Hakugyokurou; the Netherworld

"So, Youmu, how long until we have gathered enough Spring to make the Saigyou Ayakashi bloom?"

"My best estimates is... probably within the day..."

"Good. We've been doing this for over three weeks already. Hopefully, it is worth the wait..."

"Lady Yuyuko, forgive me for speaking as such. Why do I get the feeling that you have just tempted fate?"

"It is, after all, very easy to tempt fate when you are sure a dead body is involved in what you're doing..."

"I-I see."

"Anyway, what of our guests?"

"The Phantom Ensemble will be arriving within the hour. As will the puppeteer..."

...

Above Gensokyo

After their fight against Letitia moments ago, the Guardians of the Sanctuary, now with Sakuya as the newest recruit, continued making their way toward the invisible portal in the sky. Meanwhile, Marisa explained to Sakuya what was going on, to the best of her abilities.

"So there is an invisible portal in the sky above Gensokyo," The silver-haired maid repeated what she just heard. "And it is draining the Spring away, plunging Gensokyo into an extended winter?"

"Has been draining for three weeks." Reimu corrected her. "And nobody in Gensokyo would've known if it wasn't for an associate that immigrated from the outside world."

"Immigrated from the outside world?" Sakuya parroted.

"Apparently she was fleein' some kind of 'establishment'..." Marisa answered. "Didn't say why, though."

"Anyway, that is why we're heading toward the portal." Reimu brought the conversation back on topic. "To find out what is it that is draining the Spring away."

"I see..." Sakuya noted.

Almost immediately after Reimu and Marisa are done filling in Sakuya with everything that has happened up until now, the environment suddenly shifted from the skies of the snow-covered Gensokyo...

...

The Netherworld

...to a dimly lit, mist-covered pathway, with the Guardians of the Sanctuary finding themselves face-planting into the pathway after gravity had also reversed its direction as the environment shifted.

"Sheesh!" Marisa uttered as she removed her face from the stone pavement. "I'm guessin' we just crossed the portal. But whose idea was it to put the entrance where visitors will instantly run face-first, literally, into the freakin' ground?!"

"Given that the perpetrator of this Incident is quite literally stealing Spring," Reimu said as she picked herself up. "I'm thinking that they probably don't have common sense on their minds to begin with."

Sakuya calmly picked herself up and, with a snap of her fingers, made herself and her clothes perfectly pristine, as though the face-planting never happened. "Like my mistress, I suppose." She remarked.

"Yeah. Freakin' right." Marisa added as she patted dust off of her hat before putting it back on. She then noticed something or rather, someone, just ahead of her. "Hey, ain't that..."

It turned out to be the same western woman that came to Marisa's house-slash-shop in the Forest of Magic only hours ago.

"Fancy seeing you here again..." The western woman greeted.

"You know her?" Reimu turned toward Marisa.

"Not much. She came to my shop, asking for some Belladonna Extracts a while ago." Marisa turned toward Reimu and explained. "She left right after that." The witch then glanced at the western woman. "Though she somehow seemed way more familiar than that. 'Specially your comically thick accent..."

"I heard that you two-" The western woman continued, her sight directed at Reimu and Marisa. "formed an Incident resolving team. Guardians of the Sanctuary, I think it was called?"

"Yep. I based that name off of my favorite superhero team." Marisa responded to that proudly.

"You're still as cocky as last year, Marisa..." The western woman deadpanned.

Marisa was about to add to her response, but stopped when she realized something is amiss. "Wait, how didja know my name? Have we actually met before?!"

"I wouldn't be surprised if you forgot about ever meeting her, Marisa..." Reimu pointed out for the witch. "After all, you sometimes forget where your own journals are..."

"She does that?" The western woman suddenly interrupted. "Well, thank you for pointing that out, Reimu..."

Now it's Reimu's turn to realize something is amiss. "Wait. How did you know my name as well?!"

Meanwhile, Sakuya, who stood behind Reimu and Marisa, is wondering what is going on with them and the western woman.

The western woman sighed. "I never expected you two to be completely unable to recognize me right now." She then held her grimoire out. "This will jog your memory, perhaps."

Reimu and Marisa both took notice of the grimoire, and immediately realized why the western woman knew about them.

It looked exactly like the grimoire used by Alice from back at Makai last year. No. That's the same grimoire. That, and the woman's comically thick western accent...

"Wait..." Reimu and Marisa both said in unison.

The Doll-like Dollmaker From Faraway

Alice Margatroid

"Would you like to have some tea?" The western woman then said.

Reimu and Marisa both gasped in shock and surprise. "ALICE MARGATROID?! Shinki's daughter?!"

"Adopted daughter." The woman, now identified as the same little puppeteer from Makai, corrected. "Really, I'm surprised it took you two this bloody much to start recognizing me..."


Alright, so as mentioned recently in Atsuko Kagari and the School For Witches, my schedule got FUBAR'd to such an extent that I honestly have no idea how to fix. As such, it looks like all future updates to everything will be on an inconsistent frequency. And that's assuming I don't run into any Writer's Blocks.

I'm really sorry for this...

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

Afterword ends here.