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.

52. Reparations

Reparations

Note: probably should have mentioned this last chapter, but unless they directly follow one another, these scenes do not necessarily occur in the order as they are described. In fact, they probably don't all happen on the same day.

Reimu had always been an early riser. Even though her job of youkai extermination often kept her out late and left her drained, she always found herself rising with the sun whether she wanted to or not. Genji often harped on her never taking advantage of the extra time to actually see to the shrine's functions and upkeep, but damn it, if she was to be up at that ungodly hour, then she wasn't going to suffer any more for it.

As such, while the events of the previous day had emotionally exhausted her, Reimu found her eyes open wide while the sky was still a cold silver and the early birds exchanged gossip.

Grumbling to herself, she sat up, yawned, and slipped off her futon. Reisen was still asleep, so Reimu moved as quietly as she could while washing up and changing her clothes.

As she was slipping the last sleeve into place, she noticed that a most wonderful smell was drifting in from the outside. The night before, while Reisen had made a full dinner for both of them, neither had felt much like eating. Still, Reimu knew better than to go to bed with an empty stomach and had forced herself to finish her portion anyway. But while she wasn't as hungry as she would have been otherwise, the smell of fried sausage, scrambled eggs, and freshly baked bread was so heavenly that she felt famished anyway.

Moving to the outside, she found Remilia sitting in the shadows of the back porch, facing the mountain and the rising sun. Sakuya was standing dutifully next to her. A small table had been set up, on which was a covered plate and a cup of freshly squeezed juice. There was no plate set for Remilia, so Reimu supposed that the vampire had already eaten, which made her grateful. Reimu didn't mind dining with Remilia per se, but the smell of her meals was a bit on the nauseating side.

As for the vampire herself, Remilia looked…better. Not by much though. She was still as emancipated as she had been the day before, and there was an air of sadness about her. But that was a step up from the soul-crushing depression she had been in when Reimu had gone to bed. Which was surprising, actually. Vampires were naturally melodramatic, and their funks tended to last days. Maybe she had gotten it all out of her system during her self-imposed isolation.

Seeing the shrine maiden at the door, Remilia turned to her and smiled. "Good morning Reimu," she said. Her voice had a bit of a quaver to it, but remained steady.

"Morning," Reimu said, stepping out and closing the door behind her. "Um, is that for me?"

"Naturally."

"Thanks." Needing no further prompting, Reimu knelt down in front of the table and dug in. Despite her profession, she didn't mutter a word of thanks to the gods. Though she was on speaking terms with many of them, none lived at her shrine. She would start thanking them for her meals once they helped bring in the income.

But she was very grateful to Remilia and Sakuya, whom no doubt had been the one to actually prepare the food. Reimu's diets tended to be very high in carbs and bits of vegetable, and when she did get some fresh meat, it was more often than not bits of fish or chicken. Sausage and eggs were a luxury she only enjoyed when visiting her wealthier friends.

She bit into the bread and her eyelids fluttered in ecstasy. Butter. Butter and honey. Oh, that was wonderful. As horrible as yesterday had been, at least it came with some perks.

Remilia laughed as Reimu shoveled the last few bits into her mouth. Irritated, Reimu glowered up at her. "Something funny?"

"Forgive me," Remilia said with an unrepentant smile. "It's been so long since I've seen you eat that I've forgotten how…unladylike you can be."

"Oh, bite me," Reimu muttered as she straightened up. Then she realized what she had just said. "Hold up, no. Don't actually bite me."

Remilia laughed again, and even Sakuya looked like she was on the verge of cracking a smile. "Oh, don't think I haven't been tempted at times." She looked over to her maid. "Sakuya, a moment of privacy, please."

"Of course, Mistress," Sakuya said. And with that, she was simply gone. Reimu sighed. She liked Sakuya well enough, but the maid enjoyed her dramatic entrances and exits so much that sometimes Reimu was tempted to take that pocketwatch from her and bean her over the head with it.

"Come. Sit." Remilia patted the seat next to her. Reimu joined her, and together they watched the sun rise. The day before, while Remilia had been in the process of being moved, Reimu had taken the time to make one additional demand of Yukari. And despite the elder youkai's exasperation, she had granted it. Now the barrier was transparent from the inside, making it seem as if it were not there. Not only was the view significantly improved, but now they could keep track of the sun, a necessity when you had a vampire living with you.

"It's been a while since I've been here," Remilia observed.

"It has," Reimu agreed.

Remilia folded her hands in front of her face. "I had forgotten how much I like it here."

"Neat. Wanna trade?"

Remilia chortled at that. "I don't think I have much control over the Scarlet Devil Mansion these days, even if I were inclined. In fact, you are currently in higher authority than I insofar as that property is concerned."

"Except neither of us actually get to live there," Reimu reminded her.

"True, but in the midst of such calamities, you really must appreciate your blessings where you can find them, wouldn't you agree? Besides, from what Sakuya has told me, the mansions isn't exactly a place of peace and serenity at the moment."

…

One unconscious Tengu slung over her shoulder and another being dragged behind her, Meiling stomped her way across the yard over to where Patchouli had three more lying in a heap.

"You were right," she said, tossing hers into the pile. "I found these two hiding in the pantry."

"Yes, they are coming in droves, aren't they," Patchouli said with a scowl. She nudged one of the motionless reporters with her foot. "Like sharks drawn by blood, only not quite so merciful."

Meiling blinked. "What's a shark? Is it like a bat?"

This got her the look Patchouli always gave her when she said something dumb. "Meiling, have I ever told you what an intellectually stimulating conversationalist you make?"

"Yes."

"Then I won't bother repeating it." Patchouli nodded at the bodies. "All right, get rid of these five pests, and-"

Meiling suddenly slammed the palm of her hand into the trunk of a nearby tree. There was a cry of surprise, and a young male Tengu with a small handheld recording device tumbled out of the branches. Before he could think to use his wings, his chin met the gate guard's upraised fist, and his limp form was added to the others.

"Six pests," Patchouli amended. "Get rid of these six pests, and double-check the wine cellar while I tackle the apple grove." Turning, she stormed her way toward the trees, muttering, "At this rate, we'll be cleaning out these flying rats for the rest of the week!"

…

Reimu and Remilia shared at laugh, though it didn't last long. Remilia's smile dropped, and she sighed. "And speaking of the mansion, it occurred to me last night that I never really thanked you properly for what you did for me."

"Oh." Reimu fidgeted uncomfortably. "Er, don't worry about it."

"I'm afraid I must." Remilia turned her head just enough to flash her a small smile. "Reimu, I must confess: when you came by to see me yesterday, I had fully expected to be dead by sundown. Before she left, Yuuka Kazami promised to make public my part in delivering Rin Satsuki to her, and I knew if Yukari Yakumo did not kill me on the spot, someone else surely would." She reached over to take Reimu's hand. "And yet, thanks to you, I am still alive and protected. And hope yet remains for Flandre. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you."

Now Reimu was really getting uncomfortable. It was weird, but as often as she complained about being unappreciated and having her efforts unacknowledged by the world at large, now that she was being sincerely thanked she didn't know how she was supposed to react, and wished that she would stop. "It's fine," she said, refusing to meet Remilia's eyes. She was quite mindful of how much her cheeks were burning and was reasonably certain that Remilia could smell the blood rushing to her face. "Just…glad you're okay, is all."

To her displeasure, Remilia didn't turn away her attention. Instead, she moved in closer, intently studying Reimu's face. "You've changed," she observed. "Since last I've seen you."

Great. Now the vampire was playing psychologist. "Yeah, well, so have you," she muttered.

"You've grown…stronger," Remilia continued as if Reimu had not spoken. "And yet softer." She smiled a child's smile. "I quite like the paradox."

Okay, enough was enough. "Knock it off, Remilia," Reimu said, jerking her hand away. "You're creeping me out."

Laughing, Remilia settled back into her seat. "Am I? Forgive me. Vampire, you know. We've never had a strong sense of personal space."

"Yeah," Reimu said, recalling the many pouncing cuddles Remilia had foisted on her over the years. "I remember."

Neither of them said anything for a time. The sun was on the rise, and soon Remilia would have to retreat inside into her coffin. But before the fingers of sunlight were in danger of reaching the porch, Remilia cleared her throat and said, "So. Rin Satsuki."

Reimu took a deep breath. "Yup."

"How long?"

"Since the first night of the Ringleader meeting," Reimu told her. "That's when Reisen came to me."

Remilia blinked in surprise. "Is that right?" She grinned. "Well, that also so happens to be the day I had the bright idea to blackmail Yukari and thus became her thrall! What an outstanding coincidence!"

"Eh," Reimu shrugged, even if she knew Remilia was being facetious. "Not really. Just about anyone who was everyone was there, so if there was a time for that sort of thing to happen…"

"Really? Because from what I heard, a number of them declined to appear. Though I take your point." Remilia sighed. "Though it's funny. I've spent so long resenting various Humans for prejudging vampires as monsters without considering that we might be people as well with loved ones of our own, and yet I went and did the exact same thing."

"Well, Rin did kinda attack you," Reimu pointed out.

"And more often than not, those who have hated vampires the most have often suffered by their hand. I knew the girl's history. I ought to have known better." Frowning, Remilia looked down at her hands. "Reisen had…some very choice words for Sakuya last night, while you were out."

Well, surprise, surprise. "I figured as much," Reimu said. "They both were kinda awkward when I got back."

"Yes, she was rather harsh. Though in fairness, Sakuya did initiate that conversation, and Reisen's anger was just." Remilia shook her head. "A nine year old girl. I was only a year older than that when I was turned. To think Sakuya and Patchouli could be involved in something like that, even with Eirin Yagokoro's sponsorship." She sighed again. "Oh well, what's done is done, and I am no one to throw stones in such matters. Do you really think you can help the girl?"

Reimu winced. It was that damned question that had been plaguing her ever since Reisen had first come to her. Her recent encounter with Rin had shown some light on the situation, but everything after that had muddied it all up again. "I don't know," she said honestly. "I mean, we've got a way to deal with the Shadow Youkai…Er, you know what that is, right?"

Remilia nodded. "Yes, I spoke with Genji last night while you slept. He brought me up to speed." She winced. "As well as subjected me to a lengthy lecture that seemed to be part threat, part cautionary, part words of encouragement, and part point-by-point breakdown about how thoroughly unwise my actions have been."

"Well, that sounds like Genji all right," Reimu said, fighting a smile. "But yeah, we've got a way to deal with that. It's just the whole making her normal that's a problem." She sighed. "I mean, we do got the best and the brightest…and the scariest…to help us out, but we haven't really done much on that front." She ran her hand through her dark hair, smoothing a few wayward strands. "So yeah, that's definitely the biggest problem we have."

"Is that so? I would have thought retrieving the girl from Yuuka's grasp was currently of greater importance."

Reimu shrugged. "Eh, at least we've got plenty of options on that front, most of them involving lots and lots of fire. It's what to do with her afterward that's going to be tough."

Remilia rocked back and forth in her seat. "Well, if anyone can find a way, it would be you."

"Oh gods, don't say that," Reimu moaned, burying her face in her palm. "I swear, I don't get you people. Why does everyone come to me with their super-complicated problems? Seriously, there are way more qualified people to go to. Like…Byakuren! That's her whole deal! Me? I'm the piss-poor shrine maiden all the way out in the sticks that's good at knocking uppity jackasses' skulls together! That's it! That's my job! So why am I always the first person people turn to?"

"Perhaps it's because you always come through?" Remilia suggested.

Reimu glowered at her over the side of her palm. "Yeah, and that's at least two thirds pure dumb luck." With a groan, she let her hands fall and slumped back against the wall. "The rest is just me being too dumb to quit. There's a whole lot of dumb going around."

Remilia smiled again. Reimu wished she would stop doing that. "I think you just answered your own question."

"What, because I'm too dumb to say no?"

"No, it's because you don't give up."

Reimu didn't have an answer for that. Well, she did, but she knew they wouldn't get her anywhere, because Remilia was right. Reimu may be a lousy shrine maiden, and maybe actually working to develop her natural gifts was too much of a pain to bother with, but when push came to shove, she was one stubborn little punkass.

And when it came down to it, that's all she really had going for her. Yeah, yeah, Maiden of Hakurei Shrine, protector of Gensokyo and all that crap. But that got her, what, some nifty powers, crappy living conditions, and a whole lot of unwanted responsibility? Not really worth it. Besides, just being born into this job meant that there was a lot of people treating her like she was someone special when she didn't feel all that important and a great deal more people refusing to give her thanks when she actually deserved it. If given the choice, Reimu would have gladly traded places with someone like Marisa, who by birth was a complete nobody, but had taken advantage of that freedom to turn herself into something very special, even if a great deal of it was notoriety. Marisa was someone who had never been intended to be anything special, but, through skill, hard work, and sheer perseverance, had reshaped herself into quite possibly the most powerful mortal magician in all of Gensokyo, whereas Reimu had been born into great responsibility and high expectations and really could not care less.

But maybe that was the secret to her success. By her own admission, she was incredibly stubborn, and while she wielded no actual political power, her job meant that no one wielded power over her, which gave her the sort of diplomatic immunity that most politicians could only fantasize about, of the "Can and will call you names and hit you back, no matter who you are" variety. And thanks to her disposition, she wasn't shy about using it whenever someone deserved a telling off or a sharp smack upside the head. Maybe that's why people kept coming to her: because she could go places no one else could, and approach those in power when most would not be afforded an audience.

"So anyway," Remilia said suddenly, startling Reimu out of her ruminations. "I was thinking that perhaps I should try to do something for Reisen, but am at a loss for ideas. Perhaps you could offer up a suggestion or two?"

Reimu's brow scrunched up in confusion. "Do something…for Reisen?"

"Well, she does have a legitimate grievance against Sakuya and I," Remilia said with a shrug. "And if we are to be sharing the same…very small house, I should at least make an effort to make peace."

"Uh…" Reimu thought hard. It wasn't a bad idea, but she also was at a loss for ideas. "I dunno. I mean, sure you're loaded beyond any sense of decency, but she's really not interested in that sort of stuff. All she wants right now is Rin back, so trying to win her over with material stuff will probably just offend her, you know what I'm saying?"

"Only too well," Remilia sighed. "Such a shame. Trying to make amends with someone who hates you does not fall within my well of experience. Normally, I'd just ignore or eat them."

"Yeah, definitely gonna have to veto out that last one," Reimu said wryly. "Really not going to make things better if you try that."

Remilia laughed. "Well, I'll talk to Genji. Assuming he is in a mood to give advice. But for now, I think it's best that I retreat into the dark embrace of my sarcophagus before I am reduced to a small pile of ash."

Soon, Remilia was safely tucked away in her coffin, and Reimu went off on her daily patrol, now feeling a little better for having that conversation. Though, it wasn't until much later when she was thinking back on it that she realized that she had completely forgotten to confront Remilia on the matter of Marisa, and what Remilia had intended to do to her. Well, maybe that was for the best, as Reimu wasn't sure that she wanted to know. But of greater interest was that, despite having multiple opportunities to do so, Remilia had not mentioned Flandre even once. Now, that was strange. After all, she had brought up Rin Satsuki several times, and wasn't shy about discussing Reisen. Why wouldn't she want to talk about her sister, who, along with Rin, was one of the primary reasons she was staying at Hakurei Shrine to begin with?

Though, after Reimu had thought about it for a while, maybe it wasn't so strange. Because while Rin and Reisen had to be difficult subjects for Remilia to broach, maybe talking about Flandre was still too painful.

…

Finally, Yuuka broke eye contact, and Rin staggered back. She nearly fell, but was able to regain her balance.

"Are you all right?" Yuuka asked, her voice filled with concern.

Rin swallowed. "Y-yeah," she stammered. Her face had turned an ashen white. "Still kind of a rough trip, you know?"

"Of course," Yuuka said with a nod. "I regret that, but it's unfortunately necessary."

"Yeah, I get that. Still sucks though." Rin drew in a shaky breath, and Yuuka found herself wondering if she took any actual sustenance from the oxygen, or if it was purely an instinctive action on her part. "Didn't hurt as bad as last time though."

Yuuka smiled. "Indeed. Fortunately, this time I knew where to look. And rejoice! For I have most wondrous news!" Kneeling down, she took the small girl's hands in her own. "The spell worked perfectly! You my dear are now Fallen Angel free!"

Rin blinked. Then she managed a shaky smile. "R-really? It's all gone?"

"Yes. Completely and utterly." Then Yuuka frowned. "Though it does seem she rearranged the furniture before she left."

"Huh?"

"She was doing something to your subconscious," Yuuka explained. "What, I do not know. But I can hazard a few guesses, and none of them are good."

Rin's smile disappeared. "Wait, she was messing around with my subconscious? Uh, I mean, I figured she was doing something nasty, but it's still there?"

"Unfortunately." Yuuka rose, towering over the girl. "I do not claim to be an expert in such matters, but thankfully whatever she was doing seems to be benign without her presence."

"Oh." Looking down, Rin shuffled her feet. "Er, I don't suppose you have any idea how to fix it?"

Yuuka shook her head. "I do not. Such things are…a bit outside of my expertise. My kind traditionally break minds, not repair them. And while I've long abandoned the family business, I'm afraid that I am still limited by my origins."

Rin did not look at all pleased by that, and seemed a bit put off by Yuuka's casual mention of breaking minds. "Oh. Ah. I…see."

Chuckling, Yuuka reached down to raise Rin's head with a finger under her chin. "Oh, chin up! It's not so dark. That monster is gone, and without her, it's harmless. Your mind and your actions are yours and yours alone."

Involuntarily shying away from Yuuka's touch, Rin protested, "Yeah, but how can you be sure?"

Quelling her instinctive irritation at being openly doubted, Yuuka kept her smile and said, "Nothing is ever for certain, Rin. But I can state with a measure of confidence that you are fully rid of her influence."

"But-"

"Furthermore," Yuuka continued. "Even if her workings prove to be more subtly destructive than I can now perceive, they will be noticed the moment they come into effect." She affectingly ruffled Rin's hair, making the Kirin cringe. "After all, you're in my garden now. Any changes in your behavior will not go undetected, and we will be able to deal with them before a problem develops."

Though her words were meant to be comforting, Rin looked anything but. "Wait, detected how?"

"Tut tut," Yuuka admonished, clicking her tongue. "Such a suspicious little girl. You're breaking my heart, Rin." She clutched her hands to her chest. "Honestly, one would think that I'd have earned at least some good faith."

"Yeah, but-"

"No more 'buts,'" Yuuka said firmly. She turned Rin around and gave her a gentle push. "Now, run off. Your friends are waiting for you."

Rin seemed hesitant to leave, but Yuuka was adamant, so she reluctantly left Yuuka's parlor and went to join the other children in the banquet hall one room over. A full blown party was taking place, in celebration of dear Rumia's return. Yuuka had made sure to check her as well before allowing her entrance to the mansion, from which Rumia was still nursing a bit of a headache. However, the results had been quite encouraging. The Shadow Youkai was gone.

Even so, Yuuka was still not about to drop her guard. That wretched creature had been up to something diabolical, and from the look of things, it had been nearly complete when she had finally been yanked out. Troubled, Yuuka sank back into a red-upholstered couch and leaned forward, hands clasped in front of her face as she thought. It didn't require any great skill of deduction to figure out what she had been up to. The Shadow Youkai had intended to seize control from the inside, to replace Rin Satsuki and claim the child's power for her own. Had she been successful, well, the term "unstoppable" fell utterly short of conveying the nightmare she would have become. Yuuka had gotten a small taste of that back at the Youkai Mountain. She shuddered to think of such terrible potential being fully unleashed.

But the fates had smiled upon her, and she had caught it just in time. Yuuka started to smile, but it stopped halfway. Or had it been the fates? Normally she would have simply chalked it up to luck, but recent events had caused her to question such things. As such, she doubted that this could be something so mundane as mere coincidence.

Yuuka pondered on this a bit longer and shook her head. No, she no longer believed in coincidence. Rin had been brought to her for a reason, and she was not about to accept that it ended with exterminating the essence of Azrael. She would have to keep a close eye on that girl for any further developments.

"Master?"

Yuuka glanced up to see Elly looking at her in concern. "Yes, my dear?"

Fidgeting, Elly glanced over to the doorway. "Are you…all right?"

Yuuka sighed. Ever since the Blasted Lands, Elly had been fretting herself nearly to the point of illness, and not just because of the danger their enemies represented. Yuuka understood. In light of certain revelations, her behavior must be odd to anyone who had not seen the same things she had. Yuuka wished she could explain things to Elly, to make her understand, but there were just some things that were impossible to comprehend without a frame of reference, and trying to explain things would just make Yuuka seem mad.

So instead, she merely smiled and nodded. "Yes. Simply trying to puzzle out current events. Things are moving swiftly, and if we're not careful, we might find that road leads to a rather abrupt end."

Elly relaxed, apparently accepting Yuuka's explanation. "Should we join them?" she asked, tilting her head toward the celebration in the next room. Her tone of voice suggested that she'd rather not. Things between her and the other children had been decidedly chilly since Rin had first arrived.

Yuuka shook her head. "No, we'd just bring the mood down. Let them have their fun."

"Yes, Master," Elly said, sounding relieved. "And…Flandre?"

With a grunt, Yuuka stood up. Her body had recovered a great deal since the Blasting Lands, which was impressive, considering that her condition then could accurately be described as "charcoal." But her joints still ached. If there was any consolation, she was at least faring better than Yukari, if her sources were correct. "We continue as we have. The girls need not know about her until both they and she are ready. Until then, we remain on our guard until the plot reveals itself."

"Plot?" Elly stiffened. "You suspect a conspiracy?"

Yuuka chuckled. Whoops, another slip. "Not that kind of plot, dear heart," she said, pinching Elly's cheek. "Don't worry about it. Just keep an eye on things and be ready to act should the situation change, however drastically."

…

The worst part wasn't the embarrassment. It wasn't the shame. It wasn't even knowing how much harder she had made things for everyone.

No, Utsuho decided. The worst part of being secluded to the reactor was the boredom. Keeping the reactor clean and running might sound like a full time job, but with her in charge things were already running so efficiently that it left her with way too much downtime. And since she couldn't leave, it hadn't taken long for the few games and comics she had brought to amuse herself with to lose their appeal. Which really, really bothered her. Her little room in the reactor was supposed to be her secret hideaway, the place she went when she needed to escape. She didn't want it to become the place she wanted to escape from!

And to make things worse, she had been exiled there for less than a week. Orin had said that she would be allowed out once everything had calmed down, but while Utsuho freely admitted that she wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer, in her experience when things got rough, they took a very long time to calm down, and more often than not they got a lot worse first.

So there she was, stuck performing the same subroutines over and over again, cleaning and recleaning everything even though it was already spotless, just to give her something do to. And all the while, everything was going to pieces back at the palace, and there wasn't anything she could do about it!

Well, okay, so maybe that part was kinda her fault. And okay, so maybe with everyone else being mad at her, there wasn't much she could do to help. But darn it all, she thought as she wiped down an already shining bulkhead, how am I supposed to help out if they won't let me? Being grounded sucked. She was stuck in one place, unable to chip in, unable to do her part in fixing the problems she had caused like she was supposed, unable to-

And then the door opened behind her.

"Orin!" Utsuho exclaimed happily as she whirled around. "Hey, I missed-"

Utsuho stopped in midsentence. She stared for a moment, rubbed her eyes, and looked again. It was a cat youkai, but it wasn't Utsuho. This woman had long, grey hair tied into a ponytail, had glasses, and wore a frilled blue dress. Utsuho knew her of course. It was Cho, one of Satori's other pets. It was just very strange seeing her up here. Cho never visited the reactor. In fact, she never spoke directly to Utsuho much at all. She wasn't mean like some of the other pets, but ever since Utsuho had gone through her change, she had seemed a little intimidated by the Hell Raven. But she had always followed Orin's lead, so Utsuho had never had any trouble from her.

But even so, seeing her up there was pretty weird.

"Uh…" Utsuho said, tilting her head to one side and squinting. "Hi?"

Like usual, Cho looked nervous, though for once it wasn't because of Utsuho. "Utsuho, come on!" she said, beckoning urgently. "There's trouble. We need your help."

"Trouble?" Utsuho perked right up. Finally, something to do! "Oh, right! Let's go!" Dropping her rag, she started to run for the door, but then something occurred to her. "Oh, wait, wait, wait," she said, skidding to a stop. "Can't. Orin said I mustn't leave."

Cho looked exasperated. "Orin's the one in trouble!"

Utsuho stiffened. "Orin's in trouble?"

"Yes! Jun's making his move!"

"Jun's moving what now?"

Sighing, Cho swung her hand to point emphatically toward the door. "Let's just go already!"

Utsuho was still confused, but she did as she was told. Surely Orin would forgive her if Utsuho saved her first, right?

They quickly left the reactor and bolted down the spiral ramp down into the palace. As they passed through the halls, Utsuho noticed how empty they were. Satori had so many pets that one was guaranteed to run into someone eventually, but today the place seemed abandoned. She wanted to ask Cho about it, but she figured that her questions would be answered soon enough.

She was right.

Once they got to the courtyard, everything became clear. Every single one of Satori's pets were gathered there. Some had taken on their Human forms, while others prowled around as animals, but all of them were lurking close to the walls, watching the drama take place in the courtyard's center. There, Orin was standing by herself, her face twisted into an expression of animalistic fury. Across from her with a huge smirk on his ugly face was Jun, the alpha of Satori's dogs and the biggest bully in the palace.

Utsuho had never liked Jun. He had always been the one to pick on her the most and push her around, as well as encourage others to do the same. Orin usually showed up to stop him, but he would always come back. Of course, once Utsuho had gotten really strong he finally left her alone, though she did catch him sending several mean looks in her direction, ones that made her wish that he would try to bully her directly again so she could show him how Hell Ravens got their name.

But even so, she had never expected him to go after Orin, especially out in the open like this. Orin was the one in charge, after all. Everyone did as she said. So why was he standing up to her now?

"Come on, little kitty," he taunted, moving in a slow circle around the courtyard. "You knew this was coming sooner or later."

"What, me beating down your fool ass?" Orin spat out. "That seems to happen every day!"

A low chuckle swept through the pets. Jun's face flushed with anger. "Not this time," he growled. His hands twitched, and his claws popped out. "And after today, never again."

Orin's smile was suitably catlike. "Absolutely. After today, you're never going to pull something like this again." Then her face hardened. "I'll let you have this one shot, Jun. But after I beat you senseless like the stupid dog you are, you never pull something like this again. For our stolen master's sake, you will learn your place!"

A hush fell over the crowd, and Jun's face grew an even darker shade of red. He glanced around, taking in all of the staring eyes. For the briefest of moment, something very much like fear passed over his face as he realized that he had gone too far to back out. But it passed quickly, and his wolfish grin appeared, albeit a little shaken.

"I know my place already," he snarled. He hunkered down, his legs twitching as he readied himself to spring. "It's standing over your bloody corpse!"

With that, he charged forward, claws bared and slavering mouth open wide.

Utsuho's breath caught in her throat. What was going on? They really weren't doing this, were they?

They were. As Jun charged forward, Orin nimbly darted to one side and spun around, swinging her leg towards Jun's back. But apparently he had seen this coming, as he ducked down into a roll before Orin's kick could connect, righted himself up, and launched himself at her again.

"Why are they doing this?" Utsuho gasped. She frantically grabbed Cho by the shoulders. "Why are they fighting? They shouldn't be fighting!"

Cho gave her a weird look. "Uh, duh? Because Jun's never liked Orin and says she got Satori captured?"

"What? No she didn't!" Utsuho insisted. "We did everything we could to save her, we really did!"

"Don't tell me." Cho pointed at the battle. "Tell him!"

So that was why Cho had brought her here. To stop Jun and save Orin. Utsuho quailed at the thought of having to stand up to Jun, but then she reminded herself that she was stronger than he was now. Surely he'd back off if she acted scary.

Taking a deep breath, Utsuho summoned up the sternest looking face she could and leapt into the courtyard.

When Orin and Jun had started fighting, the air had filled with cheers, taunts, and shouts, as everyone rooted on their favorite and jeered at the other. But all that stopped the moment Utsuho made her entrance.

"STOP!" she screamed, throwing herself between Jun and Orin and spreading her arms wide. "Leave her alone!"

Jun had been in the middle of another charge, but as soon as the Hell Raven appeared he skid to a sudden stop, his eyes open wide. "What's she doing here?" he growled, nervously backing away. "She's not supposed to be here."

Murmurs spread through the crowd, and Utsuho slowly became aware of the fact that she was standing in the middle of everyone with everybody staring at her. Sweat prickled the back of her neck and she swallowed noisily, but she stood her ground.

"Utsuho," Orin said softly. "What are you doing? I told you to stay in the reactor!"

Utsuho opened her mouth to defend her actions, to explain how she couldn't stand idly by while everyone ganged up on her friend, but her throat had suddenly gone so dry that all she could manage was a halting, "I…er…uh…"

Snarling, Jun rose up so he could lock eyes with Orin. "So, is this it?" he demanded. "Still hiding behind your little friend?" He pointed an accusatory finger at Utsuho and Orin. "Put that damned bird back in her cage and face me alone, you damned coward!"

"Don't call her that!" Utsuho shouted. To her chagrin, her voice cracked embarrassingly.

"Okuu," Orin said, gently taking her by the shoulder. "You need to go. Right now."

"What?" Lowering her arms, Utsuho turned to stare at her in confusion. "But I can't let him do this!"

"I can handle myself," Orin said evenly. "If I don't, I'll just look weak in front of everyone."

Whoops, Utsuho hadn't thought of that. She glanced around to see that everyone was still whispering and muttering amongst themselves and shooting glances at the two of them. None of the looks they were getting were very friendly.

"That's right, go back to your cage, little birdy," Jun taunted. "It's where you both belong, after you lost Satori!"

Utsuho's wings rose with her indignation. "It wasn't our fault!"

"Bullshit! You were supposed to protect her, and you didn't!" To Utsuho's alarm, this proclamation was met with murmurs of approval from most of those gathered. Is that what everyone was thinking? "We lost both of our masters, and it's all your fault!"

"You idiot!" Orin spat. "How many times do I have to tell you that Koishi's coming back?"

Wait, she was? Utsuho hadn't known that. She grinned, cheered by thought. However, Jun apparently didn't feel the same way she did. In fact, it just seemed to make him more angry.

"You damned liar!" he shouted, slaver flying from his mouth. "How dare you use her name to…"

And then all of a sudden, Jun's anger seemed to dry up. His stopped in mid-rant, his scowl softening into a look of astonishment, and his ears, previously slicked back, rising straight up. He straightened up, his nose flaring.

More murmurs broke out, and Utsuho saw that the pets with the sharpest noses were also sniffing the air.

"Uh, what's going on?" Utsuho asked Orin. Bird noses weren't so sharp, unfortunately. "What're they smelling?"

And then the courtyard doors swung open with a loud clang, and a very familiar voice announced, "Heeeeeeey, what'chall doin'?"

A young woman stood in the open doorway. In many ways she resembled Satori, their mourned, missing master: same slight build, same pearly complexion, same basic facial features and nose, and even the Satori species' trademark Third Eye, joined to her head by wires that curled loosely around her body. But though they were obviously of the same species and family, that was where the similarities ended. This girl was taller, with pale green-grey hair that tumbled in wild locks around her shoulders, gaudy clothing, and a wide-brimmed hat on top of her head. She had striking emerald eyes that twinkled with amusement, a coy grin that Satori would never be caught dead wearing, and her Third Eye and the attached wires were blue instead of lavender. Furthermore, it was closed shut. And finally, while Satori's bearing was almost always one of solemn composure, this girl was clearly a few bats short of a belfry.

Grinning, the girl surveyed the shocked faces and staring eyes. "Soooooo, someone gonna say something, or-"

"Koish? Koishi!" Shoving Orin and Utsuho out of the way, Jun sprinted toward the door, falling to all fours in the process. By the time he got there, the tall, lanky young man was gone. In his place was a Doberman with short, blue fur.

"Koishi, Koishi, Koishi, KOISHI!" he barked joyfully as he leapt up at her, enthusiastically licking her face.

"Whoa, easy Jun!" Koishi laughed. She tried to keep her footing, but the heavier youkai caused her to lose her balance and fall onto her rump, where she was then smothered by wet, dog kisses.

That broke the spell that had settled on the rest of the group, and soon Koishi found herself mobbed by jubilant animals, all pushing and fighting for the chance to welcome their beloved master back.

"All right, all right!" Koishi said, still laughing as she was swamped by fur, feathers, and scales. She had to shout to make herself heard over the chorus of barks, meows, chirps, and other calls. "Get off of me, you bloody freaks!"

Finally the gaggle of animals backed off enough to allow her to rise up. "Hi guys!" she said, wiping the slobber from her face.

"Are you staying, Koishi?" someone asked. This question was met with cheers.

"Oh, do say yes! Do say yes, yes, yes!" someone else added.

Koishi ignored the question. "Soooooo, seems I walked into something messy. What'chall doin'?"

That question was directed to Jun, who was rising up and down on his forepaws with excitement, his face parted with a wide doggy grin. But as soon as Koishi directed her attention toward him, he wilted immediately: his tail stopped wagging, his face fell, and his shoulders drooped. He pawed the ground with an unhappy whine.

"Jun?" Koishi said, her smile never wavering. "Why were you and Orin fighting?"

"Because she lost your sister!" said one of the bolder pets.

"No she didn't! It wasn't her fault!" Cho shouted back.

This immediately sparked off a sharp debate among the pets, which lasted all of five seconds before Koishi stuck two fingers into her mouth and let out a shrill whistle. Everyone shut up immediately, and those with sharp hearing covered their ears.

Koishi looked about as all the staring faces, an uncharacteristically stern look on her face. "All right, I know things are real scary right now, but it's important to remember you're a family," she said, putting her hands on her hips and bending over to look the smaller ones in the eye. "And even though it's normal for families to fight, you still say you're sorry after it's over and stick together."

Shamefaced, everyone slinked back and put their heads down. Utusho felt a small twinge of relief. Not only was Koishi back, but she was putting Jun and his friends in their place.

And then some idiot ventured, "But…but you left…"

That did it. The place dissolved into a chaotic whirlwind of fur, claws, scales, teeth, and feathers, as everyone had apparently decided that their neighbor had been responsible for that remark and took it upon themselves to uphold their newly returned master's honor.

This lasted nearly ten seconds before Orin mounted the archway above the front door, breathed in deep, and thundered, "SHUT UP!

The cacophony below froze in place and they all stared, with most of the pets caught in the process of lifting their paws to strike each other down. Cho's teeth were sunk halfway into Jun's shoulder, though he didn't seem to notice. As for Koishi, she was standing untouched in the middle of it all, looking rather bemused.

Orin scowled down at them. "Okay, FIRST OF ALL, what happened to Koishi was totally different, so don't compare that to stupid Jun having another testosterone trip."

Growling, Jun swiped Cho off his shoulder and reared up. "Wait just a minute, you-"

Koishi placed a hand on his head and gently but firmly pushed him back down.

"SECOND OF ALL," Orin continued, "the important things is that she's back…" She took a moment to glower down at Jun. "Which I was totally right about by the way…so let's all get along and not spoil things for her." She looked around at all the staring faces. "OKAY?"

Everyone quickly agreed. Even Jun looked like the fight had been taken out of him.

"So," Orin said, putting her hands on her hips. "Now that that's over with, the important to keep in mind is that Koishi is back. Yeah." She pumped her fist into the air. "So let's all show her a nice big Earth Spirits welcome!"

The courtyard exploded with animal cries, as everyone brayed, barked, meowed, squawked, or roared their welcome. Dogs and cats rose up on their hind legs, birds flapped their wings, reptiles hopped up and down, while anyone still in Human form, mostly the fish, simply cheered. Utsuho was among the latter, so she jumped up and excitedly cried, "Yay!"

Then, as the cacophony died away, they all noticed that Koishi didn't seem to be paying much attention to the calamity all around her. Instead, she was kneeling down and happily rubbing Jun's belly, who was likewise thumping his tail against the ground in bliss.

Koishi must have sensed all the stares she was getting, as she paused what she was doing and looked up. "Oh, huh?"

Orin cleared her throat and hopped down. "Uh, we were just saying welcome back…"

"Oh, thanks!" Koishi grinned, and when back to fussing over Jun.

Bewildered, everyone turned to their newly reinstated leader for direction. As for herself, Orin seemed more put out than anything. "Shut up," she murmured, pushing her way past them. "It's better than the way she was." No one could really argue with that.

Then someone ventured, "But…but you're back to stay, aren't you Koishi?"

"For the time being."

The answer had not come from Koishi or even Orin, but back at the still-open gate. An angry buzz rose up when they saw Yukari Yakumo standing there, leaning on her cane. Per normal, her kitsune servitor was following close behind, hands in her sleeves as she silently watched over the proceedings. Utsuho quailed back. She didn't want to get yelled at again.

While Yukari did not commonly visit the Palace of Earth Spirit and rarely, if ever, interacted with Satori's pets, she had never been well liked by them. And everyone knew whose war Satori had been fighting when she had been taken. Teeth were bared and growls rose up. Jun especially seemed angered by her presence. Reassuming his Human aspect, he stepped in front of everyone and snarled, "You have no place here."

Yukari returned his gaze without flinching. "Goodness, yes. Chen alone is more than a handful. I imagine this place would drive me mad within a fortnight. Fortunately, I'm not planning on putting down roots. I'm just here to drop off Koishi."

In a rare show of comradely support, Orin marched up to stand beside Jun. "Well, you've returned her. Thank you. Now leave."

Yukari raised an eyebrow, and Utsuho suddenly grew nervous. She remembered that scary meeting in that big tower, and how angry Yukari had gotten whenever someone insulted her. However, she simply sighed and said, "Very well. I take my leave."

With that, Yukari vanished, taking the kitsune with her. Those who had never seen her do that recoiled, and there was more than one cry of surprise.

After that, silence reigned for exactly three seconds. Then everyone started babbling questions, shouting condemnations, and expressing confusion. The sound of it made Utsuho's head swim. But worst for it was Koishi. Instead of remaining oblivious to it all like before, she now seemed to be buried by it, cowering in confusion as loud voices filled the air, each demanding attention.

This time, it was Jun who put a stop to it. "All right!" he snarled. "Enough of that! Can't you see that you're scaring her?" That put a stop to the tumult, though not the confusion. Before she had left, Koishi had not been one to be overwhelmed by the thoughts of her and her sister's pets. Seeing her like this was a disconcerting sight.

Orin stepped in then. "Okay, party's over. Things are still weird, but I'm sure everyone will work together to pull through." Her tone came with a heavily implied "Or else." She turned to Jun. "Jun, help Koishi back to her room and look after her."

Jun locked gazes with her, and for a second Utsuho was worried that he would start trouble again. But then he merely nodded and took Koishi by the arm and led her away. The others immediately moved out of the way, making a path.

As they left, Orin said, "In the meantime, everyone remember to take it easy on her. We're all happy that she's back, but she's been through an ordeal and is still…recovering. So let's not overwhelm her, okay?"

As the crowd dispersed, Utsuho found herself in the very odd position of not being at the center of attention. In fact, no one seemed to be paying any attention to her at all. Koishi's return had put all thought of her from the other pets' minds, and everyone was leaving in their little groups, all talking about what had happened and what might be to come. But however odd as the lack of attention might be, it wasn't at all unwelcome.

But it wasn't to last. Before the room was emptied, Orin came up to her and said, "Come on, Unyuu. We need to go back to the reactor."

Utsuho blinked. "Uh, am I still grounded?"

Orin shook her head. "No. I…I don't know if…Well, for now you're not. But we still need to go back to the reactor."

"Why?" Utsuho couldn't think of any reason why they might need to go there. After all, she had left it in perfect shape.

Orin sighed. "Because apparently, Byakuren Hijiri is waiting for us there."

…

Yuuka's dining hall was surprisingly large, considering that before the arrival of Rumia's friends, there had been no one living in the mansion save for herself and Elly. It was an oval shaped roomed, with a long table that could easily sit two dozen people. Covering the table was a white tablecloth, with silver candlesticks every meter or so and an arrangement of living wildflowers serving as the centerpiece, one that was so large that it could serve as a miniature garden of its own. The walls were a dark maroon and ringed with thin, brass columns, and as was the case with every room in Yuuka's house, covered with vines and flowers, these ones being cheerful daffodils.

A small party was taking place at the head of the table. Cookies, pastries, candies, cheeses, little sausages, and fizzy drinks were set for the girls' enjoyment, with a triple-decker pink cake standing tall in the middle of the feast. Balloons pressed against the ceiling, and a large banner declaring "WELCOME BACK, RUMIA!" was stretched over one wall. Rin found it to be somewhat inaccurate, as Rumia had never been to the Garden of the Sun before, but she supposed it just meant that she was being welcomed back into the fold of her friends.

Fittingly enough, Rumia was the center of attention. She sat at the head of the table and was being trying to keep up with the bombardment of questions and comments her friends were hurling her way. But despite finally being reunited with her friends in the flesh and receiving a very enthusiastic welcome, Rumia was looking all sorts of uncomfortable. She was fidgeting openly and was starting to sweat. It was easy to figure out why. She was still getting used to many rediscovered sensations, and being so tightly crowded after having no one but Rin for company for so long had to be stressful. In fact, she looked like she was less than a minute away from having a panic attack.

She didn't, but that was because the moment Rin stepped into the room, all of the excitement withered and died. First Mystia so happened to glance Rin's way, and once she saw her, she stiffened and shut right up. This of course attracted Daiyousei's attention, who also froze in place. Wriggle was next, and soon Cirno was the only one left, obliviously babbling at Rumia.

Wriggle reached over to poke Cirno in the side. "Hey!" she protested, irritably slapping the firefly's hand away. "What gives?" Then she noticed that everyone had frozen up, saw what they were staring at, and fell silent as well, though she seemed more curious than scared.

Rumia, it should be noted, just looked relieved.

Well, here goes. Steadying herself, Rin walked across the room over to where everyone was gathered. Even though she wasn't wearing hard shoes, somehow her footsteps were still echoing as she strode over the hard marble tile, making her wish that this room's floor was soft sod like some of them were. And while she knew she couldn't prove it, it seemed that the room's length was slowly growing as she approached the head of the table.

As she drew near, Mystia, Wriggle, and Daiyousei immediately retreated, moving away from the table toward the wall, with Daiyousei dragging Cirno along. Rin winced. Being feared was certainly useful when facing off against terrible enemies. But in this instance she could do without it.

Predictably, the only one not disturbed by Rin's presence was Rumia herself. "Hey," she said as Rin sank into the seat next to her. "How'd it go?"

"Uh, good!" Rin said, a bit too loudly. She didn't look at Rumia, because that would mean looking at Rumia's friends, so she kept her gaze fixated straight ahead. "I'm clean. So, good."

"Yeah, me too." Scowling, Rumia rubbed her forehead. "Damn, that hurt like hell though."

Rin swallowed and nodded. "Yes. It did."

"Yup." Rumia sighed and looked over to where her friends were cowering. "Wow, that mood got killed awful quick. Come on, guys. I told you she wasn't going to hurt you."

Rumia's friends were less than reassured by her words. "Er, maybe we'd better give you guys some…space," Wriggle said, edging toward the exit.

"We don't want to intrude, after all," Mystia added.

Despite her earlier discomfort, Rumia looked hurt. "But-"

Right. Enough of this. This was Rumia's day, and Rin wasn't going to allow it to be ruined. Pushing away from the table, she abruptly stood up. Rumia's friends froze in place.

Speaking in a small voice, Rin said, "You're all afraid of me."

No one said anything. No one needed to. Their silence was enough of an answer. Rumia looked curious as to what Rin was trying to do, but didn't seem willing to question it.

Closing her eyes, Rin took in a deep breath and slowly let it out. "And I get it. I deserve it. I took your friend away. You didn't know if she was alive or dead. I started this whole mess. You're right to not trust me."

Cirno and Daiyousei exchanged worried looks. Mystia pressed herself back against the wall, hands clasped in front of her chest. As for Wriggle, she just watched warily but otherwise didn't move.

"But…" Rin's voice caught and her eyes teared up, which angered her. She didn't have anything resembling normal anatomy. So why the emotional reaction? Grimacing, she tried again. "I…I just want to say that I'm sorry. I'm sorry I scared you all. I'm sorry I hurt you. I was…they had me locked up in that box for so long, and I was so desperate to be able to, you know, see and feel and hear and everything, that I thought…" Sniffing, she wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "I don't what I thought. Maybe I really am sort of crazy, I don't know. I just know everything's such a mess and it's my fault and…"

Then her throat closed up, which was even more stupid. She didn't even have lungs! Rin wished she still was able to drink. Some water would be really useful right about now.

"Uh, Rin?" Rumia started to say.

"Let me finish," Rin said in a hoarse whisper. She counted to ten and forced out, "But…I'm really, really, really sorry. For everything." She looked down to Rumia, who was staring at her in concern. "Especially you, Rumia. I'm sorry I put you through that nightmare. Thank you for not hating me."

Finally done, Rin quickly sat back down. She put her head in her hands and concentrated on not breaking down in tears. This was humiliating enough as it was.

And then she heard something strange, a weird, rhythmic tapping sound, only louder. It was joined by another, and then another, and finally a fourth. Blinking, Rin looked up to see Rumia's friends standing solemn-faced and clapping. Wait, what? Why were they clapping? Were they applauding her? Why? All she had done was apologize for ruining their lives.

Then Rumia smiled and reached over to squeeze her shoulder. "It's cool. You did good."

Then the applause really broke out, and everyone started smiling. Granted, only Cirno was outright grinning, and Mystia still looked a little nervous, but they were still smiling at her. Rin stared at them for exactly five seconds before her vision blurred and she had to bury her face in her palms again. This time, she didn't try to fight the tears.

And then they were all gathered around her (or at least some of them were; it was hard to tell with her face covered with her hands), with Cirno actually going so far as to pat her on the shoulder and speak words of encouragement. That just made Rin cry harder.

"All right, all right, that's enough," Rumia said, shooing everyone off. "Give the girl some room, will yah?"

Thankfully, everyone backed off and settled into chairs at either side of Rin and Rumia. After about half a minute, Rin was able to regain her composure. She wiped her eyes, blew her nose on a napkin, and looked over to Rumia, who actually looked kind of proud of her.

"You okay there, chief?" Rumia asked.

Rin nodded. "Thanks," she said hoarsely. She took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Okay, I'm good. I'm good."

The mood brightened considerably after that. The party resumed, and while no one went so far as to strike up a conversation with Rin (for which she was actually grateful), everyone seemed more at ease. Even Mystia didn't seem so frightened, even if she had taken the seat furthest from Rin. But that was okay. A wall had been taken down, and connection had been made.

"So, when you two were stuck together-" Cirno started to say, but Rumia cut her off.

"No," she said, shoving a hand in Cirno's direction. "No more questions for now. I haven't eaten anything in weeks and mean to fix that right now."

She proceeded to pile up her plate with sausages, little sandwiches, pastries, and a big slice of cake. Interested, Rin watched as Rumia picked up the cake, examined it curiously, and tentatively took a tiny bite.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl. For the briefest of moments, Rumia remained perfectly still, her face expressionless. And then her eyes slowly widened, getting bigger and bigger until they appeared to be the size of dinner plates. At the same time, her mouth also opened, growing larger and larger with the bit of cake still on her tongue. The hand holding the fork started to tremble, which then spread to the rest of her body.

Rin was immediately worried. Was something wrong? Had Rumia come back all right? Regenerating people didn't require any conscious effort on her part, so she wasn't sure how it could have gone wrong, though given her luck something probably had.

Also noticing her friend's strange reaction to the cake, Cirno leaned over, her face scrunched up in confusion. "Hey, Rumia? What's up? Is something wrong with the cake? I didn't put anything weird in it this time, I swear!"

Slowly turning her head to stare at the ice-fairy, Rumia inhaled deeply. Then she bellowed out, "SSSSWWWEEEEETTTTT!"

With that, she full on attacked her plate, snatching up and stuffing entire handfuls of food into her mouth. She didn't seem to care what she grabbed or what it was squished against, just so long as it got in her mouth.

"Omigoz," she mumbled around a mouthful of…everything. There were actual tears streaming from her eyes. "Swheet. Sho lonf. If benz sho lonf." Swallowing, she turned to Rin, who, like the others, was staring in awe at her feeding frenzy. "Rin, you gotta try this. It's…it's…" Her eyes rolled back and she closed them with a reverent look on her face. "Sweet…"

Rin nervously cleared her throat. "Er, Rumia? I don't exactly…need to eat anymore. You remember that part, right?"

"Yeah, but you can, can't you?" Rumia pressed. "And you can still taste stuff, right?"

That was a good point. Like all the other parts of her body, Rin's tongue worked perfectly fine. Probably better than most, given that she had the senses of four people to draw from. It was just that since she never got hungry, she never had felt the need to try food.

Selecting a small sandwich from the tray, Rin doubtfully regarded it for a moment. Then she shrugged and put it in her mouth.

And, oh…

The soft milkiness of the bread! The tang of the mustard! The heartiness of the salami! And the bite of the cheese! It had been nine years since Rin had tasted food of any kind, and their reintroduction was sending her straight to Heaven. She didn't even bother chewing and swallowing. She just held it in her mouth, rolling her tongue over and through it, savoring the flavors.

In time she noticed that the taste was decreasing. At first she assumed that the shock was wearing off, but then she realized that her body was doing its thing and the sandwich was being absorbed into her mouth. That was disappointing, as she would have liked to enjoy it longer. Still, there were other sandwiches, along with many other treats as well, each with their own wonderful flavors.

Sighing, Rin opened her eyes to find everyone staring at her. Rumia had a cheeky grin on her face. "So," she said. "I take it you liked it?"

Rin slowly nodded. "Oh yes."

"Is that so." Rumia let her gaze wander over the remainder of the feast. Her smile widened. "Well then."

The other four looked a little confused. And then, one by one, their faces lit up with realization and a bit of fear as they figured out what was about to happen and how powerless they were to stop it. However, judging by the determination that shone in their eyes, they weren't about to just surrender without a fight.

Rin, Rumia, Cirno, Daiyousei, Wriggle, and Mystia exchanged one less round of glances. And then, as one, they shouted, "GO!" and dove right in.

…

Humming to herself, Mima held up the thin rectangle of obsidian and examined it critically. Inscribed on its surface was a sinister looking rune, one that was all sharp edges and harsh lines. Below it was a name and description done in an obscure language that had died out several lifetimes ago. There were very few alive that even knew that the isolated people that the tongue had belonged to had even existed, and there were perhaps fewer than six people in existence that could translate it. But that was the great advantage to being Mima: she was always on such lists.

Both the rune and the description were written in red.

The rune wasn't quite complete though, not yet. She and Marisa had been working on it ever since the young witch's recovery, and caution dictated that they take it slow. Many of the rune's elements were quite obscure, and a couple were entirely unique. Mima wasn't at all surprised, but she was confident that they would have it perfected before too long. After that, they would be able to take it apart and improve both the original and augment other spells with what they had learned.

And after all that, the other nine would still be waiting for them.

Mima couldn't help but chuckle. It was for this very reason that she had counseled Marisa to keep her genius for runes a secret. So long as no one save for themselves knew about it, it was the gift that kept on giving.

As she scrutinized the stolen symbol, the door swung open behind her and slammed shut. Her face covered with sweat, Marisa stomped in without a word and made for the water pump in the other room. She emerged with her head still wet, but with water this time.

"So," Mima said as Marisa collapsed into a chair. "How was your run?"

Sighing, Marisa took off her hat and tossed it onto a nearby wooden mannequin head she kept for that purpose. "There was a wasp nest half a mile from here. Why was there a wasp nest half a mile from here?"

"To provide you with proper motivation?" Mima suggested.

"Fuck motivation. I had motivation. Those assholes just wanted blood, ze."

"Ah. Is that why said wasp's nest is now referred to in the past tense?"

Marisa's weary shoulders lifted in a shrug. "Eh," was her only reply.

Marisa had been on edge all day, often falling to pacing while wringing her hands. Even their daily exercise session had failed to burn away the excess energy. Finally, Mima had grown tired of the girl's anxiety and advised that she go for a jog. From the look of things, it had been successful in curing her restless legs, though she still looked somewhat distracted. And to her annoyance, Mima knew exactly why. She really hoped that this silly drama would be over with soon, before she was tempted to kill Alice Margatroid again.

"Well, either way, at least you accomplished what you set out to do," Mima said, turning her attention back to the obsidian tablet. "Though once you've rested up a bit, I could use your help with-"

"Waitaminute!" Marisa said, jolting straight up. "Put that away!"

Mima blinked. "What, this?" she said, holding the rectangle up.

"Yes, that!"

"Why? It's not active."

"Yeah, but…" Marisa fidgeted in her seat. "Look, just put it away, okay? We'll work on it tomorrow or something."

Mima frowned, but then she shrugged. "Oh, fine. Have it your way. It's more your project than mine." She stuck the tablet back into the pocket dimension from whence it came. Sighing with relief, Marisa slumped back into her seat and closed her eyes.

A few moments later, she cracked one eye open. Then she once again stiffened in her seat, eyes wide. "What the hell? No! Not that either!"

Mima looked up from what she was doing to scowl at her. "What?" she said. "Is this unacceptable as well?"

With the obsidian spellcard banned for the day, Mima had pulled out another one of her pet projects to replace it, this one consisting of three rather large objects, all of them of different designs but following a consistent theme, in that they were all made from a huge chunk of red quartz and were covered by a shell of obsidian and frosted gold carved into scenes of obscene acts. The first was a rectangular altar with an inward curving horn at each of its four corners and the one being of a casket shape with an outward curving back and sitting upright. The third was the strangest of all, consisting of a box-shaped framework made from gold wire, exactly two meters in its length, width, and height, with the quartz being carved into a large sphere that floated freely within.

The altar known as the Receptacle was an object of dark magic famed for possessing the ability to destroy anything, regardless of what it was, where it was, and who or what was protecting it. Unfortunately, the requirements needed to make it work were so incredibly impractical that most magicians considered it a waste of time. It had come into Mima and Marisa's possession under very strange circumstances that had rendered it all but useless, owing mainly to the fact that Mima had killed its keeper in the process. However, through years of studying its design and enchantments, they had made great progress in breaking down its notoriously impractical functionality, resulting in the casket, referred to simply as the Receptacle, MK. II. However, though its reliance on a specific keeper had been overcome, it still possessed many of the idiot demands that the original had, resulting in the construction of the Receptacle, MK III., which wasn't quite finished. Mima and Marisa had been working on it for years, and since the Receptacle had largely been responsible for their first meeting, it was a favorite pet project of theirs.

Though apparently, not today.

"Yes!" Marisa insisted, agitation all over her face. "That is absolutely fucking unacceptable!"

"Why?" Mima said, spreading her hands bewilderment. "You love working on this ugly thing! You spent most of Saturday tinkering with it!"

"I know! And I will again! Just not today, okay?"

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Mima complained as she banished the devices of darkest evil from the house. "Child, if you're so afraid of offending your girlfriend's idiotic sensibilities, you shouldn't have invited her here!"

"I didn't invite her, she's not my girlfriend, and this is still my house, damn it!" Marisa shouted. "So if I say we're not working dark magic today, we're not fucking working on dark magic today, ze!"

"Fine, fine!" Mima said, throwing her hands in the air. "You win! I won't offend the morally confused toy collector. Here, I'll even help win her over."

She tapped the ground, and a small wooden table rose up. It was covered with a red-and-white checkered tablecloth and was set with a large plate of spaghetti and came with lit candles, a vase of flowers, a loaf of Italian bread, and a bottle of wine.

"Shall I also serenade you while you look lovingly into each other's eyes?" Mima said. She sprouted four additional arms, each hand holding up a different musical instrument, save for the last two, as the two instruments two was resting on were too large to life. "Here, I've got a violin, an accordion, some kind of banjo thing, electric guitar, drum set, and a grand piano. Pick one."

Marisa's face was already red from her run, but it managed to darken even further. "Okay, knock it off already!" she said, pointing an angry finger at her mentor. That's…" she hesitated, and lowered her finger, "…actually kind of funny. But still. Just quit it, and don't interfere with this, okay?"

"Hmmmph," Mima said as she cleaned up. "You know, I get the distinct impression that you're embarrassed of me."

Marisa sighed. "Look, you know I ain't. But I finally got Alice talking to me again, and I don't wanna scare her off. So, just leave her alone, and keep from doing anything…"

"Evil?" Mima suggested.

"Well, I was gonna say smothering, but that works too."

"I see." Mima put her hands, now back to two, on her hips and sighed. "You know, sometimes I wonder why I was so eager to give up my humanity. And then something comes along and reminds me."

"Mima…"

"I'll behave, I'll behave," Mima said, holding up her palms. She glanced toward the door and smirked. "Though I hope you're not so tuckered out that you've forgotten that speech you've been practicing in front of the mirror, because here she comes now."

"Like I couldn't sense her," Marisa groused as she lurched to her feet and stomped toward the door, grabbing her hat as she went. "And don't give me crap about practicing in front of mirrors. I don't need to fucking practice when I want to-" She yanked the door open. "Hi Alice!"

Alice stood on the doorstep, fist raised to knock. Her eyes widened with surprise, but it didn't last long. "Oh, hello Marisa," she said, lowering her arm. "I guess I should have expected-"

"Yeah, you did, and shame on your for not doing so. Hey, you wanna go for a walk?"

Alice frowned. "I suppose so-"

"Great, let's go!" Marisa seized Alice by the arm and all but dragged the bewildered magician from her house and back into the forest. Though she made a point of not looking behind her, she could still feel Mima staring after them, though whether she was smirking or scowling she didn't want to guess.

The Forest of Magic was at all times deep, thick, and dark, and they did not have to go far before losing sight of the house. However, they had not gone nearly far enough for Marisa's comfort before Alice brought herself to a stop and yanked her arm from Marisa's grasp.

"All right, that's enough!" she said, putting some distance between them. "Where do you think you're taking me?"

"I ain't taking you nowhere, ze!" Marisa protested. "I'm taking you away from the house!"

"You want me away from your house? After putting on that ridiculous spectacle to get me to come back." Folding her arms, Alice frowned in suspicion. "Marisa, is there something you're hiding from me? Some special project of which I would disapprove?"

Plenty, Marisa thought dourly. But you ain't gonna hear about those anytime soon. "No, I'm getting us away from Mima," she answered instead, which was true enough. "As soon as she heard you were coming, she's done nothing but make dumb jokes and be a major pain in the ass."

Alice's scowl froze. "Oh," she said, lifting her brow. "That makes…But wait, this is Mima we're talking about. What good will a small bit of distance do?"

None at all, if Mima were determined. But with any luck, she would at least refrain from pressing the matter. With any luck… "I made her promise to cut that crap out and leave us alone," Marisa said. "But I still don't want her making faces at us the whole time."

"Ah," Alice said, looking rather uncomfortable. "I see."

"Yeah, exactly." Folding her own arms over her chest, Marisa leaned back against a gnarled, old tree of her acquaintance. "So. How yah doin'?"

Alice took a deep breath. "Well, I promised to be by to talk…"

"Yo."

"And I suppose I that I do owe you an explanation for our lack of contact."

Marisa shrugged. "Eh, already know why you cut me off. Think I addressed most of it yesterday, ze."

"Yes, but since you forcibly made me let you say your piece, it's only fair that I have the opportunity as well.

"Eh, true enough." Folding her arms behind her head, Marisa leaned back against the tree. "Shoot."

Alice worked her mouth silently for a bit, trying to put her thoughts in order. Finally, she began with, "You are…a very perplexing person, Marisa. Most of the time I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about you."

"Thanks!" Marisa grinned brightly

"All right, please don't do that," Alice said with a scowl. "This is difficult as it is without you making japes."

"Who said I'm joking?" Marisa said, looking hurt.

Alice sighed. …yes, you would take that as a compliment, would you?

"Ayup." Marisa rolled her wrist impatiently. "But get on with it already."

"Fine." Alice folded her hands in front of her lap and sighed. "I admit it. As mad as I was at you, I still missed you. There. I said it. Does that make you happy?"

Marisa cocked her head to one side and studied Alice's face curiously. "Hey, Alice?"

"What?"

"You ever read anything from the Outside World?"

"I…s-some," Alice stuttered. She seemed genuinely put off by the question. "Why?"

"So you might get this." Marisa stuck her fist in front of her mouth and cleared her throat loudly. "Ahem." Then she took a deep breath and sang out, "Tsun tsun tsun tsun tsun tsun tsun…"

Alice stared in bafflement. "What?"

"Never mind," Marisa said with a satisfied grin. "Continue…"

Her smile didn't survive long though. Alice looked hurt by her making light of the situation. Marisa had always been of the opinion that the puppet-master possessed too thin of a skin, and normally wasn't shy of letting her know. But given the circumstances, messing with her suddenly wasn't as fun as it used to be. Grimacing, she sighed and turned away.

"Marisa, look," Alice said. "When…when I first ran away from Makai, it was…very frightening. The world was strange, the customs were strange, the ground was much too soft and the sky much too large, and everyone was a stranger. That's part of the reason I took refuge in the forest. But then I met you, someone my age who was just as interested in magic as I was. And not only that, you didn't care who I was or where I came from. You just wanted to hang out. To me, that was…new, but very refreshing." She shook her head. "Oh gods, I can't believe I'm actually resorting to this cliché, but as annoying as your brashness might be and as much as your disorganization might drive me up a wall, you were…and still are…quite possibly the only real friend I've had. And I also don't want to lose that."

To that, Marisa had nothing to say. Because the fact of the matter was that while she was much more outgoing and her list of friends actually included quite a few names, being a professional magician was still a lonely existence. Mima was great, yes, but she had still greatly appreciated having someone closer to her own age around, someone who was also in possession of considerable talent but still had much to learn.

"But even so…" Alice continued, looking very uncomfortable. "You still scare me sometimes, Marisa. You're one of the strongest people I've ever met, but rarely show restraint. You openly practice dark magic. You take whatever you want regardless of who is belongs to. And your temper can be downright frightening sometimes, especially given the powers you command." Alice stared down at her shoes. "I've always told myself that it's not so bad, that I'll keep you from going too far, but then your irresponsible use of magic almost got you killed, just so you would be able to fight better. And on top of that, I hear that your temper almost drove you to commit murder, something that you didn't seem the slightest bit ashamed about. How was I supposed to react, Marisa?"

Marisa raised an eyebrow. "I dunno. Maybe step in and tell me to knock that shit off, ze?"

"Yes, perhaps, but Marisa…even if I had stuck around…and you're right, I should have…but even then, I can't always be around to be your conscience. Reimu can't always be around to be your conscience. You spoke of how she stepped in and pointed out how you were in the wrong, while I was wondering why she needed to." Alice sighed and looked up again to meet Marisa's golden gaze. "That's what scares me, Marisa. Reimu shouldn't have needed to tell you that 'lost my temper' doesn't excuse attempted murder, Marisa. And as bad of a day you were having, one moment of lost control nearly cost several people their lives. That's what scares me about you, Marisa. I think that you rely too much on other people to tell you what's right and wrong, when you should already know the difference. And I think I know why."

Okay, here it came. "Let me guess. Mima?" Marisa said. She tried to keep the acid from her voice, but wasn't entirely successful.

"Exactly."

Marisa's gaze darkened. "I'm not Mima."

"I never said you were," Alice said patiently. "But she has had a greater influence on you than you'll admit."

"No, she hasn't," Marisa said, shaking her head.

"Yes, she has."

"Nope." Marisa let her hands fall to her sides as she stood up and away from the tree. "Look, I'm not lying to myself here, okay? I know what she is, I know the things she's done. I don't wanna be like her, okay? Not like that. And she knows that."

Alice looked pained. "Marisa, you can't possibly think that she hasn't-"

Not letting her get a word in edgewise, Marisa pressed on, both verbally and physically, moving right in front of Alice's face while continuing her point. "Look, the day she took me in to be her apprentice, she laid all the cards out on the table. She told me who she was and what I was getting myself into. And she promised…and on her name and power, I should point out…that while she would teach me whatever I wanted about magic, she wasn't gonna try to mold me into a second her. That she wasn't going to screw with me and make me into a bad guy, that she would let me choose my own path." Marisa spread her hands. "And so far, she's kept it."

Alice swallowed. "Marisa, please don't take this the wrong way, but you do realize that this is Mima we're talking about, right?"

"What, you saying she's a liar?" Marisa rolled her eyes. "Well, she kinda is, yeah. But not to me. She made a binding vow, Alice. That kinda counts for something in our world, ze."

Alice was silent for a time, though Marisa wasn't so naïve as to think that she was convinced. More likely she was carefully weighing her words before she spoke them. "Do you honestly think she hasn't molded you regardless?" she said at last, speaking in a soft voice.

Marisa's eyes narrowed. "Binding. Vow."

"She's Mima," Alice said. "She would know how to work around that."

Raising an eyebrow, Marisa stuck her hands in her pockets and waited for Alice to continue.

"You lost your temper, and you immediately tried to kill Kotohime Sonozika and her people," Alice said. "I think I've seen that happen at least once before."

Oh crap. Marisa had completely forgotten about that little incident. "Oh. Uh, look," she said, nervously scratching the back of her neck. "That was…"

"In both cases, someone was stressed out and on edge," Alice continued, with more confidence this time. "In both cases, there was a trigger that caused that someone to snap. In both cases, they came very close to murdering someone." Now it was her eyes that had narrowed to slits. "And in both cases, they felt no remorse for doing so."

Marisa grimaced. This was not going as she had expected. "Look, if you're gonna try to make me ditch the woman who freaking raised me, then I can tell you right now that's not gonna happen. So don't go making me choose, okay?"

"Because you'll choose her?"

"She's the closest thing I ever had to a mom," Marisa pointed out. "Yeah, I know. Evil. Got it. But she still took me in when I was lost and alone, taught me everything I wanted to know, and saved my ass a bunch of times." She swallowed back the lump she felt forming in her throat. "That…that counts for something, ze."

"And she taught you dark magic."

"I ain't exactly unique in that regard, Alice," Marisa said with a shrug. "Hell, you know a black spell or two."

Alice's cheeks turned red. "That doesn't mean I practice it! But you do! Why?"

"Hell…" Marisa leaned back against the tree and closed her eyes as she pondered her answer.. As Marisa had done, Alice waited patiently while her friend put her thoughts in order. "Tell me something, Alice: why do you even study magic?"

"What?"

"You heard me," Marisa insisted. "You didn't have to become a magician. Why did you?"

Alice looked completely taken back. Clearly, she had not expected her question to be turned on her. "I…I don't see how that's relevant!"

"Well, lemme answer for you," Marisa said. "I mean, you've told me often enough. When you were living with Shinki, she had you study all sorts of subjects, because that's what rich parents make their kids do. And you found out that you've got a knack for magic, so you went with it. And after you left, since it was what you were best at, you stuck with it."

Alice's mouth fell open. "That is…very demeaning!" she protested. "And you know that there's far more to it than that! The wards I've made have saved the lives of more than one homestead, to say nothing of the cures and poultices I've developed! That you helped me develop." She wringed her hands as she grew more and more flustered. "And my dolls have uses as well! You've seen how much children love the shows I've put on during festivals. How could anyone not enjoy their smiles?"

"And that's fine," Marisa was quick to assure her. "All noble reasons and whatnot. You keep at magic because of what you can do with it." Then she jabbed a thumb against her own chest. "But you wanna know why I got into magic? Because ever since I was little, I've been in love with it, even before I figured out how to do it. And don't just mean learning enough so I could do cool shit. I mean I love magic itself. I love taking apart every spell I can get my hands on and figuring out how they work. And every time I do, I learn a little bit more, which I can use with working with other spells."

Alice stared. "That…didn't answer my question at all."

"I'm getting to that." Marisa held up a hand. Above her palm, three slowly orbiting spheres formed, each one so black that light seemed to fall into them. A low but sinister hum emitted from them. "With dark magic, you've got a bunch of spells that do some really nasty things, and you usually gotta do some really nasty things to make them work." She shrugged and closed her fingers, banishing the spheres. "Okay, but why? Why do I gotta sacrifice a baby on a moonless night to summon up a bunch of plague crows? It's being an evil asshole just to be an evil asshole. That's just dumb. So whenever I come across something like that, I want to take it apart and figure what the idiot dark wizard that made it was thinking. And after that, I want to see if I can't make something that does the same thing without having to be an evil asshole to pull it off."

Her explanation was less than well received, if the look on Alice's face was any indication. "So, you're just trying to make dark magic more practical? Marisa, that sounds exactly like Mima!"

"No!" Marisa shouted. "I want to learn more about magic! Everything in dark magic has roots in something harmless, yeah? Boiling someone's blood in their veins is just really precise manipulation of the motion of water molecules. Plagues start from creating life on the microscopic level. All of that has tons of application elsewhere, but the black spells do them best, and I wanna know why and how. That's why I study dark magic. To figure out how it works and learn from it, not so I can kill a bunch of people because good times."

Alice raised an eyebrow. "And yet you travel with lethal spellcards always on your person."

"Well, we do kinda live in a world of monsters," Marisa said, though she still winced.

"Monsters that almost uniformly stick to spellcard rules," Alice pointed out. "And even the ones that don't are well within your ability to handle without resorting to…those."

"Tell that to Yuuka," Marisa said with a derisive snort. "Those lethal spellcards saved my life."

Alice sighed. Running her fingers through her short, blonde hair, she walked a bit down the path, turning her back to the other magician. "Marisa, I'm not looking for a lengthy debate about this. I don't doubt that your reasons are sincere. But I also hold that Mima has had a greater influence on you than you'll admit, one that is not at all positive. And the fact that you insist to continue to associate with her is…worrying."

"So…that's it then?" Marisa said. She didn't mean to sound fearful, but she did.

There was a long pause, and then Alice shook her head. "No. I can't just leave and wash my hands of you, you were right about that." Letting out a small laugh, she turned back around to face Marisa again. "I do…care for you too much to abandon our friendship. But I'm not going to turn a blind eye to this anymore."

"I'm not cutting off Mima," Marisa said flatly.

"I know that," Alice said with a nod. "But so long as she continues to be an influence in your life, someone should try to counterbalance it."

Marisa glowered. "Righteous. Self." She pointed a finger at Alice's chest. "You. A lot. Besides, I got Reimu."

"Reimu's great, but she isn't a magician," Alice responded, moving Marisa's finger away. "There are some things she just doesn't understand. I'm not giving up on you, Marisa. I'm not going to nag you over every little detail, but I'm not going to give up on you."

Marisa sighed. This really wasn't going as she had expected. "Whatever happened to needing my own conscience?"

"That's why I'm not giving up on you." Alice suddenly turned and started to walk away, though not before saying, "I'll see you tomorrow, at my place."

Marisa blinked. "Your place?"

"Yes. I need help with that mess of a rune." She looked over her shoulder and smirked. "Consider it a challenge. You enjoy challenges, don't you?"

Well, that was true enough. Marisa certainly wouldn't mind taking a crack at sorting out that atrocity on Alice's floor. But there was still a bit of a problem with that plan. "Be kinda awkward, with Poisonpants glaring at my back the whole time," she pointed out.

Alice shook her head. "I'm not working with Medicine anymore. You were right about that, I shouldn't have associated with her." With that, she continued on her way. "But it's not like she was contributing much anyway."

The paths of the Forest of Magic were winding and thick with foliage and shadow, and it did not take long for Alice to disappear entirely. Still, Marisa stood staring at where she had gone for a time. The talk had left her feeling shaken and conflicted. She had expected them to simply talk out their differences and things would go back to the way they were. Instead, she again had her choices and beliefs questioned by someone she cared about. Only this time, it had cut deeper into something a bit beyond a simple anger problem. Now her loyalties were being called into question.

It was then that she noticed that her fists were clenched so tight that her hands were shaking and her fingernails were starting to cut into her palm. Taking a deep breath, she forced her hands to relax. "Man," she muttered, rubbing her sore fingers. "Why does everyone keep trying to change me?"

Above, the leaves rustled, and a worn, drooping face emerged from the side of the tree that Marisa had been leaning again. "Well, if you want my opinion…" the tree started to say in a creaking voice.

"Shut up, Archie!" Marisa snapped. "Nobody asked you!"

"Then don't hold arguments under me." The face sank back into the bark.

Sighing, Marisa stuck her hands into her pocket and stomped back to her house. Now she really wanted to help Mima with her dark and twisted projects, partially because she really needed something to do with her hands and partially out of spite.

She arrived, and pushed the door open. "Hey, back now," she said, walking in. "Thanks for not jumping in. Alice was all-"

Then she came to a sudden stop and looked around. No one was there. Her furniture was still in their places, as was what few books and instruments she had managed to salvage in the wake of the GPF's raid, but beyond that, the house was empty.

A weird feeling prickled the back of Marisa's neck. "Hello?" she said, looking around. "Mima?" When that failed to elicit a response, she conducted a thorough search of the rest of the house.

Marisa's house was not large, and it didn't take long to confirm what had been apparent when she first walked in. Mima was gone.

…

Cat ears slicked back and eyes narrowed to slits, Orin marched up the winding ramp toward the reactor. She held Utsuho's hand tightly in her own and was all but dragging the befuddled Hell Raven along with her to speak with Koishi's temporary "host."

Right before she had departed, Yukari had sent Orin a message only she could hear. "Byakuren Hijiri wants to speak with you. You'll find her in the reactor." Whether it had been sent directly into her mind or spoken at a frequency meant for her ears only, she hadn't had time to tell, nor did she care. All she wanted was answers.

Byakuren met them almost as soon as they came in. Her face was lined with worry, and she kept anxiously wringing her hands together, a far cry from the air of unflappable dignity she normally gave off. "I'm so sorry about this," she said as soon as the two youkai entered.

Orin scowled. She didn't have a problem with the monk, per se, and was actually quite grateful for the aid she had given Koishi thus far. But she was still a part of this charade. "Can she hear us?" she said.

"Yukari?" Byakuren sighed. "Yes, most likely. But she won't care."

Well, that was as good an invitation as she was going to get. "What did she do to her?"

Byakuren hesitated, and then said. "Yukari…modified her. Fixed her problems with self-awareness, toned down her subconscious, and returned her personality."

"That is not her personality," Orin hissed.

"I thought not," Byakuren said heavily.

Orin exchanged a glance with Utsuho. The Hell Raven swallowed and nudged the door shut. Then shrank down into her raven aspect and alighted on Orin's shoulder, showing that she was going to let the other two women do the talking but still wanted to remain present. Scratching her friend's neck, Orin said, "Yukari said she agreed to this. How the hell can someone agree to something if they're not even self-aware?"

Byakuren frowned. "She…was, actually," she said, choosing her words with care.

"What?"

"As I understand it, she was actually in the process of rebuilding her consciousness when she joined us. Her time at the temple has…expedited the process."

"How?" Orin's face twisted up in confusion. "Her Third Eye's been shut. Her whole mind was wiped!"

Byakuren winced. "I don't claim to know much of anything about Satori psychology, I only know that since I've known her, her mind has been repairing itself at a surprising rate." She spread her hands. "Perhaps regaining the emotion of hope was the catalyst for the rest to reassert themselves."

"Wait, hope?" Now Orin was really confused. "How'd she get that back?"

"I'd…really rather not get into that."

Orin considered making an issue of it, but decided to let it rest for now. There would time for that later. "Okay, but Yukari…"

"Yukari made a deal with her," Byakuren explained. "Essentially, she's been given the same treatment as Kotohime Sonozika, at least enough for her to interact with others. She's to have another session with Yukari before going public, to enable her to assume Satori's role."

Orin stared. "But her Third Eye is still closed."

"Yes, that was part of the deal. Koishi refused to have it reopened."

"But that's horrible!" Orin sputtered. "Satoris don't work that way! You…you can't just force one that's had her Third Eye closed to be sane! The paradox is probably going to make her worse after all this is over!"

Byakuren winced. "I tried to talk her out of it, but after hearing about what happened to her sister, she insisted!"

And suddenly, things were making much more sense. "Which is probably what Yukari was counting on, that bitch," Orin growled.

She noted that Byakuren did not rush to disagree. Instead, she said, "This change…will it really harm her that much?"

And that was the rub. Satori psychology was…weird. Their Third Eyes were not intended to be closed, and the documented cases of one deliberately shutting theirs were extremely rare. Koishi's case was the only in recent memory, and the repercussions had been severe. And the known cases of a Satori with a closed Third Eye having their consciousness artificially reconstructed while keeping their Third Eye closed numbered exactly one. "I don't know," Orin admitted. "I don't know if anything like this has happened before. Maybe if she was getting better on her own, it won't be so bad." She sighed. "But damn it, this shouldn't be happening to her."

"On that we agree."

"Why are you even in on this?" Orin shot back. "I thought Buddhists had a major problem with lying."

"We do," Byakuren admitted. "Unfortunately, as much as I hate this, I do agree that it's either this, suffer the riots, or remove Satori from office entirely. Plus, I owe a lot to Kanako, and wouldn't have her shoulder this responsibility alone." Orin's eyes narrowed, and Utsuho let out an unhappy squawk, but they didn't call further attention to the goddess's mention. Apparently not noticing, Byakuren just leaned against the wall and closed her eyes with a sigh. "And as circumstance keeps reminding me, I'm not exactly a very good Buddhist."

Orin wasn't sure how to react to that. She considered letting that comment slide as well, but the paradox was so obvious that she had to say something. "You run a Buddhist temple…" she said weakly.

"Welcome to Gensokyo."

Orin let out a bark of surprised laughter. She hadn't meant to, but Byakuren's response was so unexpected and yet so accurate that she couldn't help it. She tried to hold it in, tried reminded herself of the direness of the situation, but everything was just so horrible that it was hilariously ludicrous. She doubled over as squeaking guffaws forced their way out, wracking her body like sobs. Utsuho flapped her wings as Orin lurched forward and squawked in surprise, but soon she was letting out raspy giggles of her own. She toppled from Utsuho's shoulder and landed in her Human form, still laughing.

Byakuren seemed startled by the animals' reaction, even if it had been her joke. She looked from one to the other in confusion, opened her mouth to say something, only to start chuckling as well. Soon all three were practically rolling over each other in laughter.

Finally, Orin regained enough control to sit up. Wiping her eyes with her sleeve, she took a deep breath and said, "So, what happens after all this is over?"

Byakuren sobered then. "Koishi is returned to…well, the way she was, and goes back to the temple."

"I know a lot of people who aren't going to be happy about that, even with Satori back," Orin pointed out.

Byakuren sat back against the wall. "I'm sorry Orin," she said, looking down at her lap. "I wish I had better answers for you. I can only hope we can prevent this horrible situation from-"

Utsuho's eyes suddenly widened, and she lunged forward, covering Byakuren's mouth with her hand.

"No, don't say that!" she said in panic, breaking into the conversation for the first time. "Don't you know that if you say something like that, you'll just make it worse?"

"Whoa, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Orin yelped. She quickly hauled Utsuho off of the startled monk. "Okuu, you know better than to do that to guests! What are you-"

"No, no, it's fine, it's fine," Byakuren was quick to say. "And in light of where we live, she may have a point."

Then, with a heavy sigh, she pulled herself to her feet. "Well, I should probably go. Please promise me you'll look after Koishi. And each other."

"I don't think we need to," Orin said as she and Utsuho rose as well. "But I will."

"Me too," Utsuho said. Then she brightened. "Thanks for bringing her back!"

Byakuren's smiled, though it looked strained and forced. "Don't thank me yet. Not until this is over." She turned and exited the reactor, though not before adding, "Even then it may not appropriate."

…

"Hey, Rin!"

Lost in her thoughts, Rin glanced up just in time to see a white spheroid sailing right for her face.

"Think fast!"

Instead of thinking, Rin's instinctively snapped her hand up and caught the ball of ice before it hit. From her perch on top of her iceberg, Cirno stared at her in dismay.

"How'd you catch that so fast?" the ice fairy demanded.

Rin didn't answer. She passed the ice ball from hand to hand, looking down at it thoughtfully.

Then she hurled it at breakneck speed at the center of Cirno's iceberg.

Rin had given up a lot of her physical strength when Rumia's evil self had been pulled out of her, but between Nue Houjuu and Mamizou Futatsuiwa, she still had plenty to spare. The ball of ice smashed through the iceberg and shattered it. Not expecting the sudden attack, Cirno fell headfirst into the pool, to everyone's laughter.

After the party had finished, everyone had unanimously agreed that going to play outside was in order. And while she still wasn't completely sure where she stood with everyone, Rin had decided to tag along.

At first, everyone had headed straight for the pool, with Rumia especially wanting to stretch her muscles. Rin had stayed out of the water, not wanting to make the others uncomfortable. This became a moot point anyway, as Rumia, Wriggle, and Mystia had soon emerged shivering from the water while Cirno and Daiyousei had stayed in. The reason had soon became clear, as bits of ice soon formed on the water's surface.

"She does this all the time," Wriggle had irritably explained as Cirno started constructing a small tower of ice in the middle of the pool. "Every freaking time."

Appropriately enough, Wriggle was the first to congratulate Rin once the iceberg collapsed. "Nice job," she said admiringly. "I've been wanting to do something like that for years."

Rin grinned. But her delight at the compliment was short lived, as Cirno suddenly shot into the air, her face red with anger. "Hey, why the hellsicles did you do that for?" she demanded. Her hands glowed white, and she was holding two more ice balls. "Well, take this!"

Rin took them. She caught both ice balls with ease and hurled them back, forcing Cirno to swoop out of the way. "Come on, you've got to do better than that!" Rin taunted, a bit caught up in the moment.

"Yeah? Well, how's this?"

Cirno threw an ice ball the size of a globe at Rin's head. Sighing, Rin reached up with both hands to catch it. "Nice try!" she said as it approached. "But I'm not-"

And then her feet swept out from under her and she fell flat on her back. Taken by surprise, Rin didn't remember to catch Cirno's glacial cannonball until it had fallen right onto her nose and squished her face.

As she pushed it off, Rin came to realize what had happened. Cirno had frozen a thin sheet of ice under Rin's feet and knocked her off balance with the cannonball. Rin had been so focused on the angry ice-fairy that she hadn't noticed until it was too late. Rin had to admit, she was impressed. Cirno may not be the sharpest tack in the drawer, but she was certainly cunning enough in her own right.

Sitting up, Rin then noticed that everyone save for Cirno had gone completely quiet. The ice-fairy was cackling with glee, but when she saw Rin staring at her, her laughter died.

Rin stood up. Everyone warily watched her, no doubt wondering what the monster was about to do and mentally damning Cirno for offending her. Cirno, it should be noted, had turned an even paler hue than usual, and was visibly swallowing.

Glancing down at the cannonball, Rin shook her head. How ironic, that the terrible Rin Satsuki, feared by the likes of Yukari Yakumo and Yuuka Kazami, would be outsmarted by a lowly ice-fairy. True, she hadn't been using her full strength and could probably vaporize Cirno with a thought, but when judged by the rules of the game, she had been beaten. For some reason, Rin found the thought to be absolutely hilarious, and started giggling.

As she laughed, Rin saw that everyone was now looking at her like she had lost her mind, and that just made her laugh harder. Then slowly, at first with wary hesitation before warming into it, Rumia joined in as well. As did Cirno, and soon everyone was laughing.

Is this what it's like to have friends? Rin wondered. To tease and play jokes on one another and then laugh about it. It had been so long that the experience was again new to her, but she liked it. It felt good.

Then she hammered her fist down onto the large sphere of ice, shattering it to pieces. And before Cirno could react, she started hurling the fragments at her. The ice-fairy was knocked right out of the sky and back into the pool.

"Bam!" Rin shouted, slamming her fist against her palm. "Bull's-eye!"

This was met with another round of stunned silence, but quickly dissolved back into laughter. Even Cirno joined in, once she had gathered her wits.

Later, after things had calmed down a bit, Rin and Rumia sat together at a table in the shade of an umbrella, both of them with ice cream sundaes.

"See?" Rumia was telling her as she stirred her sundae with a straw. "I told you they would warm up to you. You just got to give them a chance."

"Oh yeah?" Rin retorted. "When exactly did you say that?"

"When-" Rumia frowned. "Okay, so maybe I never actually said that, but I'm saying it now. You're doing good so far. Cirno already likes you, Wriggle's coming around, and soon Mystia and Daiyousei will too."

"I guess," Rin said. She dipped her finger in the whipped cream and licked it. Her eyelids fluttered for a moment, and then she regained control. "But why is Mystia so scared of me? I mean, besides the obvious reasons. Daiyousei I get, 'cause you told me that she was always sort of timid. But Mystia looked like she's always on the verge of panic when she first saw me."

Rumia frowned at the question. "Huh. Now that you mention it, yeah, she has been really freaked. I dunno, actually." She shrugged. "Well, she did see me get dissolved like an ice cube in a boiling pot. Maybe it just scared her more, or maybe something new happened to her." Her frown deepened into a scowl, and she shoved a spoon into the sundae and yanked out a sizeable mound of ice-cream, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream. "That's biggest pain of all. I mean, they're all interested in what's been happening to me, but just how much stuff did I miss? Last time I saw them, we were all living in our cave under the Youkai Mountain. And now we're with Yuuka Kazami? I mean, how in the hell did that happen?"

Sighing, she shoved the spoon into her mouth. Immediately her sullenness evaporated, to be replaced by an expression of pure joy. "Ooooh…" she moaned, her mouth still full.

Rin wished her discomfort could be wiped away so easily. She picked at her own ice-cream, her head down. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"Hmmm?" Rumia paused in her euphoric reverie long enough to glance at her. "What?"

"For taking you away. Sorry."

Rumia rolled her eyes and swallowed. "Didn't you apologize already? Like, less than a-AH!" She lurched forward, clutching at her head as she cried out in pain.

"Rumia?" Rin vaulted over the table to be at her side. "Rumia! What's wrong? What's happening?"

"Hey, what's going on?" Wriggle said, taking notice. The firefly jogged over. "Rumia, are you okay?" She turned to glare accusingly at Rin. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" Rin protested. "We were just talking, and suddenly she-"

"Oh, fer the love of the gods, will you two back up?" Rumia growled as she straightened up, one hand still pressed to her forehead. "I'm fine! I just got a major dose of brainfreeze, that's all."

"Brainfreeze?" Wriggle's antennae wilted. "Oh. Er, sorry."

"Yeah, yeah," Rumia muttered, waving her off. "Just ease up already. Everything's cool."

Wriggle hesitated for a moment, then she shot an apologetic look to the stupefied Rin and ran back to where Cirno, Daiyousei, and Mystia were watching in concern. They exchanged words, and everyone relaxed and returned to their sport.

"Hope I don't have to put up with that every time I get the hiccups," Rumia said, rubbing her eyes. Then she glanced up at Rin, who was still standing next to her. "Oh, would you sit down already? I told you, I'm fine! I just ate that ice-cream too fast."

"Oh, okay," Rin said, feeling rather embarrassed. She returned to her seat and plomped back down.

"Anyways, like I was saying," Rumia said once Rin was sitting down. "Don't worry about it. You've already apologized, so it's not like you gotta repeat yourself every couple of minutes."

"Okay," Rin said, fidgeting. She looked down at her hands and took a deep breath. "Hey, Rumia? Mind if I ask an awkward question?"

Rumia paused, looking at her in suspicion. Then she shrugged. "Might as well. Go ahead."

"Why are you being so nice to me?"

There really was no nice way to put it, and just as Rin had expected, Rumia didn't take the question well at all. Her face soured, and anger flashed in her eyes. "Wait, say what? Why all the suspicion of a sudden? After all you put me through, I still introduced you to my friends, said you were my friend as well, stuck up for you, and now you're all questioning me?"

"But that's just it!" Rin protested. "I put you through Hell! I don't deserve to be called your friend. But now you're practically bending over backward to make me feel welcome. So…why?"

Rumia glowered at her for a moment longer, and then her face softened. "Okay, I guess I can understand that. It's just…" She frowned. "Look, I'll try to answer if I can, but I need to ask you something first."

"Me? Er, okay…"

"If I hadn't dragged you along to meet my friends and had you stay, what would you have done?"

The question hit Rin hard. Not because she wasn't sure of the answer; she was, and that was the bother of it. In fact, she was certain that Rumia knew it too, and that just made it harder. "I…" she stammered, trying to find the words. "Well, I would have found a nice, quiet place, and then let everyone go…"

"So, that's it? Just send them off with a goodbye and stop trying to find a cure?" Rumia didn't wait for an answer before pressing on. "Fine. Then what?"

Rin didn't answer. She couldn't even look Rumia in the eye.

"Rin. Then. What?"

Rin still didn't answer.

Rumia studied her shamed face a few seconds before saying, "You would've found a way to kill yourself, wouldn't you?"

Rin cringed, but said, "The world's better off without me."

"Huh. Well, that's a definite yes then." Shaking her head, Rumia pushed her sundae away and leaned over the table, hands clasped on its top. "Look. Rin. I already told you that I don't hate you. Hell, I actually feel sorry for you. A lot. And I don't want you to die either. You put me through a mountain of shit, but you got shoved through an even bigger one, and…" She sighed. "I dunno. I guess I just want you to have a happy ending."

"A happy ending," Rin repeated ruefully. She held up her right hand. It burst into flames, and she held it over her sundae, melting it down into slush. "People like me don't get happy endings," she said, dousing the fire in a puff of white smoke. "Even the good times just set you up for the Hell that's coming."

Rumia frowned. "Yeah, sorry, but I don't believe that. Lots of people have gone through ridiculous shitstorms and still found a way to be okay in the end."

"So, that's why you're trying to be my friend? To give me a reason to keep living?"

"Well, a little," Rumia admitted. "But damn it, Rin. I actually kind of like you now. We went through a lot together, and you've put yourself on the line for me more than once." Shrugging, she leaned back into her seat. "I dunno. It's just…you don't go through something like that with someone without getting at least a little fond of them. And now that I'm free again, it's a lot easier. So, if you don't eat me or my friends again, then I definitely don't have a problem with having you as a friend as well."

Swallowing, Rin averted her gaze. "Okay," she whispered. "Okay. Thank you."

They sat in silence for a time, with Rumia mechanically spooning ice cream into her mouth while Rin sat still, staring down at the tabletop. Finally, Rumia scraped the last bit of sundae off the side of her glass and frowned at Rin's, which was now a brown-and-white puddle.

"So," she said, gesturing to it with her spoon. "You gonna eat that or what?"

…

"Anything?" Reisen asked.

Reimu shrugged, though her full arms made the motion a little awkward. "That's the impression I got. She wants to make amends."

The cold look on Reisen's face made it clear what she thought of Remilia Scarlet's offer. "And why didn't she do it in person?"

"Because she's afraid you'll try to stake her?" Reimu gingerly made her way down the wooden steps leading underground. "Come on, she's trying. For Remilia, that's big step."

The two of them were busy carrying the various buckets of money down into the storage house's cellar, where they wouldn't distract Reimu and send her off into a zombie-like trance whenever she saw them, as Genji had put it. Sakuya had offered to help, but Reimu, who thought it best to keep the maid and the rabbit separated for a while, pointed out that the mansion probably needed her help fending off erstwhile reporters, and that had been the end of that.

"And if I don't want anything from her?" Reisen said as she set her armfuls down.

Reimu sighed. "Then save it for when you think of something." She started up the steps with Reisen following her. "Having an uber-rich vampire owe you is something that can really pay off, if you remember to cash it in at the right time."

"I don't want anything from her," Reisen repeated stubbornly. "She had what I wanted, and she gave her to someone else. There is nothing she can offer me to make that better."

Reimu paused before she reached the top of the steps, which forced Reisen to come to a stop as well. "Reisen," she said in exasperation. "Look. I get that you don't like them."

"'Don't like' is a very mild way of putting it."

"Yeah, okay. And hey, you have good reason not to. But we're still stuck with them, probably for a very long time." Reimu took a deep breath. "So what I'm saying is, please, please, please don't try to stake Remilia in her sleep, all right?"

Reisen looked offended by the notion. "I'm not going to stake your vampire friend."

"You sure look like you want to."

"I…" Reisen's features contorted with anger, but as anger had never really thrived well within Reisen Udongein Inaba, it quickly melted away to give way to an emotion that did: shame. "I'm sorry. I know I'm being horrible about this-"

"You're not being horrible," Reimu said with a sigh. "Just…Oh, forget it."

They worked in silence for a time, which was a bit worse than it sounded. If Reimu was trying to talk about incredibly awkward things, she wasn't focusing on the large amounts of money being carried in her arms. And if she was focusing on the large amounts of money being carried in her arms, her body developed an odd sort of tingle and her mind slowly ascended to a state of euphoria. Reimu, who was not used to perfect happiness, found that entering such a state tended to negatively affect her decision making functions and make her behave in a rather silly manner. Already she could feel the prickles starting and an unwanted smile forcing its way onto her face. "Okay, look," she said before she started crooning over the money again. "How about this: after all this is over and Rin's back to normal, have Remilia build the two of you…Hey, you're definitely not going back to Eientei, right?"

"I'm pretty sure that bridge has been left smoldering," Reisen said dryly. "Not that I'd ever want to take Rin back there anyway."

"Yeah, okay. Then have Remilia build you a nice little house someplace pretty but out of the way, with…I dunno, a fireplace and a chicken coop and indoor plumbing and a vegetable garden and a nice little pond she can going swimming in when the weather warms up…"

"Who, Remilia?" Reisen said in bewilderment.

"No, you dummy! Rin! Remilia doesn't even like water! Vampire, remember?"

Now Reisen was thoroughly confused. "I thought they were killed by sunlight."

"Yeah, but she said something about…" Reimu shook her head. The feeling of bliss was being drummed out by a developing headache. "Never mind. I'm saying is, Remilia's rich enough to build and maintain a whole freaking city and not notice the loss. So when you can, call in the debt and get you and Rin someplace nice, and have Remilia throw in a lifetime pension while you're at it."

Reisen frowned and she mulled over the idea. "I don't know," she said doubtfully. "It feels like…it feels like I'm being bribed, somehow. Like taking the money is somehow supposed to make things better."

Reimu sighed. "It's not a bribe, it's repayment. Weregild, or something like that. She owes you, and wants to pay you back. So, let her do it."

"I'll…think about it," Reisen said after a moment of hesitation.

Reimu nodded. She was about to say more, but she was interrupted by Genji, which was never a good sign. Despite his somewhat rough personality, turtle's manners were good enough that when he felt the need to butt in on a couple of pretty young ladies having a conversation, it usually meant that something of great importance was about to go down, or it already had.

"Yo," he said, floating up to them. "Sorry to break up the wealth distribution, but you've got a call waitin' fer yah."

"For me?" Reimu started to get nervous. These days, messages were rarely of the good sort. "From whom?"

"Yukari. She says she needs'ta give yah a head's up."

"Wonderful," Reimu sighed. With some reluctance, she set her buckets down. "Sorry, Reisen. I need to take this."

As Genji had said, a transparent image of Yukari was hovering over the Ying Yang Orb. Per usual, the elder youkai seemed both stressed and annoyed. Which was actually a good sign. That just meant that there was a problem that needed to be dealt with. When she was cold and angry, that usually meant that some sort of disaster had taken place.

"Reimu, hello," she said as the shrine maiden entered the building. "I know this is probably a bad time, but there is something we need to talk about."

Steeling herself, Reimu said, "All right, but if it's about Remilia…"

"It isn't. It's about your rabbit." Yukari took a deep breath and slowly let it out. "Given everything that's happened, it's time that we brought in Eirin Yagokoro into the project. Which, unfortunately, means letting her know that Reisen is hiding with you."

…

So…big long wait for this one. Like, over two months. Erm, okay. If you haven't been keeping up with my tumblr, here's what happened: see, after the last chapter when up, all the really dumb stuff I'd been doing for years to crank these chapters out as quickly as possible (lots of energy drinks, insane hours, and way too much over the counter sleep medication) finally caught up to me, and I developed chronic insomnia. As if in, I was lucky if I could get any sleep two days of the week and would all but overdose on OTC meds without so much as getting drowsy. End result: I was listless, irritable, and well on my way to becoming a zombie.

So anyway, after a few weeks I went to see a doctor and got a real prescription, which has helped tons. And given that I've sworn off anything with more caffeine than Coke, I'm also readjusting my schedule and habits into something more productive and not completely insane. And so far, it's actually been working out great. Wish I had figured all this out earlier, but hey, live and learn. So, learn from my mistake: mixing Monsters, a crapload of Zzzquil, and 3-4AM bedtimes every night is a BAD IDEA!

Until next time, everyone.