Well that was a while of nothing. Hope I didn't upset too many of you.

Let's just get straight to the point.

Yes I took my sweet ass time before just, you know, doing something as simple as adding lines. I have not been in the mood to write for a good while though, that's the main issue. Once finals are over I'll try getting myself to get at least one chapter out, promise.

Sojiro woke up feeling hot, like there was a boiler right next to him in his bed. Once he regained his feelings, he realised that there was someone next to him, grabbing onto him weakly, but with both arms and legs. He sighed softly with a small smile as he didn't even need to open his eyes to know that Yukari, yet again, found her way into his bed without him knowing, like she often did when they began dating all the way back then. He never found out how, and right now he wasn't fully awake so he wasn't going to think about it yet, even if he already saw the answer in action.

The man ended up trying to get out of Yukari's grasp without waking her up, but didn't manage to. She grunted and moaned as her eyes slowly opened just a tiny bit.

"Can't you just wait a bit…? It's nice here… Plus… In case you end up saying no, I want to be able to enjoy this last one as much as I can."

Sojiro merely let out a soft and slightly somber laugh. "Don't worry, I understand."

A moment of calm passed between the two.

"Sojiro… How did you take me leaving? You do seem much calmer than you were back then, but still…"

"Well… It's a long story, and not that much of a happy one." Yukari's eyes opened wide in surprise and concern. "But I won't tell you anything until you've had your coffee. I know that anything you hear before that will be taken… Perhaps a bit too seriously." He let out a soft chuckle at the memories of his ex being way too deeply affected by things like dreams or random thoughts.

"You know that it's just how I am when tired. And I still don't get how you can wake up so quickly!"

Both adults chuckled.

"Well, it is a superpower of mine."

Some time later, while Sojiro hadn't begun to drink his cup, Yukari's bowl was already half empty.

Boss blew on his drink before starting to talk. "So, tell me when you want me to start."

Yukari drank what was left in her bowl in one go before setting her bowl down with an audible 'thunk' and a satisfied sigh. "I guess you can now."

Sojiro breathed deeply to prepare for what he was about to say. "Very well."

A pause filled with anticipation was now between them.

"So… When you left, I… I didn't really realize at first, considering that you were independent and sometimes liked just going for a while. Never more than a week and a half though."

"Yeah, I recall that much. Was it an issue?"

"Not at all, made seeing you again a joy." Sojiro couldn't hide the small smile that grew on his face. "So yeah, at first, I thought it was that. Then… You were gone for longer than usual. I still thought you'd come back soon, something just held you for a bit."

The yokai slumped on the counter. "I mean, that is one way to put things…"

"Yeah, well… By the end of the second week, I got worried, so I asked around, and… Nobody saw you. Some even forgot you."

"When a yokai starts disappearing from reality, they also start disappearing from people's minds. It's sad, but it is nature."

"Right, well, that made me realise that you weren't coming back, so I got mad." This made Yukari's mood drop even further. "But… I didn't have much time to brood."

"Hm? Did anything happen?"

"Yes, well… In the third week…" Sojiro looked pained as he hesitated, which made Yukari worried. "Do you recall Wakaba?"

The woman took a moment to recall. "Well, how could I forget her? She was probably the most unique woman in the world, she would feel right at home here, heh." She let out a soft giggle.

Sojiro smiled fondly, but it quickly went away. He took a deep breath to brace himself for whatever would come out of this.

"Wakaba died."

"..."

…

…

Once Yukari got over the shock, she joined Sojiro in the act of looking somber.

"The circumstances are very… Complicated, to say the least."

"What happened…"

"Are you sure you want to know?"

"We went this far, might as well see it through to the end, right?" She held a small smile, trying to comfort him enough to continue his tale.

"If you say so."

He took another deep breath and started explaining everything he knew. Wakaba's odd suicide, Futaba being passed from family member to family member, always treated like trash, until he got a hold of her and she became a shut in, the Phantom Thieves saving Futaba and discovering the truth of what happened while doing so, that Wakaba was actually assassinated in order to get the results of her studies.

Yukari stayed silent through all of it, merely soaking in the information. It was sad, but it was also oddly interesting. After all, a place of the mind? That sounds like what the Yokai are born from and currently lack.

Reimu woke up slowly, waking up a bit as she mechanically made herself her usual light breakfast. Light not out of choice, but out of a lack of money. But today was one of the many days she did not look forward to waking up, not because she knew that there was not much to do for her once she got rid of her sleepiness, but because she could already feel the overwhelming guilt tightening her stomach. She dressed up in her miko outfit, looking at the work outfit she accidentally brought back yesterday. She definitely found the clothing from the outside to be much more comfortable than what she has been wearing for the past few years. Oh well, she had to keep the comfort for work if she wanted to keep having Reimu Hakurei and Rias Sakura be two different people.

She grabbed her bow and a biscuit from the table, putting the latter in her mouth as she began to tie the former in her hair, stepping outside. She then found herself in front of a familiar face who was just about to knock.

And just because she found it funny, she knocked on her forehead, making Reimu grunt in annoyance and the annoyance herself laugh.

"Ya should've seen your face, ze!"

After a moment of finishing tying her bow, Reimu snapped the biscuit out of her mouth, munching on the piece left in it.

"Waddya want Marisa? Is there another incident you came to tell me you're gonna solve first before flying off?"

"Nah, nah, ze. As far as I know, most of everything is fine. You're up a bit early though."

Reimu shrugged. "Eh, work's been asking me to wake up earlier and now that's my internal clock's wake up time." She executed this one flawlessly as it wasn't a lie, simply a half truth. Sojiro gave her that tip for her story-making. Don't tell the opposite of the truth, tell said truth, but leave out details. And this seemed to work.

"Oh yeah, ze? Well I kinda did notice that you spent all your time outside of your shrine lately. Have the fairies really been that much of a bother recently, ze?" Marisa's cocky grin was just begging her to slip up and tell the truth.

"Nah. Just been trying to diversify."

"Into what? Did you become a maid? I can lend you a dress, a few thought I was a maid when I didn't have my hat, ze."

"Haha, funny." She finally swallowed her biscuit and immediately put another piece in her mouth. "I've mostly been on the lookout. You know, see the issues before they happen, yadda yadda."

Marisa simply raised an eyebrow in scepticism. Reimu groaned in frustration.

"Fine, I've been looking for an excuse to sightsee. Happy?"

The witch's eyes opened wide for just a second before they closed and she burst into laughter. "All this… For that, ze? Hahaha, you have got to be kidding me! Haaaaa… Funniest lie you've ever told Reimu, ze!"

But when she looked at Reimu, she found a look that told her that this wasn't a lie. Thing is, after yesterday, when she realised how good the view from the shrine is once more, Reimu really did plan to sightsee. Most places she saw during battle, so she never really bothered. But she knew that Gensokyo was a beautiful place in the end and wanted to go through it once more without looking to fight.

"Oh damn, sorry. It's just that you never did it before so I was kinda surprised, I guess."

Reimu sighed, but had a light smile on her face, and when she looked at Marisa again, she threw what was left of her biscuit at her face.

"Dah!"

Bullseye.

Marisa did catch it before it could fall, after a bit of fumbling around with it, so it wasn't a complete waste. But afterwards she did point her newfound projectile at Reimu with an amused and provocative smile.

"Eat it you dummy. I'm gonna go make breakfast. Want some?"

Marisa put a piece of the biscuit in her mouth by snapping it with more force than needed, simply because now she was fired up. But she did hum a yes as she chewed with her mouth open. This caused Reimu to stop in her tracks, wait for Marisa, and once she was in arm's reach, snap her mouth closed, though she did make sure to not use enough force to hurt her should she have her tongue in the way.

"Disgusting." The maiden then flashed the witch her own amused and provocative smile.

The girls were having fun eating breakfast, to say the least.

"And that's why I didn't really have much time to get mad at you."

The adults both looked somber. This was definitely one hell of a story.

"So… You got caught in the crossfire of a war against that God."

"Pretty much."

Yukari couldn't help but reach over the counter to hug Sojiro. "You didn't deserve that."

Boss giggled softly, patting the woman's back. "I know, but I got over it, don't worry."

"Still. I felt all of it to be honest, but… I didn't want to look at it, because I knew it was in your direction. And a bit because I had to strengthen the barrier to avoid it reaching Gensokyo."

Seeing that she wasn't going to let go, he started rubbing her back comfortingly. "It's fine, I'm fine. It's all over, okay?"

"Still, you didn't deserve it."

"But I got through it unscathed. Let's focus on that part, alright?"

Yukari just nodded a little, and the two sat in silence like this for a while.

"For the last time, nothing like that happened in my bedroom last night…"

"Oh, I'm sure of that~ I walked in on a pretty yokai hugging you quite tightly before any customer came, but nothing happened~"

Boss was having enough of the shenanigans of the customer who walked in on Yukari hugging him and, in doing so, stopped the moment and caused Yukari to leave in a second through a gap.

"Listen. If I hear anything about this after right now, I will make everything you buy here three times it's usual price. Okay?"

The customer slowly stopped laughing and nodded. "I can't really go a day without coming here anymore so that'd be a shame."

Boss knew today would be long.

"So you catch me on my break day, and now you just want to bring me places?"

"Are you really so against a date, ze~?"

Reimu sighed at Marisa's teasing. "Whatever. Where even is that place?"

"Well~ I saw a girl in front of your shrine the other day. Said something about a 'café owned by her uncle' or something. Wanted to check it out."

Reimu knew exactly which café Marisa was speaking of. "Oh? Well I did hear something about a café in the human village. Apparently the Scarlet crew went over there once. I think it was called Leblanc."

Marisa snapped her fingers. "Yeah, that's the name, ze!"

"And you wanna go there?"

"Yeah, to have a proper breakfast instead of the two biscuits you let me have."

Reimu growled a bit. "I'll let you know that biscuits have a surprisingly high price."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. You coming with me?"

She sighed deeply but smiled. "Yeah, sure."

"Wanna race?"

"Nah. Let's take it slow for once."

"Well aren't you a bore~"

Reimu's only reply was hitting Marisa's forehead with a single finger.

When Sojiro heard the door's bell ring, he did not expect to see his employee with a friend coming in. Poor reimu looked ready to sweat bullets. And the two customers currently present were just freaking stunned right now.

"Hello."

"Yo, ze!"

"Please don't steal anything from here."

Sojiro raised an eyebrow at that comment but simply nodded. "What will you two have?"

Marisa sat at the counter in a flashy manner, while Reimu just sat normally next to her friend.

"I'll have whatever the chef recommends, ze!"

"That would be coffee and curry then. Do you have the money for it?"

"Uh… How much is it?"

Sojiro pointed to a menu on the wall behind him. Marisa sweated a bit. "That's quite a bit, ze… Is there a smaller size? We're just here for breakfast after all."

Sojiro just sighed and shrugged. "If the other one wants curry I'll give you only one serving and share it between you two."

Marisa then turned towards Reimu, her eyes pleading for her to accept it. This made her sigh as well. "Fine, I was gonna try it out anyway."

The witch did a fist pump at these news. "Then one curry for two and some tea for me, ze!"

"I'll just have some coffee."

The man nodded and started working on their orders. "By the way, call me Boss."

The more outgoing one of the two snorted out a laugh at this. "That's oddly fitting, ze."

"You don't say."

I'm not letting this story go. I'm going to finish it, even though I'll probably die of old age before I do at this rhythm.

Anyways, as always,

Farewell, my subjects

Your Saltyness.