I'll be going with a "fanon" version for Sakuya in this. Her true origins are really unknown, so I'm letting you know that this isn't how she officially is. It's just a fan theory, a heavily favored fan theory. As was the fan theory of Meiling's origin I used.
We the fans have some degree of control. Hell, we named Koakuma, and ZUN, the creator, accepted it, made it official. She was just a nameless mid-boss, and we gave her a name.
We gave her a purpose.
We get to make Gensokyo ours, our own version of it. As much as we would like to make things as canonical as possible...well, considering that the fanon outweighs the canon, that may just be the only thing impossible in this realm of the possible. As put forth by another fan:
"...this place called Gensokyo always provides room for choice to everyone. We all share several major incidents that create the basis of this world. And you can fill the gaps with your own pieces of stories. It's that kind of game. Truths behind the major incidents, daily lives of ordinary people, surprising connections between the characters, and even their body shapes and the color of their [drawers]... There are as many Gensokyo's as people dare to fantasize. You can accept somebody else's Gensokyo or even create your own. Treat what you want to believe as your own truths about Gensokyo."
-The Rabbit Demon of mischief and Luck, Tewi Inaba, from the doujin "Why did she leave the miniature garden? Onis out!" by Maruchira.
Remember! Read and review!
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is owned by Nagaru Tanigawa. Touhou Project is owned by ZUN and Team Shanghai Alice. I own neither. This is a fan fiction of those works.
[This Chapter has been Remastered]
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Cirno stumbled out of the house after waking up, hurting all over. When she came into contact with the cold, she felt her skin start to soothe and heal. She found a nice snow pile and fell in, allowing herself to just feel the coolness reach the core of her body. As she laid there, she had time to think. First off, she had been out a while. The sun was starting to set at that point. Second...she lost. Not only did she lose a fight, she also lost her cards.
Those...idiots. They took her spell cards. She couldn't do a damn thing to stop them, to get back at them. The one she liked, the yuki-onna, had asked her to track them down and...
...What happened? She touched Cirno's shoulder, and all this rage appeared from nowhere. Cirno has been slighted before, but for rage that bad? She managed to get most of the fairies - not just the ones she talked to, but most of the fairies she could find - and got them to attack those three. It was weird. She was able to talk to them, and they followed her like no one else had. But they failed. She ran away, only to still be angry.
What did Eye do in there?
She actually was about to kill them. She propped herself up, a little confused. Killing people? Beating people up was fine, but killing? That's a job for proper youkai - fairies didn't really go around killing things.
Well, she would accidentally kill frogs when she froze them for practice, but that was all in the name of SCIENCE...well, to see how far her freezing could go. And it paid off, as she had just developed the Perfect Freeze, her pride and joy, able to freeze any and all enemy danmaku, real magical attacks, and even fire itself. Freezing fire itself - Cirno was really proud of that one. It was a purely defensive spell card, but used with offense, it was very effective at taking down stronger-
No, she is the strongest...just without her cards...
She smiled. She reached into her sleeve, pulling out the Perfect Freeze. That witch didn't take it, couldn't find it. Cirno thought about going after them, teaching them a lesson, but she wasn't angry at them anymore. And getting her butt kicked several times in a day wasn't fun.
She got up, feeling a lot better, normal even - her thoughts of revenge all but gone. Maybe she'd go back to the lake, and play another snowball fight with the fairies. Smiling, Cirno thought what fun it would be to use the Perfect Freeze while everyone's snowballs were in the air. She couldn't wait to see the look on everyone's faces, especially Daiyousei's. She was gonna surprise everyone with it.
Oh crap! Daiyousei! Cirno got into the air and flew fast. She had totally forgotten about breakfast!
Hey, maybe that's why she got beaten. She skipped the most important meal of the day, and was just weak. That's right, they only beat her because she came down to their level.
Still, she knew she was going to catch hell from Daiyousei.
The realm was silent, peaceful, even. There wasn't any noise made in the large field, where there stood a lone tree. A woman in a light blue kimono stood there, looking up at the massive tree, contemplating the situation. Things were going according to plan...in a way. All the spring was being collected, the tree showing some signs of life. Yet, it wasn't enough. It would bloom sporadically, letting the blossoms shine, only for them to fall off, and drift away, towards somewhere outside of their realm. Those lost spring blossoms couldn't be used again. They had to make do with what they had, but the amount of spring they lost was massive.
She heard a slight noise from behind her, and she knew who it was. The woman turned, to see her servant kneeling, still and awaiting for her orders. Such obedience. Smiling, the woman spoke to her servant. "Youmu, are your preparations complete?"
The teenage-looking servant, who had short silver hair and was dressed in green, gave a single nod. "Almost done, my lady. We can stop the bleeding effect in the next few hours. It may not be enough, however. If we had the spring we've been losing, we'd have it revived by now."
The woman nodded in response. She knew her servant was trying everything she could, and appreciated it. "It is fine. We can simply gather more. Even if we have to go into the outside world, although I would like to avoid that." The woman gazed up at another bud blooming, and watched as a couple other blossoms fell off. She sighed. Another bit of spring lost. "Youmu, I wonder..."
Youmu's blue eyes looked up to her, snapping to attention. "Yes, my lady?"
"Where are those blossoms going? They always go in the same direction, outside our realm. It is almost as if they are...being directed." The servant shifted a bit and let out a sigh. The woman raised an eyebrow, as it appeared her servant had something to add. "Youmu?" The gardener still did not respond. The woman gave a little sigh. "Youmu, I do realize you have your apprehensions about this, but please," she said. "Tell me."
The gardener licked her lips, and pursed them, before speaking. "They are being directed, my lady."
The woman's interest piqued. Her gardener knew what was happening? "Oh?"
"The few spirits we have sent out have come back to report their findings. They found out where the cherry blossoms have drifted." Youmu looked up at her master, a serious look on her face. "You see...there is a boy from the outside world. The Spring has been gathering in him..."
[Imperfect Cherry Blossom]
[Episode 6]
["Puppet"]
=One Night in the Settlement of Dolls=
"Is it snowing even in this paradise?
The paradise that is already Alice's playground."
-Touhou 7, Perfect Cherry Blossom - Stage 3
It wasn't possible. The blossoms were going all over the place. The master of the fox woman, her ability, her holding back of the blossoms had worn off a while ago, and they were starting to come back, but the four were being led away from where they were supposed to go. What was happening?
Okay. I had to admit it. Gensokyo was awesome. I was flying.
Well, with Marisa Kirisame.
She was indeed a witch (she doesn't go around cackling like one, thank goodness), as she had a flying broom, which we were sharing at that point. And honestly it was about time I had a ride. This was much, much faster. For a long time I had felt like I was holding Sakuya and Reimu back since they could fly and I couldn't, so they had to slow down for me.
It was one thing to not have powers. It was another to not have powers and feel like a burden because of it. From morning until lunch I had felt like a liability, and that was not a great feeling.
Did I feel inadequate? A little. I do feel inadequate when my friends with their abilities get stuff done and all I can do is hang back. I'll admit it. But that was par for the course in the Brigade. This was a little different, as feeling like being a bigger burden to these girls I just met was not ideal. That, and in my world, we try to keep appearances as normal people. Yeah I didn't have powers, abilities, or equipment like my friends, but we all were "normal" kids. This world I was in was paranormal, where these three normally flew.
It was a weird sensation, flying with Marisa. Knowing that the only thing keeping you up was just a broom handle and trying to find your balance on it was, well, it honestly scared me. I did not have the confidence in my own balance for this. I don't know how witches do it, or who thought it would be a good idea in the first place.
However the experience wasn't too bad. I was clinging to a rather pretty girl. Her scent of… faint lavender? I think that's what it was. Lavender and mushrooms? That's what my mind was coming up with when I was so near her.
I hung onto Marisa tight (but not too tight) as we were flying above the tree line, following the trail of cherry blossoms. Sakuya and Reimu both were indeed relieved that we could go faster than on foot, as they were flying right next to us. The sun was starting to set a bit, and we hadn't made much progress since Mayohiga, other than following the blossoms.
What could I say from what I saw of Gensokyo, other than it all looked like snowed forest. There was so much white and trees I couldn't really tell where anything was, or what I was supposed to be looking for. I know we were walking for a few hours, but even in the air I could barely see the mansion, and that was only because of the clock tower sticking up and the fact it was near a big lake. Other than that, I was able to get a better look at a massive mountain – the girls called it Youkai Mountain, and that no human who has gone there has ever returned. So that would be off limits unless necessary. Reimu and Marisa were the ones who were more well versed in Gensokyo, so Sakuya and I had to follow their lead. All right, avoid the mountain.
The only thing to note was that not too long after we left Mayohiga, three fairies had flown up to us and asked if we were going anywhere fun. A fairy in red, one in white, the last in blue. They didn't seem hostile like some of the other fairies that day, so nobody from my side attacked. Reimu told them to go away, and after a while of following us, they did, apparently becoming bored. Barring that, not much happened.
Marisa finding out about Haruhi and I, and how I fit into the equation of the current incident...well, she just gave a shrug and an "okay". Like the miko, I suppose the witch has seen enough weird things as well to accept such a thing as Haruhi Suzumiya's existence. It was relieving that there were people who could understand and accept such a fantastical situation I was in.
I have to say though, the views were spectacular. Gensokyo was the definition of a winter wonderland. We were flying around for… well I lost track of the time, which started to be a problem in itself. We flow over what looked like a bamboo forest, some rice fields (finally some other aspects of civilization), and around places that Reimu didn't want us going over. There appeared to be several places that were off limits. Again, we had to defer to her advice.
A few hours passed, and out of nowhere, Reimu spoke, clearly annoyed. "This is no good."
"What's no good, ze?"
Forgive me for not being able to explain Marisa's emotions from this point on with accuracy. It's kind of difficult to see someone's face when you are clinging to their back on a flying broom. And I'm not even going to get how...uncomfortable it is to spend a few hours sitting on a broom, how...sore a certain part of the body gets. Even thinking about it now makes me remember how the stick was pressing there.
"Look," Reimu said as she grabbed a blossom. "It's on it."
The three of us crowded around her. The blossom flapped a bit, trying to get to me, but I clearly saw something different about it. I had to ask. "What is that? Frost?"
There was a bit of frost on the cherry blossom. Just enough to be noticeable, but it was there. Like someone stuck it inside a freezer for a while.
"Yeah," Reimu said as she stared up into the sky. "I got a feeling we're being led around."
Marisa's gaze went to our surroundings. We were over a forest. "You know, I think Reimu's right. This is the Forest of Magic, I think."
Reimu nodded, while Sakuya adjusted her scarf in a huff. "So?"
Yeah, need a little context here, Marisa.
"So this is where I started." Marisa grunted as she made the show to look around. "I live in the Forest of Magic. I just went in a big circle following the cherry blossoms and you guys, ze."
I felt like I got punched in the gut. We've just spent the past few hours doing nothing then? I'm never going to get out of here!
Reimu tightened her fist around the blossom. "It's that yuki-onna, I know it is. She's making sure we can't find where they're coming from." She angrily looked at Sakuya, scowling a bit. "You should have killed her."
"How was I supposed to know she was the one really behind this, if she is?" Sakuya angrily responded. "You know most of the youkai are mostly talk, like that little ice fairy!"
"Yeah, that little ice fairy that nearly killed us."
Damn it all, stop it with the fighting! "Girls, please! Just stop! How many times am I going to have to ask you to stop fighting? I'm getting sick of this!"
They looked at me, Reimu shaking her head. "I'm sorry, Kyon. But you just became useless. That ghost knows how to beat that great plan the vampire came up with."
I brought my palm to my forehead, trying not to get into a shouting match with the miko. I sorely wanted to after she called me useless. Why is she like this?!
She glared at Sakuya again. "Take him back to your master. He has no business with us anymore. And it's too dangerous anyways." Reimu moved near me, letting her features and voice soften. "Look. Kyon. It's not that I have a problem with you. I just really don't want your death on my hands, okay? I can't even believe that vampire is putting you in danger like this. It's so irresponsible of her."
Maybe so, but I'd like to get out of here. "Yeah, I'm sorry I can't fly and do all the stuff you do." I rolled my eyes.
"You're a normal human and you're being put in danger by that vampire!"
I wanted to disagree with her, but I couldn't really. It wasn't like she was wrong.
Sakuya, obviously fed up, shouted at the miko. "I don't think you understand, Red-White! I'm trying to find out what's causing all this, we both are! Lady Remilia promised to find him a way back out to his home when we complete this task, and I plan to-"
"How? How is Remilia going to undo my barrier?" Reimu waved her gohei off to the side, I suppose indicating the closest area where the barrier would be. "What's she going to do? Send him out along with one of the cooking teams? I'd like to know!"
I'd like to avoid that, thank you.
"You act like we control those things," Sakuya shouted. "We don't! We just deal with them!"
"Doesn't give you the excuse for dealing with them. But is she going to do that? Because that's the only way I see that bloodsucker keeping her promise."
*SLAP*
Wow, that came out of nowhere. I lowered my eyes, more than a bit uncomfortable with this. And even though Reimu was acting like this, I didn't want to see her slapped. Marisa had winced upon seeing that, having her broom back away a bit from the two.
Reimu's hand went up to her red left cheek. Wide-eyed, she glared at Sakuya more intensely, gritting her teeth. "Are you insane, maid?"
Sakuya all but shouted at the miko. "Milady will come through for him! I know you don't really respect her, but Mistress Scarlet gave you her allegiance! And I can't stand here and watch you badmouth her! It sickens me!"
A small smile came across Reimu's face. She appeared unfazed by that rant. "Big talk for the vampire hunter who fell to her prey."
Wait, what? I couldn't help but stare at the maid.
Sakuya's jaw dropped in response to what Reimu said - the maid blinked a few times, a flash of rage showing in her eyes. "...What...did...you say?"
"Don't think I haven't heard the tales, especially in the human village, about a certain girl tracking down a vampire a few years ago-"
Sakuya's eyes pretty much became daggers, and she reached for hers. "Shut up."
"-and ended up as the maid of the vampire, the servant, the little dog-"
Reimu, stop it! Don't do this! Don't fight! "Stop! Damn it you two, stop!" I was frustrated that being with Marisa up in the air wouldn't allow me to get in between the miko and the maid.
Sakuya had a hand on the handle of one of her knives, but was struggling to keep her hand steady. She appeared to be close to losing it. "Shut up!"
A corner of Reimu's mouth crept into a small smirk. "Fine, fine. I'm sure that memory plays in your head daily."
The two stared at each other, Sakuya doing her best to keep her cool while Reimu just stared back at her. Vampire hunter? Sakuya was a vampire hunter? That's interesting. A vampire hunter who serves a vampire as a maid. So, wait - is that what Sakuya was reluctant to tell me last night? Is that it? She's a mere maid because she lost to Remilia?
I'd ask her about it, but with the glares the two were giving each other, I decided not to ask anything. I didn't want to be a pincushion for either Reimu's needles or Sakuya's knives, thank you very much.
I was right – that day was not going to go smoothly.
Marisa rubbed the back of her neck, obviously uncomfortable with that situation as well. "...Whelp. I think I'mma keep going in the direction of the blossoms, ze. You two..."
Marisa glanced back at me, seemingly unsure of what to say to them. No, I'm not gonna bail you out of this. I'm not getting involved, because I can't. And besides, you know them better than I do.
Ultimately, even though I did want to stop it, could I? I know how I felt about seeing them like that, but what could I do? "Hey, I don't want to be a part of this conversation. I've seen what these two can do in battle." That was the truth. If those two really wanted to go at it, I'd only be an obstacle in between them.
Still didn't make it any easier to see though.
Marisa blinked once before turning back. "...Ah, good point. I'll uh, yeah. Let's just keep going."
Marisa and I rode on towards the cherry blossoms, the wind beginning to pick up a little, adding even more chill, though the blossoms stopped. Sakuya stated that sometimes that happened that for a few hours, the blossoms wouldn't appear, well, according to Patchouli. I guess that explained why I didn't see any when I was outside with Meiling the day before.
Sakuya followed behind us, flying, Reimu taking the rear. We were silent, but not for long.
Just as well anyways. Tensions were rising between Sakuya and Reimu. Fact is, I don't blame them in a way. If we were being led around, then we'd have a right to be angry. It's just that they were taking it out on each other. I could relate to it, sadly. I always wanted to take out my frustrations on Koizumi after all. Thing is, I never acted on those feelings, because he ultimately never deserved it.
My eyes drifted over to the side, wondering where we were in relation to the mansion. In the direction we were going, I couldn't see the clock tower any more, so-
"Yo! See that, Kyon?"
I looked forward with a start. "What?" All I could see was a whitened forest.
"Over there, ze!"
I looked towards where Marisa pointed, having to shift myself on the broom so I could see past her head.
It was a small house, what looked like a one story home, connected to a small two story tower. It was really small, and I barely made it out the rest of the forest. It looked kind of cozy, to tell the truth.
"Yours?" You said you live in this forest.
"Nope! My house has a lot of junk strewn about the yard!" She sounded so proud of that.
"More stuff you 'borrowed', Black-White?" Sakuya coldly asked.
Sakuya, why are you still referring to Marisa as "Black-White" and Reimu as "Red-White"? They have names!
"You know it!" Marisa turned to the maid and grinned. "But I've never seen that house before! And I've been up and down the Forest of Magic looking for mushrooms, ze! Then again, that was back in the fall!"
The wind was picking up, especially while flying, making it a bit hard to hear, which was why we had to begin shouting. The temperature was also dropping by the minute, and the snow finally began to get heavier, as opposed to the light flurries we had all day. The cold hadn't been bothering me much, but at that point, it was starting to. Good thing I was clinging to Marisa, and feeling her body heat.
Marisa slowed down, turned, and descended to the house as I asked a question that popped into my mind. "Hey, Marisa, why do they call it the 'Forest of Magic'?" I mean, it's a pretty bland name, isn't it?
"Well, Kyon, it's a double-meaning!" Marisa gave me a toothy grin. "Cute little name the people at the Human Village gave it! The forest is an excellent breeding ground for mushrooms! They're great for potions, spells, and granting some magical power, but the deeper into the forest you go, the more potent and hallucinogenic they get! They gave it the name after a few people came back telling tales of 'magical visions'!"
So they gave it that name because people come out of it drugged?! I just gave her a weird look. Even now, thinking about it, I still don't know what I would have said at that point.
She just flashed a smile and winked at me. "Don't worry though, since it's winter, the spores won't be out! And neither are the mushrooms, which is the problem for me, ze! Winter mushrooms aren't all that great for my needs! But anyways, I thought I was the only person living out here!"
Oh, great. The person who's driving this crazy broom may be a mushroom addict! It also made me wonder if I really did smell mushrooms on her.
"Marisa! Look!" Reimu pointed out towards the house, where a few cherry blossoms could easily be seen drifting down, but not towards me. They were falling to the back of the house, out of our vision.
Are you kidding me right now? The blossoms had eluded us and all of a sudden we found where they were going.
"Yeah, I saw it! That's why I'm landing!"
"But they're supposed to be attracted to the boy!"
I have a name, Sakuya! Do you do this because you have a hard time remembering names?
"I did a few experiments myself, and can attract a few of them with the right symbol, ze! Range is very small, however! This right here is large scale! I haven't gotten it down on how to absorb them though!"
"You've collected them?" I asked.
"Over the past week! Got a whole pouch right here!" Marisa lifted up a pouch she had on her belt, showing it to me. "So should I ever need you to go invincible for one hit, and get us invincible, too, I'll just throw a few into the air!"
I nodded, impressed. This witch came prepared. I wondered why Patchouli didn't give us a pouch of them as well. She had to have had more. I checked my satchel, and found no such thing. I did find some sort of jerky, however, which I ate.
We landed, and I can't say I wasn't a little disappointed that I could no longer hold onto Marisa's warm, soft body, though I was grateful that I could stretch my legs. I don't know if I'm cut out for broom flying. But it wasn't unenjoyable...
I guess she knew what I was thinking, because she turned and winked. "Heh. I know you enjoyed that flight! You copped a few feels!"
My face flushed red, burning. I mean, it was really difficult to hang on to her. She's a teenage girl, and I'm a teenage boy, and… I had to keep readjusting my grip.
And once I found out what I was gripping at times I had to readjust myself again.
Not gonna lie, it wasn't unpleasant, but I didn't mean to do any of that, you know? I'm not some creep to go up to a girl and start feeling them up. I stood there trying to regain my composure as I was put on the spot there in front of other girls. Sakuya raised an eyebrow at me, while Reimu merely rolled her eyes. It's not like that, you two! "No, no! It's not like that! Marisa...just flies," I stammered. "...A little…" The way the maid was looking at me told me how she was judging me. Marisa did not make it easy for me. Her movements kept making me redo my hands and where they were. If I didn't know any better-
"Crazy, ze? And don't worry." Marisa winked at me, her face close to mine. "I enjoyed that flight, too." Marisa chuckled at my burning red face.
Did you… did you do all that on purpose? Marisa's knowing grin made me wonder if she did that just to get a rise out of me, to embarrass me in front of the others, or, I don't know, both.
Regardless, not only did I have to deal with that awkwardness, I had to hold off on rubbing my sore backside from the broom ride. I wondered if Marisa had any cushions...wait. No. That's just silly. Cushions for a flying broom. Still, I wished they had cushions. That soreness would take a while to go away.
Reimu looked up to the falling cherry blossoms. "They've all stopped going for Kyon. Somebody must be collecting them."
I'm not useless after all. Someone is sabotaging this.
Sakuya had approached the house and peered through one of the darkened windows. Finding the door to be locked, she shrugged. She went back to us, and stared up at the cherry blossoms as well. "It may not be where spring is, but chances are, someone here might know."
"Well," Marisa casually said as she took off her hat, brushing the snow off it before putting it back on. "We got nothing else, ze."
As we started to walk towards the back of the house, where the blossoms were falling, I couldn't help but go up to Sakuya."I...I know it's not my place here, Sakuya, but...what is with you?"
"Hmmm?"
"You and Reimu."
Sakuya narrowed her eyes. "That?"
"Yeah. I don't know what's really going on with you two, but-"
Sakuya merely shook her head, her face going back to a mask of unemotion. "You know, Kyon, you're right. It's not your place. You don't know what you're talking about."
"Maybe so. Maybe so." I'm getting a good idea. Her having to deal with youkai, and your master showing up at her shrine unannounced which might have scared away visitors. "Except that all I know is that if we complete our task, I get to go home. So, you know what? Forgive me for wanting this to work without any hitches. So she beat you in that Scarlet Mist incident. Big deal. Are you really going to hold a grudge against her for that?"
The maid crossed her arms, clearly annoyed. She sighed. "Kyon, it's taken me a while to start liking you. Don't mess it up now by asking questions you shouldn't."
I ignored her protest. "I mean, I get it. She broke your ribs in a fight. It just seems like something more than that. What I do know is that you tried to kill her earlier, and then went about saying that she's an 'ally' to your mistress, and you wouldn't poison her. I'm just trying to figure this out, Sakuya. I'm trying to figure you out, because according to what I know, she had the opportunity to kill you a few times, but instead just broke your ribs. She didn't kill you." Sakuya chewed on her lower lip a bit, apparently processing this. I continued, because I myself was a bit annoyed with her. "But maybe you're right. I don't know the full complications you have with her. It's just that to me, to someone from my world, it just seems so ridiculous, forgive me for saying so."
Sakuya looked like she wanted to say something, but instead clenched her jaw and looked down. I would have said something else, but we cleared the house and saw what was in the "backyard". That shut me up.
We weren't prepared for what we saw.
A teenage girl, who had to be around the same age as Reimu, Marisa and I. She appeared to be, again, from Europe. Remilia, Flandre, Patchouli, this girl, and I think that yuki-onna. Lot of different nationalities here in Gensokyo. The girl sat in an open field, surrounded by dancing dolls - there had to be dozens of them. Dolls dancing in a perfect circle, some having their arms in the air, as if calling for something from the sky.
Whatever they were doing, it seemed to be working. Cherry blossoms came down to the girl, whose profile we saw. Her eyes were closed, and her lips were moving, saying something. She was blonde, shoulder-cut hair, with a red hair band and a long-sleeved blue dress. The small, white capelet that covered her shoulders moved slightly in the winter wind.
Sakuya pointed and whispered, her wide eyes and slightly open jaw showing that she was unnerved as I felt. "She's controlling the dolls. Look."
With one hand, the mystery girl carried a large black book. With the other, her fingers were flicking here and there. Each finger had what appeared to be a brass ring. Every movement a finger made, the dolls made one in response.
This was creepy, way too creepy for my tastes. I thought the little youkai of shadows was nightmare fuel, but this girl takes that cake. Killer doll stories always creep me out. Heck, dolls always kind of creeped me out, period. I mean, wasn't there a saying that dolls are empty inside, and are always seeking to fill their emptiness?
"She's a puppeteer!" Marisa blurted out. "A magician puppeteer!"
Dammit, Marisa, why did you have to shout that out! The girl opened her eyes. The dolls stopped, and turned to us, but she didn't. Creepy, creepy, creepy!
"Ah, visitors. Welcome. Is this place to your liking?" The girl's voice was pretty soothing; there was a little bit of elegance to it.
Marisa stepped forward, her hands on her hips. "It seems...comfortable here, ze."
If you don't mind those dolls! Which I do!
"Do you also find this brutal evening likable as well?" The puppeteer asked that as she stood up and turned to us. I did my best to not look at the dolls, as they were still staring at us. I think the scene unnerved Sakuya as well - she had a knife in her hand at the ready as she surveyed the scene, as if she was ready for an attack. Even Reimu appeared wary. This girl, was…
Is it standard for all the girls to be either beautiful, pretty, or cute here in Gensokyo? Even the fairies, who all looked like kids, were really cute. I had asked myself that since I got a good look at the girl.
Marisa, the only one seemingly not disturbed by the dolls, tilted her head and shrugged. "It isn't bad."
The girl appeared to size up the witch. "Surely you are a magician of the untamed fields."
"As opposed to a magician from a greenhouse, ze?"
The girl raised an eyebrow, as did I. What in the world are they talking about?
"As opposed to a magician from a city sect."
"Oh? I get it—this is a welcome to the wilderness." Marisa laughed to herself. It seemed she was enjoying this mindless conversation. I think she was the only one.
The girl nodded for a bit before turning to Reimu. "Long time no see."
Wait, she knows Reimu?
Reimu narrowed her eyes in response. "We've only just met."
"No," the girl shook her head. "That's not what I meant."
"Am I supposed to remember?"
"Don't you remember me? It's me, Alice Margatroid." After she didn't get a response, the girl, Alice, sighed, disappointment crossing her face. "Well, either way is fine."
Alice stared at Sakuya for a brief moment before turning back to Marisa, and picked back up with her conversation as she got her dolls to start dancing again. Not gonna lie. Still creepy seeing those things dance.
"Springtime in this rural place is cold and disagreeable."
You're telling me.
Marisa crossed her arms and stepped towards the puppeteer, smiling. "I think not; some power is at work to cause such snowstorms in spring." Marisa was thinking what I was thinking. This girl had to have something to do with this, or at least know what was going on.
Alice crossed her arms, her unemotional gaze set on Marisa, as if saying "you'll have to beat me to get any information."
Going to be time for another danmaku battle, isn't it?
"It is not my doing, you know." Alice said as her eyes wandered to one of her dancing dolls.
"Is that so? Even so, it seems that you are enjoying the cherry blossoms, ze. I can see the faint red aura around you."
Sure enough, Alice had a faint red aura. A single cherry blossom flew in from above the clouds, and went for her, not me. She watched as it twirled around her, before she absorbed it. She closed her eyes and appeared to be enjoying the sensation.
It actually was rather enjoyable, thinking back on it now. It was indeed a rather warming sensation, a very positive feeling. Thing is, she's collecting them. She has got to have something to do with all this!
Alice's eyes opened and locked onto mine. "Well, perhaps I shall partake of your small spring as well?"
Yikes. The way she said that unnerved me. Heck, the girl, Alice, unnerved me. Even though she was a pretty girl, there was something about her that just made my skin crawl. Something unnatural that was raising all sorts of internal alarms. But, what does she mean by that? Whatever. I'm sure one of these girls will take her on while I sit back and enjoy another danmaku battle. Makes me wish I had some popcorn. I was already looking around for a place to take cover, but-
"Sorry, Alice, but he's with me!"
Marisa grabbed me and stuck her broom between my legs...what the hell? We started to go up into the air. I didn't even have time to move, as I was stunned at what was happening. Reimu yelled at her friend.
"Marisa, what the hell are you doing?! It's bad enough you're an adrenaline junkie, but do you have to drag someone else into it as well?! He can't fight! Why risk him when the extra weight will slow you down?!"
I had to shake myself to finally get my brain working again before I too shouted at the witch. "ARE YOU NUTS!? I'm not going to be in danmaku!"
"Too late, ze!"
No, it's not too late! Just let me down!
"Alice!" Marisa pointed at her soon-to-be opponent. "I know you know something about what's going on! I can smell it on ya! Now, let's duel!"
Why do pretty girls always ignore me?
We were well up into the air. The puppeteer floated up, as did her dolls, remaining a few meters below their puppet master. They began a dance again, except they were armed with lances and swords. When did they get armed?! "Marisa! Let me dow-ooooooh crap!"
Alice began her attack. Six dolls went up to her, and started to do spins in the air, releasing danmaku as they slashed their weapons. My grip on Marisa tightened, but she simply flew a meter to the right to avoid everything. Alice surrounded herself with danmaku, and fired a whole bunch. However, she pulled back half of them, then fired them again, feinting them. Marisa and I did a double-juke in the air, as I think Marisa was a bit surprised by that one. I could feel the danmaku whiff by my head not half a meter away.
This is a lot closer than I wanted to ever be to any sort of magical fight!
Marisa let out a laugh as she tossed two orbs into the air, and they started to fly with us, firing lasers and green stars. She also reached into her pocket, and took out some octagonal thing, which fired a laser. "Now, you see, Kyon, what you wanna do in a danmaku battle is pour it on your enemy, ze! Don't let them have any room to breathe! End it quick or not at all!"
"Why are you telling me this?! You're insane!" And stop ignoring me! Actually listen for once! And on the trail of the thought of girls not listening to me while they do their own thing: Damn it all it really is a giant form of Haruhi! Damn you Gensokyo!
Alice quickly dodged the lasers. She rubbed her chin as she watched how Marisa attacked - it seemed that Alice was studying how Marisa moved. She calmly brought out a spell card.
If I wasn't so scared, I'd be angry with the witch. Well, actually I was. Now I'm gonna have to go through a spell card! Dammit, Marisa!
[SPELL CARD: BLUE SIGN "BENEVOLENT FRENCH DOLLS"]
The dolls returned to her side, spinning again. They each fired a single slow moving danmaku. Marisa lined up a shot-
And the danmaku exploded into fragments, changing direction. Then those fragments did it a second time, and filled the sky. Alice could not be seen from behind them all.
"This might be a problem!" Marisa dipped and weaved through the shots. "Hold on, Kyon!"
What did she think I was doing?!
Marisa dove to the left to an opening. As soon as we somehow managed to clear that wave, I saw the dolls do it again, Alice just calmly staying still among them, the only thing moving was her fingers, controlling the dolls. Marisa took aim, but not at Alice.
A doll exploded when a laser made contact with it, but another one flew up to replace it.
"Ah. Yeah, this is a problem!"
"The problem is that you dragged me into this, you crazy person, you!" Part of me considered bailing, but we were about two or three stories up. We were at about the top of the little tower attachment to the home. I knew the human body could probably survive such a fall, but it was going to hurt like hell, and that was if I was lucky to not break anything. Of course, I could heal up, but I was dependent on the blossoms.
Alice quickly dodged left and right to avoid more of Marisa's lasers. More dolls were destroyed in the sweep, but again, they were replaced in the blink of an eye. Alice glanced at her watch, and raised her hand. The dolls went back down as a copy of the spell card fell to the field. She shot a few danmaku at us (it seemed she did it lightheartedly), and before they reached us, they disappeared. What?
[SPELL CARD: SCARLET SIGN "RED-HAIRED DUTCH DOLLS"]
Didn't have time to think about that part, due to the spell card Alice used. Dolls rose up, fired off some danmaku, then went back down below. They kept on popping up around us. We were surrounded. Marisa brought out a spell card in response.
"Okay then!" Marisa shot a grin at me. "Kyon, this might get a bit loud!"
[SPELL CARD: LOVE SIGN "NON-DIRECTIONAL LASER"]
She used the spell card, and a trio of lasers fired from around Marisa and I, making a near-deafening noise. They made a circular sweep around us, destroying the dolls and dissipating the enemy shots. Alice's eyes widened as she barely managed to fly over one of the wide lasers. It clipped her leg though, and caused her to spin mid-air from the impact. Grabbing it, she clenched her teeth and stared at us. She then moved back to her original position. danmaku formed around her again, and fired at us in a clockwise pattern, only to go counter-clockwise in the middle of the attack. Marisa's quick turns, flips, and barrel rolls with the broom were making my stomach do much more than jumping jacks, making me shout my head off.
"Let me off! Let me off! I don't care if I have to jump off this broom! Let me off!"
Though the reality was that we were still too high up, and with all her movements, who knows how I'd fall off. I would have landed wrong. I didn't want to let go of Marisa.
Alice's danmaku stopped for a while. She floated there, staring at us. Marisa brought up her octagon thing again, but didn't fire. The two just stared at each other for the next minute. I for one was grateful for this lull in the battle. I took the time to regain my composure, and catch my breath.
"You know, you're really good, Alice. This is getting my heart pumping and all, ze."
Alice didn't respond to Marisa.
"Hello? You in there?"
Again, no response. Marisa turned to me, an eyebrow raised.
"Man, you meet another exceptional magician, and she won't talk to you, or she won't lend you her books. Do you know that feeling, Kyon?"
I stared dumbfounded at the witch. Of course I don't know that feeling! If I wasn't busy recuperating I would have started shouting at her.
Marisa shook her head at my lack of an answer. "Am I the only one with a voice around here?"
Alice blinked a few times, before quickly reaching for another spell card.
[SPELL CARD: DARKNESS SIGN "FOGGY LONDON DOLLS"]
The dolls came up, spinning at an insane speed, and shooting out an even more insane amount of danmaku.
"Ah, Kyon! Hold onto me!"
"Why is this taking so long, Marisa? What happened to 'end the battle quickly or not at all'?'"
"Not the time, ze!"
"It's as good a time as any, you crazy witch!"
We spent the next minute or so (felt like an hour) of dodging. It was obvious that Marisa was far faster than Reimu or Sakuya in battle, as she seemed to enjoy simply dodging. Marisa's movements were speedy, as she threw her whole body into whatever direction she was going into. Every action of hers in battle had some force behind her, making her doubly hard to hang onto. Alice just kept watching us, her face expressionless.
I knew what our opponent was doing. Alice is studying our movements for sure. If Marisa doesn't end this quick enough, Alice will. Alice's movements, on the other hand, were the opposite of Marisa's. The puppeteer was deliberate with every action she made.
Marisa reached into her pouch and threw a hand full of cherry blossoms into the air. They went to me, and the familiar barrier surrounded us.
Alice's eyes widened. "That boy...he is the one who Letty cast the spell on!"
Reimu shouted up to Alice. "Letty? Who is Letty?"
Alice didn't respond. And I was too busy holding on to really care about what Alice said. She gritted her teeth as Marisa, with confidence in the barrier, moved up. Alice's eyes narrowed as she brought out a new spell card.
And this one glowed.
Again Reimu shouted up at her friend. "Marisa! She's gonna use a Lunatic Card! Watch out!"
"Well, this just gets better and better, ze!"
"Lunatic Card? What's a Luna-"
That was me, before I found out what power a Lunatic spell card had.
Perhaps I should get into it a bit. According to Sakuya's explanation, there are five levels of power in spell cards. Easy, Normal, Hard, Lunatic, and Taboo. The first four were legal, and the Taboo level was barred from use, even though they do get used sometimes. The reasoning is that you could use lower level cards against friends, and higher cards as you see fit for stronger enemies. Spell cards used power, and using too many high level cards drained the user. Lunatic was almost a full power attack, and Taboo's were full power ones.
Up until that point, I had not seen anything above a Normal level card. So there was only one reaction I had when I witnessed a Lunatic card being used.
[SPELL CARD: CURSE "HANGED HOURAI DOLLS"]
Oh my God.
All the remaining dolls went up, all firing. There was nowhere to go and Alice disappeared behind it all. We were immediately hit, but it bounced off due to the barrier. We had to move fast, weaving through the waves coming at us. Marisa tossed another handful of blossoms into the air, trying to get another barrier going. The next wave of danmaku hit them instead, frying them.
"Ah, that isn't good. Time for something different!"
"Marisa?"
"Come on...come on…" Marisa said that and began whispering. She held up her octagon thing.
"Marisa!"
We were threading between Alice's shots, and I do mean that. I don't know how Marisa was able to control the broom with one hand and hold her octagon thing with the other all the while finding the small holes in the patterns for us to get through safely. I doubt I could ever have the concentration to do something like this.
"Come on, come on...where are you...?"
For a moment, we could see where Alice was. The danmaku was closing in.
"Gotcha, ze."
[SPELL CARD: LOVE SIGN "MASTER SPARK"]
A massive laser fired from in front of Marisa. The force jolted the broom, but all of Alice's danmaku disappeared. I could see the dolls breaking up into pieces, or flat-out vaporizing. And Alice-
I heard Alice scream.
As soon as the light faded, I saw her. She was still where she was, just kind of hanging in midair, staring at us yet not staring, mouth ajar. Again, like Cirno, she was singed, smoke coming from her body. Then her eyes rolled up and she collapsed, as she fell to the field below, among her broken dolls, with an anti-climactic plop into the snow.
Marisa let out a big sigh as she started to descend. She glanced back at me. "Was it good for you, too?"
My silent stare was greeted by a chuckle.
"You were in good hands the whole time, Kyon. And apparently, I was in yours."
I bit into my lower lip. I mean, it's not like I was complaining about it. It's just that I didn't intend to do that… again. Then again, with the way she flew, I was lucky I managed to hold on...even if "holding on" meant holding onto...ah forget it.
...Once again, not unpleasant. Well, no. Being shot at was unpleasant.
Marisa winked then turned towards Alice, who was then starting to move. Sakuya was giving Marisa a golf clap while Reimu stood there with her arms crossed and shaking her head.
The miko sighed as she showed obvious annoyance. "Marisa, I wanted to avoid putting him in danger, and you go and do this. What in the world am I going to do with you?"
"Hey, he survived. I think."
I wasn't even going to respond to that. Sakuya and Reimu moved towards Alice, and Marisa let out another sigh as she wiped the sweat from her brow.
"Have winters always been this brutal, ze? Humans usually stay indoors."
"You mustn't..." Alice grunted as she slowly got back up. "...Consider me a normal human."
"Are you a weird human, then, ze?"
With her reliance on dolls, I'd say that's a gimme.
"I'm normal, just not...!"
Her head lowered as she trailed off with that sentence, then set about picking up her broken dolls lying across the field. Marisa downed the broom, and set to help out. I couldn't help but to fall to my knees when I hit land again. I held the snow-covered ground, shaking like a leaf in a hurricane. Flying with Marisa in that Danmaku battle must have taken years off of my life. Alice stood there, confused at Marisa.
The witch just grinned back at her. "Well, I'll help out a fellow magician!"
Did Alice just blush? I couldn't tell in the setting sun. Then again, in my state at that point, I didn't care.
Reimu stretched. "Will this take long?"
Alice motioned to all of the scattered remains of the dolls. Reimu sighed, and glanced over to Sakuya.
The maid grimaced a bit, before complying with her red glowing eyes. "Very well." The next instant, all the doll parts were stacked near Alice's house.
The puppeteer did a double take, before staring at Sakuya. "Amazing."
Just don't ask her why she's a mere maid.
Sakuya crossed her arms and stepped towards Alice, the maid's gaze serious. "Now, Miss Puppeteer. Why don't you tell us about the 'spell' and Kyon?"
Alice turned to me, walked over, and helped me up. Grabbing my chin, she looked at each side of my face. Yeah, Alice is very cute when I'm this close.
"The cherry blossoms react to you in such a strong way...a way I don't understand."
"Long story short, Miss Puppeteer, he's blessed by a God."
Yeah, Sakuya has been kind of repeating my story a few times already today. Frankly, I was getting a bit sick of hearing it over and over. I am still against giving Haruhi that much credit.
Alice glanced at Sakuya, then back at me. "Mmmm...could explain it." Alice stood there for a while, still looking me over. "It was random, you know."
What?
Alice took a step away from me, still looking me over. "You see, my dolls were dancing to nullify the spell. Turns out the cherry blossoms would have been attracted to anyone in close proximity. I did have a seal to collect them better, but the reality is that any one of us should have been able to absorb those cherry blossoms and their essence."
"But what do you mean random? And what spell?"
Alice silently walked back to where she landed, to pick up her grimoire. She dusted the snow off of it before answering me. "It's that yuki-onna. Letty Whiterock. She told me what she did, casting that spell on the boy. Letty...she's taking advantage of someone else doing this. She knew I don't care about the current situation." Alice again surveyed the area where we fought, her shoulders raising and sagging in a silent sight. "She gave me instructions on how to nullify the spell, how to collect the cherry blossoms for myself, but it's her. I don't know exactly how, but she went into the outside world to find someone to have a spell cast on them. It would have gotten the cherry blossoms to go to the edge of the border, and go unnoticed by everybody, never being tracked." Alice pointed at me, slightly raising an eyebrow. "You...Kyon, was it? You were just chosen at random to keep the winter in Gensokyo going. Randomly coming across you and your group of friends." She rubbed her chin, eyes narrowing. "And yet here you are, foiling her plan to keep the cherry blossoms away. Tell me. Were you anywhere cold before you came here?"
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. My heart pounded, my breath shortened, but I found the strength to answer her. "I...I was at...a skiing vacation."
I was actually chosen to keep Gensokyo in winter? Why? Why me? Why lay that on me? My mind went back to what Reimu said earlier. She may have been harsh, but she was right. Sakuya should have gone for the kill against Letty. But how could we have known?
I had thought that there was a good reason for all of this – there usually is. A lot of the things that happen in my life happened for a reason. But to just be picked at random for the detriment of others….
I felt angry. Used.
On the other hand, considering what was going on with me, if it wasn't me who had that applied to them, Gensokyo might have been screwed over.
Alice nodded to where I told her I was. "Perfect weather for the yuki-onna. She said she came across you and four of your friends outside, one of them fell. Out of all of them, you were the most normal, the least likely to get something done. At least, from her vantage point."
Dammit. I know I'm normal, but do people have to rub it in my face? It worked against me again?
"The yuki-onna told you all this?" Reimu scoffed, arms crossed. She looked confused as I felt on the matter.
Actually, yeah, why would she?
Alice gave a small shrug. "Let's just say I'm very skeptical when someone shows up at my doorstep offering magic power. Her explanation on what happened sounded plausible." Alice frowned. "Ah, and I should have listened to my gut. Looks like she used me to slow you all down. How disappointing. I really did want to study that power myself." Alice looked to the side. "Ah, where was I? Oh yes." Alice returned her attention to me. "Letty sensed something about the other four, each had their own power. The one who would have sensed her was incapacitated though, so that's why she acted. But you, you were just too normal. Too perfect a target." The puppeteer smiled, finally showing emotion. "And from the looks of you being here, too good to be true."
Alice invited us for a cup of tea inside her house, saying that she would take us to the source of the cherry blossoms afterwards. The inside of her house was distinctly western, giving off a European vibe to it. That's the best way I could describe the home. It was quite neat and orderly. Not bad, that is, if one didn't mind all the doll parts here and there, or dolls in various locations. Creepy (I'm using that word a lot here, but it's justified), especially the workbench where a few eyeless doll heads were just sitting there, seemingly staring me down.
I think I've decided it. I don't care much for dolls at all. I think I could do without them.
Once we were seated, Alice began moving her fingers, and in the light of the fireplace, I saw the glimmer of the strings attached to the rings. Within seconds, some of the dolls were getting up, and moving about, preparing the tea. Even if they're creepy, I think I could get used to servants like this. This was both awesome and disturbing. Wouldn't have to bother cleaning my room ever again.
Alice got up to get some snacks, and while her back was turned, we heard her speak. "I still can't believe you don't remember me."
That was a statement that was obviously directed to Reimu, who responded. "Can't say that I do." Reimu paused for a few seconds, tilting her head. "However, I do remember a human named Alice Margatroid." Alice, a bit wide-eyed, spun around as Reimu continued. The miko's eyes narrowed. "But the youkai before me isn't human."
It wasn't until then that I noticed Alice's eyes. Why didn't I notice it when she was checking me over earlier? Alice's irises. They changed color now and then: orange, blue, green, and various shades of those. They didn't stay with one color. She's not human; so, what, she was able to turn into a youkai?
Okay, well, if a human lives a long time, folklore says that they can become a youkai, but...there can be a process for this then that quickly? Meiling is right. A world of making the impossible possible.
Reimu leaned forward in her seat. "What happened to you, Alice?" Again, Reimu paused, as her gaze obviously went to the book that Alice had. "It's that damn grimoire, isn't it?"
Alice looked down before she turned back to getting the snacks. She promptly set them down at the table in front of us, and the dolls began to pour the tea. She took a cup, and held it in her right hand, her left clutching the book. All the while, she couldn't bring her eyes up to us; all the while, her grip on the book tightening. I stared at it - the seemingly normal book - wondering what it was.
Thing is, I would never find out what it really was. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Reimu continued. "Why, Alice? Why did you give up your humanity? For more power? Then...then why didn't you use that power back in that fight? You were holding back, even in the confines that danmaku calls for."
"Not that I'm complaining, ze!" Marisa blurted after taking a sip of tea.
I couldn't complain either, especially since I was forced to be along for that ride. Although, I don't think "holding back" would have applied to that last spell card.
Marisa began wolfing down the snacks. They were little cookie-looking things. I've never seen them before. The tea though, I was awestruck. It matched Asahina's!
Alice sighed. It was clear she was trying not to show emotion, but there was sadness in her eyes. "It was my choice."
"Then it's one that doesn't make any sense at all, Alice. I would like to know why." Alice opened her mouth to say something but Reimu interrupted. "And no, it can't be 'so I could beat you guys', because you had your chance out there, and didn't take it."
"Again, not complaining, ze!"
Sakuya put down her teacup. "So you two have met this puppeteer before?"
Marisa stared at Alice before it seemed to dawn on her that she's met her before. Marisa's eyes lit up as a smile washed over her face. "Oh, yeah...Alice? That Alice? Makai? Wow. You grew last time I saw you. Those growth spurts really do a number on our female bodies, don't they?"
"Wait, I thought this was a Makai, right? Gensokyo? A world of youkai?" I mean, that's the definition of Makai – demon world. Supposed to be its own world of supernatural beings. For a while I had thought that… well, never mind what I thought. From my experience, what things really turn out to be usually is vastly different from their folklore.
A Marisa rubbed her chin, still smiling, before she answered me. "Ehh, Kyon, it's more simply a world of spirits than anything else. Very deadly to live there, but just being there increases magical ability."
Reimu took a sip before speaking. "Makai isn't important. I mean, it's located behind my shrine in a cave."
You have a world of spirits behind your house and it isn't important?! She'd never get back to me on that.
"But no, this was all before the Scarlet Mist Incident. Long story short, we were just kids, Marisa, Alice and I."
Marisa interrupted, raising an eyebrow. "'Kids'? Reimu, that was like, two years ago."
Reimu appeared to ignore Marisa's quip. "Alice found that grimoire she's carrying, and challenged me with it. In fact, if I recall, Alice, you said you would beat me with it. And you didn't. And then you said you would never 'play' with me again."
Alice stood up, dropping her tea cup, which shattered on the ground. She kept looking down, tears streaming down her face. Her fists were clenched, and the dolls around the room immediately went limp and fell to the floor in unison, making a very loud noise when they all hit the ground at the same time. Not to mention the ones carrying the teapot.
It took a lot of willpower to not jump in surprise.
Sakuya shot a glare at Reimu. "Red-White, was that-"
Alice had turned to the side, so we couldn't clearly see her face. "I...I'll show you where the cherry blossoms are coming from right now. Let's go."
Marisa stood up, moving towards Alice. "Alice, Alice I'm sorry, she didn-"
Alice held up a hand to keep Marisa away. "Let's go."
Reimu stood up, arms crossed again. "I just want to know the truth."
Alice took a deep breath. She had closed her eyes, and slowly opened them to narrow slits. Her hand clenched into a fist, and she let it go to her side. Alice then turned to the miko. "The truth? ...You. It was all about beating you." Alice's body was tensing up. "Even back then, you didn't remember me when I challenged you a second time...I...I gave my humanity to beat you. And even then it didn't work. It wasn't enough. Now...now I'm not human anymore. I mean, look at me!" She extended her arms, and all the dolls in the house shuddered. I don't know how I didn't scream. "Look at me! I live all alone out here with my dolls. The humans in the village are weary of me. I'll outlive any human friends I'll ever make! And it's all because of you." Alice was shaking, clenching her teeth, more tears falling. "You...you're just too strong! You wrote the rules of danmaku to ensure that you could never be beaten! 'Youkai can easily start incidents', but 'Humans can easily resolve' them!" Alice turned away from us, shaking almost violently. "You wrote yourself to never be denied victory! You're nothing but a bully, Reimu! A big bully!"
Reimu just stared at her, not saying anything. She didn't show any emotion at what Alice said, just stared. The silence lasted for a while before Alice collapsed into her chair and began to cry.
Sakuya just shook her head at Reimu. I couldn't help but do the same.
I felt like I had seen something that I shouldn't have. This was a matter between those two, and it exploded right in my face. Watching Alice break down was heart wrenching, but she also just admitted that she gave up her own humanity to win at a magical game. She did this to herself. I felt sorry for her, but she did that to herself.
I eyed the miko, wondering how good she was in a fight. I only saw her in one against a speedy opponent, and it didn't seem particularly one-sided. Besides the homing attack, I saw for myself Reimu had to put forth real effort in that fight, moving her body, dodging attacks. The way Alice was going on made it seem like Reimu was always unfair. If that was the case, then the Chen battle shouldn't have lasted that long. And for Reimu to drive someone to go through such extremes, and still lose?
I decided I didn't know what to think about my associates, as my eyes went to the window that framed the snow that came down. All I could take in was what I have seen that day. They were trying to protect me throughout the day, and they wanted to protect this world. Maybe I can put up with how screwed up Gensokyo seems.
Besides, we still had to solve this, and we'd had to work together for it.
Interesting that it was the yuki-onna. The fox woman was told by her master that it was indeed her. But for it to be like this? A spell to make the blossoms never become a factor in Gensokyo? She had to commend Whiterock's plan in a way - keeping winter alive like this by making sure that nobody knew where to go.
The fox woman looked up into the sky, the storm really picking up. She'd been outside nearly all day, and she was long since cold. But she wasn't looking up at nowhere. She knew where the four would be heading.
Up there. The realm above the clouds.
Though...
There she was again, a ways away from the fox woman. The tengu crow girl. The woman had a feeling someone was following her since the shrine, but then the girl started to follow those four. She was taking pictures with that camera in each battle they had. What was her name? She was that tengu reporter, the one who wrote the newspaper - the name was on the tip of the woman's tongue. But there she was, at a distance. The woman couldn't help but wonder if she would become a problem...
Another problem was that by now, the ghosts had to have found the boy, and they had to have reported him to...her. The mistress of the dead...
They know the spring has collected in him.
Why send him in? Why send in Kyon? It was stupid. But her master said, that even if it wouldn't collect in him, the original timeline would have the girls collecting the spring instead, and they would have gone towards their goal anyways. So, instead of the girls being the targets, the boy is now the target.
The boy was being delivered as the final piece of the puzzle, straight to them.
"Lady Yukari, you idiot, why do this? It's too damn risky."
Then again, all her plans were risky. And they all succeeded, save for that one, a thousand years ago. It was Yukari's one failure.
The failure that started this whole situation.
Mystia closed up the stand, taking measures to reinforce it. Sadly, she couldn't move it - the wheels were frozen solid. She could feel that tonight would be bad - the wind was picking up, the snowstorm starting to build. Wriggle didn't talk much since lunch, and there were no customers, so she was able to stay by the warmth of the grill all day. They were now moving fast, towards Mystia's house - another one built into a tree. They passed by several other tree-houses, but they were snowed in. A few had collapsed. The night sparrow didn't want to think about that too much.
"Hey, Mysti, how come you haven't sung or anything today?" Wriggle hurried along Mystia's side, trying to stay close to her body heat. "You're usually always singing."
"The cold air. Cold air is bad for the vocal chords." Mystia raised an eyebrow over that question that came out of nowhere, but didn't get to ask why Wriggle just up and asked that - Mystia saw someone waiting at her front door. The little youkai of shadows, Rumia, was there. "Rumia? What are you doing here?"
Rumia smirked at seeing her friends. "I got caught outside and my house got snowed in! So I went to Wriggle's, but her house is gone! Now I'm here!" Realization crossed her face, showing panic! "Oh right! The snowstorm is right behind me! The area around the Lake already has several feet!"
The wind was picking up fast, making it a hard to hear, which was why she was shouting. Mystia quickly unlocked the door, and all three ran inside, Wriggle slamming the door-
"OW!"
The door swung open, Cirno holding her fingers. "What was that for?"
"Cirno? Why- Wait, Cirno, what happened to you?"
Cirno was messed up. Her clothes and hair singed, and various parts of her body bandaged up.
The green-haired fairy spoke up from behind. "She went up against that witch girl again and that Master Spark of hers. Now, can we get inside?"
Wriggle crossed her arms, smirking. "Let me guess. Lost yet another danmaku battle? What are you now, against people other than us - zero and sixteen?"
Cirno scrunched up her face, pissed off. "Shut up! Besides, Eye still beat you guys!"
Both Cirno and Daiyousei entered, the night sparrow's entryway now crowded. Mystia glanced over the two fairies as she took off her scarf and shut the door, after making sure there were no other uninvited guests.
Rumia was tolerable, and so was Wriggle, to a degree. But Cirno could be really loud. "Let me guess, snowed out?" Then again, Mystia didn't want to throw people out there.
"Unlike anything Eye've ever seen, Mysti!" Cirno spread her arms with wild enthusiasm, almost smacking Wriggle and Rumia in the face. Actually, Cirno did make contact with Rumia's face. "This storm came out of nowhere! Daiyousei and Eye were out playing, and all of a sudden BAM! Snow! Our houses were buried before we could do anything!"
"Cirno, you live in an igloo."How is this a problem for you of all people?! "This even be bothering you."
"Eye know and my house is fine, but Daiyousei can't handle the cold like Eye can!" Cirno puffed out her chest, and pounded on it – resulting in her coughing because she hit too hard.
Wriggle let out a sigh at the fairy's rambunctiousness. "None of us can handle the cold that well, you know. Some less than others. You're one of the few that can, along that yuki-onna I've seen you hanging around with lately."
Mystia didn't like the way Wriggle said that. She had a feeling she knew what the firefly was implying. But then again...
Daiyousei took off her scarf and raised an eyebrow at Nightbug. "What's wrong with us knowing the yuki-onna?"
"Is that so? A snow ghost?" Rumia was done rubbing her face where Cirno smacked her. "You mean she can control the cold?"
"That's Letty Whiterock, isn't it?" Mystia ushered in everyone into her home proper. It was still too crowded in the entryway and Cirno was moving about too much. "I had a few customers come in yesterday cursing her name, saying that this was all her fault...that it had to be."
"What? Letty's not…" Cirno furrowed her brow, thinking.
But what was she thinking? Does she know something? But this is Cirno we're talking about, she's not one to be a part of some grand scheme. Unknowingly, maybe, but to freeze Gensokyo? Mystia didn't want to think about it much longer.
"Well, you know what, girls, I didn't expect to host a party tonight." Mystia turned to them, hands on her hips. "But let's start a fire. The sound of that wind says that we'll be staying here...possibly forever if we get snowed in."
The windows were vibrating from the wind, and with all the snow flying out there, it looked absolutely white.
This is not going to be a good night, is it?
They sat down around the kotatsu, Wriggle finally happy with the warmth. Mysti was preparing some hot cocoa, and things were looking up compared to what happened earlier today. Losing her home and all. Well, serves her right. Maybe for her next house she won't let termites crash for the winter. Wriggle looked around, hoping that none of her friends would find out since it would be too embarrassing. Well, the termites didn't survive, so she couldn't berate them.
But that yuki-onna, she only saw her once. Happy with the way winter was not ending, right? She thought hard to that time she saw the ghost with Cirno. What did she say? The ghost's lips moving, sounding out, "Lilly-"
Wriggle's eyes narrowed. No. No way. Cirno wouldn't be a part of that. Maybe Letty was just talking about the Spring fairy in conversation. But the alternative - no, she knew Cirno. She was a fun-loving idiot, yes, but for this? The yuki-onna though, Wriggle knew next to nothing about, other than she only was supposed to be out during the winter.
Wriggle didn't like this train of thought. Is this it? Is that the answer? Did Letty do something so drastic as to kidnap the Spring fairy? This was too much for her mind to handle. Should she bring this up with her friends?
And risk breaking up the friendship? Wriggle was a mere bug youkai, hardly anyone wanted to be around her, that is, until Cirno showed up looking for Rhino beetles in the forest a few years ago. The fairy was loud, boisterous, obnoxious, and had this charm about her. It was weird, too, since she brought cold wherever she was, that this friendship formed. And then she was introduced to Mysti, Daiyousei, and Rumia, finally making some more friends. They were impressed with her ability to control bugs, especially getting large groups of her brethren fireflies to put on shows during the summer.
Wriggle watched Cirno happily speaking to Daiyousei about something, seemingly oblivious to the damage to her own body.
Maybe Wriggle should sleep on asking Cirno about this.
Rumia was pleased with herself. She had managed to get quite the score today, and was proud of it. She timed it just right, to avoid detection from that annoying self-proclaimed protector of the human village, and snuck in. She found what she wanted, and moved it to a nearby cave, then rushed home, only to find it snowed in. Other than that setback, everything was going according to plan. As soon as this storm was over, she'd have to go back and move it again to a better area, but for the future, everything was great for her. Even the snow clouds were especially thick during that time, blocking out that accursed light. As long as they didn't get snowed in here, things were going to be just fine.
Mysti walked in, carrying the cocoa. Ah, Mysti. As another creature of the night, Rumia appreciated the way the night sparrow had her home all nice and full of that lovely darkness. The grate in front of the fireplace cast all kinds of neat shadows, and gave her a place to sit without being in the light.
"Girls, you're in for a treat. Managed to get some marshmallows from a customer as payment. In the outside world, they go great with hot cocoa!"
"Is that so?"
-begin-
Subject [NAME REDACTED] "KYON" attempting to undo plan against product GENSOKYO of Enemy Target HARUHI SUZUMIYA.
Will update when more information is gathered.
-end-
I just love Alice's theme. It's so mysterious, dark, and fun at the same time. Interestingly enough, Alice's eye color keeps changing throughout the series. And yes, Alice is quite mad. Everyone is a little mad in this wonderland, people. There are only a handful of people who are truly sane in here.
Poor poor Kyon. He's surrounded by the slightly insane...
Insane overpowered girls with nothing better to do.
I guess that makes him feel right at home then.