three genres of games and all that. Reimu has a different personality in just about every manga, none of which correlate entirely with her actual in-game personality. But I'll try my best to include stuff from all of it. Yes, that includes PC-98 stuff. Genji, Makai, purple hair, Maribel, and that one time Marisa was an actual enemy will all be included, hopefully. I also hope Reimu's character doesn't end up being a mess.

The fact there isn't exactly a clear timeline definitely stuffs it up a little bit, though, so some liberty will be taken mixing canon and fanon for the sake of consistency. For example, the Secret Sealing Club and the aforementioned Maribel. We don't exactly know a lot about it besides a few throwaway lines and implications on the relationship between Maribel and Yukari, as well as the fact that Renko and Maribel are from the future. Stuff like this is hard to deal with for the kind of story I want to write, so I'm just saying screw it and making this stuff up as I go. A bit of a spoiler, but nothing harmful: Sumireko, Renko and Maribel all exist at the same time. Sumireko is the senior and older sister of the two future members here. Weird implications between Maribel and Yukari still exist, minus the existential questions surrounding the nature of Gensokyo.

Reimu might be a bit of a prick in the prologue, sorry, all I can do is promise it gets better by the time we hit the half-way point of the first act, so like maybe in two chapters.

Oh yeah, one last thing. Elements might be taken from entirely fan-made stuff. Like Reireimu, because I love Reireimu. Beautiful interpretation of Reimu's character, y'all should check it out.

Anyways, here's the actual thing that you clicked on to read:

(I lied, heres an attempt at the engrish Japanese creators like to put in things)

Fantasy (Phantasm) x Fantasy (Reality)

a tale of closing borders
a tale of opening windows
beyond the land of false paradise and dreams
the form of the incident is known only beyond the horizon

Boys and Girls are trying their best. Please wait patiently…

Act I: (Without) Common Sense

Prologue

It was an exceedingly ordinary day. The sun rose, tea was sipped, an empty donation box was stared at and no one had climbed up the mountain to give her any offerings. Such was the life of Hakurei Reimu.

Of course, if one had any inkling of knowledge of who Reimu was, where she lived or what her job was, they'd realise the worthlessness of the phrase 'ordinary day'. Not because the phrase pointed out nothing worth saying, but because the statement quite literally meant nothing. For Reimu, the red and white shrine maiden whose job was to solve the world-threatening incidents threatening to tear apart Gensokyo (but mostly her day-to-day routine), an ordinary day was a day where rain was formed from blood and said blood formed into a red mist that plagued the lands for weeks. An ordinary day was a day where Winter had lasted well beyond Spring and encroached Summer. An ordinary day was a night where there were two moons. Or no moons, or a fake moon. (1)

This to say, in short, that an ordinary day for Hakurei Reimu, was a day that was bound to transform into something she certainly did not have the energy to deal with. And there was no person more aware of this fact than the young girl in question.

Fingers curled around a cup of tea raised slowly, twitching as they did so. A dead stare flicked rapidly between an empty wooden donation box and the equally empty gate on top of the staircase to the shrine. The first object, of course, was entirely unrelated to her worries, and more just a habit developed from her lifestyle, but that wasn't something that took away from the situation; rather, it served to exemplify how serious it was.

Hakurei Reimu did not waver. That was a simple fact of life. She did not waver fighting five-hundred-year-old vampire brats, nuclear god crows or even an honest to god completely insane murderous goddess (2). Even in those life-and-death fights she had always kept up the same lazy attitude, wanting to quickly deal with the troublemakers so she could go back to mooc-… accepting free food from her various acquaintances. The fact this situation could tear her attention away from her everlasting desire for donations and actually make her want something to interrupt her day spoke magnitudes of how dangerous the situation could become. (Or at the very least, how dangerous she thought it could be. It was probably harmless.)

Of course, even though it was unrelated to her worries, that didn't mean it was unrelated to the situation. One of the reasons she was so desperate for donations was because she wasn't exactly popular with the human portion of Gensokyo. To them, they were the weak, vulnerable citizens doing their best they could in a cruel world, and it was up to shrine maidens such as herself to protect them from the horrible youkai that lurk in the shadows. In their eyes, Reimu was a bit of a failure, as her shrine was commonly flocked to by non-human residents, raising the worry of her capabilities to them; after all, if the shrine maiden could not protect the residence of her god from youkai, how could she protect them from youkai?

Marisa's not here… Reimu's shaky hands raised to her mouth. Drops of tea fell to the ground because Reimu was too occupied with possible scenarios that might happen soon to remember she should open her mouth to actually drink the damn thing. No… that's normal… She's probably off stealing from Patchouli or something… or maybe she's with Alice. No, it doesn't matter. Point is, her not being here is probably not related.

Suika… It's past noon by now, she's definitely awake (drinking), but then again, she does more often than not go bother someone else…

The brunette would continue to run through just about every person she knew who had at one point or another barged in to her shrine for some meaningless ramble. Her mind failed to come up with any excuse for them to not be bothering her that seemed out of the ordinary for any of them.

It was just math and logic in the end. Even across the dozens of people she knew, even if was rolled with five-to-one odds every day that at least one of them would visit her, then there would be at least one day in her life that was simply quiet. It was just a case of extraordinarily bad luck, in where no paths crossed at all.

…

Bad luck? Reimu remembered a rather fresh incident, where a pair of sisters inflicted bad luck on people and beat them up to take their money and spend it all on useless things. Considering how painful the incident was for her, as it involved a curse of bad luck inflicted on the Hakurei Shrine, thus depriving her of any money she would have otherwise encountered – however little that amount may have been -, it was sure to linger within her memory for quite some time.

Jo'on is still undergoing her tor-… training from the Myouren Temple. Shion is…

Completely unaccounted for.

The cup within her hands began to strain. An overwhelming negative aura was exuded from Reimu. Those months of hardship where she was in even greater poverty than usual would never be forgotten by her. All those times during those days where she had been filled with false hope, as large amounts of gold were dangled in front of her, only to disappear right in front of her because of some unfortunate happenings…

She thought she had taught the sisters a lesson, but it seems the older one was still putting up a fight. Looks like I have a poverty god to hunt today…

Reimu slammed her cup onto the floor, still filled with tea she had forgotten to drink. A few drops that were still very hot flew upwards from the sudden motion, falling back down and stinging her hands lightly.

"Ow!" It was less the burning pain of phoenix flames and nuclear fusion and more the stinging pain of possibly losing some of her very hard-earned tea.

Reimu bit her lip. She really wanted to go out right then and there to hunt down that poverty girl who was presumably responsible for her current sort-of-plight, but…

She sighed.

"I really shouldn't waste any of this…"

She supposed it would have to wait until she finished drinking her tea.

Reimu never got very far in her epic journey to vanquish her supposed curse of minor bad luck.

She had barely descended the long stairs from the Hakurei Shrine when the distinct and familiar sensation of nothingness and two things separating opened up behind her.

"My, my, what are you in such a rush for, Reimu-chan?" A soft and melodious voice rung out behind her. It was much too grating, sounding like an old lady desperately reaching for the fragments of her youth.

Reimu turned around, greeted by a void in the middle of the air, slowly parting to reveal a dozen unblinking eyes gazing straight at her. Long blonde hair peeked through the gap, followed by a petite face, complete with a cute nose and deep golden eyes.

More and more of the woman's body appeared through the gap in space, seemingly supported by nothing. A pale pink mob cap decorated with thin red ribbons, a pink lace parasol and paper fan. An adult, curvy body clad in a purple tabard over a pink dress.

"Oh? What are you looking at me like that for?" The hag was probably referring to how she looked like she just swallowed a lemon. Reimu didn't like where this was going, not after she had already determined the cause of her exceedingly ordinary day.

Yukari Yakumo (紫 八雲)
Youkai Lurking in the Boundaries (境目に潜む妖怪)

Please don't tell me there's another incident…

"Oh, my… Perhaps… did another curse of bad luck fall upon the Hakurei Shrine? Well… if that's the case, don't let me stop you from hunting down whatever god of poverty is responsible for such a horrendous deed." A knowing, playful smile formed on the woman's lips.

Reimu's eyebrow twitched. The hag definitely had something to do with this. Her face of bitterness and annoyance turned into a dull stare. Of course it had something to do with her. Another one of her schemes that somehow vaguely benefited the entirety of Gensokyo and would only be spoken about in vague and mysterious terms. Being pulled into one of Yukari's plots definitely qualified for the build up of a completely ordinary day. Hopefully this time, it didn't involve getting into a war with the moon or something.

Reimu sighed. "Just get on with it, you hag."

Yukari pouted. Or at least did her best impression of what she thought a cute teenage girl pouting would look like. "Mou… Reeiiimuuu, I've told you, Yukari-chan is eternally seventeen."

"Yea, sure." Reimu scoffed. "You've already caused me enough pain worrying over what was going on today, please don't give me anymore by dancing around the problem."

Yukari tilted her head, keeping that annoying knowing smile on her face. Reimu could almost see the cutesy question mark appearing above her head as her hands folded together under her chin. "Hmm? Was something happening today, whatever do you mean, dear~?" She continued on, answering her own question. "Marisa just so happens to be occupied by a miraculous brand-new species of mushroom that popped up near her house for some reason. It seems someone fed Ibuki-san and Hoshigama-san information of a party held on Youkai Mountain, which for some reason, everyone near there is attending." That knocked off a fair amount of people who could have come visit her.

"The fairies are off… somewhere… The Yorigami's are having their training together… Oh! And Seija has just completely disappeared for some mysterious reason!"

What. Yukari, what the hell did you do?

Wait… that wasn't the point. The dull stare which had evolved from a sour gaze further evolved into full-blown deadpan. "Are you even trying to be subtle?" There were easier and less stupid ways to tell her or even imply to her that she had distracted everyone else with some fancy bait.

"Hmm? Subtle? What for? My, Reimu-chan, it's like you think I've distracted everyone for the sake of dragging off so you can carry out an errand for me! Is our bond truly this weak?" Yukari flipped over onto her back, staring at Reimu upside down. The shrine maiden could see a few fake tears leak out of Yukari's eyes.

"Yes. Our bond is that weak," came the completely dry response from Reimu.

Yukari flinched. It was unclear whether that reaction was completely faked, since a small flicker of surprise was portrayed in her upside-down eyes, so Reimu felt a little bad for the jab.

"Anyways, if you've gone through all this trouble to set up bribes or whatever for everyone else, I suppose it couldn't hurt to listen to whatever scheme you want me to take part in now. Though it is odd that I seem to be the only one involved here…"

Yukari excitedly flipped over, a small bright glimmer entering her gaze, "Really, Reimu-chan? You'd do such a thing for poor young Yuk-"

"On one condition." Reimu cut in bluntly.

Also, seriously, what was with that? Yukari completely abandoned that pretense of not knowing what she was talking about the moment she got any kind of acknowledgement from her.

Yukari looked up at her like a kicked puppy desperate for some kind of reward, almost as if she was actually hurt by the idea that they weren't close enough friends to warrant taking favors without payment.

"You gave everyone else a bribe to look the other way." While there was probably a definite majority who were genuinely distracted by whatever Yukari had done or given them and had no idea of her intentions, she had no doubt there were at least some who knew what was going on and decided to just look the other way after deeming the bribe acceptable.

"I want the same. Give me an equal… no… greater payment than what they got individually once their done. No strings attached, no accidents afterwards, none of that." Reimu glared with full force at Yukari. The recipient of that look squirmed around uncomfortably, probably on some level of genuine discomfort, as the amount of people who had done something horrible enough to her to warrant a gaze of that level could be counted on one hand. Had those months of extreme poverty and times where she was called upon by her really warranted such a reaction?

Probably not, it was likely a misunderstanding out of Reimu's overwhelming desire for worldly wealth.

"Yes, yes!" Yukari continued acting like a puppy, kissing up to her 'owner' cutely, but to very little effect. "Anything for you, dear…"

But that didn't last long. Yukari's expression warped, turning cold – a complete contrast of whatever template of cute girl she was trying to impersonate.

The fan held laxly in her hands unfolded, raised to cover the lower portion of her face, highlighting the seriousness portrayed in her golden orbs. "In all seriousness, dear Reimu, this is quite a serious matter, there's a reason I can only rely on you right now."

Reimu's facial expressions had also changed in response. While the gap hag would commonly snap out of her acts, it wasn't usually as sudden as that, or as drastic of a change as that. This wasn't nearly as light of a matter as she had thought. If it was only her, it likely had to do with her position as the Hakurei Miko, in other words; it concerned the safety of Gensokyo. There were things, however few they were, that could get Reimu to throw away her greed and laziness; one such topic was the safety of the place she had called home.

Her eyes narrowed, "Let's head inside then, I'll prepare some te-"

"No." Yukari cut her off rather quickly. "That won't be necessary. I'm not the only person involved in making this decision this time. Our place of meeting has been established before-hand."

Hm? Not the only person. That only meant one thing. "So then the Sa-"

"We will be leaving immediately." Yukari retreated backwards into her gap, leaving her alone atop the shrine she lived on.

"Eh, huh? Wait a min-"

Barely a second later, Reimu felt the floor disappear beneath her, falling into a gap similar to the one which Yukari had appeared through.

"-ute!"

Reimu fell backwards, landing cleanly on a rather comfortable cushion.

"What the hell was that hag thinking? Just dropping me here like this.. It didn't hurt but still…" She was mumbling to herself, eyes still closed pre-emptively expecting some sort of larger drop that never came.

She cracked an eyelid open, "Speaking of which…"

Wooden walls, shouji doors… A traditional manor for rich people…

No smell of medicine, no rabbits running around…

This was the Yakumo residence all right…

Her eye wandered further, spotting a head of pink hair.

Eh?

Calmly sitting in front of her, was a very familiar face. She had just cleaned up after this person's mistakes as well. Red eyes, short pink hair, horns covered by buns. A bandaged arm…

So she was one of them, huh? That explained a few things…

"Oh, it's you…"

A small nod and bow of perfect grace was directed towards her. The level of control and elegance within that simple action was to expected from a hermit like her.

Her calm visage slowly curved into a polite and welcoming smile, "It hasn't been that long since we last met, has it, Reimu?"

Ibarakasen? (茨華仙?) (3)
One-Armed, Horned Hermit (片腕有角の仙人)

…Reimu really wasn't expecting to see someone like her so soon.

'Kasen' as she liked to be called was a hermit that she had known a long time ago from her childhood apparently, who came back in recent years to mentor her for some reason. She was super annoying about it too, always nagging and criticising her about the smallest of things, saying stuff like 'A shrine maiden shouldn't desire worldly wealth' or whatever…

…And then it turned out she was actually trying to train her to take on her ultra-evil uber-strong demon arm that was severed from her five hundred years ago. That was like… three weeks ago?

Well, after the hermit turned out to be housing some sort of malicious arm that turned out to be an Oni, and one that was equal to Yuugi and Suika, She supposed being a "Sage" wasn't that implausible for her.

"You know, a revelation like this would usually come much later than a few weeks after I get done with someone's problems." The revelation she was part of this mysterious group who had founded the Land of Fantasy and maintained its order in the shadows had certainly put a few things in perspective, like her insistent need to push her training onto her.

"Yes… well, I would have preferred to keep this out of your knowledge for longer than this, but recent circumstances tell us that course of action is no longer viable." Well, that polite speech may have been the tiniest bit uncomfortable, but at least she wasn't nagging at her failures at being a shrine maiden.

Reimu sighed, looking around the room. It was rather empty… Aside from the hermit and herself, the only other thing present in the room was the quaint tea table in front of them. Yukari was presumably annoying her shikigami for snacks or something. Reimu's eyebrows perked upwards. "So… are you two the only Sages left in Gensokyo or something? Are the rest hibernating or is something else going on here?"

The pink-haired hermit sighed. "Sadly, the rest of us have determined that it wasn't necessary for them to be here to communicate the information that Yukari and I have been left to present, or they did not feel it was necessary for them to reveal their identity to you at this point in time."

Reimu propped her elbow on the table, assuming the classic lazy posture of pushing her hand into her cheek. "And? Why is it not just Yukari?"

A small amount of displeasure broke through the perfect facade Kasen was presenting. "That's mainly Yukari's fault."

Oh. Reimu felt pity for her. It seemed not even the hag's own peers were above being subjected to her schemes. Kasen quickly fixed the slight flaw in her emotions, continuing on, "She felt it was necessary to differentiate between her own personal perspective and the perspective of the Sages. By being here with you, we can efficiently communicate two different viewpoints on the same issue, without having to worry about Yukari's… colorful personality."

That definitely made sense. If it was just Yukari here, she doubted she would understand where what she wanted began and where what the sages wanted ended.

"I was chosen among my peers to accompany her as I am the most… approachable…" A difficult look slipped through. Reimu understood. She had her fair share of overly powerful people with underly developed maturities and personalities. "of them, as well as the only one familiar to you."

"So…" Reimu dragged on, clearly waiting for something to interrupt herself. "We… just wait now until Yukari gets back?"

"No need for that, dear," a warm breath landed on her neck, causing Reimu to shiver by the slightest of amounts. The warmth faded, probably because Yukari stood up fully and was no longer level with her neck.

A second step of footsteps accompanied Yukari as the hag walked around the room to properly face her.

A plate was placed on the table between the three parties, holding three cups of tea and various snacks within it.

"I welcome you on behalf of my master to the Yakumo Residence."

She just had a full cup. But whatever, free food and drinks was free food and drinks. She wasn't about to complain about that, especially not when they were made by the skilled shikigami of the hag.

Yellow eyes, short blond hair with a two-tailed cap covering the fox ears that lay beneath. This calm motherly figure at times completely contrasted her slothful, playful master.

Ran Yakumo (藍 八雲)
The Gap Youkai's Shikigami (すきま妖怪の式)

Reimu snatched a cookie from the center of the platter, hoping to finish it before they would begin their talk. She was vaguely aware of the fact that Ran's footsteps and presence disappeared but was too occupied getting in as much food as possible to notice.

"I'm sure our wonderful hermit here has caught you up on the reasons behind her presence here, so let's not dance around the matter at hand."

Oi. Says Ms. "Sixty Year Violets" herself (4).

"This is a matter that concerns my own goals, the aims of the Sages, as well as your own happiness."

Her signature fan snapped open, held in front of her face as she tilted her gaze downwards ever so slightly, giving Reimu this pressuring, slightly menacing gaze. "Tell me, Reimu, what do you know about the Outside World?"

Reimu swallowed whatever was left in her mouth, brushing aside whatever crumbs may have been on her cheeks. She took a quick sip of the tea to ensure everything went down fine. "Well… Uhhh…"

Kourin hoards a lot of weird technology at his shop, Yukari would sometimes drop by with outsider fashion, that weird incident a while back involving the occult or whatever, and zashiki-warashi get day jobs there, or something like that.

"Perhaps I should have been more specific." Wait, so that wasn't supposed to be a loaded question with no clear direction? Geez, that was uncharacteristic. "What do you know about the relationship between the Outside World and Gensokyo?"

…That wasn't a particularly hard question to answer… This was basic stuff that every Hakurei Miko was expected to know.

"Well, Gensokyo has been around for hundreds and thousands of years, and was always the centre of constant conflict between youkai and humanity. Er… around 140 years ago, the Hakurei Barrier was established to conceal its location, and to help youkai survive with the advent of a scientific society. Nowadays, contact is very limited, and mainly one-way, through outside objects and parties coming in. Very few youkai have the ability to cross the barrier to look for food."

So… this was somehow tied to the Outside World…

"The strength of the barrier is not only determined by those reinforcing and maintaining it, but also the state of the outside world. The scientific and grounded mindset of humanity, rejecting the idea of something as fantastical as Gensokyo, ensures that its location will not ever be disclosed. Um… something called the… 'intern network'? has caused a small resurgence of things like urban legends and occult theories, causing a small fracture resulting in 'spiriting aways'."

If Reimu were to take a guess as to what this matter concerned…

The red and white shrine maiden met the gaze of the mysterious overseer of her home.

"Is something in the outside world threatening the obscurity of the… 'Fantastical'?" She recalled a similar incident, but rather than trying to expose Gensokyo from outside, that 'high-schooler' was aiming to shatter the barrier from within.

It wasn't Yukari who gave her a reply, it was the Sage's representative. "That would be the concern of the sages. Our cohort is worried about the fallout upon the youkai that reside within Gensokyo. In the case of the worst-case scenario, the youkai will be completely exposed to the outside world, and we will find ourselves once again in a repeat of our situation before the establishment of your family's Barrier."

…That was certainly not a good scenario.

Reimu remembered her young years. The destruction of the human village, that journey into Hell, that fight in Makai. Back before she took the resolve to protect her home to heart, before the Spell Card System. And that was still within the barriers and limited scope of Gensokyo. She could only imagine what such a situation would look like with the entirety of the Outside World as the playing ground in her nightmares.

"Yukari's concern is less… small-minded, and of much different intent than our own." Less small-minded? A larger scale than the lives of those who lived in this land of fantasy… Was such a thing really possible? Her eyes shifted worriedly over to the person in question.

That person, in response, only nodded. "How much do you know about the boundary between the Outside World and Gensokyo?"

That word choice sounded rather specific…. "The boundary, not the Hakurei Barrier?"

"Yes. While tied, they are not the same thing."

Reimu sighed, eyebrows furrowing. "Then not a lot. I know as much about the Barrier as is customary for a Hakurei, which is definitely more than probably anyone else except you people, but my focus has always been on protecting Gensokyo and its residents, never on maintaining the balance between the Outside World." There was Yukari after all, who would focus on that sort of thing.

A sad smile broke out across the youkai's face, visible even behind the fan. It was such an expression. "It's a shame. Your mo-… My bes-… She… was one of the Hakurei who had cared. If she was here, this would be much easier to solve."

Reimu unconsciously fingered the ribbon in her hair. It was a while since she was reminded of her. (5)

Yukari shook her head a bit, regaining her composure. "But now's not the time for those memories… Do you remember the Dream World?"

"From the Lunarian Incident? Hard to forget." A place that existed in one's sleep, where false visions of reality bloomed. A metaphysical plane of existence that also appeared as a boundary between Gensokyo and the Lunar Capital.

"That place is not an isolated existence. It is part of a greater whole, called the Dimensional Gap. Unlike the Dream World, which exists between Illusion and Reality, the Dimensional Gap appears between Reality and Reality."

Huh? There was no way that was a misstep.

"Hold your questions."

That was fine with her.

Yukari continued, "The Border between Gensokyo and the Outside is not just as one dimensional as a Non-Euclidean wall between the two places."

That she was familiar with. The Barrier had to be maintained from both sides. One party from within, and the other from the outside. Usually, that was her and Yukari respectively.

She was getting an idea of where this was going, "Then that slight gap within the two sides of the Hakurei Barrier… Between the intersection of the 'Reality of the Outside World' and the 'Reality of the Land of Fantasy'… That's a gateway to this "Dimensional Gap"?"

"Correct." Yukari took in a deep breath. "I am not simply the Youkai of Boundaries because it is within my ability to manipulate boundaries. It is also my responsibility to maintain the order within them. I can never let the distinction between left and right fade. Life and death must always remain two separate existences."

In other words, it was also her responsibility to maintain the boundaries separating different worlds.

"The weight of that place alone is usually enough to completely rip apart lower existences. There are a few, like us gathered here, who hold some level of resistance against such effects."

Yukari was a youkai who lived inside of boundaries, and so was probably comfortable in a place like that, Reimu served a nameless god of the illusionary and fantatastical, and Kasen could… use weird magical oni powers or something.

"There are only two who call that place 'home'. This is where my concerns come in. Something has happened in recent years, one of those two beings has either been forced out or is plotting something against the other." Her fan shut. Yukari's hand lowered to allow her to meet Reimu eye-to-eye.

"The potential resulting Incident will be of a scale unlike any other. Should this conflict meet its end, regardless of its solution, all previous fallout of the Incidents you have handled will look like child play. Your battle in Makai will mean nothing in comparison. Should the Dimension Gap collapse at the end of this, all realities shall collide."

Colour fled the red and white's face. 'All realities shall collide' was not a light statement. Sakuya's Last Word, involving the collision of Past, Present and Future was certainly something she never wanted to deal with again, and a repeat of the Sixty Year Cycle Great Barrier Incident on a much larger scale wasn't exactly at the top of her wishlist. And she was sure it wouldn't be as simple as that. Heaven leaking into Hell, the Netherworld merging with the real world. Former Hell, whatever was left of Makai, they would all exist in the same place, at the same time.

"It will not be as bad as you are thinking, at least not regarding Gensokyo. Gensokyo is a special existence as it stands, held together by the Hakurei Barrier, whose uniqueness you would be intimately familiar with. Earth as well, has a special place as an anchor of reality, but that isn't relevant right now. The point is, all other planes of existence, such as the Hell and Heaven you probably thought of, will suffer immensely.

"I cannot allow this boundary to collapse." Yukari finished solemnly.

Reimu sighed. She seemed to be doing that a lot today. "So that's what I'm dealing with here…

"On one hand, the secrecy and order of the place we call home…

"And on the other, the coherency of reality…

"Are these two things really exclusive from each other?"

Kasen re-entered the conversation. "For the most part, no. These two goals share heavy overlaps, but there are a few difference you must keep in mind. This is why I am here; to communicate the differences between our two goals, and perhaps let you develop your own."

She glanced to the side, towards Yukari, seeking some form of approval to approach the next topic. A nearly invisible nod signaled her to go ahead.

"In short, the supernatural politics surrounding the Outside World are not too dissimilar to our own religious spats." Kasen continued.

Geez, she thought she already had enough of that type of talk. Now she might have to deal with an entire world of it.

"Instead of the eastern religions of Shintoism, Buddhism and Taoism, the major conflict is between the western factions of the Angels, no, not the ones your familiar with, Devils, no, not the demons your familiar with, and fallen angels."

Reimu never even got a chance to get a word in. The most she could do was level a deadpan stare at the hermit.

"Their current peace is caused by a stalemate between the three factions, held together by the remnants of a great war that ravaged the world. Of course, no proper resolution for this war leaves various parties unsatisfied, calling for a change. These parties can not be tied to any particular faction; there are those who are devils, those who are angels, and even a small group of humans who happen to be aware of that portion of the world seek to reignite this war.

"Your mission in the Outside World is to prevent this from happening. When this war was waged, every faction in the world – all nations of humans, all minor religions, even those from the east – was involved. If it were to break out again, there is no doubt it will cause a resurgence of the supernatural, placing Gensokyo's barrier at a massive risk. Tensions have reached their peak, forces are beginning to move. Plots have finished their preparations. You must stop anything that threatens to break apart this peace. This is the directive the Sages have given to you."

Kasen finished her speech with a grave statement, driving into Reimu's mind the magnitude of the fallout, should it happen. She returned the nod that her fellow sage had given her, telling her it was fine for her to speak.

Yukari briefly nodded back, then turned back to face Reimu, "If you recall, I mentioned that within the Dimensional Gap, two beings reside. These two beings are Great Red, 'The Infinity of Dreams', and Ophis, 'The Infinity of Nothing'. While against other beings, the two may be equals, when pitted against each other, the nature of Great Red's Infinity gives it a natural edge over Ophis' Infinity. Whether it be by its own choice, or because it was forced out, Ophis left its home in the Gap, and is now gathering a large force in hopes of killing Great Red to reclaim its territory. This is where our desires overlap.

"This 'force' I speak of is a large-scale organisation, and mostly out of the control of Ophis. Its role within the organisation is mainly to provide power to its members, in exchange for the promise that they will one day act for her own goal. Most of its members do not care about killing Great Red, only using that goal as a means to reach their own, and there are some who simply do not care for that promise at all, only seeking power. The majority of the members in this organisation, Khaos Brigade, are proponents for the reignition of the war. Do you follow?"

Reimu took a sharp intake of breath, before nodding weakly. "Yea, I think? Three factions had a war a long time ago, there are people who aren't happy with it. Almighty loner gets forced out of its home, starts gathering a cult to fight for it. Most of these cultists happen to be the people who aren't happy with the peace."

Breathe out… "These two goals can be achieved mostly through the takedown of this 'Khaos Brigade', however even without it, Ophis' intent against Great Red remains, and the peace between the Three Factions is still only held together by an uneasy stalemate."

"You," Reimu pointed towards the one-armed hermit, representing the Sages, "wish for peace between the Three Factions. You," Reimu pointed towards Yukari, "wish for peace between Ophis and Great Red.

"Did I get everything?"

"Just about," came Kasen's reply. "I apologize on behalf of all involved parties here for the suddenness of this task, and for our condensed explanations of the circumstances of the Outside World, but we do not have the time to spare for in depth talks and lessons on that." She gave a small, humble bow towards Reimu on behalf of her compatriots.

That could only mean… "So, I'm meant to leave before the end of the day?"

Reimu sighed… Once again, her 'ordinary day' completely derailed.

"That is the case. We have reason to believe one of the aforementioned plots is currently underway just outside the Hakurei Border, and will likely reach its climax by midnight. We are sorry we could not better prepare you for the task at hand, but we must not let this particular plot pass, if it is what we suspect it to be. This one in particular will affect Gensokyo much more than any other." Kasen seemed to ignore her laments.

Reimu waved it off. That part was nothing. She had been through this before. It wasn't as bad as the time she was told her mother let herself be killed by her best friend on the suggestion of her other best friend seconds before she would enter her first life-and-death battle in a while against said killer. (5)

What bothered her was that she had just spent the entire day lazing around. Normally when stuff like this was told to her, it was in a very tense environment.

"We will try to remain in constant contact with you in order to feed more information as you see fit, but keep in mind even with Yukari's abilities over boundaries, we do not know everything." Kasen finished.

That was to be expected. She had experienced first-hand the few times that youkai's abilities could not control everything. They weren't memories she would ever be able to throw away. "Just… two questions…

"Why can't you just do this, Yukari… Why me? And what happens to the Hakurei Barrier now, we just talked about how it required two parties, didn't we?"

It was Yukari's turn to sigh this time. It wasn't one as simple as Reimu's though, it was a deep and long one, hiding behind it a long life filled with tears and regrets. "For the first question, there's two parts. The more important one is that, well, frankly speaking, I'm not well trusted among the major players of the numerous factions of the Outside. I have a rather poor reputation. I've forged and broken too many relationships for myself to be able to properly stand as a representative of Gensokyo. The only person who could introduce an unbiased perspective of our home's nature to the outside world is you, Reimu, its guardian. And the second part…"

There wasn't a sigh necessary this time. The sadness and regret could clearly be seen plain as day on her face. A rare moment of weakness was displayed by the youkai, the signs of her age showing. "I'm… not who I once was anymore… the scope of what I'm capable of is much lesser than what I was a few decades ago… Reimu… you remember, don't you?"

A bitter emotion flashed through Reimu's irises. It was back then, during that aforementioned incident with her mother's best friend. She was straining herself giving her that one window to close that gap between her and Rumia. She was no longer capable of doing everything by herself, if she could, she wouldn't have made her worry about things like this at all…

So that was it, wasn't it. She wasn't sure how long she had left, so it would be best for Reimu to start learning to protect Gensokyo from both inside and outside by herself, to start working along side the Sages.

"Don't worry about the Barrier, Reimu… You've had your lessons already on how to maintain the Barrier from the outside, you can do your half from there. With you venturing to the Outside, part of our burden protecting Gensokyo externally is lessened as well, so we will maintain the Barrier internally as well."

The blonde woman smile rose shakily, "Don't worry about me, Reimu… I'll be fine, Gensokyo will be fine.

Without our attention focused on the outside, you can rest assured we'll be doing our best to prevent Incidents from occurring within."

"I see…" Reimu replied simply. "If that's the case… then I guess I don't have any qualms." She closed her eyes, giving herself some time to fully absorb everything said within the last few minutes. "So then… when do I leave?"

Hopefully, it would be enough time to say her goodbyes to everyone, finish the food in front of her and hopefully get a few free supplies that cou-

"Oh, right now!"

-ld help her.

"What."

Reimu deadpanned at Yukari, whose face had gone from a sad smile to her signature cheeky, playful one. Damn it, give her the pity points back.

Reimu snarled, "YOU OLD HA-"

Whatever very original insult and bodily harm that was about to be inflicted upon Yukari's poor innocent, youthful self had vanished into thin air, as Reimu had dropped through the floor for the second time that day.

…

Kasen mirrored Reimu's deadpan, not even looking at Yukari, choosing instead to look at the gap that had opened up beneath the place where the shrine maiden who had been the sole primary guardian of their land had disappeared through. "You're sure she'll be fine?"

Yukari turned her smile towards the hermit. The paper doors to the side of them slid open, as Ran calmly collected the snacks and tea that were left mostly untouched. "Oh she'll be fine. I pulled a few strings and made sure she'd be in good company! She'll be surrounded by her friends, don't worry."

…

That's code for 'Oh yeah, I dropped her in the middle of a snake pit with acquaintances with ambiguous intentions, whoopsies. I'll pretend it was an accident, but it was really for my own fun and it'll be fine anyways', isn't it? That was what hundreds of years of experience dealing with the gap youkai's ways had told her, anyways.

The hermit shrugged. She was sure Reimu could handle herself, she wouldn't have stopped training her if she thought the girl was incapable.

Two hours later, Reimu was chucked into a dirty cell with cold stone walls. Promptly following was a certain white-and-red immortal with a penchant for pyromania and an high-schooler esper who didn't want to make friends.

How did I get here? She deadpanned internally.

(1). That would be the first 3 games of the Windows Era in order. The Scarlet Mist Incident incited by Remilia Scarlet in TH06, The Spring Snow Incident incited by Yuyuko Saigyouji in TH07, and the Eternal Night Incident, incited by Eirin Yagokoro and Kaguya Houraisan in TH08.

(2). The final bosses of three of the more recognizable games. Remilia Scarlet from TH06, Utsuho Reiuji from TH11 and Junko from TH15.

(3). 'Ibarakasen' is a pseudonym. This fact is known by very few people, in this timeline, the revelation of her true name would have only happened several weeks before this story.

(4). An official sidestory in where Yukari decides to annoy a bunch of people by asking them vague questions about the beauty of a flower that blooms once every sixty years.

(5). Reireimu. A fan-made animation/manga centering around the relationship between Reimu, her mother, Yukari and Rumia. Actually a sequel to another thing, but can be read/watched fine on its own.

This is a thing now, apparently.

Reimu comes off as a bit off a prick in the earlier half of this, doesn't she? Sorry about that, and the flow of this whole chapter. It gets better, I promise. I'm not usually this bad with dialogue and characterization outside of initial exposition dumps in prologues. Trust me.

(maybe don't)

Anyways, if you didn't catch on from the lack of mention about a third sage, this timeline assumes 15.5 was the latest Incident to occur, and that WaHH also concluded sometime around then. I'm not including 16+ because I'm lazy and haven't played them lmao.

And yes, that is Sumireko and Mokou at the end there. If you didn't catch on already, first arc takes place in Kyoto – 'Just outside the Barrier'. That'll be the first arc; the 14.5 gang messing about in Kyoto, getting arrested and stuff.

If it wasn't obvious, I'm trying pretty hard not to cuss here. I don't have any qualms against it, I'd just prefer this story to be rated T for at least a little while. It's DxD so it'll eventually go to M and I'll stop caring about restraining myself in the Author's Notes.

What else was there? Something about Guilty Gear Strive, probably.

Er

Oh yeah, speaking of DxD, don't expect canon (Rias, Issei and co.) to show up until the second arc. First arc mainly deals with Reimu and her adaption to the new world. Mostly in regards to one specific issue. I need to leave some sort of bait for you to continue reading, so here's a sneak peak into the moral quandary of this arc: In this version of events, Reimu created the Spell Card System because she didn't want to kill.

That's all. Till next time. Hopefully within the week.

(20th June 2020: Slight grammar edits. Cleared up a few things.)

Next time: Red and white meets white and red. Three humans gather in the hundredfold night parade of demons.