Disclaimer: Shin Megami Tensei: Persona belongs to ATLUS. Touhou Project belongs to Zun. I have no ownership of the copyrights of either series in any way.


Chapter 8: Shrine Work (Part II)

"Hellooooo?" Is someone calling me? "Hellooooo? Can you hear me?" Yeah. Someone is calling me. But who is it? "Are you awake?" Where am I? Who is it? I just have to open my eyes to see. "Wake up, please?" I'm trying. "Wake up… please tell me where am I…" I just have to open my eyes. It's not that hard. "Please wake up… I'm alone right now…" I have to open my eyes! "Wake up… Please wake up… wake up. I don't want to be alone like this… Please wake up…"

"It's time to wake up Minato-san. You still have work at the Hakurei shrine today." My eyes flash open to find myself in my room at Hakugyokurou. I shift my gaze over to the side of my futon to see Youmu is diligently at my side and Myon floating idle above me. Her expression is as serious as ever. I lazily shift my own body upwards into a sitting position, Myon promptly moved out of the way, though not by much, and begin to stretch reclosing my eyes as I do so. I let out an elongated yawn as well. "Good morning Minato-san." She says belatedly, but still before I got the chance to say it first.

"Good morning Youmu-san." We say morning, but it still looks like night outside. Then again time's passage doesn't exactly show in the environment in the land of the dead. I finally finish my stretching and open my eyes to see that Youmu looks to be visibly displeased; a rarity, though any expression other than stoicism from her is a rarity given my amount of interaction with her thus far. Is she alright? "Youmu-san? Is everything okay?" I ask a bit worriedly.

"Youmu…san…" She says her own name for some reason along with the honorific I typically use when addressing her. She then pauses for a couple of seconds before resuming. "It is fine for you to use a less formal form of address when speaking with me." She then goes on to tell me.

"Are you sure?" I ask her. 'San' is the default honorific. The less formal honorifics that I know of are 'chan' and 'tan'. 'Kun' is also still quite formal, especially so when it's used for women, and then there is the prospect of not even bothering with honorifics in the first place. That last one implies the most intimacy however, and I'm not really all that close to her yet.

"I'm very sure." She replies coolly, though a small softness could be felt from her voice.

"Then what am I allowed to use?" I inquire. "Should I use 'chan'? 'Tan' is a little too cutesy, or should I just say 'Youmu'?" I could see that she was visibly blushing when I offered her that last one with Myon squirming just a scoch.

"Um… uh… I…well, th-that last one!" She startled me with how loud she got with that last part. If that's what she wants, but it seems like she's not too comfortable with the idea yet… this could be fun.

"Alright, I'll do just that, Youmu." I tell her, complying with her request. As a free bonus, I also gave her a smile that I made sure fully mimicked the ones I gave to my seven girlfriends during our alone times… that sounds bad when I put it like that. Actually that sounds absolutely horrible. Not to self: learn how to say no to girls when they ask to go out.

"I… um… I… but… wha…so…uhhh…" Oops. I think I may have broken her, because not only was she stuttering madly, she then just now, *Thud!* … passed out. Huh… even Myon is on the floor. Crap. She was my ride (okay I have to stop calling her that). Now how am I going to get to the Shrine for work? Reimu probably won't be too miffed about me being late though seeing as how she's probably still asleep right now.

I get up from my futon and tuck Youmu and Myon in instead. The two must be tired so a little rest wouldn't hurt. I noted while holding her that her body temperature is a little low. Poor thing must be really worn out for that to happen… either that or the whole half ghost thing cuts her normal body temperature… oh well. I, soon after, change back into my regular clothes from my sleep wear and begin to look for the usual belongings. After managing to find my MP3 (which was luckily being charged though I don't remember doing that), I then began to see if there was anything else I was forgetting. I look over at the low table in my room to find something sitting there.

Walking over to the table, I find the doll that I got from Marisa the other day. That's strange… I don't remember taking it out of my pocket. For that matter I don't' remember a lot of things from last night. I pick the doll up to get a closer look at her. After flipping the doll around and inspecting her from head to toe, I find that there really isn't anything different from what I saw yesterday. Nonplussed by her, I put her back in my pocket… should I even be using the pronoun 'her'?

Break

"Good morning Minato-kun!" Yuyuko said from across a food strewn table. I take a seat at the other side of the table. "Oh don't be so shy. Come have a seat right here next to me." She said while patting the floor at her right. I get up from my seat and move over to her side obediently. Don't piss off the princess of the dead, do as she says. "Where's Youmu?" she asks me once she thinks I've settled in.

"She's sleeping peacefully." I replied as I began to grab an egg here, some soup there. "She passed out in my room and I let her sleep in my futon. She must've been very tired to have just passed out like that." That makes sense right? No need to tell her what actually happened. I look at her to gauge her response after getting what I wanted to eat. I saw that Yuyuko looked to be wearing a hurt expression.

"Oh my," She said in sobs. "It's happened. My poor Youmu has been deflowered. She's become a woman. To think it would happen before even I would get my turn." Okay so it was mock sobs actually. More importantly, how did she come to that non-sequitur conclusion exactly?

"That's not what happened." I told her calmly. If I were to panic now it would leave me to be even less credible.

"And now the man responsible has the gall to deny the sacred act of taking a maiden's head!" She was now going through some sort of mock Shakespearean ham acting. I'll just continue to eat. "In order to restore my precious Youmu's honor, it is now my duty to ascertain this heathen's worth and pacify him of his carnal desires with my own, pure body! Only then shall the world remain safe from his lustful hand!" You know I have to admit, she's not that bad at this and, this is actually pretty funny… wait did she just say 'using her own body'?

As she finished her spiel, she then moved over to where I was sitting, which wasn't very far from her own seat to begin with. I began to scoot back a bit out of instinct rather than consciously so, but she zipped forward quite quickly and managed to grab me in a *GLOMP*… hug… you know for a ghost she is quite corporeal. *Squish* Yes, very corporeal.

"Now young man, let all of your desire for the flesh of woman be bequeathed unto me and me alone. I shall sacrifice all that I have for you." It seems she is really into ham acting and is having way too much fun to stop. I don't want her to stop either… but I do have breakfast to eat, and work to get to.

"YUYUKO-SAMA!" Hey, that sounds a lot like Youmu. I manage to shift my head out of Yuyuko's grasp to see that… crap it is Youmu. Youmu stood at the entrance to the dining hall with an expression of embarrassment. At least I think it was embarrassment.

"Fear not my dear little Youmu. I, your master, shall assume the task of quenching this beast's desires. No longer will you live in terror, as his touch will longer be within reach." Yuyuko continued to ham it up.

"NOOOOOOOOOO!" I never knew Youmu could yell like that. Then again I don't know that much about her to begin with. She then began to run up to us, but I don't know what she wanted to do. I was simply ignoring the whole thing by this point. I was hungry.

"YEEEEEEEEESSSSSS!" Yuyuko shouted in reply. I think I'll have myself another helping of rice and eggs… yep.

Break

Things had finally settled back down. Youmu had just left to take care of the dishes, leaving Yuyuko and I alone again. We were both sitting in the same tea spot as always. That is if you count two times as 'always'.

"Do you always mess with her like that?" I asked her as I took a sip of the tea. It was funny, no doubt about that, but it seemed a bit overzealous; poor Youmu.

"All the time; helps to keep the boredom away." She says without a hint of guilt. Her smile got wider too for that matter.

"Do you do anything besides messing with her?" Her hobbies seem pretty limited at this point.

"Well I did go out once and haunted the world outside of Gensokyo. I messed with this one girl that was in some sort of investigation club… or was it an occult studies club? Either way it was funny to see her shiver, but not know what was going on." So she's just one big troll then. Well then again haunting is sort of par the course for a ghost isn't it?

"I hope you won't do that to me." I said thoughtlessly. Not with ill intent, but just didn't think about it.

"Awww… you don't like me hanging off your back close to you to keep you cool?" I'd say that she was wrong and that usually it's to keep someone warm, but she's a ghost. She's right in this case. "Joking aside, when are you going to be leaving?" she asks.

"Well, whenever Youmu is finished with the washing the dishes. I need her to fly me down after all." It's a matter of fact.

"Oh? So it's just Youmu now?" She says slyly.

"Don't ask." I tell her bluntly.

"Alright, I won't ask… for now." She pauses for a moment to sip her tea. "Want me to fly you down there instead?" Yuyuko asks simply. I don't know why though.

"Don't you have duties or something as the princess of the dead?" I just realized I have no idea what she even does. Does she know Nyx?

"Oh I just have to make sure nothing overly bad happens in the afterlife. The Ministry of Right and Wrong handles most of the day to day stuff." That is the weirdest name for a ministry I have ever heard of. "In fact I was appointed princess of the dead by them."

"I don't think that makes you a princess then." In fact that's more like a bureaucratic officer.

"Says you. Oh yes by the way, speaking of the Ministry, I received a letter yesterday from them while you were out." She's saying this in front of me so I'm going to assume this has something to do with me. "It concerns you." Can I pick what's behind door number 3 now? "It says that they will be coming over later today to meet you." She says, trying to recount the contents of the alleged letter.

"Was there anything else? Like who was coming or why?" Also I don't know if I can trust any organization that put this person in charge. Oh she's a nice person, a very nice and sweet person that I genuinely like, but I don't see how or why they would put her in charge of anything. But what do I know?

"Oh I think I know who they'll send, but I could always be wrong. I have been before." She says cryptically. If she used just slightly more dated speech, she could've given Igor a run for his money.

"So when do I meet them?" I don't think I'll be escaping the grasp of people who apparently hired the princess of the dead; especially since I'm 'living' with her.

"Oh don't worry. They'll just find you wherever you may be. They are very good at their jobs." She says cheerfully. I wish it was forebodingly though. It would have been a lot less creepy.

"Minato-san, it's time to leave!" Youmu was yelling across the hall. Apparently, she was finished with the dishes.

"You shouldn't keep a lady waiting Minato-kun. Especially one whose maiden head you took." She teased.

"For the last time, I didn't sleep with her." Actually I think that was the only the second time I said that.

"I know. Anyways you really should get going." She said with a smile as always. "Have a nice day at work Mina-chan." Oh great.

"Please don't say that." I don't want that to spread. Even though there is really only one person it could spread to here.

"Minato-san! It is imperative that we leave now." Youmu was calling me again. I really should be going.

"Whatever. I'll see you later Yuyuko-san." I turn to leave, but catch a glimpse of Yuyuko giving a small wave goodbye and a smile. I return the gesture with a single, swift hand wave and smile, and leave the room promptly. I need to get to work. Reimu is probably still asleep right now though so I should be fine.

Break

"You're late." Wow, she's up early today. Reimu met Youmu and I at the bottom the shrine steps this morning. This is a bit awkward. "I was up for a whole two hours before you got here." Oh no, a two whole hours, she could have done something productive in that time. Perish the thought. Joking aside, it's nice to see her up and about. Sleeping in too much is not healthy… unless you're me.

"My apologies Reimu-san; it will not happen again." Youmu bowed politely to my employer. Youmu managed to return back to normal over the course of the flight over.

"Whatever; here." Reimu then threw me a broom. "Come on, the shrine isn't going to clean itself you know?" she groaned tiredly. She then turned around and began to walk up the steps. I turn to Youmu.

"I'll see you later today Youmu?" I ask her.

"Um.. uh… sure… yeah… I mean yes I'll see you later today." Maybe I should stop doing that. It seems to be a major distraction for her. After regaining what little composure remained, she flew up into the sky to return to her duties. I turned back to see Reimu waiting for me a few steps up the stairs.

"Ready to go?" she asked. She looked neutral for the most part. She was neither angry nor happy. I guess that's an improvement from yesterday's snafu.

"Yeah." I replied. "So why are you up early?" It's only about 10 right now. She wasn't up until noon yesterday if I remember right.

"You'll know when we get there, so don't ask." She sounded tired. I guess she doesn't want to be up this early… so why is she up?

"So what do you want me to start on first?" I might as well under cut her.

"Huh? Oh, right. Well you won't start cleaning immediately." She said absently.

"So then why did you hand me a broom?" I asked confused.

"I don't know. I'm tired okay? After they leave I'm going to go back to sleep." She groaned irately. She really isn't used to being up this early is she? Wait.

"Who's here?" Is it Marisa? Worse yet, could it be Yukari? She did say 'they'.

"Oh people from the Ministry of Right and Wrong. I don't know what they want with you though." Well the anger didn't last long. "Oh that and someone else is here too." Fun.

"Whatever."

"I feel exactly the same way." Wow. She and I actually agree on something. That's nice. At that point we managed to get up to the steps of the shrine.

"Minato-kun!" My attention perks up at the familiar voice. I sweep my eyes across the courtyard and focus them once they hit upon a very familiar figure. I take a deep breath to send my reply.

"Hey Sanae-chan!" Looks like Sanae is working here today. That's cool. Oh! So that's who else was here. She then began to walk towards us and then started to follow us as we made our way to the shrine.

"It's nice to see you again." She said enthusiastically upon catching up with Reimu and me. I nodded at her in agreement.

"She said she wanted to help out, so I just let her have the other broom and let her do whatever she wanted." Reimu cut in. She continued to walk towards the shrine. "Come on. The people inside said that they wanted to meet you as soon as possible. As soon as they're gone, I'm going back to sleep." She says in a casually rude way. I can't blame her though. When I don't get my sleep, things either are burned, frozen, shocked, blown away, pummeled-

"Minato-kun? Are you alright?" Diced, pierced, exorcised or cursed. Wait, I forgot Nuked. How could I forget Nuked? "Minato-kun?"

"Huh?" I turned towards the voice to find a worried Sanae.

"Is everything okay? You were spacing out more than usual. And that's saying a lot." How would you know? I don't space out that bad Sanae.

"If you two are done, can we go inside now?" Reimu really wants to go back to sleep apparently. She then slide the door open and went inside. "When you're ready, head to the living room. You know where that is right?" I nodded my head in a yes motion. "Good. Well, I'm going back to bed, so I'll see you later." What's that about going to sleep after they leave? Well whatever. Better she get her rest so that she isn't so cranky… oh god no! Don't think that! That's sexist! I hate myself a little right now.

"If you don't mind me asking, why are you so tired?" It's not healthy to just sleep all day… unless you're me.

"I've just had a few late night Youkai jobs. That and I had to look for a certain escaped evil spirit too." She said it without much pause or change in tone, but I could tell that it was a direct jab at me.

"Sorry about that." Mima is probably still out there judging by her phrasing.

"Just don't' do anything like that again okay?" She then let out a long yawn. "Anyways I'm going now. Don't keep them waiting." She left to go back to her room to sleep. I turned to Sanae after Reimu was out of sight.

"So why are you here?" I ask her.

"Well I did say that I would help when I could. Today I'm free, so I decided to come over." She answered in a tone like the one she used when we were filling out ema requests. It's nostalgic. This is going to be a good day. I can feel it.

"I'm going to be heading to the living room. What are you going to do?" She was still holding on to the broom. For that matter, I was also still holding onto my broom.

"I'll follow you. A few minutes rest won't hurt. Besides that, I know the two people that are in the living room. It'll help to have me along won't it?" True enough Sanae.

"Well let's get going then." We make our way through the halls of the shrine towards the living room door. Once there, in front of the door, I take a deep breath. I don't know who's behind this door or what they want, but if they had the gumption to come all the way here anyways, I might as well meet them. Once I was ready. I opened the door to see just who it was that came to see me.

Sitting at the table with a tea set were two women. One of them was sitting rigidly in seiza while the other was in a more lax position. The rigid one looked to be a small girl whose dress was dark blue, white, and black. She was adorned in gold decorations and had red and white ribbons tied to her arms and hair. Speaking of which, her green hair was asymmetrical. One side was longer than the other. The short side which was on her left did not reach her shoulders, but the longer side reached past quite easily. Her hat was also interesting as it too was well adorned in gold decorations. The cloth though was similar in color to her attire and so was primarily dark blue, though was embroidered with a white cloth at the bottom. She held in her hand a gold object that had symbols of some unknown language inscribed upon them and was shaped like an elongated pentagon. Lastly, I saw that as I walked in, her attention turned to me and I could see that her eyes were a very piercing shade of blue. Her expression was at first as stern as her posture, but it softened a touch after seeing who I was.

The girl's colleague who sat in a more relaxed position also turned to see me as I walked in. She sat with one leg up and the other angled. Her hand hung over the propped leg and looked to be holding a cup of tea. She didn't seem to care about my presence though and continued to sip her tea. For a moment, I saw that her eyes were a slightly pinkish red, as was her head which was done up in pig tails by similarly colored hair beads. She wore what appeared to be a sky blue and white dress, but on further inspection it was just a weirdly constructed outfit that consisted of a sky blue vest, a white short dress underneath that, and an even longer sky blue skirt underneath that. Her stomach was wrapped with a brown frilly cloth that was tied with a single ancient Japanese gold coin. Her actual figure was quite shapely and was far more adult like when compared to the girl at the other end of the table. At her side though, ominously, lay a huge scythe… I just hope she has nothing to do with the one in Tartarus.

"I see you have finally seen fit to join us Arisato-san." I look back at the younger looking of the two, who was the one to address me. I pause for a moment to gather my breath, but before I could reply, the older looking woman cut in saying-

"Come on Shiki-sama. Give the kid a break. He probably doesn't even know why we're here." She's right, I don't. Shiki, eh?

"At the very least though, he should have been aware that were going to meet him. You did get my letter did you not?" She reprimanded her, as of yet unnamed, colleague before addressing me with a seemingly accusatory glare. I say seemingly, because it didn't seem to be hostile upon further inspection.

"Um, yeah I did." I didn't read it though. I felt a tapping at my shoulder. I turn to see Sanae looking like she wanted to say something.

"Minato-kun, how about I take the brooms somewhere else and you get situated inside. I'll join you later." Sanae said with her hand outstretched and ready to grab something. I hand her the broom with a nod of the head and step into the room. Sanae then closes the door behind me, but not before saying, "See you later". Now it's just me and the two people from the Ministry of Right and Wrong (from now on it will be noted as MRW in my head).

"So…um…" How do I start this?

"Relax. Pop a seat Minato-san. Don't worry. You're not in trouble or anything," the red haired woman assured me. I follow her advice and sit down at the table. I grab myself a cup and being pouring tea into it. As the tea began to flow from the pot, the green haired girl, Shiki, began to speak.

"Arisato-san, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance," she says in a formal tone. She then continues with, "Allow me and my underling here to formally introduce ourselves. My name is Eiki Shiki. My title is Yamaxanadu, or Yama of Paradise. You may address me as Yama, or Shiki-san. I don't believe I have to explain what a Yama is, do I?" I nod a 'no' at her question. She nods to herself with a satisfied look. A Yama is a judge if I remember correctly and is something from Hinduism. I never really looked into it though. I was more into Tarot cards and Greek myths. Eiki then looks to her colleague expectantly. The red haired woman picks up on the cue and promptly begins to speak as well.

"Name's Komachi Onozuka, Shinigami. I think I live up to my name pretty well, don't cha think?" Yeah, she does. Komachi, though uncommon, can mean the prettiest girl in town. "Anyways, you can just call me Komachi. I don't like the formal stuff; gets in the way of socializing." The frankness with which she spoke with was completely different from Shiki's. Apparently though, she wasn't supposed to be so lax, as immediately after speaking, she was swiftly whacked over the head with the object Shiki held in her hand.*Smack* "Kyan!" Ouch… "Oww…" Yeah… that sort of happened.

"Komachi, please show some restraint. I apologize for my subordinate's rudeness." She bowed slightly as she gave the apology.

"It's fine," I told her. She raised her head again after hearing my reply. "If you wouldn't mind me asking, just what are you two here for?" I ask her cautiously.

"A fair question," Shiki said. "As you were informed by the letter we sent you, we are from the Ministry of Right and Wrong. Your caretaker has taken the time to inform you of what we do, correct?"

"In passing," I replied with a sound like neglect.

"Then I won't waste your time with the details of my organization." Shiki seemed to be about to move on with another sentence, but was interrupted by Komachi.

"Whoa, you of all people passing on the chance to lecture someone? Is it time for me to get a nicer boat or something?" Komachi's quip was quickly silenced with another whack to the head. *Smack*"Kyan! Oww…" she groaned out in a cute fashion with a few drops of tears peeping out of her eyes. This happens often doesn't it? Maybe they'd make for a good Manzai duo.

"Be quiet Komachi. The only reason why you're here is because you've been slacking off again and our superiors thought some direct work would do you good. I suggest you be quiet, and simply follow orders. That is how you will accumulate good karma for now." Shiki said it with a cold tone that one would expect of someone who judges the dead.

"Yes Shiki-sama." Komachi is really whipped isn't she? Then again, she's a shinigami which is relatively lower than a Yama, I think; power structure and all that.

"Good. I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to you should you ever choose to retire." Shiki is surprisingly caring as her tone was softer than before. "Now, let's move on to actual business." And now the tone has reverted to its previous level of formality.

"Minato-kun, I've finished putting the brooms away." I turn my head around to see Sanae enter the room, who promptly takes a seat next to me. I grab another cup and pour her some tea. "Thanks." She says it with a smile, gladly taking the cup and sips it before letting out a big satisfied sigh. "Oh! I'm sorry… was I interrupting something important?" she asks sincerely and meekly after taking notice at how silent the room became after her entrance.

"No, it's fine. Now if there are no more interruptions," Shiki pauses for a moment in case there actually are any interruptions to begin with, "then we can finally discuss business. Minato-kun, are you aware of a Yama's abilities? I'm aware that I have asked a similar question earlier, however I must ascertain the extent of your knowledge of my station." she asks me slowly and carefully.

"Not entirely, no. I'm more familiar with Greek myths, sorry." I answer honestly but I don't know how well she will react.

"It is quite alright. It's always good to read a nice fiction story every once in a while." Ouch, burn. "Now then, as a judge, it is my duty to determine where souls go after they die, whether it is heaven, hell, the netherworld, or getting sent to be reincarnated." There's a difference between the netherworld and heaven? "At least that is so within my jurisdiction, which includes the entirety of Gensokyo. To clarify further, if it wasn't clear, there are more than one Yama in existence and each governs a certain amount of land. We use our mirrors to learn of a person's life and judge them according to their actions." She then brings out a small hand mirror. Hey wait; she was the girl with the hand mirror at the party the other day.

"Again, my purview is mostly occupied by Gensokyo, but I assure you that there was a different Yama in charge of … Tatsumi Port Island I believe? That is irrelevant now however, considering you now reside within my area of jurisdiction, and as such it is now my duty to address this situation." Um, how does she know where I lived? "All souls that are mortal will eventually be judged… of course then we hit, shall we say, a bit of snag when it comes to you."

"Hold on. Minato-kun shouldn't have anything to do with judgment just yet. He isn't dead, even if he is living in the Netherworld." Oh crap. I had hoped to have this conversation with Sanae in private. Oh well. "Is that what the problem is: him living there despite him being alive?" Sanae asked curiously. Not a bad conclusion to make though.

"You're sort of right… kid here didn't even get to Higan or even pass the Sanzu river. You know the place where souls lie until they are judged. He just sort of skipped those steps…" There are steps to the process of dying? I thought it was just getting blasted with your weakness by a shadow and getting dog piled one after the other as they keep getting one more shot in even though by all rights you should be getting up thanks to the hits acting as a wakeup call. Or maybe that's just me. "With how high profile this kid is in the ministry, I would've probably gotten stuck with the job of ferrying him over, though it would've been a pretty short trip considering his deeds would've made the river really short." Komachi took another sip of tea while looking at me. "To be honest I think I would've enjoyed some alone time with him. He seems like a pretty cool guy," she said with a wink of her eye. Sanae looked fumed for a moment but, her expression quickly changed as if her thoughts just focused on a far more pressing matter.

"Hey, wait… what you're saying… it sounds like… like…" Sanae was speaking in careful, cautious, rhythms. Most noticeable of all though, she sounded scared. Denial was somewhere in there. Komachi seemed to pick up on this immediately even faster than I did.

"Oh dammit, you didn't' know? Aw man. Sorry about that, I didn't mean t-"

"Komachi! Stay your tongue." Shiki interrupted Komachi, but her command to 'shut it' was given solemnly and without any hint of anger; melancholic is the best word. Komachi complied not a second later while looking like she just realized her huge fuax pas… of course that was exactly the case. "This is something that must be said. However, it must be said by the ones it involves most." The Yama then turned to me. Her expression told me that she knew this was a job no one liked to do, from experience I presume. That was probably her own little way of trying to console me. Thanks… I close my eyes to calm myself, taking a deep breath as I did so. I open my eyes and turn to Sanae. She tries to give me a smile. I don't think I've seen a smile so fake, or so forced.

"Hey, it's a pretty funny joke right Minato-kun? Right? Heh… There's no way that's true. I mean you're right here, in front of me. I can see you right in front of me. It's you that's here. It's you…" Her voice shook the whole was through. It was clear that her voice was being forced with every word she spoke to the point that by the last sentence, her voice was barely there. This needs to be done though.

"Sanae-chan… there's something we need to talk about…" I look at her. I look at her. I… look at… her. It hurts. "Sanae-chan… I died."

"Liar!" My eyes flicked as wide as they could for a moment thanks to flinching from her outburst. "Liar…"she said again, her voice now on the opposite end of the volume spectrum. "It's just a bad joke… you're a horrible liar." Her sentences are beginning to make no sense. I quickly steal a glance at the other two in the room. They sat quietly, waiting for this to end. They were trying to ignore it as best they can out of respect for us. At least that is what I'd like to assume.

"Sanae-chan, I know it's hard to believe, especially with what you can directly confirm right now with your own eyes, but it's true. I died, this year in fact. " I maintain focus on her, and I can see that her cheery expression from before was gone completely. Her head hung just enough, so that I couldn't see her eyes. As I told her every word, one after the other, I could see that she was becoming more and more absent. Her mind was most likely, racing right now, trying to process the information that she just received. "Sanae-chan? Can you hear me?" I ask as slowly, and as carefully as I possibly could.

"Huh?" Her head seemed to creak upward towards me. Tears could be seen forming at the edges of her eyes. "Um, yes. I can hear you." Her voice was becoming hoarse, and it sounded absent. I can't begin to imagine just what was going through her mind.

"Sanae-chan…" I take her hand, and hold it tightly. However, it would seem that it was to no avail as I could see that her absent stare had not changed. Whatever thoughts she was having, they were consuming her.

"Minato?" She calls my name without honorifics. She places her other hand on top of my own; the one that held hers.

"Yes?"

"How… how did you… die…?" Pain could be felt from every word; her pain.

"Well… it's a long story, bu-"

"Unfortunately, that information is considered highly classified in the Ministry and is not to be divulged in such a casual setting. I am truly sorry." I turn to the interrupter to find Shiki had bowed in her entirety. Shiki truly felt sorry…

"I need to know how he died!" Sanae's hoarsely vocalized her discontent. I could understand that she would want to know that, but it would seem that the MWR knew just what was going on.

"I understand you frustration, but the manner of, and circumstances regarding Minato-san's death is considered to be one of the most sensitive pieces of information in the Ministry. I will look into allowing you the right to know, but please bear with the system until such time comes." Shiki spoke in the hard cold fashion of a high level Bureaucratic officer, but her face spoke volumes of her empathy. It was clear on her face that she sympathized with Sanae's plight.

The two green haired girls continued to stare at each other. Neither of them yielded for the longest time. Komachi and I simply sat and stared at the two. After several moments of silence, Sanae finally broke off the stare with a sigh. Another moment of silence began as Sanae looked to be trying to calm herself. She really has grown. She then looks to me, a plea in her eyes.

"I just need to know, it is you right? You are the Minato that I went to school with, right?" Tears that she was holding back were now falling one by one, dropping to the floor and darkening the old wood. Her face still looked with conviction. Yes, really strong. I do the only thing I could. I got up from my seat, walked over to where she was… and embraced her.

"Yeah, remember that model robot I gave you?" I remind her. My shoulder was getting wet.

"Yeah… I still have it." It made me happy to hear that from her. She nuzzles her head on my shoulder and stays there for a while. She then suddenly breaks off… "Minato… you don't have to tell me just yet how you died as apparently it's supposed to be a secret according to the two of them." She then throws an accusatory glare at the two from the Ministry. "Next time, though, you have to tell me everything. Okay?" She tries her best to smile.

"Yeah, I will," I tell her. Sanae then takes and lets out a deep breath.

"Okay then, I think I'll go home for the day. This is just a bit much for me." She turns to the other guests in the room and takes a bow. "It was nice to see the two of you again."

"Yeah. Word of advice though-" Komachi takes another sip of her cup. "Try not to let it get you down too hard. And also, he's still here after all." She gives Sanae a smile.

"I promise I will get approval to allow you to know the circumstances regarding his death. I will contact you immediately upon receiving approval." Shiki once again, gave a small bow. Sanae just nodded her head

"Well, I guess I'll just leave now. Minato, I'll see you tomorrow?" She opens the door.

"Of course." I'll be happy to see her again tomorrow.

"Well then, this is it. See you tomorrow Minato." Sanae gives a hand wave and closes the door behind her. Her footsteps just fade away.

"I see that this incident is bothering you. We will continue the crux of this discussion tomorrow as well." I turn to look at Shiki, who once again was speaking in her formal tone. "Before that however," she pauses to look at Komachi. "Komachi, please bring it out."

"Yes, Shiki-sama." Komachi begins to sift through her shirt. Not a second later, she pulls a small charm out. The charm looked to be a standard protection charm that you could find in any shrine. "Here." She tosses the charm to me suddenly. I fumble a bit when catching it, but firmly grip it in the end without dropping it.

"Komachi!" Shiki yells. Shiki then whacks her colleague.

*Smack*"Kyan!... owww…" She needs to learn not to piss her boss off. Shiki coughs into her head to grab my attention.

"Anyways, Minato-san, take care of the charm that is in your hand," she commands.

"Um… okay, but what is it for?" This seems a bit random.

"We at the Ministry wished to present to you a better reward for you services to the benefit of mankind." So they do know about my circumstances. "However, in such a short time, a gift befitting your accomplishments could not be prepared. In light of this, we were aware of your inability to take flight, and as such have given you this to alleviate the problem. It is a charm that enables one to fly when one so chooses." I've got to try this out right now. Fly! No sooner had I thought to fly, my body began to lift itself off the ground and I was now floating in the middle of the room.

"Cool," I said calmly as I then began to try and figure out just how to move.

"I am happy that you feel that way. It would seem to have lifted your spirits a tad." I think that was Shiki who said it, but I just figured out that it only takes a simple thought to move me in the direction I want to go. This is pretty amazing. "I believe, that the ability to fly is one of the most useful abilities here in Gensokyo, seeing as Danmaku, the most used method of resolving issues, is generally done in flight."

"Thanks. This is awesome," I say in earnest to them.

"Now you can play with the best of them kid." Komachi set her now empty cup on the table and picked up her scythe.

"Remember though, we will be here tomorrow to continue our discussion properly. It is imperative that we discuss the nature of your station as the gate. Until then, you are free to do whatever you want." That confirmed that they knew about who I was. Considering that my station involves death, and people from the afterlife are here to talk, it does make a degree of sense. "With that said, we will take our leave." Shiki and Komachi stand up from the table. I'm still floating in the air, trying to get a sense of flight. Shiki gives another bow, a deeper one, while Komachi just gives a wave and a smile. Shiki is the first to leave the room.

"Hey kid. Make sure to be honest with her alright?" Komachi grabs me by the sleeve to get my attention.

"Yeah. I have to don't I?" It's only natural to do that isn't it?

"Heh. You really would have been an interesting person to ferry over the river. Well, peace out." She then hoists the Scythe once more before leaving the room.

I simply float there and try to continue my solidification of the concept of flight and try to internalize all the feelings necessary to fly properly. I also try to take in the talk itself. The room was silent for a while.

Break

"Hey! Get up! You still have work to do." My eyes snap open to find that I was still floating in the middle of the room. I shift my body to get a good vantage point on the person who woke me up. "Good, you're finally up." I see that Reimu has also woken up.

"Good morning." I tell her with a yawn.

"It's the afternoon now. Catch!" She throws a small black object at me which I promptly catch and fumble this time. I then drop to the ground to pick it up. I find that it was a key.

"That's for the storehouse. Today, you're cleaning that since you cleaned the outside so well yesterday." There wasn't any sarcasm in her voice.

"Do you know where the brooms are?" I ask her.

"I don't know. I was asleep," she says flippantly. "Just go to the store house. I'm sure there is another broom inside anyways." She turns back around to leave. "I'm going to the human village to see if there are any youkai extermination requests that need doing."

"When will you be back?"

"I don't know. Maybe a few minutes if there aren't any; could be a few hours if there are," she states wishy-washy fashion. She then turns her head back around to look at me. "Don't sweat the details, about stuff like death. I'll be there in the meeting tomorrow I guess."

"How much did you hear?"

"I got up right when those two left. They briefly told me what was going on. And here I was hoping to get some proper sleep tomorrow. Seriously though, don't worry too much about it." How kind.

"Thanks," I say with my first genuine smile after the today's talks.

"Yeah…uh…um… I'llseeyoulaterthenBye!" Reimu quickly closes the door behind her before I even get the chance to assess her expression. I look at the black metal key in my hand. It's nothing like the velvet one that I have.

"Well I better get started." It might help to ease my mind, menial work. I make my way over to the storehouse. I make sure to walk instead of fly. On the way I see no sign of Reimu, so I assume she's already left to go get some jobs. Once I arrive at the storehouse, I use the key to unlock the padlock on the door and let it drop to the floor. I push on the door to no avail. I then pull... I should try pulling first next time. I leave the door open as I make my way inside.

"Wow…" Yeah, this place is a mess. Dust was everywhere and there was several things that were out of place and scattered all across the floor like someone clumsily made a mess and left it as is. Boxes and various other things were all over the place and made walking around a difficult venture. I make my way further inside and see in the corner of the room is a huge pile of stuff just collapsed onto itself. In the middle though was a broom sticking out from the horrible mess.

"I guess I'll start with getting that then," I say to myself in confirmation of what I should do. [Change] Thanatos should do the trick with just giving me some brute strength. For a moment though, a faint sound was heard. *Whirrr* sounds like the wind. It's probably coming from outside through the window near the ceiling. I make my way closer to the pile. *Whirrr* There it is again. It's louder this time and higher pitched, but I'm also closer to the window so it probably is coming from outside.

Once I made it to the junk pile with the broom sticking out. I begin to tug on it to try and get it free. *Whirrr* The thing is stuck tight. I pull again, harder this time. *Whirrrrrrrrr* The sound is getting louder, but that doesn't matter. The broom is still stuck. Okay then, one more tr-*Crash*

Suddenly, the something from the pile rises and I'm knocked away from both it and the broom. I hear all the things in the pile clattering. I close my eyes from flinching at being thrown off balance. I hear the moving of something in front of me. I open my eyes to find something really strange. In front of me now stands a maid with vibrant green hair, her hand holding on to the broom I was trying to grab earlier. Her eyes were closed, but her face looked determined. *Whirrrrrrrr* The sound was now clear as day, and it was obvious that it was coming from her. She opened her eyes to reveal a set of emerald pupils, and focused her attention on me. She furrowed her brow and her stance began to change to a more threatening one. It seems she was preparing to fight. She then began to speak in a cold, harsh tone.

"Reactivating original protocol. 7th generation Anti-Shadow-Suppression –Weapon, Ruukoto, online. Resuming original directive, Destroy Death."


Author's notes: Well I wanted to get this out before SMTIV came out, but look what happened, I fell behind schedule and the game then threw my life into frenzy. I love SMTIV but god damn does the game just suck me in. I love everything about it. I will admit though I am dying a s*** load in the game. Especially David coming out of nowhere and Fiend from SMTIII: Nocturne starts playing. I practically crapped bricks when I heard the first opening notes and then the sweeping violins. It also doesn't help that I've got Project Xzone, Hyperdimension Neptunia V, Atelier Ayesha, Ar tonelico Quoga, and my speed runs in Metroid Fusion, Zero mission and personal times in Sonic Generations to do too. Oh well. I hope that this won't stop me from getting the next chapter out sooner, but to quote a famous author of an inanely awesome book series: "I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as the fly by." I do too Douglas Adams. I can understand now, so I do too.

Anyways, thanks to all of you who waited on stupid old me to get this out. Sorry about letting this story go for so long without an update. If you have any complaints or criticisms, feel free to point out any of my flaws in a review as that's what they are there for. Thanks for taking the time to read my story, and I hope to see you next time.

Oh right, this entire next section is going to be an inane rant. I need to get this out of my system in an open area of writing and I have nowhere else to vocalize this. However, I felt that those of you who wish not to partake in the bile I will be spilling should be allowed to leave now. It's totally okay. I just need to get this all written out so bear with me just this one time, but I suggest you just leave now. It'll be better for you in the long run since you won't have to think about this as angrily as I still do if this pisses you off as much as it does me.

Rant start. Okay… WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOUNG GAMERS THESE DAYS! SERIOUSLY! I go to Game-Stop to pick up some used games, see if there are some I missed, and as I was sifting through to find Dragon age 2 for ten bucks on the 360, a couple of kids and their mom are also looking at games. The older boy who doesn't look older than 13, begins looking, and as I was still sifting through, the kid picks out two. The games are Left 4 dead (The first one) and Assassin's Creed II. My first thought was that a kid of 13 years old should not be picking out those games when looked at solely through a legal lens as both games were rated Mature. That was the first thing that miffed me about this kid. Second was that he was buying Left 4 dead… even though he already owned the sequel (He said that he owned it while talking to his brother). This in my opinion, was a stupid move money wise, and furthered my anger. Next was the fact that the Mother barely even questioned the fact that her sons were playing extremely violent videogames. Now I don't mind parents letting their kids play M rated games. I would be a hypocrite otherwise. However, it seems that their mother doesn't really care at all that the games are M rated. My dad would always question me and tell me just what I was getting into every time I wanted to buy an M game. She didn't. She only asked if they wanted to play something else instead. Oh here is where it just boiled over for me. The game that she suggested they play instead? Sonic Generations, and actually that's a pretty sensible choice and the best 3D sonic game since the good old Adventure titles. Do you know what the kid said? He said that Sonic was Ghetto. SONIC IS GHETTO!? OKAY WHAT THE HELL! I know more than most that Sonic's 3D career has been up and down and all around, and that kids today are more likely to play 'adult games' like Call of duty and stuff like that to be cool, but… that is just plain insulting. Never in my life have I wanted to smack a kid so hard upside the head until that moment. No! You do not call Sonic Ghetto. Not in a million years. You do not insult the childhood icons of millions of gamers worldwide in favor of your faceless generic military protagonists. I just kept it all in though. I just got up to cashier as I found what I wanted, and left as soon as I could so I wouldn't be tempted to want to lecture the kid. Seriously, the younger generation of gamers… I sort of pity them now. Ah Sega Genesis (Megadrive), you still do what others don't. And they never will.