I took a thousand years to write again. I just didn't feel like writing for a long time.

Marisa and Reimu were sitting on top of the Hakurei shrine's roof, enjoying the view of the dusk and each other's company, even if it was mostly silence, occasionally broken by one of them telling the other about a stray thought.

But Marisa's mind was filled with slight doubt. Reimu's story of wanting to sightsee was believable, but something just stood out like a sore thumb and she could not for the life of her even begin to guess what it is. Maybe it was linked to Rias and how she mistook her for Reimu? They did share a lot of similarities, but just had way too different personalities. This was definitely an odd mystery.

"You good over there?"

Marisa jumped a bit at the sudden question then sighed. "Yeah, yeah I'm good, ze."

"You sure don't look like it. A penny for your thoughts?"

"Eh? No, seriously, it's nothing, ze. It's just something dumb."

"Then it's something."

Marisa chuckled. "Oh come on, you're pulling out that kind of trick on me, ze?"

Reimu gave her a smug look. "Possibly."

Both girls giggled a bit. Marisa went back to looking at the horizon. "... Seriously, it's nothing to worry about. Just a nagging feeling in the back of my head,ze."

Reimu raised an eyebrow. "Start of an incident?"

"Nah, nah, nothing that important, ze."

Reimu sighed a bit. "Alright then, if you say so…" She was a bit disappointed that Marisa didn't trust her with what was worrying her, but then again she wasn't in the best place to judge her for that as she was miss 'secret identity that she didn't tell Marisa about'.

Marisa, on her side, was glad Reimu didn't push any further. If she told her about how she thought something was up with Rias, then Reimu might've freaked out and gone to see herself, and when she goes to see things for herself, it doesn't usually end up good.

After a minute, the slight awkwardness passed and the two returned to looking at the sunset.

Sojiro wasn't too surprised to see Yukari enter the café near closing hours. The one straggler looked at her, then back at him, then sighed, finished his cup of coffee in one gulp, put money on the table and hurried out. Sojiro sighed a bit but was glad that he got the message without them having to do or say anything. Guess their serious expressions must've been enough.

"... Yukari."

"S… Sojiro… Sorry for the intrusion."

"You're not intruding at all. How are you feeling now? Better than this morning?"

Yukari's nod was weak, as if she didn't believe in it herself. This made Sojiro sigh softly.

"Don't worry, I'm sure she's doing much better wherever she is now now that Futaba and the others brought Shido to justice."

"I-I know. I know…" Yukari sighed again. "I'm sorry, it's just… It's all so much…"

All Sojiro did was nod in understanding. Yukari was having a hard time coping with it when she just heard the tale, but he lived through it all, so he felt it even more back then.

"... If I'm being honest, I kind of thought you could have ended up with her once you got over me."

Sojiro raised an eyebrow. "Why? She was a great friend, but I never considered her like that."

Yukari gained a small smug smile. "Oh please, you gave her looks quite often. Even after we got together you couldn't help it every now and then."

Sojiro blushed and shook his head. "Listen, it's not easy having a crush on two women at once."

Yukari started laughing. "Oh~? Would you have liked to build yourself a harem in that case~?"

Sojiro was completely red with shame as he looked away and stayed silent, knowing that saying anything would only worsen the teasing.

The two stood in front of each other, looking at the counter. Yukari's eyes hovered over to Sojiro's hands and she placed one over his. "Sorry, I just need this right now."

Sojiro sighed a bit but didn't stop her. "I'm sorry it's taking so long, it's just… Hard to choose something right now. We've been out of each other's hair for so long, we built up our own lives in our own corners, so we could easily just stay like this…"

Then he saw Yukari's eyes and how rejected she looked. This prompted him to cup her cheek with a hand. "But… We were so happy together… And I went so far to get to see you again… So we could pick up the pieces and try to get back to it."

They looked at each other and their eyes met. Both were speechless for a moment, not knowing what to say.

Yukari was the first to close her eyes with a sad smile. "I'm sorry… I shouldn't doubt how hard this is for you… I'm being… Well, a bitch, for trying to rush you."

"Hey, come on now, that's way too harsh. Anyone in your shoes would end up impatient."

She rolled her eyes a bit. "Yes, yes, I know, but that doesn't make it better."

Sojiro, by pure instinct, put his free hand over hers, trapping it between his hands. She looked over at their hands, shocked. "Yukari."

He didn't need to say anything else before she found her breath caught in her throat. "... S-Soji…"

Sojiro gave her a soft smile, one he came to find he only managed to give her. "I'm sorry, it's just… There's also Futaba. She already had enough trouble getting used to me as her guardian… So finding out she'd basically have a new mom, I'm not entirely sure how she'd react."

Yukari couldn't help it when a blush found its way on her cheeks and her eyes widened. "I-I'd… I'd be… A mother?"

"It depends. Mostly on Futaba. We can't force her to have a new mother, considering how it was already."

Yukari started tearing up. "Y-yes, I… I understand… S-Soji, I'd love to, if you'd let me… I'd treat her as my own…"

Sojiro looked into her eyes and resisted the urge to tell her that this would also depend on Futaba, as she might only see her as her adoptive father's girlfriend and never as her mother. "... Then, if it makes you feel better… I'm leaning more towards yes. I need some more time, of course, but… I'm leaning towards yes."

Yukari was just about to cry of joy. "... Thank you. Thank you so much."

Sojiro sighed and finally let her hand go to go and start brewing coffee. "Say, I told you the gist of everything that happened to me since you left, so how about you tell me about your side of the story? What have you been up to?"

Yukari's hand felt cold now that it wasn't being held, but she knew he needed both hands for this, so she didn't mind. "Sure, do you mind if we talk on one of the tables?"

Sojiro shook his head. "Not at all, it'll be a bit more comfortable."

"You know, that guy was pretty nice, ze."

"Who?"

"Boss, the uh…"

"Oh him. Yeah, he's a decent guy. Seems to have a good head well screwed on his shoulders."

Marisa giggled a bit. "Yeah, he even managed to handle Patchy, ze!"

"He managed to handle you. That's an even greater feat." Reimu had a shit eating grin on her face.

Marisa flicked Reimu's shoulder. "Don't you sass me like that." Despite what she was saying she was clearly enjoying it.

Reimu gently smacked the top of her head with her hand's side. "You've earned a good dose of sass."

The two girls then spent a good while just play fighting each other until they pulled out their cards and flew up into the air, their bullets seeming a bit brighter than usual.

"Wow, you've been busy."

Yukari huffed. "If only… No, that was all other people. I…" She sighed and looked down.

Sojiro placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a soft smile. "I see. I understand, don't worry."

Yukari smiled back a bit before sighing. "A-anyway, yeah… I just spent most of my days sleeping…"

"But you managed to make a friend, right? Yuyuko, was it?"

Yukari's small smile returned as she nodded. "She's a bright woman who likes to have sass competitions with me when I'm bored."

Sojiro gave her a small nod.

"Who knows, you might want her in your dream harem too~"

He almost nodded again but stopped instantly, instead grinning at Yukari. "Oh? Well, I didn't know that you're into infidel men."

"Hm? Not denying it?"

"I want to let you dream a bit."

"My, what a horrible man you are~"

The two of them giggled at their antics.

"Anyway, I've been thinking of bringing her here tomorrow, you won't mind right?"

Sojiro sighed. "Of course not, it's your friend. No discounts though."

Yukari giggled. "Well, better prepare an extra pot of curry then, because she is one hell of a glutton."

He did not know whether he should take this seriously or not.

As Reimu entered Le Blanc, already in her uniform, looking a bit sheepish but still already getting comfortable enough to stretch once she's inside, she noticed Yukari was giving her a smug look, a bowl of steaming coffee in front of her that she's never seen before on the cupboards.

Then she finally registered that Yukari was here and the look she was giving her.

"A-ah! U-um, uh… I-I can, uh… C-come back… Later."

"No, no, you're not interrupting. Come, have a seat."

Reimu did not know what to do as Yukari pat the seat next to her and Sojiro was not doing a good job of hiding his smug grin, so she just took the offer and sat next to Yukrai.

"U-um, I-I'm… U-uh, R… Rias… Wh-who are you?"

"Oh, hello then Rias, I am Yukari Yakumo. Did you sleep well?"

"U-um… Yeah?"

Yukari giggled a bit. "Say, have you seen Reimu around?"

Reimu knew she knew. There was no way she didn't. But in her awkward panicked state it took longer to register than it normally would. "U-uh… N-no, I… I haven't."

"Oh? But she came by recently, didn't she?"

"U-um… I-I… Wasn't there."

"Why not?"

Okay now the shit eating grin was too big to ignore, even after she hid it behind her fan. But Reimu didn't know how to say that right now, so she stayed quiet for a moment.

Sojiro was the first to chuckle.

"Okay, I think that's enough. She obviously knows you know."

"Aw, but it was so fun~"

"Cut her some slack woman."

"Ok, ok. Anyway, hello Reimu~"

Reimu tensed up but quickly ended up just letting out a heavy sigh. "Of course you knew… Probably from the beginning."

"Well when you can see people's souls to some degree, it's not hard."

Reimu simply rubbed her eyes as a cup of coffee was put in front of her. Sojiro must have made it when she was distracted by Yukari's troll. "Thanks boss." She put some honey in the brew before blowing on it.

The café was silent for a few more moments before a client walked in, saw the scene and almost walked out. He was interrupted by a greeting from Sojiro, which made him realize that, even if the woman was most likely a yokai, she was being friendly and in no way outwardly malevolent.

"So anyway, Rias, I hope this guy hasn't been giving you too much trouble. Even though he is less sassy than me, he can still hold his own in that field, even up against me."

"Oh trust me, even you are too much for me."

"W-well, um… He's been fine? H-he lets me have my space and all that…"

Yukari nods slightly. Upon closer inspection, her smile is still a good one, but it seemed just slightly faker than when it was just the three of them. She wondered why a single client changed her mood, but it wasn't by much, so she quickly dropped that thought in favor of savoring her coffee.

So did everyone else, and the café was in a comfortable silence.

And then a crash rang out through the café, coming from a corner that was barely out of sight. Everyone straightened up and Sojiro and Rias decided to walk over to said corner. They saw a broken plate on the floor. As Sojiro scratched his head in confusion they heard a tiny giggle which Rias pinpointed to above one of the support beams.

"Up here."

The giggle was replaced by a yelp, especially when Rias took a broom and started trying to swat whoever was up there off of the beam, which ended up in a success revealing a fairy as tall as two and a half hands that tried to flee the café once revealed.

Yukari was so quick, no one could see her stick out her hand to reach and grab the fairy by the back of the collar.

"Now now. That wasn't nice of you."

Rias ended up catching up, broom still in hand.

The fairy froze in fear when she saw the two women with clear malevolent intent on their faces, one shown through a smile too calm and the other shown through a glare. Even Boss and the unrelated client felt chills go down their spines.

"Girls… Let's not fight."

"Oh, but it's a fairy, she'll come back after, no matter what we do."

Sojiro let out a soft sigh. "She already gets the point. Let her go."

With a soft sigh, Yukari let go of the fairy, who fell on her butt on the ground, still paralyzed in fear. Reimu took a bit longer to calm down and back off with a sigh, putting the broom back where it was.

Sojiro took the fairy, who he honestly just saw as a poor kid who didn't know any better, and sat her down at a table. "Do you like hot cocoa?"

The fairy was still too afraid to move, not even to nod an affirmation or a negative, which made Sojiro sigh again. "I'll make some then." He then got behind the counter and did as he said he would do. The girls couldn't help but look over at the fairy, wary of her antics, even if she was scared out of her mind.

A minute later, she found a cup of hot cocoa in front of her and Sojiro sitting next to her. "Careful, it's hot."

The fairy blinked a bit as she tilted her head towards the cup, the first bit of movement she's made since the near death experience aside from the furious shaking. A small nod was all she added before going back to near inactivity. Sojiro simply stayed next to her until she calmed down enough to hold her cup and begin smelling it.

"... It… S-smells nice…"

The man nodded. "Have you calmed down now?" He was met by a small nod. "Can you explain why you broke the cup?"

The fairy took a moment to think before answering. "... I-it was for… A prank… I didn't mean to…"

Sojiro simply sighed. "I see. Pranks are good, but they can go too far. If you hurt someone past a scrape or bruise or if you actually break anything, that's not a prank anymore, that's a crime. Do you understand?"

The fairy nodded again.

"Good. Now I won't ask you to pay for the cup since you're just a kid so… How about to pay for that you take the broom and sweep the attic once you're finished with your cup? Does that sound nice to you?"

The fairy was now shaking much less. "Y-yes… Thank you mister…"

"Call me Boss."

The fairy giggled a bit. "Th-thank you Boss… O-oh, I'm, uh… Lavender River, a fairy of summer"

He nodded, not really knowing what a 'fairy of summer' means, but he would just ask one of the girls later. "I'm Sojiro Sakura."

Lavender River giggled again. "Oh, I have a friend who has Sakura in her name! She's called Sakura Bark, right! She's a fairy of spring instead, and we like to pretend that we fully control the seasons and pass the baton when we swap from spring to summer!"

Sojiro smiled a bit at the fairy's antics as he nodded along, listening to the main points if anything. "She sounds like a good friend."

"She is! We like to do pranks together at times." She paused for a bit. "Th-though some of them might have gone too far… Like that time we tripped up a kid and he cut open his brow on the fence… I felt bad after that one but Sakura told me we should leave before we get caught and beaten up."

Sojiro hummed. "Well, try to keep your pranks down to a safer level if you want to avoid that. Okay?"

Lavender River nodded as she started sipping from her cup, even if it was a third of her height and probably wouldn't finish it.

The day barely started but Sojiro already felt like it was going to be a long one.

I hope I didn't make y'all wait too long.

Farewell, my subjects

Your Saltyness