With such pleasant weather above the Hakurei Shrine, Reimu hoped to enjoy a peaceful time sweeping the grounds before moving to make preparations for the party later that night.

Unfortunately, disrupting her peace at this time was a certain oni who hadn't stopped badgering her. "What are you being so finicky for?"

"I'm not being finicky!" Reimu took several steps to one side and tried to ignore Suika, who of course just followed and kept sticking close by her side. "It's natural for me to be suspicious that an oni wants to bring the food to a party, especially after what happened last time."

"It wasn't my fault everyone got sick, and you know it!" Suika said. "C'mon! The beast I caught this time is huge, and I bet everyone will love it! And besides, there's no way you've got anything better prepared."

"Rude. For all you know, I could be spoiled with options on what to serve the guests." Reimu was definitely not spoiled with options, but she was still somewhat hesitant to accept Suika's offer.

Before Suika could respond though, someone else's voice loudly called out to them. "If you're talking about food, then I'll be salvation today!"

Reimu and Suika turned their heads towards the shrine's gate, and entering the grounds was Tenshi, strutting with unwarranted swagger.

"Oh, what do you want?" Upon immediate sighting of the celestial, Reimu's mood had already dropped several leagues lower.

"What a lousy way to greet a celestial like myself." Tenshi shook her head, disappointed. "You really do need all my help… Fortunately, I'm here to save your shrine's party tonight."

"I need your help like I need an infection! What do you even mean by 'saving' it?"

"It just so happened that I've recently caught a tremendously large specimen while I was fishing among the sea of clouds, and I'm feeling generous enough to share it with you, so you may serve it as tonight's main course."

"...There are fish in the clouds?" Reimu asked.

"No way you have the patience for fishing." Suika raised a brow at Tenshi. "Knowing you, I bet you just leapt in and wrestled the fish with your bare hands, right?"

"I employ many different kinds of techniques, depending on what's most effective." That was all the answer Tenshi offered.

"Wasn't judging." Suika said with a shrug. "It's how I like to do all my fishing too!"

"...Whatever." Since nobody was going to elaborate about fish in the clouds, Reimu didn't linger on it. "Nobody asked for your help anyway, so why do you care?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Tenshi began to explain, puffing out her chest and speaking with even greater grandeur. "As a celestial who rules over the land, I've made it my personal duty to watch over this entire Gensokyo, and that includes this shabby shrine. I have a vested interest in making sure the shrine maiden in particular doesn't embarrass herself with an inadequate showing of cuisine."

"Wow." At first, Reimu could only stare in disbelief at Tenshi. Her eyes and fingers twitched as a bitter smile cracked across her features. "Every word out of your mouth ticked me off more than the last. Maybe I should serve celestial meat tonight?"

"It would still be better than whatever cheap sediment you actually plan on serving." Tenshi replied with a shrug.

Reimu was mere moments away from lunging at Tenshi, when yet another voice interrupted. "I don't care much for this either."

Right above all of their heads, a gap in the very fabric of space had opened itself up. Out of it came Yukari, who rested an elbow on the edge of the gap and glanced down at Tenshi in particular.

"You have a lot of nerve, you rotten celestial." Yukari said with a calm smile and the thinnest veil of irritation. "To speak of Gensokyo as your own, in the earshot of the sage who actually protects the land, and this shrine."

Rather than surprised at her sudden appearance, Reimu just looked incredulous as she stared up at Yukari. "Nobody knew you were in earshot, though. And who says you protect this shrine?"

"Your 'rule' is completely unnecessary." Yukari continued, speaking to Tenshi in a chipper tone. "And do remember that if you ever endanger any of these lands under my watch, I'll drop you right into the deepest pit they have in Hell."

"Hahaha! Just what I'd expect from you!" Tenshi responded, without dropping a single ounce of confidence. "My rule is necessary. After all, someone has to remind this shady youkai sage that she can't always have her way."

Tenshi and Yukari locked gazes for a good bit, while Reimu looked between them both. She thought to say something as well since they were technically all against the celestial… but she did have to admit to finding Tenshi's desire to mess with Yukari relatable.

"Hey, hey, you're all forgetting about me!" Suika declared as she stepped forward again and addressed Tenshi herself. "Forget about your stupid fish. I already made an offer to Reimu, and the meal tonight is going to be the beast I caught! There ain't enough room for any more than that."

"You must be joking?" With hands on her hips, Tenshi leaned forward to better ridicule Suika. It's obvious to anyone that a celestial's offer is far more worthwhile than an oni's."

"An oni doesn't lie, and I say we don't need you. Are you really willing to challenge an oni's words?" Suika asked, grinning widely.

"And just who do you think you're talking to?" Tenshi replied, returning a similar grin.

"Hey?" Reimu chimed in. "I haven't said yes to either of you."

The both of them promptly ignored Reimu however, as they've already wordlessly agreed to settle this in their favourite way. Suika immediately leapt into the air, flying towards the skies above. Meanwhile, a keystone approached beside Tenshi, who jumped onto it before it shot up into the air as well.

"Heeeey!" Reimu shouted out after Tenshi and Suika, to no avail. "Agh… You two better not make a mess of the place! …Hey, Yukari, keep an eye on them, will you?"

"I'll keep more eyes than you can count on them!" Yukari happily said.

"Right…" Expecting this to take a while, Reimu turned around and headed back into the shrine proper to prepare herself some tea, and tried to drown out the sounds of the fight already unfolding.

Back in the skies above the shrine, Tenshi and Suika clashed against each other repeatedly, switching back and forth between shooting projectiles and trading blows up close.

After a particularly big clash, the two were floating away from one another. Suika took the brief moment of respite to stretch her shoulder. "Glad to see you haven't softened up any, but I'm still going to win today."

"Not even in your wildest dreams." Tenshi smirked. A smaller keystone appeared in front of her, and she rested the heel of her boot on it. "I'll claim victory and send you crashing into the deepest depths of the earth!"

"Just try it!" Already knowing what was coming, Suika braced herself, ready to intercept the incoming attack.

"You asked for it!" Tenshi gave the keystone in front of her the strongest kick she could manage, and it shot forward with alarming velocity. Suika meanwhile, maintained her stance, and was ready to let the attack come her way.

Yet the keystone never made it over to Suika. Instead, it disappeared into a gap that suddenly appeared in its trajectory.

"Uh…" Tenshi and Suika stared at each other in shared bewilderment at first, and only a second later did they hear a loud crashing sound from somewhere below.

It only took them glancing around for a second before spotting the keystone, embedded into the shrine's donation box, having smashed a good chunk of it.

From somewhere else below came a sharp gasp from Yukari, who didn't bother hiding her smile as she cried out in high-pitched distress. "Oh no! How terrible! Reimu! Reimu, come look!"

"What? What?!" Reimu hurried back out of the shrine, and even before Yukari pointed it out to her, she already glanced upon the destroyed box out of the corner of her eye. Her eyes widen, and she did not say anything else upon seeing the keystone as well.

Instead, Reimu's eyes snapped towards Tenshi in the air, who flinched at being locked on.

"Wait, hold on a minute!" Tenshi hastily spoke. "That wasn't my fault! It was that nasty youkai and her-"

Tenshi didn't get another word out before a barrage of ofuda and needles were coming at her, followed by Reimu's whole self.

While the celestial attempted to defend herself from the shrine maiden, their scuffle ended up moving out into the woods nearby. Meanwhile, Suika was left floating in the air by herself. The oni crossed her arms, wearing an unsatisfied expression as she spoke aloud. "Oi, Yukari. Why'd you go and do that? I was totally going to win."

"Oh, I'm sure, I'm sure…" A small gap appeared beside Suika, and Yukari's head popped out of it, her face beaming with satisfaction. "But someone had to remind that delinquent celestial that she can't always have her way."


"This is… so disrespectful…!" Tenshi grumbled to herself as she hammered in another nail.

It was late into the evening, and the party at the Hakurei Shrine was well underway. At least, it was underway on the other side of the shrine. At the front of the grounds, Tenshi was by her lonesome, forced to fix the donation box if she wanted to take part.

If that wasn't bad enough, Tenshi was forbidden from using any of her celestial's artefacts, so the only tools she could rely on were hammers and nails. It was insultingly pedestrian to Tenshi's tastes, but she begrudgingly kept at it while kneeled in front of the damaged box.

While she was in the midst of working, she either didn't notice or didn't acknowledge Suika, who walked right up to her while holding a cup of sake. "Oh, you're still at that?"

"Does it look like I'm doing anything else?" Tenshi answered, annoyed.

"I guess I half-expected you to just give up and ditch your post."

"I don't do things by half-measures. Once I'm done here, everybody at that party better watch out, because the festivities will only really begin once I'm a part of it!"

"I wonder if they're quaking with excitement…" Suika chuckled. "Well, I'm glad you're not wasting the chance Reimu gave you. It was really generous of her to let you make up for what happened instead of just keeping you locked up."

"But it wasn't even my fault!" Tenshi stood up, her hand trembling around the hammer as she pictured what she really wished she could do with it. "That youkai sage… As soon as I'm done here, I'm plotting my revenge!"

"Haha! That go-getter attitude of yours is pretty admirable!" Suika laughed as she patted Tenshi on the shoulder. "Maybe at some point, we can mess with Yukari together."

"Why would you want to do that? You're in league with her, aren't you?" Tenshi asked.

"Because it'd be funny! Don't you think so?"

"...Can't disagree with that."

"But store that thought for now, and have this." With that, Suika offered the cup in her hand. "Nothing more sad than being totally sober at an occasion like this."

"This isn't the swill that comes from your gourd, is it? …Ah, whatever. I'm not picky right now." Tenshi smiled as she took the cup.

The party on the other side of the shrine continued, sounding like quite the lively occasion indeed. For the moment though, Tenshi and Suika were content with their own private toast as they plotted against the sages of the land, just for the fun of it.