Imperfect Metamorphosis

by TakerFoxx

It's the first day of spring, and Cirno and her friends are once again up to no good! But after stealing a strange box from Marisa's house, they soon find themselves over their heads as they discover some things are meant to remain locked up.

32. The Aftermath

The Aftermath

Prologue 1

The girl stood in a world of time. All around her, hundreds of gears turned. They ranged from ones as small as a fingernail to those as large as dinner table, each one forming a small but essential part of a mechanical network that powered the gigantic clock face set high in the red-brick wall. As the girl was inside of the clock's workings and it was meant to be viewed from without, it looked to her as if it were running backward.

There was a certain irony to this. The girl had freed herself from the tyranny of time ages ago. As far as she was concerned, a hundred years meant as little as a single week. She would remain unchanged regardless. That had been part of the reason she had had this clock constructed in the first place, to remind any mortal that passed by of their own enslavement. Nothing added spice to a feeling of superiority than a constant reminder of others' inferiority.

But today, as she stood deep within the clock's heart and listened to the constant clicking and clanging of the gears, she didn't feel superior at all. In fact, she didn't feel much of anything.

Over the last few days, she had suffered a steady stream of humiliations, from people so mighty that they made the gods look insignificant to those who, by rights, should be bowing to her authority. Her plans had blown up in her face, her attempts to salvage the situation had backfired spectacularly and everyone she met seemed bound and determined to place the blame fully on her shoulders. As a result, her reputation had taken so many blows that it would be a miracle if anyone took her seriously anymore. And to say nothing of the damage to her pride…

Normally such indignities would have infuriated her. Normally it would be all she would be able to think about. But today she didn't care one bit. None of that mattered. None of that was important. She had thought it was, but then she had learned how meaningless it was in the face of the one thing she truly treasured.

And then that one thing had been taken from her.

The only light source in the room was the sunlight that shone through the clock's face. That didn't matter to the girl. It could be midnight and she still would be able to see perfectly. Better, in fact, given how her species had evolved. But even though the light was harmless to her thanks to the filtering spells placed upon the clock's face, she remained in the shadows, standing perfectly still as she watched the hands of the clock continue on their endless journey.

There was a loud metallic clunk as a key opened a lock that had not seen much use, followed by the shrill squealing of rusty hinges. Below, a rectangle of light of light appeared as someone opened a door. Within stood a familiar figure.

"Mistress?" the newcomer said.

The girl did not answer.

There was the clicking of china as the newcomer picked up the untouched dishes she had left on the floor some hours ago. "Mistress, you haven't eaten."

Again, there was no answer.

After a moment of hesitation, the newcomer said, "Mistress, I understand that things are…difficult, but please do not neglect your health. You will do her no good by-"

"Leave me," the girl said in a harsh, rasping whisper.

There was another pause. And then the newcomer said, "Yes, Mistress." She took the dishes and left, closing the door behind her.

The girl was once again alone in the darkness.

…

Prologue 2

Utsuho Reiuji lay upon the hammock that stretched across the room she used for sleeping while working on the reactor and stared at the plain metal ceiling. As the reactor had drawn closer to completion, it had become evident that her presence was needed more and more often, over long stretches of time. As such, an unused storage room had be converted into a makeshift sleeping quarters for those times when she had had to spend several days at a time away from the Palace of Earth Spirits.

Like the reactor itself, it was far from finished, consisting of not much more than the hammock and a few boxes containing several changes of clothes, a few games, a book or two and numerous bags of snacks. Utsuho always told herself that she would one day get around to turning the place into a proper living space, but even until then she had grown fond of it. While she loved the room she shared with Orin back at the palace, it was still very cool to have one of her own, rough at it was. And though the times she had to spend elongated periods of time working on the reactor were very trying, it was still fun to stay up late, eat cookies and work on puzzles without Orin yelling at her to go to bed. Also, it was nice to have a place she could go that no one else but Satori would go. Sometimes, when the animosity she felt from the others got really bad, even her real room wasn't enough…

Someone knocked at her door, their fist clanging against the metal frame. Utsuho sat up immediately. "Uh, yeah?"

"It's me! Can I come in?"

Utsuho relaxed. "Of course! It's open!"

The handle jiggled, and then stopped. "No…no it's not."

"Oh, right!" Utsuho's cheeks turned red. "Coming, coming!"

She leapt up and ran to the door. She grabbed the metal wheel that sealed the door shut and twisted it open. Orin was on the other side, looking tired and a little frustrated.

"Sorry, I forgot," Utsuho said breathlessly. She stood to the side and let Orin enter.

"S'kay," Orin muttered. She walked right up to Utsuho's hammock and collapsed onto her back with a weary groan.

Utsuho stared at her. "So…uh, I guess it went pretty badly?"

"Eh, it went okay, I guess," Orin sighed. "At least, about as well as expected. Which isn't too great, come to think of it." She pushed herself up into a sitting position.

Utsuho sat down next to her. "What happened?"

After the absolute catastrophe that was the fight against Yuuka Kazami, they had agreed that Utsuho would keep her head down and stay out of sight while Orin explained things to the rest of Satori's pets. Although there was no official ladder of authority among the many animal youkai that had come under Satori's care, a hierarchy had still developed within their numbers. Orin was the one closest to their master. And her seniority meant that she was the one that every else listened to. As such, she was at the top of the pecking order, even if she never did any actual "pecking" unless someone really, really deserved it.

Utsuho, however, was not. Even though she was Orin's best friend and thus had been around longer than most, and even though she was hands-down the most powerful being in the entirety of the Underground, her simple nature and occasional bouts of cluelessness had quickly established her as someone who wasn't going to push back. And while no one had dared pick on her ever since her recent power-up, there was still a great deal of resentment that she had been welcomed back after her period of insanity. No one ever said anything, but she could tell.

As such, she had quietly snuck into her secondary room and waited while Orin broke the news to everyone. The meeting had been called three hours ago.

Orin shook her head. "Well, everyone's pretty upset. No surprises there. Had to keep Jun and the rest of the canines from going on the hunt after Yuuka's blood. And everyone wanted to know why in the hell we were working with Yukari in the first place. Turns out 'Better Yuuka than the Shadow Youkai' wasn't a really convincing answer. And no one really trusts Yukari to handle this. But I got them to agree to keep quiet about this and maintain order until we can figure something out."

"Like what?"

"I dunno," Orin grunted. She waved her hand in the air. "We haven't figured it out yet."

Utsuho nodded. She hesitated, and then said, "Uh, Orin. Did…did anyone mention me?"

There was a pause, and then Orin said, "Uh, yeah."

"And…"

Orin didn't meet her gaze. "Uh, I told them what happened. About how you did your best and tried to save us, and how everyone else got beat just as badly. But still…it might be best if you don't talk to anyone for awhile."

"Oh," Utsuho said. She stared at the ground.

"I'm sorry, Okuu. But you know how they can get." Orin's lip curled. "The dogs especially. You'd think they would cut it out with this shit, but noooooo. I mean, what does it take to make them understand that you're not evil, or that it's not your fault when something goes wrong? To be honest, I'm starting to get really sick of all this-"

"No, no, it's okay," Utsuho said quickly. "They're just really scared. And, uh, after what…I did, I don't really blame them."

"Well, I do!" Orin snapped at her. Then she winced and said, "Sorry, didn't mean to yell at you. But you've really got to stop blaming yourself. That mess wasn't anymore your fault than this one was. It's those stupid gods and reality warpers who think they can do whatever they want to anyone they want and justify it because of some lame-ass 'ends justify the means' bullshit."

"I know, I know," Utsuho said quickly. "I'm not blaming myself again, promise."

"All right," Orin muttered. "Sorry. I'm just…really frustrated right now. And…I really wish Satori was here."

Even though she didn't say so, Utsuho agreed with her wholeheartedly. Even though she knew that things could get really bad, she had always just kind of assumed that Satori would be there to look after them. But now…

Even the thought of it made her feel sick. Satori was gone. Taken from them by one of the cruelest monsters Utsuho had ever heard of, much less directly faced. Utsuho kept wishing that it was all just a very, very bad dream, and she would soon wake up and everything would be better. Or that she could trade in her control over fission for control over time and go back and fix things. Sadly, neither option had made itself available to her.

Speaking of which…

"Hey," Utsuho said. "Have you guys figured out what you're going to tell the rest of the Underground? About what…happened?"

Orin grimaced. "We're keeping a lid on that for now," she said. "Until we can think of a way to break the news…gently."

"Gently? Why?" Then Utsuho got it, or at least she thought she did. "Oh, you don't want to make everyone worry, right?"

"Sure, something like that," Orin said vaguely.

Utsuho cocked her head. "What do you mean?"

Orin patted her on the shoulder and smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry about it. We've got things under control." Then she blinked. "Oh yeah, I almost forgot."

"Forgot what?"

"Well, despite looking deader than some of the corpses I've had to transport, Yukari was at least good to her word." Orin pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of her pocket. "She sent us a message, explaining exactly why everything went to shit and what happened to everyone else."

Utsuho sat up straighter. That was another thing that had been worrying her. Ever since that weird meeting in that big tower, she had not so much as seen any of the other teams. And while some of those people weren't really likeable, she had been genuinely worried about some of the others. "Really? Great! Well, maybe not great, but…Okay, so what happened?"

"Uh, gimme a second to put this into words." Orin squeezed her eyes shut and leaned forward, fingers digging into her temples. After a moment she said, "Okay, so I'm not really clear on some of the details, but somehow Yuuka Kazami snuck a bunch of spores into that meeting-"

"Spores?"

"Yeah, baby funguses. Fungi. Funguwhatevers. Again, don't really know how, but she was able to use them to spy on us. That's how she knew where we were."

Utsuho was confused. "I thought Yukari Yakumo's tower was supposed to be really well protected."

Orin shook her head. "Doesn't matter how good your defenses are. There's always a way to get into anything. But anyway, that's not the weird part. The weird part is that instead of taking us out one at a time, Yuuka Kazami somehow managed to, I kid you not, turn into four Yuuka Kazamis and attack us all at once."

"Huh?" Utsuho boggled. "What? She…she can do that?"

"Apparently. That's what Yukari said, at least."

"But…but I thought she just did stuff with plants!"

"And shoot really nasty green energy blasts," Orin said darkly. "And who knows how she did it. Maybe she grew the others in her garden. Probably from strands of her hair or fingernail clippings. I dunno. Point it, we all got hit. Hard."

Utsuho swallowed. "So…they're all gone. We're the only ones left?"

"Uh, no. Best I can tell, everyone got messed up a bit, but it's not like Yuuka just plowed through us all. Yukari said that Team Halloween all survived and managed to kill the Yuuka that attacked them. Sealed her up and everything."

"Really?"

Orin shrugged. "I guess. I wasn't there. But they did have four people, and it looked like they all knew their way around a fight." Orin's eyebrows furrowed, not quite becoming a full frown, but it was on its way. "Sure would have been nice to have someone like that sword girl on our team. Or Marisa Kirisame. Or hell, I'll even take Madam Mima."

"Mima?" Utsuho scratched her head. "But isn't she kind of evil?"

Orin shrugged. "She still would've been handy in that fight. I mean, you were the only one of us who knew anything about fighting without danmaku."

"But that's just because of that BattleMode program you guys gave me," Utsuho protested. "Once that was gone, I couldn't do much of anything!"

"More than we could do," Orin muttered bitterly. "But forget it. Thinking about that isn't going to help anything."

Utsuho nodded. Then, after a moment of hesitation, she asked the question that had been bothering her ever since their return. "Orin, what about…what about Team Vampire? Did Flandre make it out all right?"

Orin closed her eyes and sighed wearily. Utsuho's already heavy heart plunged even further.

"I'm…sorry, Okuu," Orin said. "Yuuka got her too."

The Hell Raven swallowed back the lump she felt forming. Sure, she had only met Flandre a few days ago, and only really interacted with her for maybe half-an-hour, but Flandre had been one of the few people she had met to not to treat her with aversion, annoyance or (as had recently been the case) fear. Utsuho had felt an almost immediate kinship with the little vampire girl, which seemed to be reciprocated.

Of course, what Satori had told her about Flandre's background went a long way toward explaining this. Like her, Flandre was someone that everyone feared due to her power and mental instability. That was something Utsuho had no trouble relating to. But unlike her, Flandre had never regained her sanity. She had to constantly live with being considered a danger by everyone close to her, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. Utsuho at least had Orin, Satori and a few others who still trusted her. Flandre didn't even have the trust of her own sister. Utsuho had hoped to be the first. It would have been nice to have someone who could understand how Utsuho felt sometimes and also didn't look down on her. Sort of like a little sister. But from the look of things, Yuuka had taken that away as well.

Utsuho's eyes prickled with tears. She quickly wiped them away before Orin could see. "How…" Her voice caught, and she started again. "How did it happen? Was it…quick at least?"

"Oh!" Orin straightened up. "Oh, wait, you think…I'm so sorry! That's not what I meant! She's not dead!"

"Huh?"

"Well, she did die…Sort've. But what I meant is that Yuuka captured her too. The same way she captured the boss."

Now Utsuho was more confused than ever. "Wait, what?"

"Those crystal thingies! Yuuka sealed Flandre Scarlet away in one, just like she did to Satori. So now she has them both."

"But…What? I thought those only worked on youkai!"

"No, they work on anyone supernatural," Orin said. "Vampires still count."

"But vampires don't come back after they're killed! They turn to dust, right?"

"Yeah, but you can still seal their essence and make them a new body later. I've heard of that happening."

"Oh." Utsuho thought about this for a moment longer. There were so many pieces to this puzzle, and putting them together was difficult.

And then her face lit up. She was pretty sure she got it now. "But…if she's not permanently gone, and Yuuka's got both her and Satori, that means we can save them both, right?"

"Well, yeah," Orin said with a shrug. "I think that's the plan."

"Great!" Utsuho leapt to her feet. "When do we start?"

"Whoa, slow down!" Orin grabbed Utsuho by the arm. "No one's starting anything for awhile!"

"But you said…"

"I meant that yes, we're going to try to find a way to get the boss and the vampire away from Yuuka. That doesn't mean we already know how! Come on, Okuu. It's only been a day. I'm pretty sure Yukari's bedridden right now."

"But we're not!"

"No, we're not. But we still don't have near the sort of resources we need to stage any kind of rescue attempt. I mean, just look what happened last time we fought Yuuka."

"But if we get the rest of the guys to help us-"

Orin buried her face in her hand. "Okuu, I know how much you want Satori back, I really do. And I know you want to be friends with Flandre Scarlet. But face the facts. You're stronger than all of us combined, and you couldn't beat her. And Yukari is so strong that could probably take the whole of the Underground and put it in a box. Remember what Yuuka did to her? And since Yuuka's on her home turf right now, there's no way we'll be able to win. She'll wipe us out without even trying."

Utsuho's wings wilted. "But…"

"Look, I promise that we'll find a way to get them back. Yukari's not about to let Yuuka keep someone as important as Satori in captivity. And she sure as hell wouldn't want her to have her hands on someone as powerful as Flandre Scarlet. Just give her time to recover and plan a real rescue attempt. It's the best way. Trust me on this."

Utsuho swallowed. She knew that her friend was right, but she hated the idea of being powerless to do anything until then.

"Come here," Orin said. "Sit down."

Utsuho sat.

Orin put an arm around Utsuho's shoulder and gently brought the Hell Raven's head down to her lap. "It'll be all right," she said as she brushed Utsuho's hair with her fingers. "Yuuka's strong, but now she's got practically everyone against her. She's not going to last long. Satori will be back before you know it."

Utsuho sniffed and nodded. Then she said, "What about the others, though? Flandre's cranky sister and that scary maid?"

"Them? Oh, they're all right. Kind of. They got injured, but survived and got away. I think they're back at that mansion of theirs, recovering. I guess Flandre's the only one Yuuka wanted." Orin sighed. "Oh, and apparently the Yuuka that beat us and the Yuuka that beat them teamed up with the Yuuka that was fighting Yukari. Guess that was why she was in such bad shape when she rescued us. I mean, one Yuuka was bad enough, but three?"

"Yeah, no kidding. I feel bad for her sister though."

"Who, Yukari's?" Orin said, sounding bewildered. "She has a sister?"

"No, I mean Flandre's sister," Utsuho said as she sat back up. "She must feel awful. I mean, remember how Satori was after Koishi left?"

"Oh, her." Orin frowned and shrugged. "I suppose. Though she really didn't strike me as much of a loving sibling."

"I guess," Utsuho said. "But maybe she was just in a bad mood. I mean, how can we say for sure?"

"Well, maybe," Orin admitted reluctantly. "But even so, there's not a whole lot we can do for her. We've got way too many of our problems here."

"I know, I know," Utsuho muttered. "I'm just saying."

Orin smiled and patted her on the shoulder. "Man, only you would feel sorry for someone who's done nothing but be a jerk to everyone and insult you."

Utsuho blinked at her. "Why, is that bad?"

"No, no. Definitely not," Orin said with a quick laugh. She stood to her feet and headed toward the door. "Look, I've got to get back down to the palace. You coming?"

Utsuho didn't answer. She stared at the floor, deep in thought.

"Okuu?" Orin pressed, a little louder this time.

Utsuho jolted. "Huh? What?"

Orin stuck a thumb over her shoulder, toward the door. "I asked if you were coming. Back to the palace."

"I, uh, not yet."

At first the redheaded catgirl frowned. But then her face relaxed. "All right. Just don't stay up here forever."

"I won't," Utsuho promised. "Besides, I need to start up the reactor sooner or later. And that takes a long time."

"There's that," Orin said. "Wouldn't want people wondering why it's been off for so long. Good idea."

"Thanks."

Orin nodded at her, gave her a warm smile, and headed out, carefully closing the door behind her.

Utsuho remained where she was, waiting to see if Orin was going to come back or not. This wasn't something she wanted to be caught doing. It wasn't really dangerous, but it would worry her friend unnecessarily.

Which was why she needed to do it quickly, before anyone noticed that she was gone. As soon as it became apparent that Orin had left the reactor, Utusho hurried over to one of the lockers that lined the walls. Pulling it open, she extracted a cardboard box and quickly rummaged through its contents. After a bit of looking, she pulled out a dusty but still accurate map of Gensokyo.

…

By the time Reimu stopped her vertical path, she was nearly fifty feet above the cloud-line and surrounded by nothing but open air and sunshine. She sighed in relief and closed her eyes, letting the sun dry her rain-soaked clothing and warm her body.

Traveling by air in the rain was always a pain. Granted, the storm had tapered off ever since the raging downpour of the day before, to the point where it was now barely more than a drizzle. But that didn't mean it was any fun to fly through. In addition to being cold and wet, the faster she went meant the water droplets hit her all the harder.

Of course, this being Gensokyo, there were any number of small spells and charms sold to combat this problem. But as her luck would have it, as soon as the water began to fall from the sky, Reimu had discovered that she had neglected to replenish her stock. And she had places to be.

As she did not favor traveling at half-speed just to avoid having the rain feel like hailstones, Reimu decided to bypass the weather entirely and head up and over the clouds. Of course, it meant that she couldn't see the ground and thus had to rely on her memory of distances and directions to get to where she was going, but she had done it before. Her job required a lot of patrolling the same areas over and over again. As such, she had long gotten a feel for where things were.

Once the sun had soothed away the worst of the clamminess, Reimu allowed herself to fall backward. For the briefest of moments she felt the thrill of vertigo as she tumbled in freefall. Then she turned her body around and swooped into flight a mere five feet above the clouds, moving up another ten feet in the process and leveling out. As she soared over the storm, a small but genuine small grew on her face, something that was a rarity these days. Even though flying was second-nature to her as it was to everyone who lived in Gensokyo, and though she spent most of her time doing it, there was no denying that it was just plain fun. She couldn't help but pity the Humans that lived in the Outside World. Their lives must be absolutely miserable, what with having to walk everywhere.

Still, it wouldn't do to let her guard down. Other creatures might have had the same idea as her. Even as she shot forward, Reimu's eyes flitted back and forth, searching for anyone and anything that might cause her trouble. Sure enough, there was a decent sized fairy gang playing about two miles to her right and what looked like a family of wolf Tengu moving slowly half-a-mile above her. However, even if any of them had spotted her, they gave no indication and continued about their business.

Reimu enjoyed a rare unchallenged journey, and soon arrived at the place that she was reasonably sure was directly above her destination. However, her rare good mood soured as she approached. Part of that was because she would soon have to plunge back into the wet and the cold. But it was mostly because she was worried about what she might find.

Early that morning, she had been awakened by a visit from Ran Yakumo, who had requested to speak to Genji alone. That in itself was surprising, and not to mention worrying. Reimu had waited out by the pond with a hundred different scenarios running through her head. Yuuka had somehow won and was now tearing a bloody swath through Gensokyo. Yukari had been killed. Marisa had been taken captive and was now Yuuka's private sex-slave (not completely out of the question, if the rumors were true), Marisa was severely hurt, Marisa was dead…

But then Ran had left and Genji called her back. The turtle had seemed to be in deep shock. In fact, if he had not been covered with scales, his face would have been probably ghost-white. Reimu's stomach had fallen then. The worst had to have happened.

But then he and Ran had told her what had really happened, who had been hurt and who had come out okay. It wasn't as bad as she had feared, but it was still considerably worse than the hoped-for best-case scenario. And Marisa was alive. Deathly ill for whatever reason, but alive.

However, Genji had then told her that she was not to discuss what she had been told with anyone not already in on the know. That in itself she could deal with, but then he had delivered a personal warning from Yukari not to go to her for answers. In fact, she was not to contact Yukari at all.

Of course, Reimu had never taken kindly to people telling her that she couldn't do something, even people in Yukari's reportedly horrible condition. And she really didn't take kindly to inadequate attempts at bringing her up to speed. There was a lot that Genji wasn't telling her, and if Yukari was too hurt to come tell it to her in person, than Reimu would just have to go to her.

Unfortunately there were a few problems with that. For one, all of her attempts to contact Yukari through the Ying-Yang Orb had been met with silence. And when she tried to go directly to Yukari's house, she had been met with failure. The gap simply refused to open for her. It was as if Yukari had never given her access in the first place.

Well, fine. If Yukari was going to block her out, then Reimu would just go to someone else for information. As such, she had immediately set out for Marisa's place. It was either her or Remilia, and despite her fondness for the little vampire, Marisa was still her most constant companion. Besides, the witch's home was much closer than the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

Also, if what Genji had told her about Flandre now being Yuuka Kazami's captive was to be believed, perhaps it would be best to give the SDM a wide berth for the time being.

However she was still worried about what she might find. Genji had described her condition as "Alive, but ill." That could imply any number of things. Chief among Reimu's suppositions was that the witch had been infected by some weird disease courtesy of Yuuka's plants. Despite her talent and power, Marisa was still the most fragile member of Yukari's posse. And given her general recklessness, it was no stretch of the imagination to think that she might have made a fatal error sometime in the fight. Of course, the fact that Mima had gone along gave Reimu hope of her friend's survival, but she had never been inclined to expect the best.

Reimu took a deep breath to ready herself. Then she looped up and around to plunge straight down.

Wet, clinging cold pressed in from all around as she passed through the clouds. But it lasted only a couple of seconds before she emerged into wet, hammering cold. Reimu really hated rain.

But on the plus side her instincts were right on the mark. She was now directly over the Forest of Magic, not far from Marisa's house. Reimu altered her course.

As the house came into view, Reimu saw something that gave her hope. Light in the windows. She landed in the slick mud in front of the house and opened the door.

Despite the fact that the scene that greeted her was far better than what she had been dreading, it still strange enough to keep her standing in the rain and staring for several seconds.

Marisa's house was still disturbingly bare, though there were no unconscious GPF officers this time. And from the look of things, there was now a medium-sized hole in the far wall, which had been covered with a tarp. Marisa herself was lying in the bed with the covers pulled up to her chin. The witch did not look well. Her face had acquired a sickly greenish tint and she was trembling as though cold. She seemed incapable of making any noises beyond anguished groaning. An odd looking black disk the size of a frying pan floated near the head of the bed.

A wood-burning stove had been added to the house's furniture. Mima hovered in front of it, humming as she stirred a pot of soup. That was the part that glued Reimu's eyes in place. Even though she knew that Mima had practically raised the young witch, seeing her actually doing something so mundane as cook soup was just plain strange.

"Um," she said. "Is anyone going to tell me what the hell is going on, or am I going to have to guess?"

Both of the house's inhabitants turned toward her. Despite the state she was in, Marisa was the first to react.

"Reddie!" she gargled in a voice that was half mucus and half dust. "You gotta save me! She's holding me prisoner!" Then her eyes and cheeks bulged at the same time and she leaned over the side of the bed to vomit into the floating black disk. The disk swallowed up the waste as thoroughly as any wastebasket.

"Oh, don't pay any attention to her," Mima said. "She's just being a whiny little girl. Come in before you start melting."

Reimu did so. "So…yeah," she said as she wrung out her hair. "Question still stands, by the way. What happened to Marisa? Did Yuuka poison her?"

"Hell no!" Marisa yelled. "You really think I'd…I'd…oh hell…"

As Marisa once again made use of the floating black disk, Mima said, "Nothing of the sort. She simply consumed far too many enhancement potions and her system crashed as a result. She's fine though."

"Not!" Marisa gagged.

"Well, okay. So you are a miserable little mess. But honestly, a few days of bed rest are miles better than what could have happened. For one thing, all I have to do is play nursemaid, as opposed to gluing you back together."

Reimu raised an eyebrow. "Okay, but she is okay, right? I mean, she's going to be okay?"

Marisa turned herself away from the floating disk and wiped her mouth. Despite her condition she still managed a shaky ghost of her usual cocky grin. "Aw, did you miss me that much?"

She was ignored. "Of course," Mima said. "As I said, she put her body under too much stress and crashed as a result. But it's nothing permanent. She just needs to take it easy for awhile."

"Fuck that," Marisa growled. She tried to kick the bedcovers off, but found them tucked in too tight. "Hey Reimu, gimme a hand here, ze."

Mima rolled her eyes. "Well, at least this is taking it easy for her. Fortunately, my schedule seems to be unusually free for awhile, so she's going to have to put up with my motherly instincts in the meantime."

Marisa groaned as she collapsed back onto the pillow. "I'm dead. Yuuka killed me, and I'm dead, ze. This must be Hell."

"Uh, okay," Reimu said. "Can't you just wave your hand and magic her all better?"

"That's what I've been saying all week!" Marisa yelled.

"Marisa, it's been barely twenty-two hours," Mima said.

"Feels like a week. Jeez, this is worse than prison."

With another roll of her eyes, Mima turned her attention back to Reimu. "I could, if it were a run-of-the-mill disease, like from a virus or toxin. But seeing how the problem was caused by her body absorbing too much magic…among other things…using more magic beyond the occasional sleeping spell will probably just make things worse. Honestly, it's best to let her recover the old-fashioned way."

"Or so you say," Marisa grumbled. She pulled the covers up to her nose. "I think you're just saying that because you get some kind of sick thrill from keeping me like this."

"Honey, I'm not the sick one here."

"This is payback for not using Yugogo as a body shield, isn't it?"

"Wait, what?" Reimu gaped.

"Oh, never you mind," Mima said. She snickered. "Actually, it's a pity you showed up now. She's pretty lucid right now, which just makes her whiny. But for a while that girl was experiencing some very interesting hallucinations." The spirit started ticking points off on her fingers. "In no particular order, she believed that her bed was a zoo for rare monsters and asked if she could take any of them home, tried to stick her hand through her blanket all the while claiming that she had to dock with the space station, complained that she was being crushed by a pile of French maids and later declared that the Lunarians were attacking and tried to leap out of bed to fight them off. Hence why the covers are now tucked in so tight."

Reimu wasn't sure if Mima was joking. "Uh…Okay. That sounds very…freaking strange." Then she frowned. "Wait a minute. What's 'French'?"

"A delicious kind of toast. Very sticky. Though given Marisa's, ah, sensibilities, one would think that she would have enjoyed such a dogpile."

"The hell I would," Marisa grumbled. "Bitches were heavy!"

As was often the case these days, Reimu had no idea what anyone was talking about and was irritated by it. But rather than demand clarification, she decided to just forget the whole thing and return to the reason she had come here."

"Look, I'm glad you guys are okay," Reimu said. "But I really gotta ask. What in the hell happened yesterday?"

"Ah, you mean the battle?" Mima asked, her tone infuriatingly calm.

Reimu closed her eyes and mentally counted down from ten. She got as far as six before exploding, "Of course I mean the battle! I'm stuck at home while the two of you go off with Yukari and a bunch of A-listers to fight Yuuka freaking Kazami? I was up all night worrying about you guys!"

A stunned silence descended upon the room. Both Mima and Marisa stared at Reimu, shock written all over their faces. Marisa's mouth was even hanging open. Reimu blinked, realized what she had just said and mentally kicked herself.

"Uh, can you just forget I said that last sentence?" she said without much hope.

Both of the spellcasters burst into laughter. "My word," Mima chuckled. "The eternally apathetic Reimu Hakurei, actually concerned about someone else. And losing sleep over it, no less! Had anyone told me that I might actually bear witness to such a noteworthy event I would have brought a camera and a historian."

"I told you!" Marisa gibed. "I told you she loved me!" Then her face soured and she had to vomit once again. That didn't stop her from continuing to laugh afterward, albeit much more subdued.

Reimu, whose cheeks were now burning furiously, wanted to hurt them both, she really did. But before she could she could think of something to shout at them the door once again swung open. Everyone turned to see Alice Margatroid standing in the door, her ever-present companion Shanghai hovering over one shoulder.

They stared at her, and she stared right back. Reimu had a sudden feeling that she should be embarrassed, but upon reflection, she couldn't fathom why. But that didn't take away from the feeling of awkwardness that descended upon the room.

Not surprisingly, it was Mima who broke the tension. "Well, hello. I suppose visiting hours are open, so do come in."

Alice did so. Reimu couldn't help but notice how the rainwater seemed to literally slide right off of her as she stepped into the house, leaving her completely dry. The shrine maiden rolled her eyes. Well, at least someone had remembered to prepare herself adequately for the weather.

Marching straight past Reimu and Mima, Alice went right up to Marisa and stared down at her. To Reimu's surprise, Marisa actually cringed under her glare. That was very odd. Every time she had seen those two together, Marisa had never had any problem with giving Alice the same treatment she gave everyone else: that is to say, she made fun of her mercilessly and did everything possible to irritate the puppetmaster for her own amusement. As such, Marisa should be responding to the stare with any number of snide remarks, ranging from loud insults to leering sexual propositions. And seeing how Marisa had, not twenty-four hours ago, willingly and enthusiastically participated in a war against one of the Gensokyo's most notorious names, the prospect of Alice's wrath should hold no threat to her. And yet here she was, looking honestly scared of Alice.

Not for the first time, Reimu wondered exactly what the deal between those two was. There were certainly rumors aplenty, though no one had ever seen anything conclusive. However, Reimu had never seen anything to contradict them either. Marisa and Alice certainly spent a great deal of time together and they bickered often enough with ever descending to full-on relationship wrecking fights. Plus, Reimu remembered how upset Marisa had been back at Yukari's citadel, complaining about all the time Alice had been spending with that creepy doll youkai, forget her name. And she remembered how furious Alice had been at Marisa for insisting on participating in the battle. Plus, while she had never noticed anything of the sort from Alice, Marisa wasn't exactly picky about whom she hit on. Gender and species didn't seem to matter much to her, so long as they were at least humanoid.

Reimu then wondered if she cared and found, to her complete lack of surprise, that she did not. If anything, she hoped that those two would move beyond subtext and make official such a relationship. Threatening to tell Alice whenever Marisa started to get out of line would at least make it easier to control her.

For her part though, the way Alice was glaring at Marisa didn't seem especially romantic. "So," she said. "You're alive."

Her icy tone seemed to shake Marisa out of whatever intimidation she was feeling. "Well, yeah," she said. "Told you I'd be. Don't sound so disappointed, ze."

"You also said you'd be all right." Alice's eye swept over Marisa's disheveled form. "Tell me, is this some strange new definition of 'all right' that I was unaware of? Because whatever it was that Yuuka Kazami did to you, it has certainly rendered you less than all right."

Marisa scowled. "Hey, she didn't even touch me! Well, 'cept for that one time, but Bodypillow got me out of that before I lost any limbs. And okay, there was that other time, but Yugogo took care of that."

Mima cleared her throat. "Actually, her current condition is her own doing."

"Excuse me?" Alice said. She turned to the spirit with one eyebrow raised. "Please explain."

Mima looked annoyed at having to explain the situation yet again, but said, "Well, to prepare for the battle, Miss Kirisame here decided to consume a large number of physical enhancement potions. To be specific, four Strength Boosts, three Agility Enhancers, three Speed Ups, and an entire pitcher full of Unnatural Levels of Resiliency. All of her own making, of course."

"What?" Alice gaped. "But that much would make her body…" She glanced back down to the obviously ill Marisa. "Oh. Well. I suppose you've learned your lesson then."

"Sure thing," Marisa said. "Enhancement potions are the shit!"

"Which make you feel like shit immediately afterward," Mima pointed out.

"Hey, better than letting Yuuka rip out my arms and eat them," Marisa said.

Reimu's patience, already worn thin upon her arrival, snapped. "All right, all right, enough of this stupid bickering already! Marisa survived, she got sick, but she'll get better! Are we done with this? Good!" She pulled out the letter Yukari had sent her. It was now a soggy mess, and the ink was starting to run, but she didn't care. "Now, can someone please explain all this to me? The hell happened yesterday? How did Yuuka kick all of your asses by herself? What happened to Yukari? And…Yuuka has Satori Komejii and Flandre freaking Scarlet? As if in, both the ruler of the Underground and one of the most destructive and unstable forces Gensokyo's ever seen? Am I the only one who thinks that might be kind of important?"

Alice whirled toward her. "Wait, what did you just say?" she gaped.

"Aw, crap," Reimu muttered when she remembered that she wasn't to talk about such things. Yukari was gonna be pissed if she found out. "Er, hey. Can you kinda forget I said all that?" she asked as she awkwardly scratched the back of her head. "I don't think I was supposed to talk about that."

"Were you not? Such a pity," Mima said. "If so, I'd be more careful in the future. These beans are going to be extremely hard to gather, once spilled."

"Besides, that's not what happened at all," Marisa complained. "We kicked her ass, not the other way around."

Well, she was in for it anyway. Might as well follow this trail to the end. "That's not what Genji told me," Reimu said to her.

"Well, sure, maybe all other jerks got their shit wrecked," Marisa said. "But me and Mima? We showed that bitch what's what!"

"Then tell me!" Reimu roared.

"My, my, my, aren't we a bit worked up," Mima chided. "What exactly did that turtle say, and why in the world would he know anything?"

Reimu glanced at Alice, who was watching the exchange with an icy expression on her face. "Uh, Yukari told me-"

Mima rolled her eyes. "Alice, do you solemnly swear not to divulge any of the information you are about to learn from Reimu to anything or anyone?"

There was a moment's pause, and then Alice shrugged. "All right. Though I can't promise that I won't use it as a reason to further berate this reckless fool," she said, giving Marisa a nasty look.

Marisa just rolled her eyes. "Get in line, it starts like a bazillion miles away, ze."

That would have to do. Reimu told them about the kitsune's visit that morning. Mima raised an eyebrow when she mentioned how Ran had spoken to Genji first, and in private. But she said nothing as Reimu went on to tell her everything she knew of the battle.

"Well, everything here is technically correct," Mima said once the shrine maiden had finished. "There are a great deal of details left out, but nothing horribly essential. And admittedly I only found out about the fate of Remilia Scarlet's entourage a few hours ago, courtesy of some sources of mine. But to answer your question, what happened was that the little posse Yukari gathered together was divided up into three parties, each with specific functions: one consisting of Satori Komeji's people, one consisting of Remilia Scarlet's, and Marisa and I were put into a team with none other than Yuyuko Saigyouji and that servant of hers."

"Yeah, I noticed how they just sort of showed up on that list," Reimu said. "What were they doing there anyway? I thought Yukari couldn't find her."

"Apparently Yuyuko found her. But honestly, does it really matter? And I think it's quite obvious what they were doing there." A malicious smile appeared on Mima's lips. "It seems Yukari didn't much like the idea of Marisa and I being a team unto ourselves, so she brought someone of sufficient power to keep an eye on us."

"Yuyuko? A watchdog?" Reimu said, staring. "Uh, we are talking about the same ghost, right? The one that can't focus on anything for more than thirty seconds before wandering away to look at something pretty, right?"

Mima snickered at that. "The same, though I'd beware of committing to that impression entirely. But again, it doesn't matter. The point is, Yuuka not only learned of what we were planning, but used her ability to divide herself to attack all of us simultaneously. And yes," she said in response to Reimu and Alice's shocked looks. "Before you voice the obvious protest, it was indeed one Yuuka against each of the teams. But despite this, only ours was able to triumph."

Mima then described the battle in full, making full note of how she and Marisa had mercilessly heaped an unholy amount of punishment upon the enormously bloated wormlike jungle Yuuka had become. Marisa then cut in, tell them how she had dealt the final blow herself, blowing Yuuka's head up with a missile before sealing her up. Reimu needed Mima to confirm that last bit as legitimate before allowing herself to believe it to be anything other than Marisa talking out of her ass again.

But the rest was much more troubling, especially with what had happened to Yukari. According to Mima, she literally had her soul torn up and injected with a heavy dose of spiritual venom, only to overexert herself preventing a nuclear holocaust immediately afterward. As much as Yukari had pissed the shrine maiden off with her actions recently, she was still the primary force holding Gensokyo's defenses together. With her out of the picture, Reimu did not like their chances should Yuuka or, the gods forbid, the Shadow Youkai suddenly become aggressive.

Though to her surprise, the part that troubled Reimu the most was what had happened to Flandre Scarlet. At first she assumed that it was because of how unsettling the thought of someone as dangerous as Yuuka being in possession of such a deadly weapon. But upon further reflection she discovered, again to her surprise, that her concern wasn't due to what Yuuka might use Flandre for, but that she had Flandre at all. Reimu's interactions with the unstable little vampire were very limited for obvious reasons, but while they hadn't seen much of each other as of late, Remilia was still one of her few friends. And despite the air of indifference and annoyance Remilia put on whenever her sister acted up, Reimu could tell that she cared deeply about Flandre.

She supposed that it would only make sense that she would feel bad for her friend. But what was odd was that there was a measure of guilt mingled with the sympathy. Now that didn't make any sense at all. She hadn't been involved in any of this mess to begin with, and thus could not be held responsible for Remilia's misfortunes.

But then, why did she feel so uneasy?

"And that's about the long and short of it," Mima finished. "An exhilarating day all around. Of course, there are others who aren't going to remember it quite as fondly, but I'd say Marisa and I came out of more-or-less all right."

"We kicked ass," Marisa grinned.

"That we did. Ah, looks like the soup's just about ready. Would you girls care for any? Nothing fancy I'm afraid, it's only chicken noodle."

"Don't see why they should get any," Marisa grumbled as she adjusted herself into a more comfortable position under the covers. "Not like they did anything."

"Manners, dear. It's only hospitable."

Reimu and Alice didn't respond. They were still mentally reeling from everything Mima had just told them. As such, neither of them resisted when Mima led them over to a pair of stools, had them sit down and placed a bowl of soup in their hands.

"At any rate, you were right earlier, Reimu," Mima said as she started to spoon-feed Marisa. "The current unstable political climate that this whole incident has caused is only going to worsen as a result of yesterday. Given that Satori Komejii has never been especially popular with the people she lorded over, it won't take long for her detractors to begin their own bids for power. I expect the Underground to devolve into anarchy in very short order if someone doesn't step in to take control. And unfortunately for them, Yukari Yakumo, i.e. the person with both the power and authority to pull it off, is currently three kinds of almost-dead at this point. Perhaps that is why Yuuka Kazami went after Satori in the first place. She does enjoy her destabilization."

Even though Reimu was being addressed, it was Alice that spoke first. "But…but, how is such a thing possible? How could one youkai be so incredibly powerful? I mean, I've heard that she was strong, but this…"

The question refocused Reimu's attention. This was something that she would like to know the answer to as well.

Unfortunately, she would be disappointed. "An excellent question," Mima said. "I would love to know the answer as well. Unfortunately, the data I managed to gather while not fighting for my existence is not conclusive. Hopefully I'll be able to compare notes with Yukari once she recovers, but until then…" She shrugged.

Marisa coughed. At first Reimu thought that the witch was trying to send some sort of message, but then she coughed again. Then the coughing turned to choking, which then gave way to gagging, and soon Marisa was vomiting all of her freshly sipped soup into the black disk. Mima helpfully rubbed her back while her stomach was emptied.

"Damn it," Marisa wheezed as soon as she was able. "That tasted way better going the other way."

"Most things do," Mima said sympathetically.

Alice opened her mouth, presumably to comment again on Marisa's illness. But then she seemed to notice the disk for the first time. She frowned, and then her eyes widened. "Um, excuse me? Is that I think it is?"

"Only if you think it's a pocket dimension," Mima said. "Otherwise, no it isn't."

The puppetmaster jolted. Then she had to quickly steady her bowl to keep the soup from spilling. "Wait, are you telling me that you're using a pocket dimension as a vomit bucket?"

"Yeah?" Marisa said. She spat something green and unpleasant looking into the disk. "So?"

"No one else was using it," Mima added. "At least, no one we care about."

"But…it's a pocket dimension!" Alice protested. She sounded positively scandalized. "That's upper tier magic! It's a cavity scooped out of reality itself and filled with-"

"Yes, dear, I know," Mima soothed. "I did just summon one, you know."

"But it takes decades of study and practice to even begin to attempt something like that! And now you're just using one as a…" Alice's voice tapered off, her protests unable to sustain themselves.

"Again, I am well aware of this," Mima said. "After all, I was part of the team that perfected the technique and was one of their principle researchers. I've even written a few books on the subject. You probably have one, somewhere. Most magicians do."

"She does," Marisa said. "The Web of Existence and Dimensional Manipulation."

"Oh? That's heartening to hear. I was always proud of that one."

"Yeah, but it's an eighth edition," Marisa said with a shrug.

Mima made a face. "Oh. That one. No wonder you're having so much trouble, then! That one was practically rewritten by a later practitioner who was entirely too sure of his own talent to tell that they were subpar at best. Fortunately for him, I was sealed away at the time, so he was saved from my most unholy and unrestrained vengeance. But as it turns out, it was unnecessary. The poor fool went and got himself killed in hilarious fashion without my help. And that's why you never use lightning as an energy source while surrounded by a water-based barrier." She shook her head. "Anyway, you should have gone with the fifth edition. That was the last one I directly had anything to do with, and the one with the most practical use, in my ever-so-professional opinion."

"I think it's out of print," Marisa said.

"I know. Just as I know most of the copies were burned during the Magician's War," Mima said. "So? Such things are not impossible to find. There's always a copy somewhere. I wouldn't be surprised if that bibliophilic fan of mine has one."

"But…but…" Alice sputtered. "You're using a pocket dimension as a vomit bucket!"

"Hey, I practically invented the things," Mima said crossly. "I can do what I want with them."

As she watched the magicians bicker about the proper use of magic and discuss magical history, Reimu had the strange feeling of being the odd one out. Sure, she knew enough about magic to follow what they were saying, but had nothing to contribute herself. Just as well, as she hated chit-chat most of the time, but still…

It was then that Reimu noticed that she still had a bowl full of warm soup in her lap. Not knowing what else to do with it, she cautiously lifted her spoon to her lips and took a tentative sip.

To her surprise, it was quite good, and she ended up finishing half the bowl before saying, "Hey, this isn't bad."

Everyone stopped talking about pocket dimensions and burning books long enough to turn toward her. "Well, of course it is," Mima said. "I made it."

"Huh. I didn't know you could cook."

"Hey, the woman raised me," Marisa said. "How do you think she kept me fed?"

Reimu shrugged. "I dunno." She turned the bowl up and drained the rest of the broth. When she was done, she said, "I guess I just assumed she magicked the food into existence."

"Oh, I could," Mima said. "But where's the fun in that? When it comes to creation, it is much more satisfying to build from the ground up. Even when it's something as simple as a bowl of soup."

"Interesting concept," Alice said. "I've often entertained similar ideas." She tilted her head toward Shanghai.

Mima quirked an eyebrow. "Ah, yes. Your quest to grant that doll sentience. Marisa told me about that. I hear you've been working with one Medicine Melancholy."

"Yes," Alice's face soured. "But she doesn't remember anything of her own ascension, and to top it off she knows next to nothing of magic. So what help she provides has been extremely limited."

"I would imagine," Mima said. "Though I'm surprised that you haven't sought help from your foster-parent. After all, she was able to grant you youkaihood, so she probably knows something that-"

"No," Alice said.

"No? That's rather final. You would discard such a resource so readily?"

"Yes. Drop this subject. Right now."

Mima glanced at Marisa, who just shrugged her shoulder the best she could. "Ah, what a shame," the ghost said to Alice. "Soured relationships always do more damage than is initially perceived. Well, perhaps you'll change your mind. You both have eternity to mend your connections, after all."

"I think I am fully capable of accomplishing my goals without her help, thank you very much," Alice said darkly. And suddenly her face brightened. "Wait, you are highly prolific in magic, correct?"

There was a considerable pause, and then Mima said. "Why, yes. I do believe I am. And in other news, fire is hot and rain is falling water."

"No offense intended," Alice said. Now her face was downright eager. "And if I'm not mistaken, someone of your knowledge would have no problem-"

"No," Mima said, in much the same tone Alice had used earlier.

"Excuse me?" Alice said, sounding both surprised and disappointed.

"My dear, if this project had some sort of practical purpose, something that would provide some sort of basic essential, then I would be delighted to assist you. But it is not. Your drive to animate that little thing is entirely a personal goal of yours. And it simply goes against my principles to just step in and solve that puzzle for you. You would learn nothing from the experience. You would not grow in any way, not as a magician, nor as a creator. I'm sorry dear, but this is something you're going to have to figure out for yourself. I do wish you luck though. The intentional creation of a youkai, especially by someone as young as yourself, would be worthy of the record books."

Alice swallowed. She quickly concentrated on pushing noodles around her bowl with her spoon.

Things were getting awkward, and fast. And the conversations were getting a bit too personal for Reimu's tastes. So she set her bowl aside, stood and said, "Well, I'd better get going."

Marisa's face fell. "Why?" she whined. "You just got here!"

"Sorry, but I've still got a lot to do. I just wanted to…" she caught herself "…check up on things. Besides, me and Sanae were supposed to go patrolling together and-"

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Reimu realized that she had made another mistake. This was proven when Mima and Marisa started laughing. Well, Mima laughed. Marisa more of carefully snickered while keeping her tumultuous digestion under control.

"Ooooh," Mima said. "No wonder! The shrine maiden has a date!"

"I told you so!" Marisa tittered. "I told you so!"

Now Reimu was growing irritated again. She found comfort in the familiar sensation. "Oh, shut up," she growled. "What with all the crazy that's going on, it just makes sense to have backup."

Alice snorted. "Yes, a whole lot of good that will do you should Satsuki try to eat you. If anything, you'll simply be providing her with both dinner and dessert."

Reimu caught Mima's eye. The ghost favored her with a conspiratorial smile and a quick wink. Reimu wasn't exactly reassured. Even with everything that was happening, she still hadn't forgotten Satsuki's ill-fated visit to the shrine a few days ago. Just as she hadn't forgotten what would likely happen if Yukari ever found out.

"Well, it's not like we're planning to fight her alone," Reimu said. "It'll be more of a run away and call for help. And spotting her first will be easier if there're two pairs of eyes. Oh hey, does anyone have any anti-storm protection spells? I'm all out."

"Certainly," Mima said. She flicked her palm open, revealing a small green-and-blue charm.

"Thanks," Reimu said. "Oh, and hey. You going to be back at the shrine any time soon?"

"Soon enough," Mima said. She tilted her head toward Marisa. "Sometime after this one had been rendered at least operational."

"And the sooner the better, ze," Marisa complained.

"Why Marisa, you wound me!" Mima said as she clutched her hands to her breast in mock-offense. "One would think you didn't like spending time with me!"

"Sure, but not while stuck in a sweaty bed with my head feeling like it's full of sulfur and my stomach like it's full of rotting sewage. And those fucking hallucinations are just weird and not nearly as fun as I thought they would be."

Mima laughed. She leaned over to kiss Marisa's forehead, which only elicited a frustrated groan from the witch. "Greatness always has a price, dear. And compared to what it could have been, this is a relatively small one. Besides, wouldn't you say it was worth it?"

Marisa made a face, but she nodded.

"Good," Mima said as she playfully ruffled Marisa's disheveled hair. "And don't worry, with your constitution you should be-"

Someone knocked loudly against Marisa's front door. Everyone stopped what they were doing to look at each other.

"Now who could that be?" Alice wondered. "I thought everyone who cared about her was already here."

Marisa gave her a strange look. "Hey, was that supposed to be an insult or something else? Because it's kind of hard to tell."

The knocking returned, louder and more insistent this time.

"Given how much she gets around, I wouldn't put it past her to have a much larger harem than you girls are aware of," Mima said. Her mouth turned down unpleasantly. "Though unless there's something going on that I hadn't been aware of, I don't think that this is a social visit."

"Excuse me?" Reimu said as she stared. "What?"

In answer, Mima motioned toward the door. It swung open. On the other side was Kotohime Sonozika in full uniform. Accompanying her were no fewer than eight of her officers.

"Oh," Alice said as her face darkened. "Them."

"Gaaaaahhhh," Marisa moaned as she pulled the blanket over her head. "Not them again!"

Reimu agreed with their sentiment, though for different reasons. The last time she had seen Kotohime, Mima had come uncomfortably close to crushing the life out of her. And while she had been persuaded to abandon her homicidal rampage, there was no lost love between the ghost and the Human princess.

In fact, as Reimu noted as her eyes swept over the faces of her three magician companions, she was the only one there who didn't have much of a reason to hold a grudge against the GPF. And given how Marisa, Mima and Alice weren't especially known for caring about things such as rules and consequences, Reimu had a bad feeling about this gathering. She had a very bad feeling.

Apparently Kotohime felt the same way. As soon as she saw who was in the house with Marisa, her thin face lost several degrees of color. The officers behind her started to shuffle their feet and mutter nervously.

It was Mima who spoke first. "Eight?" she said. "You only brought eight? Honestly child, I'm insulted. Go away and come back with the entire membership of your silly boys-and-girls club, and then we might be getting somewhere. At least, you'll have a better chance of lasting longer than thirty seconds." Mima held up her right hand. A blazing green fireball ignited over her palm as a malicious smile twisted the Evil Spirit's lips. "Though I wouldn't bet on it."

The fear left Kotohime's face. Her eyes narrowed. "We're not here to fight." Her voice was harsh and rasping, but she apparently could speak without pain.

"No? Oh my, are you in the wrong country. Fighting is just our cultural way of saying 'Hello.' That, and 'I don't like you and wish to do you harm.' Honestly, it's amazing we get anything done."

Kotohime stepped inside, reluctantly followed by her entourage. "I'm here on behalf of Yukari Yakumo. She sent us to deliver Marisa-" Her eyes fell upon the obviously ill witch occupying the bed and glaring at them. Questions flew over her face, but she apparently decided that they weren't worth asking. "Sent to deliver Marisa Kirisame's pardon and release orders," she finished as she turned her attention back to Mima.

"Ah," Mima said. She closed her hand and extinguished the fire between her fingers. "How considerate. Pity Yukari was unable to bring them by in person. But I supposed being beaten to a pulp and rendered a leaking, smelly mess would necessitate the use of a courier."

"And it is appropriate that this one would be the one to deliver them," Alice said icily. "After all, it was her who invaded my house, ruthlessly beat Marisa down and dragged her off in chains."

Kotohime's face twitched, but she said, "Ah, yes. I suppose I do owe you an apology, Miss Margatroid."

"Do you?" Alice said. "Oh, so charitable of you. You 'think' that you should say you're sorry, never mind that-"

"My behavior was inexcusable and not benefitting of my uniform," Kotohime said evenly. Behind her, the other officers were looking confused, as if they couldn't understand why their captain was lowering herself to such a level. But then Kotohime said, "Unfortunately, my emotional control was…less than it could have been, seeing how Marisa had viciously attacked several of my people, attempted to murder them and, in one case, succeeded."

"What?" Reimu and Alice's heads whipped toward Marisa, who was holding a hand to her forehead in exasperation.

"Oh, for cryin' out loud," Marisa grumbled. "It was! A freaking! FAIRY! People do it all the time, ze!"

"Perhaps, but given that fairies tend to increase in self-awareness and understanding the older they get, it comes as no surprise that she does not react as well to death as she once did. And Nyoron is well over two centuries old," Kotohime said. Though her face and voice were calm, the look in her eyes was only a few steps from murderous. "And there is the little issue of that lethal spell you unleashed upon a group of Humans."

Reimu's jaw dropped. "Wait, hold up. You did what?"

For her part, Marisa looked less than repentant. In fact, she looked absolutely livid. "Hey, they attacked me first! If they can't take the heat, then they should…Ah, not again…"

As Marisa threw up bile into the pocket dimension, Mima said to Kotohime, "Well, well, well. Looks like someone's been taking lessons from Yukari. Smoothly done, girl. But Marisa's point is a valid one. This is not a company that you should pick a fight with. And I for one couldn't care less who shot first at who. So if you have something to give us, do so."

"Of course," Kotohime said. She reached into her robe and pulled out a thin parcel wrapped in brown paper. "It's all in order, signed by both Yukari Yakumo and myself. She is a free witch."

"I'll be the judge of that, if you don't mind," Mima said. She held out her hand and the parcel floated out Kotohime's hands and toward Mima. It opened up, and several papers came out to arrange themselves in the air in front of her.

"Reimu? Alice?" Mima said as she surveyed the documents. "My thanks for coming by, but I'm afraid Marisa needs her rest. Besides, I'm sure you both have places you need to be."

"I, uh, yeah." Reimu glanced at her, and then at Alice. The puppeteer's face was completely blank. She stood up and marched from the house without a word.

Marisa managed to get her rebellious stomach under control in time to look up and say, "Hey, wait a minute! Where are you-"

Alice left, slamming the door behind her.

"Aw, jeez," Marisa groaned as she fell back into her pillow. "Hey, police-girl. You know what? Fuck you. Seriously."

"No, thank you," Kotohime said. "You're not my type. And even if you were, I have standards."

"Silence," Mima said. She didn't look at either of them. She didn't raise her voice. But the command was there. "The girl is ill. I will not have you upsetting her unnecessarily."

"As your wish," Kotohime said. "And I trust everything is in order."

"It is," Mima said. The papers came together into an organized stack and fit themselves into her hand. "Go."

Kotohime bowed and turned to go, her entourage quick to follow.

"Good riddance," Marisa muttered. "Crazy nut. Wish Yukari had left her the way she was. At least she was fun then, hey Reddie?"

She grinned at Reimu, expecting some sort of agreement. But then she saw the look on Reimu's face. The grin disappeared.

"Oh," she said. "Hey. Look, about what she said. You don't…Hey, you know she was just trying to get you riled up on purpose, right? Turn you against me? Come on, I'm your best friend! You know I wouldn't…"

Reimu didn't, to be honest. But she didn't say so. Instead, she just turned and followed the GPF officers from the house.

"Reimu, hold on a sec!" Marisa called. She struggled to get out of bed, but Mima laid a hand on her shoulder, preventing her from moving any further. Reimu didn't acknowledge her as she reentered the rain.

The storm had picked up a bit during her stay in Marisa's house, and Reimu was drenched within seconds. She took the charm Mima had given her, pressed it to her own forehead and spoke a word of release.

Static electricity ran over her skin as it activated and disintegrated. Immediately the rain stopped hitting her and her vision improved drastically. At the same time, the water that had already covered her dried up in an instant and the cold faded away. A vast improvement.

Still, she was confused. Though the discomfort was gone, her hands were still trembling. She took a deep breath to steady herself and was annoyed by how shaky it was.

Oh, for the gods' sakes, she irritably thought to herself as she marched away from Marisa's house. What's wrong with me? This is no time for a breakdown over something this stupid!

She was about to take to the air when a voice said softly, "It hurts, doesn't it?"

Reimu whirled around and saw that, to her extreme displeasure, Kotohime was standing nearby. Her goons must have gone on ahead, as she was alone. And seeing how she didn't seem to notice the rain coming down on her, she was likely using charms similar to the one Reimu had just activated.

"Oh, what the hell do you want?" she snapped. "You've made your freaking point already. So why don't you just leave?"

Kotohime tilted her head. "It seems I owe you an apology as well."

"Say what?"

"You trusted Marisa Kirisame, didn't you?"

Reimu laughed in disbelief. "What? Trust Marisa? Are you insane? I mean again."

"I saw the look on your face when I spoke of Marisa's actions," Kotohime said. She smiled sadly. "I'm sorry I put you through that. I know what it's like to be close to someone only to learn something that makes you question that closeness."

Reimu's patience snapped. Again. "Look," she snarled as she marched toward Kotohime. "I don't need you psychoanalyzing me, okay? And I really don't need you coming at me with fake sympathies and sorries. So if you got something real to say, then say it."

"All right," Kotohime said. She clasped her hands in front of her waist. "A word of advice, then."

"Oh great," Reimu said as she rolled her eyes. "This is rich."

"You live in a dangerous and lonely world, Reimu Hakurei," Kotohime said. "As such, you are smart to seek out powerful companions. It is the only way you'll survive."

"Is there a point to this?"

"Yes. The people you were just socializing with include a mass-murderess and her personal apprentice. With that in mind, I would suggest that you choose your companionship a little more wisely."

Reimu's eyes narrowed. "You know, I've met you maybe four or five times, and this is probably the first serious talk we've had. But I don't think I like you very much."

"I get that a lot," Kotohime said. She bowed. "Farewell, Maiden of Hakurei Shrine. And good luck."

With that, Kotohime took to the air. Reimu watched her go and saw that the posse of GPF officers were waiting for her above the trees. She wondered what they had made of their boss having a short one-on-one with her. She supposed that it didn't matter.

When they were truly gone, Reimu looked back at Marisa's house. The light was still on inside, but no one was at the door. She sighed and lifted herself to the sky.

…

When it came to emotions, Reimu was uncomplicated. She was blunt, straightforward, easily irritated and had very little patience for nonsense. She was also unskilled in the arts of deception, manipulation and social tact. Such things were best left to others and, in her opinion, a waste of time. If something needed fixing, she fixed it. If something needed changing, she told it to change and hit it until it agreed. And if something needed to be smacked upside the head, she was always first in line to supply the bruises.

In short, she was a woman of action. Emotions served no other purpose than to provide the necessary mindset to get the job done. As such, she had a very poor opinion of those who regularly wallowed in their feelings, especially the negative variety, without doing anything to change the situation. Which is not to say that she was entirely unfeeling. She had times when she was down, like everyone else. She had times when circumstances such as people's foolishness, a particularly frustrating incident and her own perpetual failure to bring income to the Hakurei Shrine put her in a bad mood. And like everyone else, she had times when she doubted herself and questioned her ability to complete the task in front of her.

But she was not a person given to depression. Sure, she sometimes got angry at bad fortune, and sometimes at herself for personal failures. And she was no stranger to complaining loudly about whatever was irritating her at the time. But to spend hours, even days at time doing nothing but feel sorry for herself? What was the point of that? And as for things like regret and guilt? Sure, screwing up usually came with some form of emotional backlash, but everybody screwed up. There was no point on dwelling on such things. Better to learn from them so as to avoid making the same mistakes in the future.

So if that were the case, if she was indeed someone who disliked wasting time with emotional turmoil, why did she now feel so uneasy?

Well, the answer to that question was simple enough. At least part of it was, the part that involved Marisa. The two of them had known each other even before either of them had hit puberty, and had been each other's closest companion and most fierce rivals ever since. They hung out, they resolved incidents together, they got into trouble, they fought, they bickered, they hurled hundreds of colorful missiles at each other, and then the next week they did it all again. As such, Reimu knew the witch very well. She knew that Marisa was a wild one, even insofar as mad witches living by themselves in magical forests were judged. It was who she was. And she also knew that Marisa had a dark side. Being raised by someone like Mima did that to a person. As such, even though she honestly enjoyed Marisa's company, she always kept one eye on her, simply out of caution.

But even with Marisa's blatant disregard for property and her opponent's personal safety, hearing that she had actually gone so far to try to murder a mortal shook Reimu up far more than she thought it would.

She kept telling herself that it was a fluke. That Marisa had been upset by circumstances and had gone over the edge. She certainly was a little bit crazy. And hey, it wasn't like she was the only person Reimu knew who had tried to take a Human life. Mima, with whom Reimu shared a shrine with, really was a mass-murdereress. And if what Yukari had told her was true (and there was no reason to believe otherwise), than the ancient youkai was also responsible for the deaths of thousands of Humans. And Remilia was a vampire, after all. Reimu had never questioned too closely as to where she got her food, but the question was still there. And unlike them, Marisa had only attempted to kill someone, and only while under considerable stress. So why was this a problem?

It's a problem because she's Human, said a voice in her head. Despite their appearances, all of your other friends are not.

So? Reimu argued back. It's not like they're animals. They still have Human…ish minds.

They may seem to, but it's not the same, her mind retorted. Remilia is a predator. If she does kill, either by her hand or proxy, it is to survive. Yukari acts out of necessity. And Mima is what she is as well. It was your choice to accept her despite her history. But Marisa is different. She is a mortal, one of your own kind. If she were to kill out of rage or, even worse, cold, then she would be a murderess.

And while that issue was foremost on her mind, it wasn't the only thing bothering her. For some weird reason, she couldn't shake what Mima had said about the Scarlet Sisters out of her mind. Now that was just irritating. She had nothing to do with what had happened to Flandre. If anyone was to blame, it was Remilia for getting them into that mess, Yukari for putting them in harm's way and Yuuka for doing the actual killing! So why couldn't she stop thinking about it?

Reimu was unaccustomed to such feelings. And the lack of fairy or youkai confrontation meant that by the time she emerged from her funk long enough to see where she was going, she had already gone several miles the wrong way.

"Ah, crap," she muttered as she got her bearings. She was now very close to the Human Village. And she had no reason to be anywhere near the Human Village. Now she had to turn around and go all the way back.

But she hesitated. While it was true that the Village itself held no interest for her, the Myouren Temple was nearby. And she had been meaning to talk to Byakuren about the Rin Satsuki situation, but simply had not gotten around to it. Now that she was here, she might as well get it out of the way.

And hell, as long as she was here, she also might as well get her advice about Marisa and Remilia. Who better to sort out confusing feelings than a "Bleeding heart hippy", as Sanae and Kanako liked to call her?

It was at least worth a short. Reimu picked out a couple landmarks and changed her direction, heading for the temple.

It didn't take long for it to come into sight. About five miles from the Human Village was a large clearing. And sitting in the middle of that clearing was what could only be described as a building made out of a ship.

When Byakuren had first been released from her imprisonment in Makai, she had been aided by her still-loyal followers. Among them had been the spirit of a long-dead sailor girl who had gathered quite a bit of notoriety as a sinker of ships. Apparently, before she had been sealed. Byakuren had been tasked to remove the spirit as a threat. But rather than do the traditional thing and exorcise the ghost, Byakuren had instead released the girl from her spiritual cycle of vengeance, restored her to her right mind and, most strange of all, gave her a large flying ship to captain.

Some people got all the luck.

At any rate, upon Byakuren's release, the Palanquin Ship had still been in the girl's possession, and had thus served as the group's headquarters during their flight from Makai. And continued to do so afterward, when Byakuren and her followers had settled down to reintegrate back into Gensokyo's society. A space had been cleared for it so it could land and it had been partially rebuilt as Byakuren's temple.

Reimu, who did a great deal of reading, remembered several stories from the Outside World in which a single family was warned of a coming flood that was to cover the whole of the Earth. And to prepare, they had constructed an enormous ship in the middle of dry land, which would carry them to safety when the waters came. That's what the Myouren Temple reminded her of: a giant ship sitting in the middle of dry land. Only this ship had a foundation added and a more traditional entrance built into one side, complete with a stone staircase. Plus there were the four stone towers that rose up from the ground to pass through the ship's hull and come out of the top. And then there was the large wall that had been built around the clearing and lamp-lined path leading to the temple, not to mention the large cemetery located behind it and the large garden with winding pathways covering everywhere else. And finally, there was a noticeable lack of animals lining up two-by-two to enter. But other than that, it did remind her a great deal of those stories.

All in all, it didn't look too different from the last time she had come to visit. But there was one very conspicuous new addition. Reimu paused in midair to stare. A second ship was now present, hovering in the air about half a mile over the temple. Four ropes trailed down from the ship, presumably anchoring it to the ground. The ship itself was similar to the original Palanquin, but there were changes. This one was slightly smaller and much more streamlined, with a sleek hull that ended in a sharp point at the fore.

Reimu shielded her eyes and squinted. She could see several figures about the flying ship, some of them flying themselves and others moving along the deck and sails. And, strangely enough to anyone who was unfamiliar with Byakuren's associates, a glowing pink cloud had formed a ring around the top of the center mast like a halo.

Apparently Murasa had gotten herself a new means of transportation. Not only that, but from the looks of things, she had done some recruiting. Before it had been reconverted into Byakuren's temple, her crew had come to a grand total of four individuals, not counting Byakuren herself. And half of that number had taken up duties at the temple itself upon its construction. But now there had to be at least two dozen of them up there.

Reimu shrugged. Well, such things were to be expected. The Myouren Shrine was popular with Humans and youkai alike. Byakuren attracted new followers and/or supporters every week. As such, it only made sense that many of them would want to serve aboard Murasa's ship. And she had to admit, even with Byakuren completely removed from the picture, serving aboard a flying ship had a great deal of appeal all to its own.

At any rate, now that she was here, it was time to find the woman herself. Reimu returned to earth right in front of the open gates, her bare feet squishing in the mud. Then she entered the temple's courtyard, in search of someone who could tell her where to find Byakuren.

She didn't have to look far.

…

Given the amount of rain that was coming down, most people who would be content to stay inside unless they absolutely had to venture out of doors. Indeed, most of the temple's inhabitants were doing just that. Save for Murasa's crew, everyone was inside and enjoying it.

Kyouko Kasodina was not most people.

She loved the rain. Just as she loved the sunshine, the snow, the fog, even thunderstorms. To her, every kind of weather had its own beauty, and she was bound and determined to enjoy them to the fullest.

Well, okay, so she didn't much care for hailstorms. But those happened so rarely that it was practically a non-issue.

At any rate, though the rain meant that her normal cleaning duties would be a lesson in futility, she still walked her normal route up and down the front path, weaving around the lanterns and looking at the inscriptions that she had long memorized. The Yamabiko girl had not used any anti-weather charms before going outside. She didn't even bring along an umbrella or wear a hood. What was the point of enjoying the weather if you were just going to hide from it? Getting a little wet was a small price to pay, and she paid it gladly. She even sang to herself as she went along her way.

"Yahoo, the sweatdrops are glittering!

Yahoo, on the side of your face!

Come quickly, take me away to a warm alcove,

I'm already dressed to swim!

Luckily, although it's sudden.

Luckily, it okay anyway.

The weather is warm, let's welcome fun in a flash!"

All right, so perhaps the song had been intended for a different sort of weather entirely. Kyouko didn't care. It was catchy, it was stuck in her head, and she was feeling too cheerful to worry about the climate-appropriateness of the lyrics.

As she peered at one of the lanterns she sensed someone coming up the path and her heart swelled. So she would be able to greet someone after all!

"Ah, good morning!" she said as she turned around and bowed low. "Welcome to Myouren Temple, home of-"

At that exact moment, she looked up and saw who was standing in front of her.

"Ack, it's you!" Kyouko cried out in fear. She quickly scampered away and cowered behind a lantern. "I haven't done anything! Please don't exterminate me!"

There was a pause, and then the Terror sighed and said, "Oh yeah, I remember you. Uh, look. Sorry about last time. I didn't know you, and thought you were…It was just a great big misunderstanding."

Trembling, Kyouko poked her head out. Reimu Hakurei stood on the path, arms crossed and eyes fixed on her in irritation. "You're not gonna exterminate me?" Kyouko asked.

"I'm not gonna exterminate you," Reimu said. "I just want to talk to Byakuren."

Both of Kyouko's floppy ears swung upward. "Oh my goodness, you're here to exterminate Lady Hijiri!" she cried.

"Argh, no I'm not!" Reimu groaned. "Look, I'm not going to hurt anybody! I just wanted to talk to her about something."

"Talk?" Still unsure of what to make of this, Kyouko cautiously stepped back onto the path. "Talk about what?"

"That's…kind of personal. But trust me, she'll want to see me."

"But…"

Someone else came up behind her. "It's all right, Kyouko," said a comfortingly familiar voice. "Despite past misunderstandings, Reimu Hakurei is and always will be welcome."

Kyouko turned toward the newcomer, a tall woman with short yellow hair shot through with black stripes. Unlike Kyouko, she didn't care much for getting wet and had a wide red umbrella spread overhead. "But are you…Uh, okay."

"Don't worry, I can take it from here," the woman said with a smile as she reached down to affectionately scratch Kyouko's head. "Why don't you go back inside and dry off? It's almost lunchtime anyway, and they'll be needing help setting up."

"Okay," Kyouko said, though she still wasn't sure about this. With one last nervous glance at Reimu she ran back toward the temple, her bare feet splashing in the puddles along the way.

Reimu watched her go. "Kind of jumpy, isn't she?"

"She's just easily excited," Shou Toramaru said to her. "And in fairness, you did scare her pretty well the last time you were here."

Reimu sighed. "Yeah, I get that a lot."

"I don't doubt it," Shou chuckled. "Well, you're obviously here for a reason, so let's go inside. Byakuren is meeting with Murasa at the moment, but I'm sure she will be glad to see you. Welcome to Myouren Temple."

…

A long time ago, before she had become a youkai, Byakuren Hijiri had been a disciple of the god Bishamonten, whose word she had been tasked to spread. Even then, she had displayed an unorthodox way of thinking by trying to win converts not only among her fellow Humans but youkai as well. Shou had been her first and most successful convert, to the point where there were rumors that she had become a sort of avatar for Bishamonten himself. Reimu had never confirmed whether they were true or not, though she did not doubt that it was likely. At any rate, even though Byakuren herself had moved on from the faith, she and Shou remained close companions, and from what Reimu had heard, Byakuren was still friendly with Bishamonten himself. She had never figured out the specifics of how that worked, but given the bizarre relationship her fellow shrine maiden Sanae Kochiya had with her god and ancestor Suwako Moriya, who looked and sometimes acted like a prepubescent girl, she supposed that there were stranger deities out there.

To be honest, the only thing that really bothered her about Shou was this: though there were any number of small shrines and places of worship scattered about the land, Myouren Temple, Moriya Shrine and (a point that Reimu would be glad to fight anyone to defend) Hakurei Shrine were the three most prominent. And out of those three, one had two actual goddesses, one of which never actively did anything goddess-like, while the other had what very well could be an avatar of a major god who was able to commune directly with her patron, and yet did not act as the principle deity of the temple she resided in. And what did Hakurei Shrine have? A big talking turtle. The unfairness rankled her to no end.

Reimu sighed as she walked into the temple. Well, she could work on fixing that issue later.

The interior of the Myouren Temple was just as odd as the outside. The ship's original plan remained more-or-less the same, but room that had once served as crew quarters and store-rooms had been converted into places of mediation, a library, and so on. And everywhere she looked, she saw people.

Humans rubbed shoulders with youkai. Fairies that flitted to-and-fro. She even thought (though couldn't be sure) that she saw a couple of spirits disappearing through the walls.

"Damn," she whistled. "You guys have gotten big."

Shou shrugged. "I suppose you could call it that. But in actuality, very few of those here are part of the temple, or even practitioners. Most have been turned out by their families, lost everything due to misfortune, have been rejected by their tribe or gang, and so on and so forth. People with no place to go. We decided to give them one."

Reimu made a face. "When the hell did you go from Buddhist temple to homeless shelter?"

"Oh, we're not," Shou said. "Not entirely. It's rare to see so many here at once, to be honest. We're just seeing these numbers because of the storm. And truth be told…" The tigress' eyes quickly checked to see if anyone was near. She lowered her voice. "We're reasonably sure that a good percentage of them are just taking advantage of the free food. Byakuren didn't like the idea, but we managed to convince her to start work on a screening process."

"Good idea. Most of the people I know are good-for-nothing, lazy freeloaders."

"Then you know what we're worried about. We're glad to help however we can, but when everyone can just show up for food and shelter, it takes away from what we can give to those who legitimately need help."

"Huh." Reimu had difficulty wrapping her head around that. She had lived in a shrine all her life, and it had never occurred to her to use it for charity. Of course there was a good reason for that. She lived off of other people's charity, and thus barely made enough to support herself. That the Myouren Temple was doing so well that they could afford to just give stuff away grated her a bit, she had to admit. She wondered what it would be like to have that kind of prosperity.

"Sure as hell wouldn't waste it on a bunch of losers," she mumbled under her breath. "Well, at least the ones I don't know."

"I'm sorry Reimu, did you say something?" Shou said.

"Nothing," Reimu said, though she was reasonably certain that the tigress had heard every word. "Look, it's good that you're trying so hard to help folks and all, but…No offense, but shouldn't a place of worship be about, you know, worship? Or whatever it is that Buddhists do? Because I really haven't seen a whole lot of that going on, both now and the last time I was here."

"That's because it isn't," Shou said. "Just as Byakuren isn't a true deity."

Reimu stared. "Wait, what?"

"It's a bit difficult to be both a goddess and a practitioner of Buddhism. Byakuren's station is…is…" Shou's sentence was abruptly cut off and she sneezed loudly.

"Ah, excuse me," she said as she pulled out a piece of linen and blew her nose. "I'm still getting over this blasted cold. But anyway, Byakuren's position is really more akin to that of High Priestess, and even then that's not really accurate."

"Then what is she?" Reimu said. She was growing more confused by the moment, and that in turn was making her irritated. "What's Myouren Temple all about? What's its purpose, if not worship?"

"Well, it'll take time and work, but Byakuren hopes that it will one day be the birthplace of a movement."

"Eh…Huh?"

"Think about it, Reimu. Gensokyo was established as a refuge for those that the Outside World had no more use for. Forgotten gods, unable to sustain themselves on the dwindling belief that world offered. Supernatural creatures, facing extinction due to the simple fact that many people up and decided that they did not exist. And even Humans who were not content to let go of the old ways."

"Yeah, I know. So what?"

"And yet, despite this commonality, despite our mutual statuses at outcasts, the whole of Gensokyo had been at each other's throats from day one. Youkai prey upon Humans whenever possible. Humans exterminate youkai by way of course. Gods misuse their powers for mischief. And fairies attack everything and everyone. Even safeguards like the spellcard system only reduce the lethality of these conflicts. It doesn't change the fact that the conflicts are there." Shou motioned at the temple around them. "That's what Byakuren hopes to accomplish. To render those safeguards unnecessary. To bring us all together as neighbors instead of barely tolerated adversaries."

Reimu felt like she was getting preached at, which she didn't like. She also noticed how Shou kept mentioned Byakuren's name. "And what do you think?" she asked.

Shou laughed. "Oh, caught that, didn't you?" She thought. "Well, I've known Byakuren for a long, long time. And she once she puts her mind to something, she tends…Mind you, tends to be successful. And I'll give her credit, she does think things through and take into account all the inherent problems before setting out."

"But?" Reimu prompted.

"But I'm worried that the problems might be too great. A great deal of the wild youkai are feral, despite their humanoid appearances. There are also a great many that don't even look Human, much less think like one. How are you supposed to stop them from following their instincts? Round them up and domesticate them? That will never work. For one, there are far too many, and more are coming into being all the time. For another, it's just wrong. And then there are the fairies. Even though they're not exactly animalistic, they're not the sort to care about such things. With some exceptions, mostly among the older ones, they tend to be creatures of the moment, with little care to long term plans and movements."

Reimu nodded. As someone who regularly interacted with such beings, she knew all of this as well.

"And even among those more advanced, there are problems," Shou said. "Humans simply don't trust youkai, and vise-versa. Youkai have a long history of preying upon Humans, and many of them still practice this. And counter-efforts haven't exactly endeared Humans to the wild ones either. Youkai extermination, however temporary it might be, has not made reaching out to them any easier." She quirked an eyebrow. "Your profession, in fact."

"If you're trying to make me feel bad, you're wasting your breath," Reimu said. "I do my job, and nine times out of ten they shoot first."

"I know, and I understand its necessity. I'm simply explaining why overcoming such obstacles will be difficult." Shou shrugged. "Which isn't to say that it's impossible. Friendly relations between Humans and youkai have been known to happen. There's the GPF, for example. Even though they have more-or-less the same job as you, they at least are not discriminating in whom they hire and protect. And despite the workings of that idiot Master Sonozika, there is little in the way of tension between the Human Village and the Tengu and Kappa. Trade relations are open with the rabbit tribes and, by association, Eientei. And while there's not a whole lot in the way of interaction, there's no bad feelings between the Village and the Underground either. Most of the problems come from the Wilds, which I fear will always be an obstacle. And then there's Sonozika and those like him."

"Has he tried to cause trouble?" Reimu asked.

"Of course. In fact, he's tried to shut us down once or twice." Shou smiled. "Those attempts ended…poorly. As it turns out, even if they don't share Byakuren's views, the majority of his people like having us around. As such, he's learned to tolerate our presence. Grudgingly, but it's a step in the right direction. We've had similar reactions from the wild youkai as well. There's a great many of them who think that what we do is a stupid waste of time and don't want anything to do with us. Then there're those who try to take advantage of us for their own means. And then there's those who appreciate having a voice among the Ringleaders but still don't want their sport of Human-baiting to be outlawed. And then there are those…" Shou sighed.

"Yes?" Reimu pressed.

The tigress rolled her eyes and sneezed again. "Sorry. But we've had a few cases…Not many, mind you. But a few where Byakuren…got a little too popular."

"Huh?"

"Well, I'll give you an example. About four months ago, we found out that there was a fairy gang who became convinced that Byakuren was the defacto goddess of the Wilds, and would lead them in battle against the evils of civilization, specifically Kanako Yasaka, whom they saw as an intruder and a spoilsport. Don't know why, as Moriya Shrine has never had anything to do with fairies, either positively or negatively. They actually went as far as to try to offer burnt sacrifices in her name as a means of giving her the power for the coming war. I guess no one ever told them that burnt offerings usually are supposed to consist of more than just setting fire to sticks."

Reimu snickered. She would have loved to see that. "Uh, they didn't know that even though Kanako kind of considers you competitors, Moriya Shrine still helped you guys set up in the first place?"

"Apparently not, but that's fairies for you," Shou said with a roll of her eyes.

"So what happened next?"

"What happened is that they actually came to the temple dressed in makeshift armor and carrying crude weapons, ready for war. Apparently they expected Byakuren to have already raised an army, and were surprised when they found out that we hadn't even heard of this war effort. Byakuren had to set the record straight, and, well, they were pretty disappointed. So much that they denounced all faith in her, declared her to be a false deity, and immediately converted to the worship of Suwako Moriya."

"Uh…What?"

Shou shrugged. "I guess they considered that to be an acceptable compromise. Last I heard, they went to Moriya Shrine with the same intentions, and Suwako laughed them right out the door."

Reimu laughed again, and was surprised by how good it felt. It had been a long time since she had laughed. "Too bad they didn't come by my place. If they had offered enough donations, I might have gone along with them."

That made Shou quirk an eyebrow. "Reimu, are you telling me that you'd actually lead a bunch of fairies in battle against both Kanako and Byakuren?"

"Not seriously, no. But it might eat up a boring weekend."

"It would do that," Shou agreed. "But getting back on track, I honestly don't expect Byakuren to succeed, not fully. There are too many obstacles, and many of those are self-sustaining. I don't even think she herself believes that she will usher in a new age of peace and unity. But the cause is noble, so I have no objection to helping out in what ways I can. And my patron, Bishamonten, has expressed curiosity as to how things will turn out, and has granted permission for me to remain here. And so, here I am."

Reimu thought about this. "Huh. Well, that's cool and all, but I don't mind telling you, I'm not sure if bringing everyone together under one flag and making them all love-dovey is such a great idea. Seems to me that Gensokyo is the sort of place that's supposed to be divided, with everyone going about their way and doing whatever the hell they want, so long as they can live with the consequences."

"Oh, I agree," Shou said. "And Byakuren isn't seeking to establish any sort of singular government. She's just trying to get people to stop fighting all the time."

Reimu shook her head. "Okay, now I really don't like it."

"You wouldn't," Shou said with a smirk. "But anyway, Byakuren's meeting is probably coming to a close. So now would be a good time to go see her. You can voice you complaints in person."

She led Reimu through the temple and up a winding staircase, which Reimu took to mean that they were ascending one of the towers. As they neared the top, raised voices became audible.

"Huh, sounds like they're still talking," Reimu said. "Or arguing. What's up?"

Shou looked troubled. "No idea. All I know is that Murasa had returned with some sort of news. Maybe it was bad. Perhaps we should wait a while longer."

"Yeah…No. Any kind of news that would actually make Byakuren shout is the kind I'll probably need to hear." With that, Reimu quickened her step, with Shou reluctantly following behind.

She found Byakuren sitting at a plain wood table. Unusual for her, the elder magician was slumped forward, with her eyes closed and one hand covering her mouth. She did not look happy.

Sitting cross-legged across from her was another young woman. Pretty in a boyish sort of way, she was dressed in a heavy black peacoat with little golden anchors for buttons and a dark blue skirt. Her short raven hair was covered by a white sailor's cap, also bearing an anchor insignia. Thin smoke rose from the deep maroon pipe she held in one hand, and a wooden ladle on the table in front of her, next to brown saucer that was being employed as an ashtray.

At first glance, one would simply assume Minamitsu Murasa to be a woman accustomed to life on a ship. And that would be entirely correct. However, she was much more than that, which quickly became obvious when one noticed how the exposed parts of her skin were semi-transparent, offering filmy glances at whatever lay beyond her. And there was the very faint halo of light that surrounded her body. It wasn't exactly noticeable unless one were paying attention, or if she were standing in the darkness, but it was there.

Minamitsu (or Captain Murasa, as she preferred to be called. Or lacking that, simply Murasa. She didn't much care to be addressed by her first name) was a great many things. Captain of the Palanquin Ships, both the one that had been converted into the Myouren Temple and the one that hovered above. Devoted follower of Byakuren, one of the oldest and most loyal. And she was also very, very dead, and had been so for a long time. But as a rule, she (along with many others) refused to let death keep her from enjoying life, and probably led a more active existence than many of the living. Reimu had only actually met her once or twice (including the obligatory first-meeting danmaku duel) and had always admired her spirit (no pun intended), but had found the girl herself to be somewhat difficult to get along with.

As Reimu entered the room, Byakuren looked up. Her face brightened. "Reimu!" she exclaimed in surprise.

Murasa glanced in her direction. "Oh. Hakurei. You're alive after all. Good to see."

Reimu frowned. "Why?"

"You'd rather I'd wish you dead, then?"

"No, I mean why are you two so surprised that I'm alive?"

Murasa put the pipe in her mouth and closed her lips around the stem. "'Cause as I was just tellin' Hijiri here how a big black tornado blasted away a good quarter-mile of the forest near where you live. And seein' how you're the only thing even remotely significant 'round there, I figured that tornado must have been aimed at your head."

"No offense intended, Reimu," Byakuren said. "But given everything that's been going on…"

"Oh." Reimu's shoulders slumped. "That. Right. You know, you could have gone to check on me. It's not like I was far away. I mean, that big-ass barrier is kind of hard to miss."

"Never occurred to me," Murasa said. Her tone remained as emotionless as her face. She could have been discussing why she didn't read a book that she didn't particularly like or dislike. She just didn't care. "Wasn't there for you, anyway. Didn't learn of it 'til the day after, and didn't even get there 'til the day after that. Your name only just came up." She took two thoughtful puffs before adding, "Which is prob' why you showed just now. Speak o' the devil and all that."

"Do I look like a devil to you?"

Murasa tapped her pipe into the saucer. "Figure o' speech, Hakurei. Though if you were to ask any of the youkai who been exterminated by you recently, you might get yourself an affirmative."

"All right, stop it please," Byakuren said with a weary groan. "We've got enough problems as it is to waste time bickering over something so foolish."

"Fair enough," Murasa said. She took a pinch of dried leaves from somewhere that Reimu couldn't see and pressed them into her pipe. She then produced a match and struck it on the edge of the table.

After lighting her pipe anew, Murasa stood and said, "Well, I'm off then. Got lots to do, what with that Satsuki kid still on the loose."

"All right, but remember what I said," Byakuren told her. "We're trying to help her, but don't forget how dangerous she is."

"Swallow you whole and take your mojo, burn you alive, shoot blasts of death your way, magic don't work for long on her, weapons don't work for long on her, can fix herself in secs, kind of nuts," Murasa said. "Long list, but I remember. Hell of a weird charity case you've picked here."

"Aren't all of the important ones?"

"No," Murasa said, though not disrespectfully. "At least not like this." She nodded to everyone in turn and headed for the window.

Shou moved further into the room. "Um, are you sure it's a good idea for you and your crew to be sailing in this weather?"

"What weather?" Without waiting for an answer, Murasa opened the window. For a brief second the rain blew into the room as she stepped outside into the open air. And then the window shut, cutting off the wind and rain.

"You know, I'm starting to think she doesn't like me very much," Reimu remarked.

"Sorry about that," Byakuren said. "It's just she takes her job as captain very seriously, and the last time you two met you defeated her and her crew while she was doing that job."

Reimu winced. "Misunderstanding…"

"I know, I know," Byakuren said. "But she's set in her ways. I suppose we all are."

At the back of the room, Shou sneezed again. She sniffed, and said, "Well, if there's nothing else…"

"I don't believe so," Byakuren said.

"All right, I'll talk to you later then."

"Well, sit down," Byakuren said to Reimu once Shou had gone. "Again, sorry if I seem a little…flustered. The thing with the tornado wasn't the only news Murasa brought to me, and none of it was good."

Reimu took the chair previously occupied by Murasa. It was surprisingly warm. "Guess you heard about the whole Yukari and Yuuka Kazami thing, then?"

"I've heard enough. Nothing official, but enough to make me worried. But I don't think that's why you're here, is it?"

Reimu hesitated, wondering exactly how much she should tell Byakuren. While the magician had never struck her as being even remotely untrustworthy, she was still supposed to keep mum about several facts, and many of those facts where relevant to the reason why she was here.

She decided that so long as she left out the part about Azrael she should be okay. That seemed to be the main thing Yukari was upset about, and Byakuren would probably find out about that soon enough anyway. "Uh, yeah. Been meaning to see you anyway. Just haven't found the time."

"It's Rin Satsuki, isn't it? You found her and she attacked you."

"Something like that," Reimu said with a wince. "More of she showed up at the shrine for the gods know whatever reason but ran off when she set off Yukari's annoying alarm. I managed to chase her down and me and Mima tried to talk to her-"

"Wait, Mima?" Byakuren sat up straighter. "She was involved? What did she do?"

"Not a whole lot," Reimu said. "Mostly she just used some sort of…really colorful cage to hold Satsuki in place while we both took turns trying to talk some sense in her." The shrine maiden frowned. "And as much as it bothers me, she was a hell of a lot better at it then I was."

"What did she say?" Byakuren pressed. "What did she say to Satsuki? Please be as specific as you can.

"What?" Reimu blinked at Byakuren's sudden intensity. "Why…Oh, wait. I get it." She sighed. "Look, I know you two didn't get along, back in the day-"

"That's…putting it mildly," Byakuren said in a guarded tone.

"But that was a really long time ago," Reimu continued. "She's different now." After a brief pause, she amended, "Well, okay, maybe not so much, but she's retired from the whole Evil Overlord thing."

"So I've been told," Byakuren said. "And in that time, she's managed to integrate herself into a position of authority on Yukari's council and gain a measure of control over Hakurei Shrine, which is perhaps the single most important linchpin of the Hakurei Barrier."

Reimu had a sudden sinking feeling. She had never thought of it in quite those terms. "Uh…"

"And this is someone who once tried to overthrow Shinki and take over Makai," Byakuren continued. "Has tried to wipe out your family more times than I can count, and was perhaps the most notorious player in the Magician's War."

Reimu frowned. "But if she's so bad, then why does Yukari keep her around?"

"I don't know," Byakuren said with a shrug. "She wouldn't tell me, when I asked her myself. Maybe it's her way of keeping an eye on her. Maybe it's part of some long-term scheme on Yukari's part. Maybe the Hakurei Shrine is exactly where she wants Mima to be right now."

Reimu's frown deepened. She shook her head and groaned. "Ugh, is it always like this with you people?"

"Like what?"

"All this scheming and manipulating and what not?"

"Sometimes."

"Well, you can have it," Reimu growled. "But I for one can't wait for all this shit to be done with so I can go back to solving things by hitting people."

Byakuren didn't seem to have an answer for that, and Reimu didn't feel like adding to it. So she just sat where she was, moodily staring at the table while listening to the rain patter against the windowsill.

Finally Byakuren said, "All right, let me ask you one thing."

"What?"

"Does Genji trust her?"

"Genji?" Reimu said in surprise. That was not a name she had been expecting to hear. "Trust who? Mima?"

"Yes."

Reimu thought hard, mentally going over every interaction between the turtle and the Evil Spirit of Makai ever since the latter had moved in. "…I think so. At least, he's not anymore hostile to her than he is toward anyone else. He treats her pretty much the same as he treats Suika." She shrugged. "Which is to say he bitches at her whenever possible but doesn't really seem to mind having her around."

"Strange," Byakuren mused. "But I suppose that'll have to do."

Reimu cocked her head. "Why Genji?"

There was a noticeable pause between the question and the answer. "Because throughout Mima's long and sordid history, he's been one of the few constants," Byakuren said at last. "The Hakurei Shrine and its maidens are the principle reasons most of her schemes failed, and he trained and oversaw each and every one of them. For a while they were practically arch-nemeses. If he out of all people is willing to tolerate her, I suppose I should as well."

Reimu's frown returned. She got the feeling that there was something that Byakuren wasn't telling her, but it was difficult to tell exactly what it might be about. "If that's the case, why didn't she just kill him centuries ago? I mean, Genji's cool and all, and I respect him, but let's face it. He's a big flying turtle. Not exactly the sort of thing that would be able to give her much of a fight."

"You'd be surprised," Byakuren said with a wry smile. "And I assume she had her reasons."

"Whatever," Reimu said with a roll of her eyes. "Look, enough about Mima, all right? I didn't come here to talk about her."

"Right, right. I'm sorry. Let's get back on track then. Rin Satsuki. You said that you two tried to talk to her?"

"Yeah, except I wasn't much good at it," Reimu nodded. "Mima did most of the talking…Oh, don't give me that look! All she said was that there were people willing to help her, and that she was one of them, mostly because it would piss Yukari off. Not sure if that's still open, but there you are."

"Did you tell her that you were operating on Reisen Udongein's behalf?" Byakuren asked.

"Yeah. And that actually shut her up for awhile. But unfortunately, that's when I found out that we have another problem."

Byakuren winced. "There does seem to be an inordinate amount of those, these days."

"No kidding. And guess who's been whispering in Satsuki's ear?"

One of Byakuren's eyebrows rose. "The Shadow Youkai?"

"Could be," Reimu said with a shrug. "But not according to Satsuki. She said it was Rumia."

"Aren't they the same person?"

Reimu shook her head. "No, I mean the real Rumia. Or, at least the one that there was before she got eaten."

"What?" Byakuren said.

"I mean the stupid little Youkai girl that hung out with Cirno all the time. The not-really-dangerous-at-all Rumia."

Byakuren gaped at her. It was actually pretty funny, seeing someone so respected and dignified sitting there with her mouth hanging open. "Wait, so her consciousness was preserved? But Yukari said that the Shadow Youkai was freed!"

"I don't doubt it. But it looks like they're both in there, with her."

"That's…very interesting," Byakuren said slowly. "If it's true, that it."

"I know, right?" Reimu said with a roll of her eyes. "But even if it's not the Shadow Youkai, it still didn't do us any favors, especially since Rumia kept telling her not to trust us. And I guess she's listening to Rumia a lot these days."

Byakuren nodded. "So what happened?"

"Well…" Reimu winced. Byakuren was not going to like this next part. "You know that big patch of dead forest Murasa told you about?"

There was a pause, and then Byakuren said, "Ah."

"Yeah, that was her making her escape. Turns out, even if she isn't being possessed by the Shadow Youkai, she's still using her powers."

"Oh no…" Byakuren whispered.

"Which is kind of the problem," Reimu told her. "Mima said that there's a pretty good chance that someone died when she did that. And seeing how only reason I didn't get torn apart when Satsuki blew her way out of her cage was because Mima was there to save me, I can believe it."

"You're doubting that she's still worth saving."

Reimu let out a bitter laugh. "Byakuren, I've been doubting that since day one. This really isn't helping matters. I mean, don't get me wrong, it sucks what happened to her, and I guess I do feel kind of bad for her, but if people are going to die every time she flips out…"

"You're starting to agree with Kanako then? How we shouldn't risk the lives of innocent people to save someone so unstable and dangerous?"

"I've always agreed with Kanako. It's just that, after seeing Utsuho Reiuji turn around, I figured I might as well give this new kid a chance."

"I see…" Byakuren mused on that for a short bit, and then she said, "Tell me something, Reimu. Say you're right. Say it's decided that trying to make her surrender and accept our help is a dangerous waste of time. What would happen then?"

Reimu frowned as she thought. "Well, I guess we'd stop trying to talk to her and work on taking her down. Probably bring out the big guns, the Oni and Celestials and what-not."

"And then?" Byakuren pressed. "Would that work?"

"Maybe eventually," Reimu shrugged. She wondered where the magician was going with this. "It would take awhile though. From what I've heard, Satsuki's absorbing thing is pretty strong, and she's got all the immortal juice running through her. But I'm pretty sure we could bring her down sooner or later."

"And how do you think she'd react until then?"

"Well, she'd be mad, of course. And…" Reimu's voice trailed off. She scowled. "Oh, all right. I get where this is going. You're worried that just attacking her over and over is going to turn her into the next Shadow Youkai and anyone she kills then isn't going to be accidental."

"Something like that, yes," Byakuren admitted. She spread her hands. "Please understand, I do wish to see her saved, but I also would much rather that she wasn't driven to kill out of desperation."

Reimu folded her arms. "And here I was thinking you were going to give me the whole 'trust your heart' speech and go on about doing the right thing," she grumbled.

"Reimu, I may be an idealist," Byakuren said. "That doesn't mean I'm an idiot."

That actually got a genuine laugh out of the shrine maiden. "What, you mean they're not the same thing?" She sighed. "All right, fine. I'll keep trying, but given that Marisa's not under Yukari's thumb anymore, I don't know if Mima's still in. So I really need your help more than ever."

"You have it," Byakuren promised.

Reimu nodded her thanks. And then, before she could change her mind, she said, "And jumping right off of that, there's another thing that I need some advice on. Something kind of similar."

"What is it?"

Reimu took a deep breath. While this next issue was much less potentially catastrophic as the first, it still hit much closer to home. As such, it was much more difficult to discuss. But it was best to get it out of the way before it started to keep her up at night. And that was the last thing she wanted. "You know who Kotohime Sonozika is, right?"

"Kotohime?" Byakuren sounded surprised. "Of course. Her organization is one of our most vocal and financial supporters, and vice-versa."

"Why aren't I surprised?" Reimu grumbled. "Okay, so I was visiting Marisa earlier today when she came by to drop off her pardon."

"And?"

Reimu's eyes turned toward the ceiling. "And Kotohime kind of let slip that Marisa tried to kill her. I mean for real. Like, when Yukari told the GPF to bring her in, she went nuts and started using lethal spells on them."

For a moment Byakuren was silent. Reimu watched as a myriad of different expressions waltzed across her face, none of them positive. When she spoke, her voice was small and apprehensive. "Was anyone…"

The question trailed off, but Reimu knew what was being asked. "Just a fairy," she said. "And I'm pretty sure she resurrected like normal. But still, according to what I was told it wasn't for lack of trying. And…I don't know what I'm supposed to do about that."

"Of course," Byakuren said with a nod. "Marisa is your oldest friend, after all. And you've always worked together to solve incidents, right?"

"Yeah," Reimu muttered. She slumped back into her chair.

"But you're still a shrine maiden," Byakuren continued. "It's your job to protect Humans. So when you're best friend is attacking Humans now…"

"I don't think she's going to make a habit out of it or anything," Reimu said quickly. "I mean, she was just so pissed off that she wasn't thinking straight."

"And does she usually think straight, even under the best of circumstances?"

Reimu scowled. "So you think she's doomed to turn into a serial killer, is that it? That this is just going to keep getting worse and worse?"

"I don't know. I admit, I don't really know her well." Byakuren raised an eyebrow. "But you do. What do you think?"

"Me?" Reimu thought about that question. She quickly brought up all her many memories of Marisa's common reactions and her impressions of them. "Well, of course not! I mean, I don't think so. Sure, Marisa is loud and obnoxious and pretty gross most of the time, but she's still pretty decent. She's gotten mad about injustices that didn't even affect her, and she's also stuck her neck out to help people when she didn't need to. And I'd never thought she'd go so far as to actually try to kill a mortal, so…"

She fell silent and stared back down at the tabletop. Then she said in a soft voice, "But after that whole mess at Marisa's house, Kotohime talked to me a little bit afterward. She said pretty much the same thing you did, about not trusting Mima-"

"That comes as no surprise. Even if you are correct and Mima has retired, you Humans still have long memories, even longer than some immortals. No doubt she's heard many a story of Mima's past…achievements."

"Yeah, I don't doubt it," Reimu muttered. "And she also said that I shouldn't trust Marisa, since Mima was the one who raised her."

"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree?"

Reimu reluctantly nodded. "Pretty much yeah. And normally I'd tell her to go screw herself-"

"You certainly have a talent for imagery," Byakuren said with a light snort.

"-but this time…I mean, Marisa does have a violent side, and I know she really looks up to Mima so, as much as I hate even entertaining the thought…what if Kotohime's right?"

Another thoughtful pause descended on the room, this time with Byakuren doing the thinking.

"You know," the magician said at last. "Even though her organization and…stable state of mind are less than a year old, I've come to find Kotohime Sonozika to be a most exceptional young woman. She is one who is driven by her convictions, and does not back down from them. Her beliefs have not exactly made her popular with her people, but that had not discouraged her from following them. Beyond that, she has also demonstrated herself to be brave, selfless, fair and surprisingly perceptive for someone who, not too long ago, couldn't be left alone with sharp objects."

"What, you got a crush on her or someone?" Reimu said in irritation. "What's your point?"

"My point is that despite my admiration for her, in this instance I don't believe she is correct."

"Huh?"

Byakuren folded her hand on the table. "It's true that Marisa's…upbringing is a cause for raised eyebrows, and her bouts of violence should have you worried. But much like Rin Satsuki, I don't think that declaring her a lost cause and cutting off contact would be the best choice. In fact, it will only make the problem worse."

Reimu frowned.

"Well, I'm just guessing here," Byakuren said. "But maybe you can help me with this. You said that Marisa looks up to and respects Mima, correct."

"Oh yeah."

"So despite her headstrong and independent nature, she would willingly do anything Mima asks of her?"

"I…Well, no," Reimu admitted. "In fact, a few days ago, Mima got angry at Alice Margatroid…You know who she is, right?"

Byakuren's brow rose. "I do," she said in an interested tone.

Reimu wasn't exactly sure what that tone meant but decided to let it go. "Right. And Mima was about to attack her, when all of a sudden Marisa jumped between them and told Mima to back off."

"Did she?" Now Byakuren was practically leaning over the table in rapt attention. "And what was Mima's reaction?"

"Uh, she congratulated Marisa for having the guts to do that and then she apologized to Alice." Reimu shrugged. "Oh, and right after that, Mima tried to break Marisa out of Yukari's grasp and run off with her. And…" Reimu's voice trailed off. Again she was coming dangerously close to divulging information that she probably shouldn't.

"She said no?" Byakuren filled in for her.

"Exactly! She wanted to stick with Yukari, and instead of going along with Mima, she managed to convince that crazy ghost to go along with her!"

"Huh, that's…very interesting. It at least answers why Mima was at the battle in the first place," Byakuren mused. "So, despite her admiration for the spirit, she is still willing to stand up to her. She wishes to be her own person, and will fight for that right. So you see why it would be dangerous to turn your back on her?"

Reimu sighed. She could see where this was going. Marisa may be furiously independent, but she still had some sort of weird dependence on the people she cared about. And given that Reimu was her best friend, suddenly cutting her off would probably drive the witch further into Mima's influence. Perhaps all the way. "I get it, I get it. Though it's pretty weird. Never thought Marisa and Rin Satsuki would end up having so much in common."

"Most people trapped on the outside do, once you look hard enough."

"Even me?" Reimu said with a small laugh. "No, wait. Don't answer that." She sighed again. "Well, I came here hoping you'd help me clear things up, and as it turns out, you did. Now I've got even more headaches than before."

"I'm sorry," Byakuren said sympathetically. "Oftentimes, the right thing to do is not the easiest. In fact, it's usually the hardest."

"Is that one of your Buddhist sayings?" Reimu grumbled.

"No, just an unfortunate truth," the elder magician said with a sad smile. "One that I've had to live with my whole life."

Reimu rolled her eyes. "Kind of reminds me of another saying. 'Life sucks, and then you die'. Except if you don't, in which case it just keeps on sucking for the rest of eternity."

"That depends on how you take it," Byakuren said with a shrug. "I'll not deny that life is filled with hardships. And I'll not deny that there is a fair measure of what we call 'Evil' in this world. But I see no reason to let that consume us and make us forget the beauty it holds."

"Beauty, huh?" Reimu said with a glare. "Okay, Youchrist. Do me a favor. Think of everything that's happened this month. Rin Satsuki getting loose and freeing the Shadow Youkai. The attack on Eientei. Kaguya Houraisan and Fujiwara no Mokou getting themselves eaten. Yukari going off into super ruthless-mode. Yuuka Kazami screwing everything and everyone up for kicks. Marisa getting herself arrested and almost committing murder, and…Everything else. Right now, everything is ten shades of screwed up, and everyone's feeling the effects. And I can't count one single positive result. So tell me, where's the freaking beauty in all that."

"Oh, that's easy." Byakuren said without hesitation. "Despite everything Rin Satsuki has become, and everything Marisa Kirisame might become, you are still willing to help them. How is that not beautiful?"

Reimu blinked at her. "Uh, what about all those super rational reasons you just told me?"

Now Byakuren's smile became genuine. "Rational thinking doesn't have to be cold and ugly, you know."

"Sure, I guess." Reimu frowned. She shook her head and stood up. While the conversation had given her much to think about, she could do it later. "Look, I've got a lot to take care of, and I'll bet you do too."

"Of course," Byakuren said as she stood as well. "Should I show you out?"

"Nah, I'll just do like Murasa and take the window. It's quicker. Oh, and Byakuren?"

"Hmmm?"

Reimu hesitated, and said, "Don't make a big deal out of this, but…thanks. I guess."

Byakuren didn't say anything. She simply nodded in acknowledgement.

Sensing that delaying any longer would make things awkward, Reimu quickly moved toward the same window that Murasa had used and opened it. Fortunately the charms Mima had given her would last a good while longer, but they wouldn't last forever. So should probably hurry back. Next stop would be the Moriya Shrine. Sanae was waiting for her, and they needed to start searching as soon as possible.

Closing the window behind her, Reimu stepped out into open air and took flight. Murasa's new ship was long gone, along with its crew. The rain was falling at more-or-less the same rate as before, though judging by how the trees were bending the wind had picked up. Another reason to move quickly.

Reimu aligned herself toward the Youkai Mountain sped away from the Temple.

…

Byakuren watched as Reimu left the room to pursue her business. She would be lying if she were to say that she wasn't worried about the shrine maiden. Despite past conflicts, she had always had an odd fondness for Reimu. Though her bluntness, lack of patience and complete refusal to be awed or intimidated by power, reputation and social status often put people off, Byakuren found to be refreshing. Reimu treated everyone the same, regardless of who, or what, they were. It was a quality that Byakuren appreciated.

But despite the shrine maiden's toughness and character, the girl was in a world of trouble. Granted, she often was, but in this case she was becoming involved in someone else's war. And not a small one at that. Such things rarely turned out well for those trapped in them.

And speaking of which…

Byakuren sighed stood up. She walked over to the door, leaned against it and said, "Okay Kyouko, I know you're there. You can come out now."

She heard a cry of surprise and a muffled thump. After a moment the door creaked open to reveal the little Youkai girl's scared face.

"I, uh, I wasn't trying to…I mean, I wanted to…How did you know?"

The side of Byakuren's lips lifted in a half-smile. "You're not as stealthy as you think. Besides, there's very little that gets past those ears of yours. Though I'd be a little more cautious in the future. Eavesdroppers quite often learn things that they'd rather not have heard."

Kyouko stared at her feet. "I'm sorry. I won't do it again."

Byakuren's smile became genuine as she patted Kyouko's damp hair. "Don't worry about it, I'm not angry. Though I don't doubt that you have a lot of questions."

Kyouko was silent for a moment. Then she said, "That girl. The shrine maiden. I didn't understand a lot of what you two were talking about, but she's in a lot of trouble, isn't she?"

"Yes," Byakuren said simply. "She is."

"Is she normally in this much trouble?"

"I don't know. I'm afraid I don't know her as well as I should. But from what I've heard, she and trouble are close acquaintances." At Kyouko's confused look, she clarified, "I mean she's in trouble a lot."

"Oh. Is that she's always so angry?"

"I suppose it is."

"Oh." Kyouko frowned. "I feel kind of sorry for her, then. I mean, she was pretty rude the first time we met, but…We are going to help her, right?"

Byakuren sighed as she placed a hand on Kyouko's shoulder. She looked at the window Reimu had left through. "In every way we can, Kyouko. In every way we can." She didn't voice her doubts about whether it would be enough.

…

Now that she had gotten the turmoil in her head more-or-less cleared up, Reimu's disposition had returned to its usual state of annoyance at the universe in general. It was rather refreshing, to be honest. But the fact remained that she was annoyed. In addition to her very long list of people she was annoyed at, Marisa was now added. Well, okay, so she was already on the list, but now she had moved up several spaces. Before Reimu needed only tolerate her. Now it was looking like she was going to have to be some sort of role-model or something equally ridiculous.

Such was Reimu's mindset that she almost didn't see the confused-looking youkai girl fly past her. Even then, she would have probably just ignored her had the girl not suddenly turned around and said in a surprised voice, "Reimu Hakurei?"

Reimu hit the brakes and turned around. "What?" she snapped. "This had better be damned good, or I swear…"

And then she recognized the girl.

"Whoa!" Reimu cried out. She immediately threw herself back, putting a good twenty feet between her and the girl. Her Ying-Yang Orbs sprang to life around her and started circling her waist as a handful of ofuda appeared in her right hand. "What the hell are you doing here?"

For her part, the girl didn't seem to be bothered by Reimu's sudden display of aggression. In fact, she seemed relieved. "It's you, right?" she said. She grinned. "Great, finally some luck! Um, I'm kind of…lost right now. And you know the Upside really well, right? So do you think you can help me?"

Reimu stared at her in disbelief. "Wait, are you serious? What are you even doing up here? You're not crazy again, are you?"

Utsuho Reiuji winced. "No, I'm not! I just had something I needed to do!"

"That something wouldn't involve burning young innocent shrine maidens into crispy little skeletons, would it?"

"No! I don't do those sorts of things anymore."

Regardless of her reassurances, Reimu still watched the Hell Raven warily. Having her above ground was enough to make anyone nervous. She still remembered what it had been like to battle her, all that overwhelming heat and sickening radiation. And then there was that extremely uncomfortable clean-up afterward. As such, Reimu's impressions of the girl were not pleasant.

Though from the looks of things, Utsuho was not suited up for war. Quite the contrary, she seemed to have left her control rod at home, leaving both of her arms bare. And she had covered herself up in an oversized yellow rain-coat cut away in the back to let her wings out. A matching yellow hat sat upon her head. Had Reimu not gotten a good look at her face, she might have mistaken her for an ordinary crow Tengu.

"Okay, but you still didn't answer my question," Reimu said, not dropping her guard one bit. "What are you doing out here?"

Utsuho bit her lower lip. "Uh, actually I'm…Do you know Remilia Scarlet?"

"Huh?" Reimu's head jerked back. "Remilia? Sure. She's a friend of mine. Why?"

"Because I'm looking for the Scarlet Devil Mansion." She held up an old map. The aging paper was soaked through and falling apart. "And this isn't really helping."

Reimu blinked. She opened her mouth to say something, but nothing appropriate came to mind. She tried again but just ended up closing it again without success. Finally she went for the default query and said, "What?"

"I, uh…Crap. Look, do you promise not to tell Orin?"

"Not tell Orin what?" Reimu said. "What are you doing here? Why are you looking for the SDM? Remilia owe you money or something?"

"No, it's just…This is going to sound kind of silly…"

Reimu held up her charms. "Talk, birdy. Or I guarantee that sounding silly will be the least of your worries."

To her surprise, her attempts at intimidation actually worked. "Uh, I just wanted to go and…give Remilia Scarlet my condolences."

"What."

"Well, you know what happened yesterday, right?"

"Yeah…"

"And you know what happened to Flandre Scarlet, right?"

Reimu slowly nodded. "Also yes. So?"

Utsuho looked confused. "So? I, uh, just wanted to say I'm sorry that that happened! See, back when Yukari was explaining the plan to us, I met them both and, well, I really liked Flandre."

"Wait up a second, are you telling me that you became friends with Flandre Scarlet?" Reimu gaped.

"Uh-huh. Why, was I not supposed to?"

Reimu didn't answer. She was having too much trouble wrapping her mind around the concept. Utsuho Reiuji. Flandre Scarlet. Friends. She tried to come up with an appropriate response to that, but the only phrase that came to mind was "Repent sinners, for the End is near".

"Anyway, I figured Remilia must be feeling awful about all that," Utsuho said. "I mean, she lost her baby sister. So I just wanted to show her some…I dunno, comradely support. I mean, we were on the same team, after all. Well, not exact same team. There were three teams, and Yukari put us in-"

"Yeah, I get it," Reimu muttered. "So you snuck out under Rin Kaenbyou's nose, all the way to the surface, just to give moral support to someone that you really didn't know at all. Just because you liked her sister." She took a deep breath, and started yelling, "And you never even once thought that this might be a bad idea?"

Utsuho blinked. "Uh, is it?"

Reimu almost preferred her when she was crazy. "Okay, okay, so you had good intentions. And maybe Remilia could use…"

Her voice trailed off as the pieces came together in her head. She thought back to her conversation with Mima back at Marisa's place, as the Spirit had supplied further details concerning what had gone down the day before. She remembered the stab of guilt she had felt when hearing about what had happened to the residents of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, how Flandre had been violently taken and Remilia and Sakuya injured. She had been confused by her own feelings then, as she had not been responsible for their predicament.

But now, perhaps that hadn't been the reason why she felt guilty. When she had heard that Marisa was ill, she had rushed right over to check on her condition. But after hearing about what had happened to Remilia, who while not as close to her as Marisa was still a friend of hers, what had been her reaction? Had she concerned about how Remilia was feeling? She knew that despite her haughty nature, the little vampire still cared deeply for her sister. And yet, upon hearing the news, Reimu's primary concern was the problems Yuuka could cause with Flandre under her control. Understandable, but supporting Remilia hadn't even entered her mind.

And yet, here was Utsuho Reiuji, someone who barely even knew her, risking getting herself in trouble to do just that.

Suddenly Reimu felt a whole lot worse. And a whole lot more annoyed. What with her altruistic mission to help Rin Satsuki because she had felt pity for Reisen Udongein and her concern for the direction Marisa was taking, she was starting to fear that something horrible was happening to her. She was starting to become a people person.

The thought of it actually nauseated her.

And what was worse, she was going to help this stupid, overpowered girl. Not only that, she was going to give Remilia her condolences as well. If only to get her stupid conscience to shut up.

"Reimu?" Utsuho said. "Are you daydreaming?"

"No, I'm not," Reimu growled. She sighed. "All right, the SDM's actually not too far from here, but you're still going the wrong way."

Utsuho stared. Then she started to smile. "So you'll help me?"

"This way," Reimu said shortly. She turned in the direction of the Misty Lake and took off. Behind her, Utsuho quickly followed, all the while happily humming to herself.

…

Despite the fact that it had been raining ever since yesterday afternoon, Hong Meiling had not budged from her spot in front of the gate. A transparent awning infused with some of Patchouli's spells had been spread from the wall to shield her from the weather, and a thick carpet had been placed on the ground over the wet grass. And so Hong had remained, sitting on her stool while Sakuya and the Ladies Scarlet had been out, fretfully awaiting their return.

And then they had returned, not through the gate as she had expected but straight into the foyer. And with one less person than they had left with.

After hearing the news, Hong had remained in place, moodily staring out at the forest. She did her best not to think. Thinking about it only made it worse. She concentrated on keeping an eye out for intruders and making sure that no one would disturb the remaining Lady Scarlet and doing her duty and keeping her eyes from watering up…

Someone was approaching from the mansion. Hong glanced as the small door set into the iron gate creaked open. Koakuma stood there, holding an umbrella overhead.

"Hi," Hong said.

"Hello," Koakuma responded. "Okay if I join you?"

Hong nodded, and Koakuma folded up her umbrella and walked around to sit next to her on the carpet. She leaned against the wall, folded her arms over her knees and glowered out at the world, much like Hong had been doing.

"Strange to see you out here," Hong said. "Or anyone else. Especially with the weather like this."

Koakuma shook her head. "I can't stay in there. Even with infinite space, it's stifling."

Hong nodded. "How are things?"

"Bad," Koakuma said. "Mistress Scarlet is still in the clock-tower, Miss Izayoi won't say anything other than quick orders, all the fairies are actually quiet for once, and Patchouli…" She shuddered. "I've never seen her like that. I think she's actually depressed."

"Are you sure it's a good idea to leave her like that?" Hong asked. "I mean, you are her assistant. Isn't it your duty?"

Koakuma shook her head. "Tokiko is with her. I just…needed to get out."

"Oh," Hong said. She sighed. "Afraid things ain't much better out here, though."

"Yeah, but you're not nearly as awkward as everyone else."

Hong blinked at her. "Meaning what?"

"Exactly what I said. How are you holding up, by the way? Have you gotten some sleep at least?"

A lump formed in Hong's throat. The truth was that she hadn't, a great rarity for her, but she didn't feel like talking about that. "Uh…do me a favor, and don't bring that up."

"Right," Koakuma sighed. "I get it."

"It's okay," Hong quickly assured her. She didn't want to drive the devil girl away. Right now she could use the company. "Sorry."

The two of them watched the rain in silence, and then Hong said, "I hope she's not too scared."

Koakuma looked at her. "Huh? Who?"

"Flandre," Hong said. "I would be."

Koakuma quickly averted her eyes. "Yeah, me too. I just wonder if we'll ever-"

"We will," Hong said.

"But how can you be so-"

"She's coming back," Hong said. This time there was a hint of steel in her voice. "We're getting her back."

Koakuma didn't look at her. She simply nodded her head, slowly. "I sure hope so."

"We will," Hong insisted.

"Okay, but-"

Their conversation was interrupted when the sound of voices reached them. Someone was coming, and this time it wasn't from the mansion.

"-thought it would be bigger."

"It's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside."

"Really? How?"

"They've got some kind of weird time-space manipulation thing going. Don't ask me to explain it though, it's really confusing."

Hong stood to her feet, muscles tensing up. At her side, Koakuma was doing the same. However, they both relaxed when they saw who one of the newcomers was.

"Reimu Hakurei?" Hong said.

…

The maiden shrine stopped. "Yeah, it's me. Hi, Hong. Koakuma."

"Hello," the devil girl said, though she sounded confused.

Remilia's two servants seemed rather unsure of what to do. That came as no surprise. While Reimu was normally welcome at the mansion, these were extraordinary circumstances. She doubted that they had been instructed in the treatment of visitors in the event of one of the Scarlet Sisters' death. She also doubted that they had any idea who Utsuho was, and as a rule they tended to be wary of strangers.

Utsuho moved to step forward, presumably to explain their purpose. Reimu quickly stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "No, they know me. Let me do the talking."

The Hell Raven nodded and quickly retreated a few steps back.

Hong Meiling said, "What the heck are you doing here?" Then she winced. "Whoops, sorry. Be polite." She cleared her throat and said, "Uh, may I respectfully request what the heck your reason for being here is?"

"Not that much better, Hong," Koakuma said.

"Well, uh, listen," Reimu said. "I heard what had…happened yesterday and thought I should come by."

"Why?" Hong said.

Now Reimu was getting confused. Though she sometimes needed waking up, Hong Meiling was always perfectly happy to greet her and let her by. Had Flandre's sort-of death really affected her that much? Did she even know Flandre on a personal level? After all, Hong spent all of her time just outside of the mansion's grounds while the deranged vampire rarely left her basement.

"To…give emotional support," she said slowly. "I mean, Remilia is my friend, after all."

"Oh," Hong said. "Then where were you a few days ago, when she was twisting in Yukari Yakumo's grasp?"

Reimu stared. "Say what?"

"She needed help then. Why didn't you come?"

…

Originally, the Scarlet Devil Mansion did not possess windows. The reason for this was simple. Windows let in sunlight. And though neither of the Scarlet Sisters were particularly active during the day, Remilia was not keen about being denied access to any part of her house, no matter what the hour.

All this had changed in recent years. As Remilia became more and more integrated with Gensokyo's population, she found herself entertaining guests on a fairly consistent basis. And the complete lack of window was, to be quite blunt, inhospitable. Remilia would permit no one to ever say that she was an ungracious hostess.

To that end, windows had been installed, ranging from great arching openings with gothic frames and occasionally stained-glass interiors to smaller, simpler designs, depending on what part of the house you happened to be. A great amount of money had been spent on the materials Patchouli had needed to coat each and every window with a filtering spell that drained incoming light of all harmful properties while still allowing them to illuminate the rooms within, but in the end, the mansion had become a slightly more welcoming place. At least, it was more aesthetically pleasing.

While she had never said anything, Sakuya had been quite relieved about the change. While she had become long accustomed to a lack of light even before entering her Mistress' service, she was still Human. And as such, she appreciated a little daylight every now and then.

Furthermore, the windows also gave her another advantage. For one, it was easier to check up on Meiling and see if she was doing her job. For another, sometimes she would be passing one by and so happen to glance outside only to see something that needed her attention, something that Meiling had overlooked. It didn't happen often, though that more due to there being nothing to see rather than any observational abilities on Meiling's part. But it did happen. Such as when she had glimpsed out and caught Mima and Marisa Kirisame harassing Koakuma.

And then there was today, when she looked outside and saw, to her utter disbelief, Reimu Hakurei standing at the gate with a winged youkai girl. That in itself wasn't all that unusual. What was surprising was that she was shouting at Meiling. And Meiling was shouting back.

…

"She would have been there for you!" Hong was yelling. "She's helped you out plenty of times, but you couldn't be there for her even once!"

"I'm here right now!" Reimu shouted back. Now this sort of interaction she was perfectly comfortable with. "See me? See me being right here?"

"Hong, calm down," Koakuma pleaded with her coworker. "This isn't solving anything."

She was ignored. "Yeah, but couldn't have shown up earlier, when they could have used you?" Hong said. "Oh no, it's only after there's nothing you can do that you decided to show up. And now Sakuya's all messed up and the Lady Remilia Scarlet's heart is torn to pieces and the Lady Flandre-"

That last sentence ended in a choking sob. Hong quickly turned away from them. "Hong?" Koakuma said hesitatingly as she reached up to touch her shoulder. Her hand was shaken off.

Reimu and Utsuho exchanged an uncomfortable look. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get you yelled at," Utsuho whispered. "I'll go-"

"You'll do nothing of the sort," said a calm but commanding voice. Everyone looked up to see the gates swinging open. Beyond, Sakuya Izayoi was half-walking, half-limping down the front path toward them, an umbrella held open above her.

At first glance the maid appeared to be perfectly fine. Her uniform was neatly pressed, not a hair was out of place and her skin was as flawless as ever. But Reimu quickly picked up on a number of indications that all was not right. First, there was the most obvious sign, the limp itself. Though it was slight, she was still making an effort to avoid putting weight on her left foot. Also, there was her right arm. Reimu had worked with Sakuya a number of times, and always interacted with her whenever she visited the mansion or Remilia decided to visit the shrine. As such, she had become familiar with how she moved. And though her posture was always straight and dignified, her right hand had a tendency to hover near her hip, near where her knives were secreted beneath her skirt. Reimu had even noticed her fingers twitching on a couple of occasions. No doubt it was unconscious on the maid's part, to always be ready to snatch up a weapon at a moment's notice. But now her right arm hung limp and unmoving. It wasn't terribly conspicuous, but Reimu still noticed, and she recognized what it meant. Sakuya recently had serious damage healed by magic, and her body still hadn't adjusted.

And then there were her eyes. Sakuya's default state of mind was actually not too different from Reimu's own. While she certainly had better manners and a greater sense of social conduct, Sakuya was not one to suffer fools lightly, and could also be very straightforward in her thinking. However, her bearing was haughtier than the shrine maiden's. Reimu wasn't sure if that was due to Remilia's influence or it just came naturally to her, but the end results were the same. Sakuya answered to a grand total of one person. As far as she was concerned, while on the mansion grounds she outranked everyone else.

But now, even that was changed. While the pride and lack of tolerance was there, it was also joined by an incredible weariness. Sakuya was tired, and not just physically. She had the look of someone who was used to being in control but felt that control slipping, and as such was holding herself together through sheer force of will. Perhaps because someone had to. If Hong's uncharacteristic anger was any indication, the whole mansion was probably seven kinds of screwed up at the moment.

But perhaps most telling was the fact that Sakuya was actually taking the time to walk out toward them. Most of the time, she used that pocketwatch of hers to instantly appear in their presence. That she was not actually worried Reimu. What exactly had happened to her?

Suddenly Reimu remembered why she didn't like being a people person. In addition to the attached annoyances, doing people-things meant that you showed up at the worst of times.

"Meiling," Sakuya said to the gatekeeper. "You do not shout at guests. Ever. No matter the situation. Am I understood?"

"Yes," Hong muttered. She reluctantly inclined her head in Reimu's direction. "My…apologies."

"Uh, don't worry about it," Reimu said. She desperately wanted to be somewhere else. Anywhere else.

Sakuya kept her glare focused on Hong. "We will be discussing this later. Koakuma, break time's over. Your employer needs you."

Judging by how quickly the devil girl exited the scene, she likely would have teleported had she been able.

Her subordinates dealt with, Sakuya turned toward Reimu and Utsuho. "Reimu Hakurei. If it pleases you, would you and your…"

Her voice faltered and her eyes widened ever so slightly when she recognized Utsuho. However the brief slip vanished quickly, and her expression was as neutral as ever.

"…companion accompany me, please?" she finished.

"Sure," Reimu said, though she felt anything but. "Whatever you say."

She and Utsuho followed Sakuya through the gates. Next to them, Hong stood stiffly at attention and kept her eyes focused straight ahead. Reimu wondered if she should say anything to her but couldn't think of anything to say. Utsuho, however, leaned over to her and said, "Sorry we got you in trouble. We didn't mean it."

Hong didn't look at her, but she did briefly nod in acknowledgement.

Reimu sighed and hurried to catch up with Sakuya, who, despite her limp, had somehow managed to put a decent amount of distance between them.

"I apologize for that less-than-courteous greeting, Miss Hakurei," Sakuya said as she opened the mansion's front door. "You unfortunately chose to visit at a time that has put everyone on edge. Still, that is no excuse for such rudeness. Rest assured, Meiling will be disciplined."

"Whoa, hey, no need for that!" Reimu said quickly. "I mean, it's no big deal."

"It is to me."

"Look, I know you guys are all big on hospitality and appearances and all, but seriously. Let this one slide. I mean it."

"Are you certain this is what you want?"

"Hell, yeah! I mean, I'm not here to get anyone in trouble! Kind of the opposite, in fact."

"As you wish," Sakuya said. She stepped aside to permit her guests.

"But if it's Lady Remilia you wish to see, then I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed," Sakuya said as Reimu and Utsuho walked inside. "No doubt you heard of the calamity that has befallen this household."

"Yeah," Reimu said. "That's…kind of why we're here, actually." She noticed that Utsuho was gaping at the cathedral-sized foyer with her mouth hanging wide open. She nudged the Hell Raven with her elbow. "Stop staring!" she hissed.

Utsuho quickly closed her mouth.

"I see," Sakuya said. She folded up her umbrella and placed it in a nearby stand. "Then is your visit to offer assistance or to simply offer sympathies?"

"The second," Reimu said. "For both of us." She looked at Utsuho, who didn't seem to notice that she was being cued.

"Unyu?" Utsuho said when she saw Reimu staring at her. Then she got it. "Oh! Yeah, the same for me."

"I see," Sakuya said again. She turned her attention to Utsuho. "Miss Reiuji, if I may take your hat and coat?"

"Uh, okay," Utsuho said. She took off her yellow rubber hat and handed it to Sakuya. Her coat was then slipped of her shoulders and over her wings. Beneath she was wearing just a simple white blouse and a grey skirt, though the red eye of Yatagarasu once again stared out at the world. Utsuho's weather gear was hung on one of the waiting coat-stands that stood near the door, where they dripped onto the polished marble floor.

"Well, that's very kind of you," Sakuya as she hung up Utsuho's clothes. "But as I was saying, the Mistress is currently indisposed. She had made it clear that she does not wish to see anyone."

"Indisposed?" Reimu asked.

"Yes. She is grieving the loss of her sister. As such, she has secluded herself in the clock tower and refuses to see anyone."

"Ah, gotcha," Reimu said. That did sound like something Remilia would do. "But…Okay, I know things are awful right now, but it's not like Flandre's gone for good, right? I mean, her essence is still preserved, so all we have to do is take down Yuuka, rescue Flandre and make her a new body, right? So there's still hope."

Sakuya pursed her lips. She stood in place, deep in thought. Then she held up her hand and snapped her fingers.

Nothing happened.

Sakuya's face grew harder. She snapped her fingers again, louder. This time she got a reaction as a fairy with purple hair in a pale blue maid outfit flew up to her. Sakuya whispered something in her ear. The girl nodded and flew off.

"Please, follow me," Sakuya said. She started moving toward one of the many side-doors. Mystified, Reimu and Utsuho followed her.

The room she was leading them to turned out to be a small parlor. A round booth with crimson cushioned seats surrounded a single-legged circular table in the far wall. Above the booth was a large window that admitted what would normally be a lovely view of the flower gardens. As it was, the dreary weather ruined the effect.

Despite the fact that it had taken them less than a moment to get there from the foyer, the purple-haired fairy had beaten them there and was just finishing setting down a light tea, complete with a lemon-glazed sesame seed cake. Reimu was impressed. Fairies were notoriously hard to train, and Sakuya had complained about their lack of discipline a number of times. Still, they could work fast when motivated.

"Thank you, Lillian," Sakuya said as she dismissed the fairy. To her guests, she said, "Please, sit down."

Reimu and Utsuho scooted into one end of the booth while Sakuya took the other.

Sakuya's hands moved toward the teapot and her mouth opened, but Reimu cut her off. "No, skip all the maid stuff. I know you take that whole hospitality thing seriously, but I'd really appreciate if you'd just get right to what you want to tell us. We'll serve ourselves, thanks."

Utsuho looked a little disappointed. "But can I still have some…" she said, pointing meaningfully at the cake.

"Go ahead, take the whole thing," Reimu said as she pushed the plate towards her.

"As you wish," Sakuya murmured. She moved her hands away from the teapot and folded them in front of her. "And the reason I wanted to talk to you is simple. Though neither of you are especially social people, you are still one of the few actual friends Remilia has." She turned her face toward Utsuho, who was hungrily demolishing a large slice of cake. "As for you, despite limited interaction, you are perhaps one of the only people to actually make friends with Flandre. And it seems that your feelings for her were strong enough for you to come here in person in order to pay your respects, even though your superiors no doubt would have preferred you to have remained safely in the Underground."

A guilty look passed over Utsuho's face, which was still full of cake. She looked down. "Well, yeah."

"As such, I believe you two deserve to know exactly what happened to Flandre," Sakuya said. "It might help you better understand Mistress Remilia's current condition. And who knows? Perhaps you will find a way to help her."

Reimu nodded. "Okay, fair enough."

"But first, tell me. How much do you know?" Sakuya asked. "I assume that you were given secondhand information from Yukari Yakumo. What did she tell you?"

"That Yuuka severely kicked your asses," Reimu said honestly. "That both you and Remilia got the crap beat of you, and that Flandre got herself dusted but Yuuka managed to trap her essence in a sealing crystal and took it with her when she left."

"She did the same thing to us," Utsuho put in. "Only all three of us got killed. Except that Orin and I both came back okay, but Satori was the one that…" Her voice grew small. "…got taken…"

Sakuya nodded sympathetically. "I understand. And while everything you were told is completely correct, there is one important aspect that Yukari left out, likely because she didn't know."

Reimu leaned forward. "Yeah? What's that?"

"Before her murder of Flandre, Yuuka Kazami took steps to immobilize both of the Scarlet sisters. They were both restrained and completed prevented from moving-"

"Even Flandre?" Reimu asked. She knew how strong the little vampire was.

"Yes."

"Ouch."

"Indeed. But what's more is that Kazami took pains to give their individual imprisonments a unique twist. Remilia was gagged and thus prevented from speaking, but could see everything that was happening. Whereas Flandre was blinded, but was allowed to speak freely."

Utsuho dropped her cake. "Oh, wow," she breathed.

Reimu looked at her, slightly annoyed that the ditzy Hell Raven had understood the significance before she had. "What? What would that do?"

Sakuya's eyes dipped down. "Understand, Reimu, that despite her advanced years, Flandre still had a child's mind. Her madness prevented her from mentally maturing. As such, she was entirely ruled by her emotions, which were always strong."

"Yeah, I know. So?"

"So imagine what it would be like for someone like her, someone so used to power to be suddenly rendered powerless. Not only that, but there was nothing preventing her sense of smell. So she knew that Remilia was there, but had no idea why her sister was refusing to answer her cries for help."

"Oh," Reimu said. She couldn't help but feel a little dense. "Well, that was…kind of dickish."

"Dickish. Yes, I suppose that is one way of putting it," Sakuya muttered. "But while that bit of cruelty could be dismissed as simple pettiness, what followed next cannot. You see, Flandre received her answer. From Kazami."

"What?"

"Yuuka Kazami spoke to her then, pretending to be Remilia. She imitated the Mistress' voice and speech patterns perfectly. And she told her in no uncertain terms that Flandre was unloved and unwanted by her sister, that she would always be nothing but a burden at best and a danger at worst, and that it was a wonder that Remilia had put up with her for so long."

Utsuho made a small choking sound and sank a little into the cushions. As for herself, Reimu just felt sick to her stomach. "She…she said all that?"

"Indeed. It was not long after this that Flandre was staked through the heart and her essence imprisoned in the very crystal intended for Kazami."

"She thought Remilia was the one killing her," Utsuho whispered. "Oh my gods, she thought her sister did it."

"Yes," Sakuya said. "I was only just recovering from being knocked out by a large chunk of stone at the time, so I was unable to stop her. However, this did not prevent me from witnessing the whole thing." Sakuya took in a slow but deep breath through her nose and gently sighed it out. "So now you see why the Mistress grieves. It is true that Flandre is not gone for good. In fact, there is every likelihood that Yuuka will restore her to life herself. And therein lies the problem. Flandre has already had her spirit broken due to her manipulations. Upon resurrection, the only thing she will know is that her own sister, whom she loved dearly, not only rejected her but executed her as well. She will be extremely vulnerable to further manipulation. As such, even should Remilia have her sister returned, Flandre will most like have been taught to hate her."

A heavy silence fell over the table.

"And that is not the end of it," Sakuya continued after it had passed. "When Yukari Yakumo found out, she was extremely displeased. And she made it known that we were not released from our obligations until Flandre had ceased to be a threat. One way, or another."

"Oh," was all Reimu could think of to say. Utsuho just buried her face in her palm. Her shoulders started to shake.

"Flandre has been added to her lists of threats that need to be eliminated. And we all know how zealously she seeks to cross names off of that list. As such, we have every reason to believe that Yukari will use our knowledge against her. Or perhaps she intends for us to do the deed ourselves. Either way, Remilia will most likely be called on to kill her own-"

Reimu jerked in surprise as Utsuho suddenly jumped to her feet. "Hey, what are you…Utsuho!" she cried as the girl ran from the room.

"Oh," Sakuya said as they watched her go. "I did not expect that." She turned to Reimu. "You probably should go after her. I'll relay your condolences to Remilia. Hopefully, she will receive them."

"Yeah, thanks," Reimu muttered. She quickly ran out the door and from there out of the mansion in pursuit.

Utsuho was nowhere to be found on the front grounds. Reimu growled as her eyes darted over the immaculately kept lawn. Maybe she was still inside? But no, that would make no sense. Utsuho had never been in the mansion before. Where would she run to?

Reimu jogged out of the front gate. Hong Meiling was still there, standing at attention.

"Hey," Reimu said. "Have you seen a crying Hell Raven run this way?"

Hong nodded and pointed into the forest.

"Thanks!" Reimu said. She took off running. She hoped Utsuho hadn't gone far. She did not want to look for her among the trees.

Fortunately, she had not. The Hell Raven was sitting against a tree and crying into her hands. Reimu slowly approached her.

"Utsuho?" she said. "Hey, you okay?"

"No," Utsuho said. She took in a deep, shaking breath and blew her nose on her skirt. "I…just don't get it," she said.

Reimu frowned. "Don't get what?"

"Yuuka Kazami. How could she…" Utsuho swallowed back a lump before continuing. "L-look, I fought her. And she killed me too. But sh-sh-he didn't just blow me up or anything. No, she beat me up, turned on my internal reactor's self-destruct mechanism, and crushed my control rod so I c-couldn't turn it off."

"What," Reimu said, staring.

"Yeah. Yukari's the only reason the whole place didn't get turned into a nuclear wasteland. But that's not the point. The point is that when she was doing those things to me…" Utsuho looked up at her with confused, tear-filled eyes. "She was enjoying it, Reimu! She wasn't like how I was at all. She wasn't crazy, at least not like I was. There were no confusing voices in her head. She knew that she was hurting people, and she liked it! How…how can someone like that even exist?"

The question made Reimu think. For herself, Reimu had long become accustomed to the existence of evil in the world. She knew that there were bad people out there, just as she knew that there were decent folks that needed protecting. It was simply the way things were. And while she wasn't so calloused as to not be repulsed by acts of extreme depravity, the idea that a person capable of such actions could exist did not surprise her. Disgust her, yes. Fill her with revulsion, yes. But not disbelief.

Still, how could she explain that to Utsuho? The girl was obviously heavily sheltered. The worst she had seen was her own loss of control, and there had been no real evil involved in that. Just a series of misunderstandings and accidents. This was something else entirely.

Reimu sighed and said, "Look, I don't know why people like that exist. I don't know why there's evil in the world. But I've been in this job for a long time. I've fought plenty of monsters."

"Like me?" Utsuho asked.

"Nah, you're not a monster. Just kind of…Never mind. I mean real monsters, like Yuuka. People who get off on other people's pain. I've gotten to see the world at its worst. And you know what I've learned?"

Confused, Utsuho shook her head.

"I've learned that, sooner or later, people like Yuuka lose. Evil loses eventually. It's practically self-destructive. No matter how big it might seem, no matter how cruel, or powerful, or whatever, it can't win in the end. Yuuka may seem like this huge monster right now, but her days are numbered. And do you know why?"

Again, Utsuho shook her head.

"Because people like us exist," Reimu explained. "People like you and me. People who won't tolerate her actions. People who are going to make sure that she's stopped. And we're not the only ones. Yuuka may be strong, but so are we."

"But she'll try to kill us!"

"Okay, so she will," Reimu said with a shrug. "And hey, maybe she'll pull it off. Maybe she'll wipe up both out and destroy any trace of our existence to the point that we're completely erased from history. That'll just mean someone else will take our place and succeed where we failed. But I don't think that'll happen."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Hey, Yuuka may be wicked strong and all, but look at what we have on our side. That gang Yukari brought together? You and the others? That was just a fraction of the firepower we have. And once Yukari gets better, you can bet Yuuka's going to be at the very top of her list, with her name underlined, highlighted and in all caps. She is going to be pissed, and she is going to do every in her outrageous amount of power to make sure Yuuka never hurts anyone ever again."

That didn't seem to reassure Utsuho all that much. "But…Satori and Flandre will still…"

"Yeah, and that's where we come in. Let Yukari worry about taking the evil bitch out. We can worry about saving them while they're busy fighting each other."

"But, what if it's like that maid said? What if Flandre's fighting against us?"

"Then…" Reimu sighed. "Then we'll deal with that when the time comes. It'll be hard, yeah, but not difficult. People get brainwashed all the time, and it's not impossible to break them out of it. To be truthful…" Even though it was a pointless gesture, Reimu still reflexively glanced over her shoulders before continuing in a lower voice. "To be truthful, I'm already trying to save another little girl who was kind of the same way you were."

"You mean she got a bunch of power jammed into her and went really nuts?"

"Exactly," Reimu said. "And as I understand it, she has a voice whispering in her head, like you did. And that voice is probably just as evil as Yuuka is, if not more. But I'm going to try to save her anyway. And I've already got people helping me, powerful people who specialize in helping girls like her. And I'm sure they'll be willing to help Flandre as well. So don't give up, okay?"

Utsuho nodded. Then she frowned and said, "Wait, this girl…Is it Rin Set…Sut…Satsuko? Satseke?"

"Satsuki," Reimu said, blinking. "You've heard of her?"

"Uh-huh." Utsuho wiped her eyes with her arm. "Orin told me about the meeting. And I think everyone's heard of the bounty."

"Right, that," Reimu groaned. "Freaking Cirno."

Utsuho looked at up at her, her face thoughtful. "You're really going to try to save this Rin Satsuki person? Even though everyone else is after her?"

"Yeah," Reimu said. "I am." She tried to make herself sound confident, but didn't feel that she had succeeded. She also left out the part that she had no idea how she was going to do it.

However, it got Utsuho to smile. "Good," she said. "I'm glad." She looked up at the branches overhead. "I, uh, probably should head back. I left a note for Orin, but she's still going to be mad at me."

"Probably a good idea," Reimu said. She looked over her shoulder. "You wanna go back for your hat and coat?"

"No, it's okay," Utsuho said. She stood up and dusted herself off. "I don't really need them."

Her body started to glow a dull yellow. Rainwater hissed and evaporated before it even touched her skin.

"Whoa, okay then!" Reimu said as she jumped back. "But for the gods' sakes, don't light up before you're in the sky! I don't want get irradiated again."

"Oops! Sorry." Her skin returned to normal.

"That's better," Reimu said. "Do you need help finding your way back?"

Utsuho shook her head. "No, I can see the Youkai Mountain from here. And I know how to get to the reactor from there."

"All right. Well, uh, take care then."

Utsuho smiled at her. And then, before Reimu knew what was going on, she found herself caught in a tight embrace.

"Thanks for everything," Utsuho said. "I'm sorry I tried to set you and Marisa on fire that one time. And don't worry. I won't tell anyone that you're sneaking around behind Yukari's back."

Reimu grimaced, though it was due more to the close contact than fear of physical injury. "Uh, thanks. I'd appreciate it."

Utsuho pulled back and put a hand on Reimu's shoulder. "You know, I can see why evil always loses, if it's got people like you fighting it."

Before Reimu could even begin to think of a response, the Hell Raven had shot up above the treetops. A moment later there was a yellow flash and the beating of mighty wings, which quickly soared away in the direction of the Youkai Mountain.

Completely befuddled, Reimu watched her go. She shook her head. That was the second girl she barely knew to give her a hug this month. She wondered if she should like it and decided that no, she did not.

Following that, her mind returned to the Remilia problem. What Sakuya had told her turned her stomach. All things considered, it was not at all surprising that Remilia was acting the way she was. Though Reimu had never really quite gotten familial relationships, she knew how seriously people took them. And if Remilia was to be used to destroy Flandre…

Reimu swallowed. As much as she had talked up her team of experts, they were still limited in what they could actually do. In fact, she doubted they could have helped Flandre as she normally was. All things considered, breaking a brainwashed Flandre Scarlet out of the control of someone like Yuuka Kazami was probably way outside of their abilities.

But still, that didn't mean they couldn't try. And while Reimu had some very strong doubts about her ability to rescue the Scarlet Sisters from a horrible fate, there was at least one thing she could do for Remilia. Hong Meiling had been right. She hadn't even bothered to look up the vampire when she had first heard that Remilia had gotten herself in trouble. But there was nothing preventing her from making an effort now.

Reimu took to the sky and flew back to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Sakuya had told her that Remilia had holed herself up in the clock tower. Reimu headed over to the giant clock's face and stopped right in front of it. Even with the clock between them, vampires had exceptional hearing. If Remilia was in there, she would be able to hear Reimu just fine.

"Remilia?" Reimu called. "It's me, Reimu. I…" She hesitated. What was she supposed to say now?

"Look, I heard about what happened, and…Ah, damn it. I'm no good at these sorts of things, so I'll just lay it out for you straight. Yeah, you did a really stupid thing when you tried to blackmail Yukari, and yeah, it was kind of your fault that you got into this mess in the first place. Still…" she grimaced, and went on "…still, I should have been there. I should have at least tried to talk to you. I didn't and…Godsdamn it, this is hard. I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry I wasn't there. Though for the record, you still should have tried to talk to me too, so I guess we're even there."

"But anyway, I know you think that you're going to have to kill your sister. I know you think that you don't have any choice in the matter. Well, that's not true. See, I've been talking to a lot of people, and we're not exactly happy with the way things are going. This whole 'shoot first, worry about who was innocent never' mindset people seem to be in. And yeah, I know. Sounds weird, coming from me, but I'm being serious here. And I for one don't want you or your sister to be just another casualty."

"So all that to say this. You're not alone, Remilia. I know it seems like it, but you're not. And I'm going to do all that I can to make sure that Flandre comes out okay, all right? Do you hear me in there?"

There was no answer. Reimu frowned and pressed her ear against the clock face. "Remilia? Are you even in there? Come on, don't let me make such a big sappy speech and then not say anything. At least tell me-"

Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong!

The hour had struck noon. Loudly. Reimu cried out as the sound of the bells slammed through her head. The world swam confusingly and the next thing she knew she was well outside of the mansion's boundaries with her head pounding and her ears ringing.

Reimu groaned as she clutched at her skull. Her vision was still wonky, and it was difficult to keep her head from wobbling. Figures. She tried to do something nice for someone and got her ear blasted in return. Byakuren hadn't been kidding when she said that the right thing to do was rarely easy.

And that was then that she noticed that the raindrops had started to land on her skin. Furthermore, it had grown a great deal colder. The charm had worn off.

"I hate today," she said to no one in particular.

…

Though she was very late to meet Sanae to go on patrol, Reimu did not go straight toward Moriya Shrine. Rather, she made a slight detour back to Hakurei Shrine. For one, she really needed a new change of clothes. For another, it was entirely possible that she had some of her own anti-weather charms still stashed somewhere. Heck, if worst came to worst, she could always bring out that ugly old umbrella of hers, even though it was so worn through that it did little to discourage the rain from fulfilling its purpose.

Though it wasn't a long trip, Reimu's head was once again filled with problems that she really didn't want to deal with. Satsuki. The Shadow Youkai. Yukari's increasing ruthless. These had now been joined by Marisa's potential downward spiral, Mima possibly being up to her old tricks, Remilia's personal hell and Flandre's razor-edged predicament. And that wasn't even going into the chaos could erupt in the Underground due to Satori's captivity and the tremendous amount of problems Yuuka presented all by herself.

Reimu wondered if Sanae would be willing to let her sit this day out. If anything else, she could really use a nap.

Even while above the clouds, the shrine was still easy to pick out. Though Yukari's barrier did not extend high enough to be visible, she could still see the pink glow. Reimu adjusted her path and swooped back down. One of the upsides to the barrier was that it kept the rain out, and for once she was eager to be inside it.

However, as she approached, she saw something that made her slow down and stare. Though it didn't seem possible, it appeared that her day was now about to become even more stressful.

There was a young woman sitting on the steps just outside of the barrier, one that Reimu recognized instantly. And all things considered, there was no way her being here could mean anything good.

"This is getting ridiculous," Reimu muttered. She allowed herself one luxurious sigh and roll of her eyes and then headed down to confront this new annoyance.

The girl looked up as she approached. She immediately leapt to her feet and clutched at the traveling pack that had been sitting next to her. "Oh, thank the gods, you're here!" she breathed in relief. "I…" Then she caught the glare Reimu was sending her way and faltered. "Oh. Uh, hello?"

"Hi," Reimu said without a hint of welcome. "Look. No offense, but I'm having a bad day. So what the hell are you doing here?"

…

Reimu's having a very busy day.

Okay, so due to…certain circumstances (which I will not be discussing), I didn't get the chance to make any author's notes for the last chapter. So I'll just put my final thoughts on The Storm arc here.

As I said before, The Storm was probably the darkest the story has ever gotten. It was also the craziest it has gotten. As such, the last chapter utterly smashed the record for the number of responses a single chapter has gotten. Many of them were very positive. At the same time, many were rather negative. In fact, I do believe Imperfect Metamorphosis now has something of a hatedom developing. It was kind of expected though, give the aforementioned craziness and the use of some very controversial plot twists. However, the strange thing about it all is that the entirety of that arc actually wasn't part of the overall plan. A good chunk of this story had been planned out well over a year ago, but The Storm only really came into being a few months ago, when I realized that that the Yukari vs. Yuuka rivalry had been built up so much that I probably should give them a good, solid confrontation. Otherwise, they wouldn't have even met face-to-face for like another year or so. And at the same time, I resolved to make it as over-the-top as possible. Still, like just about every other part of this story, I severely underestimated how much the idea would grow. For awhile I was afraid that I wouldn't have enough material to fill three chapter's worth of a single fight. Obviously that turned out to not be a problem. Furthermore, numerous developments beyond people pounding the crap out of each other appeared as well, which could take this story to places that I had not anticipated and solve some future plot problems that I had been puzzling over. Remember how a few chapters ago I mentioned how I was looking forward to the unexpected places the plot could go? This would definitely be Exhibit A.

But the arc also served another purpose. As many people pointed out, the Yukari vs. Yuuka thing, while a lot of fun, was growing too large, to the point where it was overshadowing everything else, especially poor Rin and Rumia. And Yuuka, despite only appearing in order to give Yukari another thing to worry about, was simply growing to dominate the story in every way. I'm sure everyone will agree that this wasn't necessarily a bad thing. But still, the other characters needed some breathing room as well. So The Storm essentially amped up the rivalry until it hit critical mass and literally blew apart, effectively taking out both Yukari and Yuuka and putting them on the bench for the time being. Don't worry though. They'll both be back before you know it. It's just time to take a break from them and give the other characters a chance to develop.

Which brings us to this chapter. In many ways, it acts as both an epilogue for The Storm (and many of the chapters before it) and also as a prologue for the coming arc. It was kind of strange, writing something that was almost all talking so soon after something that was almost all action. And given its length and the huge amount of information already known to the audience being regurgitated and discussed, I won't blame you if you found the slow pace and constant rehashing of old information to be kind of dull at times. But still, I do feel it was necessary. Some stuff needed to be digested, other points needed to be introduced, and a change of pace was desperately needed. If Imperfect Metamorphosis was a TV show, then the last chapter would have been a season finale. The crashing train has come to rest. Now it's time to take things slow for awhile and build up steam again before pointing the next train at that penny on the tracks.

All right, other news. As everyone now knows, the full version of Ten Desires has been released. And as I mentioned on TV Tropes and Spacebattles, finally meeting the new characters has filled me with a sense of excitement, a measure of disappointment, and a feeling of relief. Excitement because hey, new characters! And they're pretty interesting too. I especially like the Seiga/Yoshika dynamic. The disappointment is because WHERE THE HELL IS MY MIMA? Yeah, I know there are some issues with the people whom ZUN worked with on the PC-98 games holding the rights to the missing characters. But are they simply not speaking to each other or something? Was there a falling out? Would securing the rights to one character really be so difficult? Bah. Anyway, rant over. The relief is because although there's no sign of Mima, the plot of Ten Desires also doesn't really contradict IM, so I do believe I'll be able to weave it into the plot. Already working on some ideas for Miko and her crew, though don't expect to see them any time soon.

And moving onto business. I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that the next update is going to be a new RoSD chapter, which seriously needs some attention. But the bad news is that after that goes up, I'm unfortunately going to have to go on another planned hiatus. I know, having one so soon after the last few chapters have been so late kind of sucks. But right now, working on this story from 10PM to 2-4AM every night hopped up on energy drinks is starting to burn me out, to the point where it's becoming kind of a chore, and I don't want it to become a chore. Also, I've been meaning to go back and spruce up the older chapters and fix some editing errors while filling in some plot holes. And there are some stories I've said I'd read and review that I've been putting off, so those will be taken care of as well. It shouldn't be too long though. Don't worry, this isn't going be one of those indefinite hiatuses that never ends. I just need to recharge and take care of something things. I do want to see this story through to the end.

And finally, I should just mention that each and every one of Marisa's hallucinations was actually based upon a hallucination that I've experienced myself, either while sick or half-asleep. Yes, even the French Maids. Boy, was that a weird night.

Until next time, everyone!