Marisa's House; Forest of Magic

"What the heck?!"

Marisa huffed, annoyed by the sight of knee-deep layer of snow around her house, after having just made an effort just pushing the door open from the inside to get out.

"What's with all this snow?!" The witch muttered. "It ain't never snowed this much 'round here!"

As if fate wanted to taunt her, several snow fairies suddenly appeared from behind the trees and threw snowballs at Marisa.

Marisa isn't thrilled about that, especially with the snow fairies laughing at her.

The witch then drew her twin revolvers - which she "borrowed" from Kourindou a few months ago - and fired at the snow fairies, taking out two of them and causing the others to scatter.

"Ya think it's funny, huh?!" Marisa shouted at the retreating snow fairies.

With all the snow fairies having scattered, all that is available to respond to Marisa is the silence in the forest.

"Freakin' fairies..." Marisa muttered as she holstered her revolvers. "Always looking for trouble..."

"They can't help it, though." Said a different voice all of a sudden. "It is in their nature - pardon the pun - to cause mischief whenever they can."

Marisa scanned the forest for the origin of that voice, as she drew her revolvers again just in case. "Who, and where, the heck are you?"

"I'm over here." Said the voice.

Marisa did as told, and looked toward where she thinks the voice came from, with her revolvers pointed at that direction.

Emerging from behind a tree is a young lady of western descent with blonde hair and blue eyes, with a red headband in her hair. She wears a light blue dress over a collared white shirt, with a red ribbon around her collar and another on her sash belt. She is also wearing a red scarf and leather boots because of the cold weather.

"I'm not here to pick a fight with you, so you can put the bloody firearms away." The blonde lady assured.

Marisa kept her revolvers trained on the blonde lady. "Then why are you here?"

"Someone told me there's a magic store in the middle of the Forest of Magic."

"Who told you that?"

"A witch who calls herself Ellen 'Fluffy-head' Aureus."

"Does she have a white cat named Socrates?"

"Yes."

Hearing the answer she wanted, Marisa holstered her revolvers. "Well, ya came to just the right place. Marisa G Kirisame, owner of the Shooting Star Emporium, at your service."

The blonde lady glanced over Marisa's shoulder at the witch's house. "This old bloody shack is your shop?"

"It's also my house," Marisa clarified. "and the shop part's still under renovations, so..."

"That being said..." The blonde lady interrupted. "Do you have Belladonna Extracts in your inventory at the moment?"

"That stuff? Nope, sorry. It's out of stock, and I was just on my way to harvest some ingredients to make more." Marisa told her. "Assuming I can find any in all this godsdamn snow, that is."

"I see." The blonde lady said. "If it's fine, I will be back at another time..."

"No problem! I'll see ya again!"

"Farewell for now, then."

The blonde then lady turned around, and started to walk away from Marisa's house-slash-shop.

"By the way..." Marisa suddenly said to the blonde lady, causing her to stop in her tracks. "Ya seem awfully familiar... Have we met before?"

The blonde lady stayed silent and motionless for a moment. Then she glanced over her shoulder, looking at Marisa through the corner of her eyes.

"In another world, perhaps..."

With that, the blonde lady continued on her way, and soon disappeared into the depths of the Forest of Magic, leaving behind only a trail of her footprints in the snow.

"Another world?" Marisa put a hand to her chin. "She seems to know a lot more than she shows..."

Marisa's thoughts are promptly interrupted when a red and white blur suddenly appeared from the sky and landed with enough force to kick up a plume of snow that then falls down and buries her underneath. Or would have, had Marisa not quickly raised her wand and cast a shield spell.

"Marisa," Reimu, holding the Sacred Hakurei Gohei in its gohei form and powered-up by it, said as she approached the witch. "I need you at the Shrine now."

Marisa lowered her shield spell. "What's goin' on? Something happened?"

"An Incident happened, two weeks ago." Reimu informed. "And it is still happening right now."

...

Hakugyokurou; the Netherworld

In the Netherworld where souls of dead people go to, a dark, shadowy and huge tree with no signs of life towers over its ethereal landscape.

At the bottom of that tree sits the rustic oriental mansion, Hakugyokurou, that is inhabited by the ghost princess of the Netherworld and her loyal servant.

Currently, the pink-haired ghost princess and her silver-haired servant stood in the backyard of the mansion which overlooked the huge tree. Both watched as streams of pinkish blue energy converged at the canopy of the tree.

"Lady Yuyuko, are you sure you want to do this?" The servant asked her master.

The ghost princess, with a paper fan covering the lower half of her face, turned to look at her servant.

Herald Princess of the Afterlife

Saigyouji Yuyuko

"I just want to see whose body is it that was buried under the Ayakashi." The ghost princess, Yuyuko, reassured her servant. "No one is in danger, Youmu, so you don't have to worry."

The Samurai Between Unlife and Undeath

Konpaku Youmu

"But does that necessitate the literal theft of Spring?" The servant, Youmu, asked out of curiosity. "From the rest of Gensokyo?"

"I'm just borrowing Spring for two weeks, Youmu. Once the Ayakashi blooms, and its seal undone, I will be able to see the body buried under it. I'm sure Gensokyo won't mind it..."

"What if they do 'mind' it?"

Yuyuko lowered her paper fan, and let it fade away out of existence. "I'm very sure they won't. Now, Youmu, why don't you go prepare some snacks while we wait for the Ayakashi to bloom?"

Youmu sighed. "It is always snacks for you, Lady Yuyuko..."

...

Hakurei Shrine

"Ya know this fairy?"

Marisa reacted in disbelief when Reimu told her what happened.

"Not in person, but everyone in the villages have seen her enough to know what she is like." Reimu answered. "Don't you and your witch friends know who she is?"

"Sorry, but nope." Marisa answered. "Must've been too busy practicin' my magic. Not quite sure 'bout Ako and the others, though."

Speaking of the Little Witch Mob, they have gathered around the aforementioned fairy, who is still unconscious and has been dragged by Reimu into the shrine and laid on a futon in a corner of the room. Markle is poking the fairy with her staff, while Fey and Rey are each holding a potion vial, pondering if they should test them on the fairy. At the same time, the lesser shrine maidens remain huddled in the kotatsu, watching what the Little Witch Mob are doing with fascination and wariness. Sakuya, according to one of the lesser shrine maidens, has already left for Hoppou-Ri Village to help with the resupplying.

Reimu sighed at the Little Witch Mob's shenanigans.

"Marisa, meet the Fairy Herald of Spring: Lily White." Reimu then begins, with a finger pointing at the fairy. "She like to announce the coming of Spring by showering her surroundings with petals and announcing that Spring has arrived. Loudly." Reimu emphasized the last part by putting a finger into her right ear, as if to unclog it.

Marisa glanced at the fairy, Lily White, who remains unconscious.

"Well, she sure came at the wrong season this ye-"

All of a sudden, the sliding door - which Reimu had closed in order to keep as much of the cold air out and the warm air in as possible - is slammed open so hard it got dislocated from its rail.

"We need to see Hakurei Reimu! As soon as possible!" Proclaimed Kitashirakawa Chiyuri as she, wearing a white hooded Winter coat rather than her usual sailor outfit, stepped in, with Ruukoto right behind her.

Both Reimu and Marisa are surprised by Chiyuri's sudden appearance.

"What's wrong?" Marisa asked.

Chiyuri pointed above her. "The weather's what's wrong!" She exclaimed. "Remember when the Professor and I borrowed Ruukoto for meteorological analysis three days ago? We've only just found out that something's really wrong with the weather."

"What is 'meteorological analysis', anyway?" Reimu interrupted Chiyuri.

"Doesn't sound like something related to meteors..." Marisa said.

"That's fancy word we scientists from my world use for 'checking the weather'." Entered Okazaki Yumemi, who is wearing a Winter coat similar to Chiyuri's but with a strawberry pink hue. "Has any one of you girls here ever 'talked about the weather' before?"


Yeah, I know. This chapter barely progresses the story (aside from showing us why Yuyuko did it), and basically is just a repeat of the previous one from Marisa's POV. I blame my mind from becoming stir-crazy after being stuck in my house for a whole month due to Covid-19 (don't worry, neither me nor my family has contracted it yet).

So stir-crazy that I actually came up with the concept for an original fiction just a few days ago. And I have plans to actually post that within the next week or so. You can find out more about that on my Tumblr blog.

"And that, as they say, is that..."

Afterwords end here.