This chapter was a bumpy ride, but I can't thank Derago enough for volunteering to be my beta reader. I promise, or at the very least, pray to my hopes and soul that this is a good chapter now. I won't fuck it up like I did before.

Reimu had trouble sleeping.

A single interaction gave her so much to think about after all. Sojiro and Yukari knew each other? And something happened that made Yukari akward around Sojiro? The most confident woman she's ever met, the queen of trolls, akward? It felt unreal. She thought it was a strange dream. But no matter how much she tried to convince herself that it was too stupid to be real, she couldn't deny it: she saw and heard all of that. So, she was troubled by her imagination and slept little during the night.

When the shrine maiden woke up, she could only guess how Boss and Gap Hag must be feeling.

She looked at herself in the mirror, checking out the bags under her eyes and not bothering to comb her hair for more than a single minute, so it was straight enough to be passable, yawned deeply and grabbed a piece of bread which she munched on as she dressed up. With a final yawn, she flew out to her job, finishing her breakfast while her mind was lost in thought. Once she landed in the backstreets, making sure nobody saw her, she began walking around until she reached her destination, that being the small café lost in the lonely streets. And for the first time ever, when she passed the door and heard the soft bell jingling, she didn't lose all her tension, as the question of "what is Sojiro's history with Yukari" could not leave her.

Sojiro saw Reimu and merely nodded at her as a polite, silent greeting, which she returned before going to the attic to change into her work clothes. A good 5 minutes later she was back down, looking like another person named Rias.

"Did you not sleep well?"

Reimu nearly jumped when she heard Boss talk to her as she was in full autopilot up until now. "O-oh, uh, Boss, uh... N-no, not really."

"I can see that. Is it because of what Yukari and I said to each other?"

She looked to the side awkwardly. Sojiro hummed thoughtfully. "So that is it. I can understand, just don't let it get in the way of your work. I don't want to lose a customer."

She nodded weakly, hoping that she won't mess up today. A hand was felt on her shoulder and she looked up to see Sojiro giving her a comforting smile. "You'll get your first taste of what makes this job hard: keeping up a facade for the customers, even if you feel like trash. Just do your best for now, I can cover small mess ups. Since you haven't slept much, we could say that yesterday made you scared since I wasn't with you and that's why Rias had trouble sleeping, even though we both know why Reimu couldn't sleep, alright?"

She sighed and nodded, looking back at Sojiro. She could see his comforting smile better now, and she felt calmer, her body still tense, but less this time.

Surprisingly, or not so surprisingly, there were more customers at Le Blanc now than before. Seeing an outsider at the flower viewing festival looking for Reimu yet still be in Gensokyo afterwards must have piqued more than one's curiosity, leading to them coming to the café. It was still small, calm and quiet, but now it wasn't unusual to see around 10 customers at once.

After a few days, a first happened in the small café from the outside: a yokai entered the place. In fact, it was more than one. There were two, accompanied by a human, and one of them was extremely reluctant, as well as tired to the point where she looked ready to crumble at any point. That one was, in fact, in what looked like light purple sleepwear, had blue and red ribbons on her clothing and in her long, straight lavender hair, which was the same color as her eyes, a metallic yellow crescent moon on her cap and her skin was sickly pale. She was being dragged by a young looking woman with huge bat wings coming out of her back. Her slightly wavy light blue hair reached her shoulders and her clothing was a dress and cap made out of pink silk, with red tissue accentuating the colors and being tied into bows behind her. Hey eyes were red and piercing, yet still held some mischievous, juvenile glint. The last woman was obviously a maid, with her straight and composed posture and outfit fitting it perfectly. Her dress was a deep blue, except for the white frills. Her long silver hair was tied up in braids tied up with green ribbons that went down in front of her shoulders and reached her chest. Her eyes were a cloudy gray, which got Sojiro to think about the past a bit, as this eye color was the same as the one that the kid he hosted had.

"Lady Remilia, why did you bring me here…"

"You need to get out more, and I wanted to visit this place, so I decided to get two birds with one stone. It's not exactly the worst place either, is it?"

"No, since it's not a bustling thing, but still. This is costing me research time."

While both of the yokai were distracted, the human of the group breathed deeply and closed her eyes in serenity.

"Well, it matters little. You're not getting away, and we've come this far, so I'm taking you with me through to the end Patchouli!"

The sick-looking woman would only sigh deeply and nod as she gave up. The trio then came up to the man behind the bar. There was also a woman working here, but she went into the attic when they arrived.

"Hello sir. May we get a table please?"

"Just sit where there's space. Try not to bother the rest of the customers too much."

"Thank you sir. We will pick our orders in a bit."

The trio looked for a place to sit, and a table just emptied since it's only two occupants got up to leave when they looked in their direction. They shuffled around a bit in the tight space in order to sit.

"Sorry about that. I'm still wondering if I should expand the shop, but I'm afraid it might take some of it's soul out."

"I understand, it definitely looks like it would be much different if it was bigger. May we know what we can order?"

The man merely pointed up, showing that there was what could be ordered written on signs above the counter. The young looking woman nodded as thanks, earning a nod back.

Patchouli bounced a bit on the seat and found it to not be perfect, as it showed signs of use for obvious reasons, but they were quite comfortable.

"Oh, before I forget, let me introduce us. I am Remilia Scarlet, owner of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. These are Sakuya Izayoi, my loyal maid, and Patchouli Knowledge, a friend of mine which I house." Both of the others made a sign when pointed out.

"I'm Sojiro Sakura, but everyone calls me Boss. Nice to meet you." He wasn't rude, but did keep a distance, not wanting to seem too friendly.

"It is an honor to meet you sir Sakura. It is not everyday you get to meet someone from outside, especially not me, who does not leave my home often. But, I heard that you were looking for Reimu during the festival. Did you not find her?"

He sighed a bit, as he was asked this question many times. Thankfully, a client from behind Sakuya answered for him. "Boss is actually a ghost who was granted a place here from the Ministry of Right and Wrong. And since he's dead outside, he can't go back there." Sojiro nodded to confirm the story, earning him a smile from the customer as he went back to his meal.

"Ah, I'm sorry to hear it. How did you die?"

"Lung cancer."

Not knowing what it is as she wasn't a medical professional and cancer isn't common knowledge thanks to Gensokyo being stuck in a much older time period, Remilia merely nodded.

"So, what'll you get?"

"Oh, sorry, I forgot. I will take coffee, with a bit of milk, please."

"I'll just have as much of your strongest coffee as you can get me."

"Just some tea for me. Earl gray, if you don't mind."

Boss nodded and started making the three women their drinks. The tension that came along with them, since they are three women from the Scarlet Devil Mansion, including its owner, started to dissipate, as all tension usually does in Le Blanc. Patchouli was unceremoniously bent over and resting her upper body on the table, Remilia was softly humming while waiting and Sakuya breathed deeply, much more than usual when she was serene. Remilia noticed but did not do anything, merely smiled some more as she was happy her maid could finally rest properly. A few minutes later, they found their drinks in front of them in cups for Remilia and Sakuya, and a bowl for Patchouli. They were a bit surprised at the unusually shaped cups, but did not say anything, instead blowing on their drinks or letting them rest so they cool down, only drinking them once they thought they wouldn't get burned. Patchouli still burned her tongue a bit as she really wanted that coffee.

The women were stunned to find that the coffee was the best they ever tasted, but Sakuya wouldn't know as she didn't drink it. Instead, her shoulders relaxed for the first time in forever, and she went a bit limp in her seat once she put her cup down. And this time not even Patchouli could ignore it.

"Sakuya? You okay over there?"

She poked her shoulder and shook her arm a bit to try and get a reaction, and that reaction was a soft grunt and the maid closing her eyes, looking ready to fall asleep. This made Patchouli stunned for the second time in less than 5 minutes.

"Hang on… She's never like this. Even my relaxation spells don't work on her! What's going on here?"

The entire café turned towards the trio to find nothing strange, other than Patchouli panicking over nothing.

"Give me a moment… I'm feeling tired all of a sudden…" Sakuya let out a huge yawn, though she didn't forget to cover her mouth. A few realised what was wrong, but they didn't feel like putting energy into caring about something so small. Patchouli however…

She got up and went around the café with a book open, muttering to herself. Boss and his clients looked at her with confusion and curiosity.

"Uh… What are you doing?"

"You've done something to Sakuya, I just know it. She is never this relaxed. There must be a spell, an enchantment, something to explain why she's acting like this!"

Boss scratched his neck awkwardly. "Well, there isn't. At least not as far as I know…"

Suddenly he found a night cap in his nose and piercing eyes looking into his soul.

"You've done something. I know it. I can't find it right now, but I will, believe me."

Remilia laughed loudly in the background. "Well, I'd say that this was a success! This place is just like in the rumors, and it piqued Patchouli's interest, making it so that she'll get out more! Don't you agree?"

Even Remilia, who had accepted what was going on, was a bit shocked to find Sakuya sleeping soundly on the café's seat.

It was the end of the week. Le Blanc was close to closing up. Reimu was enjoying some coffee while Boss was finishing his crosswords.

That's when she finally arrived in the café. The bell jingled softly, and Boss put down his newspaper to get ready to tell whoever came in to get out as they were about to close, but then he saw who it was.

Yukari had seen better days. her hair was a mess, her usual hat was missing, she had bigger than usual bags under her eyes and her umbrella was closed and hanging from her hand instead of it being open and over the shoulder like usual.

"Hello..."

"I was wondering when you'd show up. Back to struggling with your insomnia?"

The near-goddess sighed. "I'm sorry... I know we worked on that so hard, but-"

"Don't beat yourself up about it. Rias, mind leaving us alone?"

Reimu, who'd been standing there awkwardly, jumped up at being called and nodded before quickly leaving the café.

She awkwardly walked as fast as she could around the human village, searching for a safe place to fly up from. Once she found one, she sighed deeply and got out of her shock. So she realised that she was still wearing her work uniform. She was away from the shop, as Rias, and there was no way she could go back inside now. So, somewhat fearfully, she tried to find her way out of the human village by foot.

"So... You must have questions, right?"

Sojiro nodded. "The main one is why."

Yukari sighed once more. "Yokai and gods only have so much time outside without faith available..."

"And what happens if you stay outside for too long?"

"I would lose my powers, grow weaker and weaker... Then disappear."

Sojiro was a bit shocked at how extreme that was, but nodded. "A-and... Why didn't you come back at some point?"

"You should know better than anyone..."

Sojiro's gaze softened and his eyes closed halfway. "Right... Guilt. You have a bad habit of being stuck in the past and letting your ghosts haunt you instead of making peace with them..."

"Ever since that day I've been having trouble getting out of bed... I messed up so badly... I should have just told you everything... And I didn't want to mess up another relationship."

Sojiro wanted to tell her that she didn't mess up their relationship but even he couldn't believe that. It wasn't ruined, at least not on his side, but a decade long silence was definitely the sign that a relationship was messed up.

"I forgave you."

"Why would I believe that? I left without a warning, without a sign."

Sojiro sighed deeply and, out of habit, began making coffee. Yukari gave him a weird look before chuckling to herself.

"You're right. We're going to need it."

Boss chuckled softly back, as he took out some old memories in the form of a cup and a bowl, the cup being a solid black aside from the soft white wave patterns near the bottom, and the bowl being coral pink on the top, the color fading away in cherry blossom patterns until it revealed a solid white background not even a quarter of the way down the bowl.

When the bowl was put in front of Yukari, her eyes widened as she took the pottery and looked it over, tracing it's bottom with her finger to find it completely clean.

"Sojiro... You kept them?"

"I'm honestly more surprised you didn't take your bowl. You refused to drink anything if it wasn't in it."

Both mature people laughed a bit as they recalled the time they spent together and Yukari did indeed not want to drink anything if it wasn't from her bowl, though there were a few exceptions.

"You took good care of it too. There's no dust on it."

"I don't like letting my memories get dusty."

The two sat in silence as the coffee was made and poured. Boss then gave his client half of a sugar cube and some milk, making her smile.

"You remember."

"Of course I do. It ended up being muscle memory. It's not hard to get it back out again."

As she mixed her coffee with what she was given, she nodded and smiled nostalgically.

"You know, I think I still love you."

The suddenness of the sentence made Sojiro flinch as he filled his cup, spilling some coffee on his hand and burning him. This made Yukari panic and go around the corner to check up on him as Sojiro put his hand under cold water with a soft grumble.

"Oh my goodness I-I'm so sorry."

"It's alright, it's alright, I should have expected it. It just took me off guard. Besides, I've had much, much worse. Even in front of you."

Yukari sighed sadly. "Still... I hurt you."

Sojiro pat Yukari softly. "You didn't. Nobody did."

The woman sighed and looked away sadly as the man took his hand out of her hair.

"I have to say that these were some of the best years of my life too. I loved you just as much."

"I know there's a but..."

"Well... I'm not sure what I want right now. I didn't expect to be able to meet you ever again, much less talk to you like this."

The yokai sighed deeply. "I knew it... I never should have done this... I never should have met you..."

She suddenly found her cheeks cupped by rough but gentle strong hands, one of them being wet with cold water, but the problem of the temperature went away as hers rose from a soft blush.

"Now, what did we say? You're not responsible for everything in the world, and you should not cry over the past. Us meeting was a blessing, even if our... Break up, was nowhere near perfect. Okay?"

She looked up at him and found his face looking at her softly, with no ire or pain, simply concern and a wish to help. Yukari couldn't help but tear up.

"B-but... I..."

She suddenly found herself wrapped by arms she never thought she would feel like this again. Her own couldn't help but grab onto them.

"You messed nothing up. I don't hate you. I forgave you long ago. Understood?"

His voice was firm and didn't leave room for arguing, so Yukari just nodded idly.

He slowly let her go but she couldn't let go of his hand. And while he didn't push her away he didn't hold hers back.

"So... Yeah. I don't know yet. It's a lot to think about, you should know better than anyone else, right?"

She nodded again, this time with a hum.

"I just need time. It's not a no. But I need time to think."

She sighed softly and looked away again.

"I just wish I could have brought myself to tell you back then..."

"Please don't be here please don't be here please don't be here..."

Marisa was sitting on the shrine's roof.

"Damnit!"

Reimu made sure to whisper as she talked to herself and put her glasses back on to become Rias once more as she walked towards the shrine. Marisa spotted her and squinted to make sure that she was seeing right. Was this Reimu or not? She didn't know. So she flew down to the girl.

"Hey there, ze! What're you doing Reimu, my best buddy old pal~?"

"U-uh... Who's... Wh-who? O-oh, Reimu? A-ah, I'm... Looking for her, actually."

Marisa raised an eyebrow at this poor attempt at lying. "Really, ze? And why is that?"

"W-well, uh... My... M-my uncle was here d-during the... Festival, and... He enjoyed his time here, so... I wanted to make a donation."

Her eyebrow rose higher. "Uh huh? And who is this 'uncle' of yours little miss, ze~?"

"Suh... Sojiro... Sojiro Sakura, he's... A café owner from outside. W-we both are."

"Oh? Well, if he met Reimu, why are the both of you still here? You could have left very easily."

"Well, uh... W-we're..." She coughed awkwardly. "We're dead..."

Marisa was taken back a bit by how absurd of a lie that was. "Dead people don't come to Gensokyo, ze."

"W-well, Sojiro did something good, I-I don't really know what, so he was owed a favor by the people of the... Ministry of something?"

The witch sat on her broom and put a finger on her chin as she thought. This was either the worst lie from how improbable it is, or the best lie, because of how improbable it is. "Well, where can I find your uncle then?"

"Oh, it's a small building in the backstreets of the village not too far. The place is called Le Blanc, it's quiet and really nice, though after the festival we've had more customers..."

Marisa nodded along. This was a lot of details. This lie would be too easy to break. Reimu was notoriously bad at lying after all. But if this wasn't Reimu, and this was the truth...

Well, this whole thing would be at the very least awkward.

"Ah, gotcha then, ze."

"So... Is Reimu not around then?"

"Nope. She's a girl in red, over-the-top clothes, so she's hard to miss. With those bare elbows and big bow in her hair of hers. I don't get how she managed to go around like that, I'm already having hard enough of a time with this dress and hat sometimes... I love them to death, but they're big and get in the way."

Rias giggled silently. "Yeah, from what I've seen, outside clothes are definitely better..."

Marisa couldn't help but agree. If what the girl in front of her is wearing is what people from outside wear, yeah, that's definitely less of a burden. Which reminds her... "Forgot to introduce myself, I'm Marisa Kirisame, ze! I'm just a humble, ordinary magician." She even took off her hat and put it on her chest as she bowed.

Rias blinked a few times. "Oh, right. I'm, uh... Rias. Rias Sakura. And, uh... From what I've seen, the outside world has a very... Different criteria, for humble."

Marisa snorted a laugh. "Yeah, the outside world is very different from here. But when you see monsters choosing to take the form of girls of different ages on the daily, you tend to forget what humility and normality are, right ze?"

"It... Makes sense, yes. A-anyway, wh-where can I do a donation, s-since Reimu herself isn't here?"

Marisa pointed at the donation box. Rias gave the witch a polite nod before going to put 100 yen in it.

"That's not a lot, ze."

"If I put more Sojiro will kill me... He wants me to start learning how to save money... B-but even so little is good, right?"

Marisa nods, knowing that Reimu needs every cent she can get. Rias then walks back and starts to look around, to admire the scenery, as part of her act as a new person. However, it made her realise that she never really admired the scenery in a long time, and she forgot how absolutely gorgeous it actually is.

"Well? Aren't you going?"

"A-ah! Sorry, I... I was just admiring the view."

The witch laughed a bit. "You know, you can just refer to me by my name ze~"

Rias blushed. "Wh-what?! I didn't mean it like that at all!"

Marisa then entered a laughing fit from Rias' fully red face and high-pitched voice. "Yep, you're definitely not Reimu, ze! She would never get that flustered over a tease, ze!"

Reimu blinked a few times before holding back a sigh of relief. "A-ah? Well, I'm glad you don't mistake me for someone else then..."

The both of them went silent for a while as Marisa kept waiting for Reimu and Rias kept watching the horizon.

"Don't you have somewhere to be, kid?"

"No, not really. The shop's closed, as long as I come back before 11 I should be good. What about you? Are you waiting for someone or something?"

"Spot on, I'm waiting for Reimu so I can ask her if we can have a... Uh... Well I guess I can tell you since you're quiet, ze, a sleepover. Second one."

"This late?"

"Yeah, sleepover right now, ze. Is that weird?"

"Yeah, it's usually something you plan out, right? To make sure that the friend you're having it with isn't busy that night."

Marisa blushed a bit in embarrassment. "Yeah, well, the girl has been busy everyday recently! I can never as much as see her because she's always out 'exterminating', ze. I know she's lying but I don't know what she's really doing, or if she's not even doing anything and avoiding me. We just got closer as friends so now- Wait, why am I telling you all of this? Arg, this is stupid, I'm gone, ze!"

Marisa then got on her broom and flew away before Rias had any time to understand what just happened. But Reimu knew that she would spend the next few days feeling guilty that Marisa, the closest she has to a best friend, was hurt by her not being there.

I don't have any excuses. I messed up, this is my fault, and thus this chapter was a strange adventure. Hope you all can pardon me.

Farewell, my subjects,

Your Saltyness.