With a final strum of both instruments, the concert's final song came to an exciting end. The two tsukumogami performers on stage finished their performance to the cheers of an excited crowd. The audience consisted of fairies, other tsukumogami, and assorted youkai, all brought together on this occasion by the music.

Yatsuhashi waved cheerfully to the audience, who were all gathered around the stage. "Thank you, thank you! All of you, who took the time to fly all the way out here!"

She referred to the unconventional choice of location for the concert, which was right in the middle of the skies. The stage she and her sister performed on today was a specially prepared one, magically made to float among the clouds.

Benben addressed the crowd next, taking on a comparatively more formal tone. "We're grateful for all your support, and we can never give enough thanks. But there's also someone else we're grateful for. This concert couldn't have happened without the support of our sponsor, who provided us with this miraculous stage in the sky. Yes, with us supporting one another, even us 'small-fries' of Gensokyo can achieve big things! That's the first step to a revolution. And so…"

Benben continued delivering the sponsor's message to the captivated audience in front of the stage, though they were not the only ones watching. Across the clouds from the stage was the Shining Needle Castle, the floating abode of a noble inchiling, who had been watching the concert from the comfort of her window.

"That was great!" Shinmyoumaru leaned against the windowsill, which was really the top rail since everything in the castle was upside-down. "They really knocked it out of the park! Don't you think, Seija?"

"Hah! It might have been serviceable until this part." Seija rested her elbow on the 'windowsill' as well, cheek resting on her palm with a bored expression. "Those Tsukumo sisters have completely lost their edge and their sense of independence. Taking a sponsorship and delivering a sappy speech for them? They've totally become sell-outs."

"Hey, you can't say that when the sponsor is me !" Shinmyoumaru pouted. "And I helped write that 'sappy speech'!"

"I'm not taking back anything I said." Seija flatly replied, averting her gaze while Shinmyoumaru tried to needle her with a glare.

Some time after the fan interactions were finished, both Tsukumo sisters flew towards the castle, and rested in the air just outside the window where Shinmyoumaru and Seija were.

"Hey, hey! What did you think?" Yatsuhashi was still giddy with energy and flush with success. "That was a joruri worthy for the history books, right?!"

"It was great!" Shinmyoumaru grinned, carrying a matching amount of high energy. "No, not just great, but amazing! You two have done a great service not just for tsukumogami, but for my lineage too!"

"Well, it couldn't have happened without you." Benben said. "I didn't think we'd ever have a chance to perform on a floating stage."

"It's no problem! It was definitely worth saving up the mallet's magic for this."

"Hmph." Seija poked her out of the window and addressed the Tsukumo sisters. "You want to hear what I think?"

"Not really." "We do not!" Benben and Yatsuhashi simultaneously stated, but Seija continued anyway.

"There wasn't enough teeth in that performance. You're not going to spark any feelings of revolution with such soft sounds! At the very least, instead of that sappy speech in the end, you should have mocked your sponsor for being tricked into supporting you! Let everyone know the stronger and more powerful in the world only exist to be our stepping stones."

"Hey, you remember you're talking about me, right!?" Shinmyoumaru squeaked, lightly pounding on Seija's back with an annoyed fist. When Seija showed no reaction, Shinmyoumaru gave up. "Ugh, whatever! Miss Benben, could I talk with you now about logistics?"

"Sure thing." Benben nodded as she flew through the window and into the castle. "I wanted to talk to you anyway, to get your opinion about possibly doing this again."

Shinmyoumaru and Benben moved to somewhere a little deeper in the room, leaving Seija by the window. Yatsuhashi also remained, though she was currently directing a stern, disapproving gaze right down at Seija.

"...What?" It was hard even for Seija not to say something while being stared at so intensely.

"Honestly!" Yatushashi huffed as she flew inside, and lowered to her feet in front of Seija. "Do you have to be such a… such an amanojaku all the time?"

"What does that mean? Obviously I-"

"Seriously, you really ought to be nicer to Miss Shinmyoumaru! You keep this up, and I'm sure even she will get fed up with you one day."

"Pfft, is that all you had to say? Now that's a good joke…" In response to Yatsuhashi's chiding, Seija couldn't help but laugh. An obnoxiously self-assured smile cracked across her features as she spoke. "That'll never happen. Princess needs me, or else all her plans would go up in smoke. Between her and myself, we're the only ones capable of one day turning this entire Gensokyo upside-down."

"You really believe that?" Yatsuhashi raised a brow, naturally sceptical.

"Of course I do, because it's the truth. Princess would never be able to find anyone else like me."

"Well, I can definitely believe there's nobody out there quite as obnoxious as you…"

"Thank you very much." Seija said with a sincere smile, to which Yatsuhashi rolled her eyes.

The two groups continued their idle conversation for some time, Shinmyoumaru and Benben discussing and reflecting upon the event, while Yatsuhashi tried to chide Seija further who was only too happy to be criticised.

Before any particular conclusions could be reached by either party, a sudden voice from outside the window drew all their collective attention. "Greetings! Is the baroness of this fine castle present?"

"Ah!" Shinmyoumaru's face brightened as she instantly recognised the voice, and poked her head out the nearest window. She was unsurprised to see a familiar celestial outside, sitting cross-legged on top of a keystone. "Tenshi! You can just say hi like a normal person, you know?"

"I'm no 'normal person', and as if I'd ever be so disrespectful to a fellow noble." Tenshi's keystone floated a little bit closer so that she was roughly on the same level as the window that Shinmyoumaru spoke from. "I saw that performance just now and had a great time. A concert in the sky… What an absolutely novel concept! Fitting that it came from you."

"Oh, you saw?" Benben chimed in, poking her head from above Shinmyoumaru. "I don't recall seeing you in the audience?"

"I watched from even further above in the clouds." Tenshi proudly said. "As a celestial who rules above all, my watchful eye is never far! It was a magnificent performance, absolutely worthy of the skies, which are also my domain by the way."

"Oh? In that case, we're very honoured." Benben smiled politely, simply happy to hear from a satisfied fan.

"Ooh, we must have really made it big now." Yatsuhashi appeared at the same window as well, grinning at Tenshi. "For someone like you to give praise like that, I wonder if our songs could even reach Heaven itself."

"You know..." Standing at arms length from all of them was Seija, who could just barely make out Tenshi's form from outside out of the corner of her eye. "Putting aside the fact that celestial got herself booted out of Heaven, you all shouldn't be so happy about that! There's no point if your song appeals to someone who's already powerful. It's supposed to be a rallying performance for the weak!"

"The more people who like it, the better." Shinmyoumaru replied, before turning her focus back to Tenshi. "Thank you, Tenshi! It's nice to know the concert was a success with so many different walks of life.'

"Well, I didn't just come by to say that." Tenshi said. "I'm feeling inspired now. I have a bunch of fun ideas for events that I'm sure would also raise the prominence of you and inchlings."

"Oh?" Shinmyoumaru was greatly curious. Of course she knew that a lot of Tenshi's 'plans' had a habit of blowing up in dramatic fashion, but they were always a ton of fun. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested. But if you're claiming to have my cause in mind, I hope you'll be at least as committed as I am!"

"I've never done anything by half measures." Tenshi didn't hesitate to say. "Shinmyoumaru, with my celestial's knowledge and tools, combined with your own resources, we can easily organise a hundred events that will take Gensokyo by storm."

"Haha, well, I'd love to hear your ideas anyway." It was probably a dangerous attitude to have, but it was part of what Shinmyoumaru liked about Tenshi. "When you say all that without a hint of hesitation or self-awareness, I almost want to believe it too."

"Now why wouldn't you believe it?" Tenshi pouted for a moment, but didn't linger on it. "You won't need anyone else, Shinmyoumaru."

"Hey!" Cutting in and pushing everyone else at the window aside was Seija, who ignored their complaints and directed her snappy remark towards Tenshi. "I've heard just about enough of this!"

"Oh, the amanojaku." Tenshi tilted her head at Seija. "I almost forgot about you…"

"A high and mighty celestial like you has no place in the Princess and my plans for revolution!" Seija got more heated with each word, practically sticking most of herself out the window as she shook a fist at Tenshi. "Our ultimate goal is to topple arrogant people just like you!"

"It's only natural that Shinmyoumaru and I would work together, since we're both of rich lineage. Although…" Tenshi smirked as she raised an eyebrow at Seija.

"What's with that look? It's disgusting."

"I'm sure there's room in our plans for you. Though your 'revolution' talk is always so roundabout, I can tell it's not just the ramblings of a common peasant. In fact, I get the sense you might be more special than you let on."

Seija's jaw dropped, unable to believe what she was hearing. Before she said anything else, her skin went distinctly paler, followed by a particularly unpleasant chill that ran all through her body. "Uegh! Getting praise from someone like you… I haven't felt anything this awful in so long…!"

"How rude!" Tenshi started to frown, but her expression then quickly brightened. "…Wait, since you're an amanojaku, does that mean you're saying you're really happy?"

"No! That's not how it works! I'm going to throw up if I listen to another word from you, so get lost!" Seija quickly shot a hand out, and did a twisting motion.

"Eh?"Just as Tenshi was about to ask what she was doing, she suddenly found her entire orientation flipped upside-down. For only a brief moment, Tenshi was still sitting on the keystone.

…In the next, gravity took over and both she and the stone went plummeting down to the earth below.

"Aaaaah…?!" Tenshi's yell trailed on, getting further and further away until she could no longer be heard. A second or so after that, is when everybody in the castle would have heard a heavy sound of impact with the ground far below.

"Seija!" Shinmyoumaru wore a disapproving frown towards Seija. "That was pretty rude of you."

"Forget about that, Princess! Let's hurry and plan our next move. You don't want to let the momentum from today's concert go to waste, do you?"

"I… guess not-"

"Then come on!" With that, Seija abruptly took Shinmyoumaru's hand and pulled her along elsewhere into the castle.. "You only need to count on me, anyway."

"Alright, alright, no need to pull…!" Shinmyoumaru barely managed to keep pace with Seija's brisk movements. Even so, she was smiling to herself, and muttered to herself quietly. "I'll have to thank Tenshi later…


All the way on the surface below, was the crater that Tenshi was lying in. She only laid in it for another few seconds before quickly jumping to her feet and dusting herself off, with barely a bruise to show for the long fall.

"That punk!" Tenshi angrily stomped as she did her best to readjust her clothes. "Pick a fight with me, will she? I'll gonna go back up there and-"

"Heeey, Miss Celestial? You down there?" Yatsuhashi's voice called out, and Tenshi looked up to see not just her, but both Tsukumo sisters descending from the air. "Oh, there you are!"

"Glad to see you're okay after that funny little spat." Benben said as well, and the two hovered in the air above Tenshi's head. "That amanojaku can be quite thorny, can't she?"

"I'll say!" Tenshi grumbled. "To think this is how she thanks my offer to help her and Shinmyoumaru's cause? I ought to show her who she's messing with!"

"Oh, but I think you did help both of them just now." Benben added.

"Huh?" Tenshi wasn't quite sure what she had meant. Benben refused to elaborate further, and Yatsuhashi was giggling the whole time. "I'm not sure about that…"

"Oh, forget about her for a moment, and focus on us!" Yatsuhashi cheerfully exclaimed as she gave her illusionary strings a strum. "You were a fan of our performance right? We'd love to hear more from a celestial's point of view of what our music is like. Maybe you'd also like a special, private performance?"

"...Well, if you're offering such to me, I suppose I have to accept." Hearing that was more than enough to placate Tenshi. A celestial such as herself was naturally deserving of such things, after all. "I happen to have some of my own ideas for songs too. I'm sure you'd both be interested."

Yatsuhashi and Benben listened with rapt attention while idly picking at their strings, and followed Tenshi when she started walking in a seemingly arbitrary direction. For today, they have all wordlessly decided to leave any plans to Shinmyoumaru and Seija, and so all of them headed together down the dirt path to discuss the wonders of music instead.