Gensokyo my Beloved

by Fonzi the Survivalist

It's late spring, year 125 in Gensokyo when a mass spiriting-away of outsiders takes place. The Hakurei shrine maiden thinks this is just a minor incident, easy to resolve. But is it...?

33. Fairy Hunt

Chapter 33 – Fairy Hunt

As the second to last day of Minazuki dawned, the girls slowly and reluctantly got out of their comfy beds to see plates with breakfast already placed at each of their night tables.

"Heh, this really is a hotel." chuckled Marisa as she grabbed her pair of chopsticks, ready to dig into the meal.

"I didn't even notice when the rabbits entered our room." remarked the shrine maiden as she was wiping her eyes.

"By the way…" sounded Alice, "Are we going to the mansion first or are we going to the underground?"

"I doubt Byakuren has had any luck entering the underground to bring Satori here." reasoned Marisa with her mouth full. "But yes, we should first go get Sakuya, then see Satori and then try to catch us some fairies."

"Wait a sec, what about those sedative syringes Eirin was supposed to give us?" wondered Reimu.

"Umm… You mean these things?" asked Nitori who picked up an opened box from her night table to reveal six syringes lined next to each other it a protective casing.

"Guess Eirin hasn't forgotten…" nodded the shrine maiden as she looked behind her at Nitori.

Only now she noticed that Patchouli's bed was empty and cleaned up. "Oh and Patchouli must be already helping her now…"

"Hey, we should get her some fresh clothes when we stop at the mansion." recalled the witch and finished her breakfast.

"I'm sure she'd appreciate that." Alice nodded to the idea and started putting her bed into order as well. "By the way, Reimu-san, do you feel better today? Can you fly on your own?"

Reimu smiled at Alice and nodded. "I'm almost as good as healthy. I can fly without help, thank you."

Once all the girls have eaten their breakfast and got ready to leave, they left a brief thankful message for Eirin in their room. They didn't bother to leave normally, though. They opened one of the room's windows, and as they floated out of Eientei, Nitori closed the window behind them. Reimu really did feel much better than yesterday and she could fly just fine. Even though her wounds were still bandaged, they didn't hurt her anymore. Whatever powders Eirin used to treat her seemed to work marvelously. The girls took off into the sky, dodging the leaning bamboo trees on their way up until they were hovering above the huge forest. Once they had all obstacles which blocked their view out of their way, they changed their heading towards the Misty Lake which wasn't too hard to see even from a greater distance.

Reimu silently prayed that today she would finally get to the bottom of the fairy incident.

---

Meanwhile, in the Human Village, the people – natives and outsiders alike all slowly began crowding the streets as they were on their way to their work or to school. One of these humans was Midori Iwakami - a 16 year old girl who was spirited away together with dozens of other outsiders into this fantasy world over a month ago. One of the lucky ones who actually made it to Human Village before any dangerous youkai found them. Like many of her peers, she too was slowly getting used to the new life in this new environment. She was currently living in a house with a retired master craftsman, Naota Tanisake who is incidentally an outsider just like her. Despite the old man's opinionated influence, Midori still managed to make several good friends with some of the youkai living in the village. Because she was a cheerful young person full of energy, she didn't have any problems with establishing new contacts and making new acquaintances. It was therefore no wonder she was picked as the vice-president of the so called Transfer Students' Club – the club that grouped together all those outsiders in Gensokyo who had a strong desire to find a way back to the place they once called their home.

Perhaps she could even make it to the leading role in the club, because the only reason this role was given to her friend, Kyouichi, was because the young man had gathered more knowledge about the world of Gensokyo by the time the club was officially established. However, Ishimaru didn't have half of Midori's leadership skills or experience in organizing a team.

Today was the time for yet another meeting of the Transfer Students' Club and so, Midori was on her way to the fairly new building of the Human Village – the Kamishirasawa Affiliated Academy. She was worried that she'd be a bit late today as she hurried up the stairs to the second floor of the school building. As she finally made it to the library door and opened it, she saw that less people have come for today's meeting than the last time.

"Umm… Good morning to you all." she greeted them with a rather tentative smile. "I see that some of our members like to sleep in…"

The man named as chief secretary – Hikaru Nagahashi looked at the girl with a concerned look and nodded to greet her. "I don't know if I should tell you now or wait until the club prez deigns to arrive here, but…"

"What's up, Hikaru-san?"

"Another two members of our club have decided to settle in Gensokyo permanently…" replied the paranormal researcher after a brief look into his ever-present diary.

"What? Another two? That makes our current club member count just…"

"Yes, thirteen people." confirmed Nagahashi-san with a nod after he checked the data in his notepad.

Midori was surprised and a little disappointed with the development of the situation. "Hmm… They could at least show up one last time and tell us why… If things keep going like this, there'll be just six of us who actually want to return home… Kyouichi won't be too happy to hear this."

"Speaking of him, where is that lazy bum?" wondered one of the other club members. "He's always late for the meetings…"

"Hmm… Has anyone seen Ishimaru-san recently?"

The remaining club members exchanged their looks as they shrugged their shoulders.

"As a matter of fact, I've been with him recently…" came a surprising reply from behind Midori. The voice belonged to Yuujin Ueda. Not the most sympathetic man in other people's eyes, but with a strong and unwavering desire to return home to Tokyo. Therefore, his loyalty to the club's cause was unquestioned.

"So… uh… Do you know where he is?" asked Midori curiously.

"Eientei, as far as I know." replied the man tersely and took a seat on one of the vacant chairs in the room.

"Eientei?!" Midori widened her surprised eyes. "Did something happen to him?"

Yuujin shook his head to gesture that he doesn't know the details. "Look, I've just heard this from some of the Ryuuken. He was on the last wagon of the caravan that was bound for the Human Village, but they got ambushed. Ishimaru was injured in the process… That's all I know."

"Wait isn't Asakura-san hospitalized there as well?"

"Yep. That guy should be discharged sometime this week. As for Ishimaru, I've no idea how long he is going to spend there… Hopefully he wakes up before autumn comes or else we're leaving without him." said Yuujin coldly.

"How can you say something like that?" Midori scornfully looked at him. "After all he's done for the club…"

"Oh, really?" smirked the trainman as he crossed his arms. "And what has he done so far, hm? He told us to search for some nonexistent youkai all over Gensokyo and gave us a bunch of meaningless tasks that bore no positive results."

"He did what he believed was the best for us. Even if we didn't manage to find Yukari so far doesn't mean she doesn't exist."

"Umm… I have brought something that might help us a little…" sounded a shy girl's voice from among the outsiders. The girl was a little younger than Midori with slightly curly brown hair. She was holding a sheet of paper in her hands as she shyly stood up from her chair.

"What have you brought us, Nadeshima-san?" Midori encouraged her to come closer.

"Well… I've found this old drawing on one of the classroom's bulletin boards…" said the girl as she turned the paper to reveal a crudely drawn picture of a landscape and two human-shaped figures standing next to each other. One was a short girl with black hair with two pigtails, the other one was a tall girl with long blonde hair drawn with a yellow pastel, dressed in long white dress, wearing a white hat of some sort with a red ribbon and holding a parasol in her hand. Both characters were smiling brightly. In the lower right corner of the picture there was the picture's name penciled in a child's handwriting – "Me and Yukari-chama".

"That's… ehh… very cute." said Midori as she snickered at the picture in her hand. "But I doubt this going to help us much…"

"Yeah, we might as well take this picture and stick it on the library's door next to the other one…" jested Daniel - the foreigner among the outsiders as he pointed at the picture hanging on the door of the school's library. The picture he pointed at was the front page of the Bunbunmaru News with the photo of Kyouichi in a shrine maiden's outfit, futilely trying to block off the lens of Aya's camera with his palms. Everyone had a brief laugh before the club's discussion continued.

"But seriously… We don't even know which one of these two is Yukari." remarked Dan as he hovered his index finger over the two crudely drawn characters.

"Probably the bigger one, since this is a kid's drawing…" reasoned Midori pragmatically.

"Actually, I think this is a useful finding." Sayuri popped her head between Midori and Daniel to take a closer look at the picture. "For instance, I had no idea that Yukari-sama is a blonde… She looks sort of foreign. Her dress looks European… Victorian era perhaps…?"

"Keep in mind, Hayashi-san, that you're judging that based on a stick-figure drawing made by a seven to ten year old girl with wild fantasy and minimal sense for details." Yuujin reminded her. "Besides… How old is this drawing anyway? As far as I know, some folks in the village refer to her simply as "that old gap hag"."

Midori leaned over the picture and focused her eyes on the faded penciled words before the picture's title.

"Hmm… If my eyes are still good, it says… Nagatsuki 14th… 123."

"Two years ago in September?" asked Sayuri, tilting her head to one side.

"So it seems." nodded the vice-president. "However, I exceptionally have to agree with Yuujin here; this won't lead us any closer to the youkai of boundaries."

"Ishimaru was foolish to consider her as an option in the first place. He hasn't really done much for the good of this club besides keeping us busy with silly and pointless tasks."

"Now that's going a bit too far, Ueda…" Midori objected as she gave the man a scornful look. "Kyouichi has done more for this club than you did and I won't let you badmouth him in his absence."

"Just for your information, dear vice president," Yuujin drawled Midori's club title with a sarcastic tone, "I am working hard every single day so that we could all buy the necessary traveling supplies and ditch this crazy place… And out of all the club's members, my job's payment is the highest and so is my contribution to the club's fund."

Hikaru briefly looked into his notepad and leaned to Midori, whispering into her ear: "I almost hate to admit this, but he speaks the truth…"

Midori sent him an angry frown. "That still gives him no right to talk about Kyouichi like that. Seriously… Saying jokes about him is one thing, but this is just plain mean. Wasn't it his idea to found this club in the first place? Wasn't it his idea to plan our difficult journey back home? And lastly; wasn't it you, Ueda-san, who gave him your vote during our election?"

"Hmph…" snorted the ex-trainman while crossing his arms. "Aren't you a bit too fond of Ishimaru-san?"

"What the heck are you talking about?"

"Oh, don't play dumb, Iwakami. Everyone in this school keeps whispering about you two being a bit closer friends than you're letting on."

Midori disbelievingly shook her head. "That's just ridiculous… I'll use your own words: Keep in mind, Ueda-san, that you're making that judgement based on rumors spread by 12 to 13 year old children with wild fantasy and too much free time on their hands… Honestly… I never held you in high regard, Ueda, but now you've succeeded to fall even lower in my eyes."

"I'm just saying aloud what everybody thinks and nobody is willing to tell you straight."

Midori smirked and repeated her denying headshake, anger building up inside her chest. "You better shut up already, before I…"

"Before you do WHAT, Iwakami?" Yuujin cut off her threat with a cocky tone. "Expel me from the club?"

"You wouldn't believe how gladly I would do that."

Yuujin burst into laughter and impertinently pointed his finger at Midori while he was at it. "Ahahahaha~! That's right… You would… provided you had any authority here, brat."

"I am the club's vice-president." spoke Midori with still calm, but threateningly sounding voice. "Just keep trying my patience. I dare you."

"Please stop already~! Both of you~!" Sayuri finally stepped between the arguing outsiders, since she couldn't take it anymore. "We're all on the same boat here, we need to act as a team, otherwise we'll never make it back home~! Our club's already falling apart, we can't have internal disputes over trivial matters~!"

"This woman speaks some sense." Daniel joined this conflict of opinions, seconding Sayuri's idea. "Both of you, calm down and take your seats." he ordered both involved parties.

Midori and Yuujin stared daggers at each other for yet another while before they silently obliged and sat down as far away from each other as the small library allowed.

"I think we should let speak someone else for now." said the foreigner, nodding his head at Professor Nagahashi. "Hikaru-san?"

The man in suit silently nodded and stood up from the chair. "Now that we've wasted enough time with petty bickering, wouldn't it be a good enough time to start a constructive on-topic discussion?"

The silence of everyone present in the room encouraged this experienced man to continue.

"We all know what this club's plan is… However, as more members have decided to abandon our cause and settle here, it seems we will either have to work harder or postpone our expedition."

"No way! I'm not waiting here any longer than autumn!" Yuujin immediately protested.

"In that case, we're going to have to increase our weekly contribution to our fund."

"But wait, Hikaru-san." sounded Sayuri as she raised her hand to express her objection. "Doesn't that also mean that with less club members we'll need less supplies?"

"That is indeed true, Sayuri-san, but we better have some sort of reserve just in case. Therefore, we'd better stick with our original plan and buy the same amount of supplies as we would buy for 18 people… Furthermore, due to the recent forest fires that you all could have seen even from the village, the prices of certain supplies and goods have increased."

"But I don't know if I'll be able to contribute to the club's fund any more money per week. I'm already doing my best at work and giving it my all… I would also like to return home as soon as possible, but... how do I earn more money?"

"Furthermore, who's going to pay for those members who are sick or injured?" asked Daniel. "Asakura-san is two weeks late with his contribution and our prez also has to pay for this week…"

"That is indeed a problem, isn't it?" confirmed Hikaru as he started walking from one end of the room to the other. "Asakura-san and Ishimaru-san are probably going to have to pay for their hospitalization at Eientei… Hmm… I've been thinking…"

"Yes?" Sayuri curiously raised her eyebrows?

"Perhaps we could ask for a loan from someone…"

"A loan? Are you crazy?!" asked Yuujin as he tapped his forehead with his finger. "That will just make our financial situation even worse!"

"Well, not quite." Hikaru disagreed with him and put on a mischievous smile. "You see, we could ask for the loan, buy the supplies and get out of Gensokyo, never paying back… Who's going to know that we're planning to leave Gensokyo? Nobody but us…"

Yuujin's and everyone else's mouths opened and eyes widened in surprise.

"Hikaru-san…" said Midori after a while of silence. "That's a very lowly and dishonorable idea coming from you… I like it!"

"Of course, we'll use this only as our last resort." Hikaru reassured everyone. "Just letting you know that there is such an option…"

Hikaru's idea stared another polemic discussion among the club members that lasted over one hour. Despite the negative development of the situation in the Transfer Students' Club, hope still remained in the hearts of those outsiders who were working hard to make their bold plan become reality.

---

Not longer than 15 minutes after they left Eientei, the group of four girls has arrived at the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Marisa waved to Meiling the gate guard as she flew over the iron bar gate. Meiling noticed the girls and waved back.

"Well, what do you know? She's actually awake for a change." Reimu poked fun at Meiling's habit of sleeping on duty. "Guess she's so used to your regular visits that she doesn't even bother halting you…"

Soon after the girls landed in front of the main entrance of the mansion, Marisa again boldly stepped forth and knocked on the door. After a brief moment they opened wide, revealing the chief maid who was already waiting in the main foyer. Her look was again filled with surprise and confusion.

"Emm… and what are all of you doing here? And where's Patchouli-sama?"

"Gee, is that a way you should greet guests?" asked Marisa provokingly. "We've come for you this time…"

Sakuya was thrown into an even deeper state of confusion. "W-What? For me? What do you mean?" she instinctively put her hand on the thigh band with her throwing knives.

"Whoa, whoa, easy now, Sakuya!" the witch noticed that and tried to calm her down a bit. "We're just asking you to come with us. We... uhh… sort of need your help with something…"

"Yes," Reimu joined the conversation as she stepped a bit closer towards the maid. "And we've also come to take some of Patchouli's clothes while we're here."

That certainly sounded very weird and suspicious to Sakuya's ears and the maid threateningly drew out three knives, which she held between her fingers. "What the hell do you want Patchouli-sama's clothes for, you perverts?!"

Alice just dismissively shook her head over Reimu's and Marisa's inability to explain crucial facts before asking somebody a favor, which more than once led to a misunderstanding and a subsequent danmaku showdown.

"Can't you two first tell her that Patchouli is still in Eientei working as a voluntary nurse or whatever?"

The other girls shifted their looks at her and blinked a couple of times as they processed Alice's words.

"What? Eientei? And Patchouli-sama is now working there? Are you serious?" asked the head maid, still clutching the throwing knives in her hand.

"Well, yes, we are." confirmed the shrine maiden. "As you might have noticed, there's an incident going on in Gensokyo and we could use your help, Sakuya."

"B-But what does that have to do with you taking Patchouli-sama's clothes?" the maid couldn't understand.

"Oh, that… Well, since she offered to help around in Eientei for a few days, we thought it'd be nice if she had some extra clean clothes she could change into after a day of work…"

"I still find it hard to believe that Patchouli-sama would be willing to do any other work than reading and writing books…" muttered Sakuya to herself as she lowered her hand and deftly placed the throwing knives back on her thigh band. "But if what you say is true, than I will bring some of her spare clothes right away…"

Two rapid popping sounds echoed throughout the mansion's main foyer as Sakuya disappeared and reappeared with a small pile of neatly folded purplish clothes that belonged to Patchouli.

"Uh… thanks…" said Marisa as she received the garments. "Now, we need you to come with us."

"Didn't you just need the clothes?"

"No, Sakuya." sounded Reimu. "Aren't you listening? We need your help in order to resolve one particularly troubling incident."

"But you know that I no longer do this kind of work."

"Well then it's time for you to make a comeback." Marisa encouraged her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"That task we need your help with is rather simple and should be no problem for you." added the shrine maiden, "we'll explain everything later, just come with us already…"

"But I can't just leave without telling my lady… And secondly, who's going to watch over young lady Flandre if even Patchouli-sama is gone?"

"Just let the crazy girl stay in her basement." said Reimu as she waved her hand. "She seems to like it in there for some weird reason… And as for Remilia, you've got five minutes to convince her to let you come with us, otherwise we'll be the ones to do the talking." she waved her gohei wand and beckoned at Marisa who gently tossed her Hakkero in her palm and nodded to Reimu's words.

Sakuya wasn't afraid of Marisa, Reimu or their semi-threatening suggestion, but she was briefly caught up in a reverie, reminiscing the times when she used to lead a more liberal way of life and sometimes even teaming up with the miko and the witch in order to resolve a bunch of incidents. That was all before she decided to settle down to devote all her time to serving her vampire mistress, leaving the incident resolving to Reimu, Marisa and Sanae. As she recalled those memories, she couldn't help but to feel that deep inside her heart she missed all the fun of Spell Card dueling.

"Umm… why is she standing so motionlessly with that blank expression on her face?" wondered Marisa as she waved her palm in front of Sakuya's eyes.

"Maybe she froze in time. I heard it happens sometimes to those who can manipulate time…" shrugged Reimu as she tentatively poked the maid gently with her gohei.

"Kyaah!" Sakuya was immediately brought back to reality. "Right… I'll ask my lady if I'm allowed to leave…"

Right after she finished her sentence, she teleported herself away into Remilia's quarters.

---

"My lady…" she bowed tentatively as she appeared in front of the eternally young vampire.

"Ah, Sakuya~. It seems we're going to have a lovely sunny day after a week of rain…" remarked Remilia calmly. She was sitting in a chair next to a small round table, enjoying a cup of her favorite red tea.

"Yes, so it seems…" answered the maid as she took a brief look out of the room's window.

"It's good to have a little break from this tiring rain…"

"Umm… my lady? I've come to ask you something."

Remilia surprisedly rolled her eyes up at the tall maid to look into her face. "Whatever questions you would like answered, my dear Sakuya, please ask away…"

"Kirisame-san and Hakurei-san have come to ask me to help them with resolving an incident and…"

"You'd like to go with them, right?" the vampire completed Sakuya's unsaid question.

"Do I have your permission, Remilia-sama?"

Remilia took another sip of her tea, savoring the taste before putting down the cup on the plate and elegantly interlocking her hands. "Sakuya… If it's regarding shopping for daily supplies or resolving incidents, you know that you needn't ask me for permission to leave."

"Really?"

"Of course. Don't you remember that I sent you to Kazemura in order to have you find out what's going on with the fairies? Despite the fact that you are my maid, I never said that I will obstruct your personal freedom in any way."

"Remilia-sama…"

"I don't doubt your loyalty, Sakuya. It was your decision to settle down and let leave youkai hunting behind… But you are more than capable of resolving incidents. And now, when even the Hakurei shrine maiden has come to ask you for assistance, don't you feel the urge to go out there and do what needs to be done?"

"I… I do, my mistress…"

"Excellent…" smiled Remilia and stood up from her chair. She walked up to her maid and looked up at her as she grabbed her by the hand. "You know that your success makes me feel proud, don't you?"

Sakuya couldn't think of any words to reply with.

"Naturally you have my permission to go."

"Thank you, mistress." Sakuya bowed and took a step back.

"But only under one condition…" added the lady of the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

"Yes, Remilia-sama?"

"Please return to me safely…"

"Of course I will, my lady." smiled the chief maid, ready to teleport herself back to the main foyer, when Remilia once again grabbed her by the hand. "Wait a minute…"

"What is it, Remilia-sama?" Sakuya raised a curious eyebrow.

"I just thought that since Reimu and Marisa have come all the way here I should at least say hello…"

Sakuya smiled and nodded as she snapped her fingers and instantly sent both Remilia and herself back to the main foyer where Reimu, Marisa, Alice and Nitori were impatiently waiting…

---

"Aah~. If it isn't her noble highness herself…" commented the witch upon Remilia's and Sakuya's simultaneous arrival.

"Yes, good day to you as well, my short-tempered, ill-mannered friend with tendencies for "borrowing" other people's things…" retorted Remilia as she greeted the guests. "So what have we here today? Two humans, one youkai magician and a kappa…"

"We've just come to uhh… "borrow" Sakuya for a while…" explained Marisa with an innocent smile.

"I know that…" she brushed her off and gestured to the maid. "Sakuya told me…"

"Well, what do you have to say then?" asked Reimu impatiently.

"She doesn't have my permission to leave." replied the vampire tersely.

"What?!" asked all the present girls at once.

"In that case, we're going to make you give her permission." said the shrine maiden, drawing a Spell Card out of her sleeve. Even Sakuya herself was surprised by her lady's sudden change of mind.

"She doesn't have permission…" Remilia repeated the beginning of an unfinished sentence. "…she has an ORDER to go and help you." she finished with a smile.

"O-Oh…" uttered Reimu as she slowly withdrew the card. She almost felt a bit of disappointment that she didn't get the chance to duel against Remilia.

"Your order is my wish, Remilia-sama." said the maid and bowed once more.

"Go out there and make me proud… And if you still won't resolve that incident by evening, I could also join up with you when the sunlight won't be so strong."

"Very well, mistress." said the maid and walked over the doorstep, outside of the mansion. The other girls followed suit and took off into the air.

"Okay then, I'll be back… And don't forget to serve lunch to lady Flandre while I'm gone…" called the chief maid before she distanced herself far enough for her voice to become inaudible.

"Fortunately, I can always just ask Patchy to cook something when Sakuya's out…" thought Remilia as she closed the main door of the mansion. Her next steps were therefore headed for the great library where she hoped to find her friend. However, as she got there and couldn't see the bookworm sorceress anywhere, she became very surprised. Upon closer inspection of Patchouli's favorite reading desk, she found a sheet of paper with a brief message that seemed to be recently written in Sakuya's handwriting…

"Dear lady Remilia,

I think I forgot to mention that Patchouli-sama is currently out on a voluntary mission to help Eirin-sama at Eientei. She should be back before the end of this week. I'll be back as soon as I fulfill your order.

Your loyal and faithful maid – Izayoi Sakuya"

"W-What?" asked the confused vampire as she read the message. "So even Patchouli has gone out? Uuuu~. Sakuyaaaa~! Why didn't you tell me sooner?!"

Remilia bit her lip in a desperate expression. "Uuu~… What do I do? Umm…" she thought hard about what to prepare for herself and her little sister for lunch. It's true that vampires fed mostly on human blood, but they also felt hunger for "normal" meals.

"Koakumaaa~! Meiliiiing~! I need your help~!"

---

"So, where are we headed off to?" asked Sakuya as she followed the other four girls in their flight towards south.

"Back to Eientei… obviously~!" replied Marisa with a hint of annoyance in her voice, since she was the one to carry Patchouli's clothes.

"And afterwards?" the maid inquired further.

This time, Reimu decided to give Sakuya some briefing. "After that we might take a very brief look at the Temple of Myouren to see if Byakuren managed to get to the underground and bring Satori along. Then we'll head off northeast. Not yet sure where exactly, but we're to catch several of the crazed fairies and bring them to Eientei..."

"And what exactly do you need ME for?"

"You'll be the main fairy catcher…" said the shrine maiden and showed Sakuya the small box with sedative syringes that Eirin provided. "If we find any of those insane fairies, we're most likely to encounter an entire swarm. Catching them without any tranquilizer would be very hard, so we'll need your throwing skills and your time altering as well…"

"Hard? Catching fairies?" asked the maid in disbelief.

"Trust me, Sakuya-san." sounded Alice. "When enraged, they can be very dangerous… Haven't you heard about those forest fires that broke out yesterday?"

"Why yes… the ones Marisa asked Patchouli-sama to help extinguish…"

"Well those fires were all started by swarms of those mad fairies. My house burned down too…"

"Oh, that's right!" Marisa suddenly realized something. "Since we're already here, please give me a minute to check if MY house is still standing, ze…"

She then put Patchouli's clothes into Alice's hands. The surprised puppeteer almost dropped them as she watched Marisa separate from the group and head towards the clearing where she hoped to see her house standing unharmed…

By the time the girls made it to the area where the Bamboo Forest of the Lost was spreading below them, Marisa regrouped into the formation.

---

"It's still there, good as ever…" she announced with relief.

"And messy as ever…" added Alice who knew all too well what sort of lifestyle her human friend lives.

After a couple more minutes of flight the girls began to descend below the treeline, so they would have it a bit easier to spot the well-hidden building of Eientei.

"It was this way, right?" asked Reimu who was again uncertain whether they were flying the right way.

"I think it was…" said Alice. Frankly, she was just as uncertain as Reimu.

"To be exact it's THAT way." said Nitori who pointed at a direction and took the leading position in the formation.

"Nitorin? How do you know that so certainly?" wondered Marisa. "Do you really have such a good memory?"

The little kappa inventor giggled and shook her head. "No, no… I just planted a little device on the building that in combination with this device…" she pointed at a strange metallic box she had affixed to her wrist by an elastic band, "…will show me the exact position of Eientei."

"Good job, you sneaky little kappa, you…" Marisa gave her a praising tap on the shoulder and followed Nitori's lead until the silhouette of a gigantic Japanese mansion appeared further beyond the dense bamboo.

---

"Looks like your little gizmo worked, Nitori. We're here…"

The girls landed and entered the impressive building, headed straight for Eirin's office.

Avoiding the busy rabbits in the main corridor, the girls reached the office and after a few knocks on the door they entered. They were not surprised to see Reisen again instead of Doctor Yagokoro.

"Uh… Hello again…" the rabbit girl greeted them from behind the table. "Need anything from Eirin-sama or me perhaps?"

"We've brought some clean clothes for Patchouli here…" said Alice, as she put the pile of clothes on one of the chairs.

"For me?" sounded Patchouli's voice from behind a folding screen as the sorceress popped out her curious head to look. "Oh, Sakuya. Never thought I'd see you here…"

"T-That's my line…" muttered the maid confusedly. "What are you doing, hiding behind that screen anyway?"

"I came to pick up some medicines for the patients upstairs." replied Patchouli and stepped out from behind the folding screen, revealing her new attire.

Sakuya's jaw dropped as she saw her in a white doctor's uniform. Marisa and Alice also couldn't hide their amusement.

"She looks so… so… cuuuute~!" cooed the witch and clasped her hands together.

Patchouli looked down at her uniform and shrugged indifferently. "It's a uniform… Whit a bit shorter skirt… But thank you for bringing me my comfy clothes, Sakuya."

"Eh… no problem…" said the maid who probably never saw Patchouli wearing any other clothing than her usual one.

"By the way, Patchy, how's the work here?" wondered Marisa. "Is it hard? And do you even know what you're doing?"

"So far, I'm just following Eirin's instructions. Doing what she tells me to and trying my best not to mess anything up… It sure is different from library work."

"Yeah, I can imagine… Good luck then." Marisa stepped aside so that Patchouli could pass and leave the office with the medicines she picked up.

"Wait a minute." Reimu halted the sorceress as she was about to close the door behind her.

"What is it?"

"Do you know if Byakuren has come back in the meantime?"

"That monk? No she hasn't shown up yet." she shook her head and finally left the office.

Reimu turned to the remaining girls in the room and nodded. "Well then, our next stop is the temple of Myouren. My guess is that Byakuren couldn't go underground. If that's so, we'll have one more thing to do."

"Then what are we still waiting for?" asked Marisa and opened the office's door. "Let's' get going."

Nitori exhaled heavily. "All this flying is making me tired and it's only noon…"

---

Once the girls have reached the outer premises of the Human Village, they landed on the deck of the Palanquin Ship and immediately started looking all over it for any of its crew members.

After ten minutes of fruitless searching, the girls have regrouped again; this time in front of the entrance to the praying room…

"Found anyone?" asked Reimu as she was catching her breath.

"Nope…" Marisa shook her head and looked at the other three girls who also gestured a negative reply.

"It seems this whole temple/ship is empty…" commented Alice and rested her back against the wall.

"I wonder what navigation mechanism this ship used before it was converted into a place of worship." muttered the kappa as she stepped back to take a look at the whole ship.

"You can ask Byakuren about that stuff… when we find her…" said Reimu, looking at the both ends of the road connecting the Human Village and the Forest of Magic. "But where could she be? Where could all of her youkai band be?"

Sakuya was still a bit confused about this incident she was supposed to help resolve and had no idea what Byakuren had to do with it. However, she didn't bother asking any more questions, since she thought that everything would become clear later on…

"Well, the last place that we know Byakuren went to is the entrance to the underground…" reasoned Alice. "Maybe she's still there."

"I say we head there too." Marisa agreed with her and initiated her hovering mode. "Maybe Byakuren got trapped in the underground…"

"Oh great…" pouted Reimu and took flight towards the Youkai Mountain. "The last thing we need is to undertake a rescue mission."

"Hey, Reimu~! Wait up~!" called Marisa after her friend who was already too far away to hear her… "Come on, girls, we need to catch up with her." she said to the rest of the team and followed the tiny red-white dot in the sky.

They managed to catch up with the hurrying shrine maiden somewhere above the Forest of Magic.

---

"Say, Reimu-san…" sounded Sakuya timidly. "Are we really going to the underground now?"

"That's right. We'll need Satori-san to look at those fairies we catch and tell us what is causing their madness."

"But wait a sec, Reimu." Marisa grabbed her by the collar to halt her flight. "Isn't there another entrance to the underground near your shrine? You know… the one that was made by that geyser…"

Reimu stopped dead in her tracks, blinking a few times as if she was hit by a brick. "You're right~! Geez… I'm so spaced-out today… I would already like to have this problem resolved, and in all my haste I forgot something so obvious."

"Let's split up then." suggested Sakuya. "I'll go with Reimu; the three of you can go on to the other entrance near the mountain…"

With that said, the girls split up and each group headed towards their two separate destinations.

---

"Okay, Sakuya, you're a human, so you shouldn't have any problems with entering the underground, but you need to stay close and follow my lead, okay?" Reimu explained with a bossy tone. "And be prepared to fight and dodge. There are lots of evil sprits down there."

"And who are those strange individuals over there?" asked the maid as she pointed at the distant figures hovering near the Hakurei Shrine.

"Hmmm? So I'm gone for just a day and my shrine got overrun by a bunch of youkai? Something has to be done…"

Reimu accelerated her flight and drew out her Spell Card, ready to give the unsuspecting group of youkai a surprise attack. Sakuya flew by her side with knives already in both her hands. As Reimu was about to declare the spell, she got close enough to identify all the figures…

"Wait, Sakuya~!" she shouted at her companion who was about to unleash her throwing knives upon her targets. "That's her!"

"Who?"

"That's Byakuren-san. Heeey, Byakureeeen~! Over heeeere~!" Reimu shouted and waved her hand in the air to get the attention.

The group flying towards the shrine was indeed Byakuren and her youkai followers. What's more, there was also Satori among them. As they noticed Reimu and Sakuya, they speeded up a little to meet up with them.

"S-Satori-san?! You've brought her? You actually went down to the underground?" Reimu couldn't believe her eyes.

Byakuren politely bowed and smiled at the shrine maiden. "I'm sorry it took so long, but yes, we've found her and asked her for help… And Satori-sama was kind enough to come to the surface again."

"B-But you're all youkai!" stuttered Reimu in confusion. "How did you manage to even enter the underground?"

"Through that hole in the ground, of course…" shrugged the Buddhist monk and pointed with her thumb somewhere behind her.

"But youkai from the surface should not be even able to…"

"Guess that was nothing but a rumor then."

Reimu took a deep breath and exhaled through her clenched teeth. "Yukari… That lazy, lying old youkai… She just made that up!"

"Umm, are you feeling alright Reimu-san?" Sakuya looked at her with a worried face.

"Yeah, yeah… I'm fine…" the shrine maiden brushed her off. "It just makes me mad when I'm being lied to."

"I have no problems with that." sounded Satori's voice suddenly.

"Yes, of course you don't. You can tell immediately if the person talking to you is lying or not."

"That's right. Although I cannot tell the truth from a lie when the person presenting something as a truth is not even aware of the fact that he or she has been lied to about it…" said the young satori. "But you can rest assured that neither I, nor any of the here-present youkai are lying to you…"

"Anyway, I'm glad we're finally back on the surface…" said Byakuren and took a few deep breaths of fresh air to emphasize her happiness of seeing the sky again. "We truly got a bit lost down there yesterday…"

Reimu couldn't help but to silently admire the youkai monk for keeping her promise and returning from the underground with the mistress of the Palace of the Earth Spirits. Furthermore, she managed to convince her to come to the surface without using any danmaku.

"Very well," sounded Satori again, her third eye focused on the miko. "Since they managed to drag her all the way here, it would be good to meet up with Marisa and others and tell them that they no longer need to go to the underground…

"Hey~!" called out the confused shrine maiden. "Are you reading my thoughts again?"

"…Maybe…" said Satori with an innocent smile and made a wink. "I'm not saying that your idea is bad, just… How are we going to catch up with your friends? They must be already at the mountain by now…"

"Well…" said Sakuya and grabbed her silver pocket watch, which was always clipped to the skirt of her maid outfit by a chain. "I could make our flight to the mountain a little shorter, but I can only use this ability once per day… Maybe I should save it for catching fairies."

"Ahhh…" Reimu nervously exhaled and turned her back to Byakuren and the rest of the youkai. "Let's fly already! Maybe we'll still catch them on the surface if we hurry!" she tried to delude herself with optimistic thinking. Byakuren, Sakuya and Satori briefly exchanged their surprised looks and went after the shrine maiden.

---

"Say, Marisa, are you sure the entrance is this way?" Alice asked her human friend once they reached the northern foot of the Youkai Mountain.

"What do you mean? We're at the damn mountain, aren't we?" retorted the agitated witch. "The second entrance is somewhere in the mountain, ze…"

"Yes… "SOMEWHERE" is a very specific term…" remarked Alice sarcastically.

"Will you be quiet for a minute?! Can't you see I'm trying to concentrate?"

"On what? Blasting a hole in the mountain with a Master Spark?"

"On remembering where exactly that goddamn entrance was!"

"Too bad I never was in the underground…" said Nitori with a hint of regret. "I'd surely plant a tracking device near its entrance like I did at Eientei."

"Well…" said Marisa after a while of flying back and forth and scanning the mountain's wall. "I know for certain that one way to get to the underground is through the summit, but…"

"I don't think the local tengu populace would be too happy to see us flying over their heads." Nitori completed what Marisa hasn't finished saying. "Besides, that "entrance" you're talking about is actually the industrial part of the Youkai Mountain. That's where the hybrid geothermal nuclear reactor chamber is… I've heard it's really, really hot down there."

"Then we have to find another way in, ze!"

"We've been looking around for over a dozen minutes… Let's try looking further over there now…" suggested Alice and flew on ahead to search for some other hole in the mountain.

"No, Alice… I'm quite certain the entrance is somewhere around here." Marisa insisted on staying and thoroughly scanning the immediate surroundings. "And I think I already see it~!" she exclaimed thriumphally and dove between the tall pine trees.

"And I think we've been spotted by someone…" said Nitori as soon as Marisa began to descend to the ground.

"Huh?" sounded the witch's voice from below and soon after, her head popped out from among the treetops to take a look. "Who's spying on us? Some nosy tengu?"

"I… can't see exactly, but whoever it is, he or she is now flying off somewhere else…" replied the kappa as she tried to focus her aqua-colored eyes on the distant figure.

"If it's a tengu scout, it could mean trouble… Let me take a closer look…" said Marisa and rocketed towards the mysterious lonesome figure.

"Aha… so you're a girl too, aren't you?" thought the witch as she approached the person and got close enough to identify her gender. "I wonder who that….?"

Alice watched as Marisa flew towards the unknown person who appeared to be no longer interested in them and was now flying somewhere towards east.

"Ah… Marisa… I just hope you won't pick any unnecessary fight like you have a tendency to…"

Both the youkai puppeteer and the kappa followed the witch, since they were also curious to know who could be watching them and then just nonchalantly fly away. The fact that she was actually flying away from the mountain held a strong indication that she was not one of the tengu scouts.

"Hey, you~!" Marisa tried to halt the stranger. "Wait up!"

The girl giggled as she briefly turned her face at the witch and continued flying away from her. Even this brief moment when she showed her face was enough to ring Marisa's bell…

"Hey, I know you! You're Koishi! Hey, stop for a moment, will ya?!"

"Oi, Marisa…" uttered Alice as she caught up to her in flight. "Who's that girl you're chasing?"

"That's Koishi~! This is actually a lucky encounter, because she's one of the Komeiji sisters…"

"Komeiji?" repeated Alice, looking surprised.

"Yes, and that means she's also a satori… obviously… Heeey~! Koishi, stop running away from us~!"

The girl simply ignored Marisa's call and her only response was another cheerful giggle.

"Oi, Komeiji~! Are you listening?! I said stop, dammit!"

Marisa lowered her head to increase her aerodynamics and hence, her speed. Finally she caught up with the fleeing satori and grabbed the back of her shirt. "Gotcha~!"

Koishi let out another excited giggle and finally stopped in midair. "Tehehe~! Yay, you tagged me… Now I'm it."

Marisa took a while to catch her breath before she looked Koishi in the eyes. "Sorry, Koishi, but I don't want to play tag right now…"

After a few seconds, Marisa was joined by her friends, both of which took a good look at the girl who was getting away from them for nearly one whole minute. She was a rather short girl with short and slightly wavy gray hair and dark-green eyes. She was wearing an ocher shirt with diamond-shaped blue buttons, a dark-green collar and frilly black sleeve hems. Her knee-length skirt was of a lighter shade of green and decorated by a faint flowery pattern. She also had a small black hat with a yellow ribbon around it. As a satori that she was, she also had a third eye placed over her heart. However, unlike her older sister, hers was dark-blue with two long cords wrapped around her torso and linked to each of her ankles, their color gradually shifting from dark-blue to light-violet. Also, unlike her sister, her third eye was closed. She deliberately sealed it off herself a long time ago, in order to save herself from the hatred of other youkai and humans who despised her sister for her innate ability of reading minds. However, upon doing so, Koishi later awakened an even greater power within herself – the ability to see and manipulate the subconscious. She could no longer read other people's minds and became more carefree and whimsical, enjoying her aimless journeys and exploring the surface world, returning home to the Palace of the Earth Spirits only on rare occasions…

"We have a favor to ask from you…" said Marisa, faking a humble tone. "Could you come with us for a while?"

"Ooooh…" Koishi curiously looked at Marisa's two friends. "I haven't met you yet~! Koishi Komeiji, pleased to meet you~!" she smiled cheerfully and stretched out her right hand.

"Uh… Alice Margatroid…" said the blonde puppeteer bashfully and shook Koishi's hand.

"Eheheheee~! You touched me… Now you're it, Alice-san~! …just kidding~!" giggled Koishi and quickly released Alice's palm, flying right over to Nitori. "Oh, you're a kappa aren't you?"

"Y-Yes… Nitori Kawashiro… That's my name…" replied Nitori and also briefly shook hands with the strange satori.

"Pleased to meet you, Nitori-san~ Oh, and Marisa-san too, but we already know each other, right?" she asked as she turned her head to the witch.

"Okay, we're all friends now; will you come with us already?" Marisa repeated her demand.

"By the way, how are you, Marisa?" Koishi nonchalantly continued her idle conversation. "It's been a while since we've seen each other… You still hang around with that shrine maiden?"

"Yes, but listen…" said the witch, but again failed to interrupt the whimsical satori.

"She's an interesting person, isn't she? Like you, she's met so many different people and youkai and became as powerful as she is… Hey, girls, have you met many people and youkai too?" she asked, shifting her gaze from Alice to Nitori and back.

"Umm…"

"Well…"

"Because I've also become a little stronger since the last time we've met, Marisa…"

Marisa took a breath, exhaling heavily. "Look, Koishi, we really have no time for this chit-chat. We need you to come with us… Like now!"

"How about a little game first?"

"No time for that… Come, on, follow us!"

"And if I say no?" asked Koishi teasingly.

"Oi, Marisa, why don't we just beat her up and drag her to Eientei?" suggested Alice, who was growing tired of this pointless conversation.

"That's the spirit, Alice-san~!" Koishi cheerfully clapped her hands and smiled sweetly. "A little game of danmaku is all I need to make my day…"

"Umm… Alice," Marisa murmured to her friend. "That's easier said than done, you know…"

"Come on! What are you talking about?" the youkai puppeteer didn't understand why would Marisa negotiate with someone who won't listen to reason. "We've got her outnumbered three to one. Let's get this over with, already!"

"Yes, let's~!" sang the cheerful voice of Koishi.

"I know that she may not look like it, but Koishi's actually quite a mighty satori… If we were to fight her, we'd have to give it our all…"

"But you see for yourself that she won't come with us willingly." argued Alice. "That's when Spell Cards come to play."

"Spell Cards, Spell Cards~!" rejoiced Koishi, her childlike face showing an expression of excitement and thrill. "I'm curious to see your interesting Spell Cards, Alice and Nitori-chan… Uh… I hope I can address you with "chan"…" she murmured nonchalantly.

"Looks like, she's raring to battle." commented Nitori as she was mentally getting ready for a danmaku fight.

"And all of you can attack me at once~!" added the younger Komeiji sister. "I'll show you my lovely spells as well~!"

"Is she really serious?" asked Alice, who doubted that this girl could take on three opponents simultaneously.

As if to answer her question, Koishi quickly flew several meters backwards, crossing her arms in front of her chest and making a large red circle with a hexagram in the middle appear behind her.

"It seems she is." Nitori replied to Alice and also distanced herself a bit from Koishi.

Alice saw that a bright-red glow appeared in the center of Koishi's circle and she could already tell this wasn't going to be an easy one-sided pounding of one poor satori…

"Okay, Marisa, you battled her before, right? Do you have any strategy, or some advice?"

"Ehh… yes, dodge."

"Gee, that's really helpful!" pouted the dollmaker at the human magician.

"No, I mean really… DODGE~!" Marisa shouted this time and pushed Alice away from herself, just in time to retract her arm before a fast and dense current of numerous red bullets shot between them.

"Whoa~!" exclaimed Alice as she saw what Koishi was capable of. She was shooting very dense continuous currents into all directions, slowly spinning clockwise, making a spiral pattern and leaving very little room for error. Alice and Nitori slowly and carefully followed the curves in the streams of danmaku and when they suddenly changed direction, they dove into the small gap that was left between them for a brief moment. Once they got the hang of this pattern, they began returning the fire. Alice made Shanghai shoot a straightforward red beam at her target and Nitori attacked with a spreading stream of blue bubble-like shots. Marisa utilized her conventional green magic missiles that were a bit slower, but packed more power.

"Concentrate your fire~!" she ordered like an experienced war veteran and as she slowed down her own movement, her shots became larger and changed their color to blue. That was her so called magic napalm, because of the blue smoke-like effect the projectiles left once they hit any solid object. Even though all three of the girls were relentlessly firing their magic against Koishi, the young satori seemed unfazed by this. Magic shots kept landing on her body one after another, but she just kept on smiling and kept up her initial attack for over a half a minute.

"Ah… Finally, she stopped." exhaled Nitori when the red spiral streams disappeared.

It wasn't long before Koishi pulled out her first Spell Card.

"Symbol "Danmaku Paranoia"!"

Marisa immediately recalled what this spell does and shouted at her friends. "Everyone, regroup to me! Now!"

Alice was close enough to hear the call and assumed a position right next to Marisa without asking any questions. Nitori, however, was a bit further and didn't hear what the witch shouted at her.

"Nitori~! Get here on the double!"

Only now did the kappa notice, but couldn't quite understand Marisa's intention. "But why? We'll only become easy targets like that…"

Before Nitori could realize what was going on, it was too late for her. Koishi unleashed a symmetrical barrage of large blue glowing orbs and Marisa and Alice became surrounded in a purple ring made of smaller projectiles that burst outwards. Poor kappa tried to dodge the chaotic shots, but she couldn't have her eyes focused on two different directions. She got hit by one of the larger orbs from the side. Only now she figured that the only safe zone was inside that purple ring, which Marisa and Alice were seemingly trapped in. Right now, Nitori had no other choice but to endure the hits which were quite a bit painful. Marisa and Alice could see that Nitori was in trouble and so, they focused their fire in order to break Koishi's spell as quickly as possible. After less then 10 seconds of their joint attack, a loud pop echoed over the mountainside.

"Hey, are you alright, Nitori?" Marisa asked as she could finally see her kappa friend more clearly with all the distracting danmaku gone. She was holding her right hip and looked like she was in a lot of pain. However, she didn't feel like giving up.

"I… I'm fine…" she replied, drawing out a Spell Card of her own. "Drown "Trauma in the Glimmering Depths"!"

A dense mass of blue wave-like intersecting bullet currents appeared around Koishi, while Nitori shot out a wide fan of large blue orbs. It was one of her hardest-to-dodge Spell Cards.

"Well I don't know…" murmured Marisa to Alice as she watched the spectacle. "The last time I checked, Koishi was pretty much immune to my Spell Cards…"

"Immune?" Alice raised her eyebrows.

"Well, yeah… Only the most powerful of youkai know a technique to make themselves basically immune to their opponent's Spell Cards… at least during their own spells I think…. And Koishi falls into that category."

"I didn't know she was that powerful…"

"Yeah… She's somewhere up there along with individuals such as Flandre, or Mokou, or Nue… But since we didn't say how hard we would like to battle against each other, perhaps she won't use that ability…"

While Koishi disappeared in the swarm of blue shots, all that could be heard from her was her playful laughter.

"Yaaay~! Nitori-chan~! That's a beautiful Spell Card… Ahahaha~!"

Nitori only wondered what her opponent could be doing right now. Apparently, Koishi was more or less mesmerized by the wave patterns that resembled several surfaces of water.

"Well, whatever is going on, it doesn't look like Nitori's spell has much effect on her." noted the witch and began firing her conventional straightforward magic missiles into the dense clusters of Nitori's blue orbs, hoping to hit Koishi with at least a few shots. Alice joined her and started aiming Shanghai's beam at random directions within the area of Nitori's spell.

"I really like how it looks like I'm underwater~!" rejoiced Koishi as she flew up and again down into the barrage, like a fish jumping up from the surface and diving.

"Are we even hitting her?" Marisa wondered, continuing her blind barrage.

"Don't know… But at least we're trying…" replied Alice and tired to aim for the center of the blue cloud of bullets. "Hey, Nitori, could you stop your Spell Card for a moment? I can't see our enemy…"

Of course, Nitori couldn't oblige her ally's request, since she was currently in a trance, when all her effort and attention was focused on fueling her spell until she ran out of energy. Although she managed to keep the barrage up for quite a long time, once it was over, Koishi emerged unscathed.

"Hey, hey, girls~!" Koishi called at them and waved her hand as if to let them know she's alright. "How about I showed you another one? This one is really pretty if I do have to say so myself…"

Drawing another card out and flashing it to her opponents, she declared: "Instinct "Release of the Id"!"

The card disappeared and a bright pinkish glow appeared in Koishi's hand, gradually becoming stronger as she charged her power for the spell. Alice instinctively backed further away from her opponent in hope of giving herself some more maneuvering space. However, since she wasn't familiar with Koishi's spells yet, she didn't know what to expect and all she could do was improvise. The same thing could be said about Nitori, who was quite surprised to see that her spell only managed to entertain the light-hearted satori girl. Her next course of action was assuming a position slightly above and behind Marisa. The pain from the last spell's danmaku was still persistent and was taking a toll on the kappa's flying speed and overall concentration. She therefore figured that staying close to Marisa was going to keep her safe… And finally, Koishi's spell started off another amazing spectacle. While she put on a face full of joy, her hands released a multitude of pink heart-shaped danmaku projectiles in a several intersecting streams which formed a symmetrical pattern.

"This looks pretty easy…" remarked Nitori as she briefly observed the heart-shots' trajectories.

"Yeah, just don't back away too far…" Marisa added a warning, throwing a lightning-quick glance at both her sides. "…where's Alice?"

"Huh? Alice?" Nitori repeated the puppeteer's name as she also took a split second to look around herself. She spotted the girl, hovering further away from Koishi, firing her doll's danmaku directly at her mark. "Ah, there she is…" said the kappa and pointed her thumb behind her back.

"Damn…!" uttered the Magician while she leapt through a gap between the shots to save herself from being trapped. Nitori followed her movement and managed to slip through as well.

"That idiot… What is she doing back there?!" she muttered to herself, forgetting that Alice never fought against Koishi before. "Hey, Alice~! Come o'er here! Now!" she shouted.

Alice didn't heed her friend's warning and remained in her current position, unaware that the heart-shaped danmaku that was missing her was forming a dense cluster behind her that gradually turned into an impassible wall of magic. She kept herself focused on defeating Koishi's Spell Card and just when she thought she had her, she felt an unpleasant sensation on her back.

"Aaaaah~! Ouch! What the…?!" she turned around to see what hit her and with a shock she discovered a huge pink wall made of hearts. "Oh, crap…!"

Just as she backed away from the wall in panic, she ran directly into one of the bullet streams, receiving yet another three unpleasant hits. "Kyaaah, aaah, umpf…!"

Marisa and Nitori finally managed to break the spell, but poor Alice was already falling to the ground.

"Alice~!" Marisa shouted as she watched the girl's body land in one of the trees below. Fortunately, one of the tree branches was strong enough to hold her and she didn't hit the ground.

"Uh-oh… Girl down~!" called Nitori who could only watch as Alice grabbed onto a tree branch with all her effort.

Marisa turned her face at the satori, drawing out her mini Hakkero. "Nitori, focus your fire on her, I'll prevent her from attacking for a while!"

"Roger~!" nodded the kappa and began sending a narrow blue stream of wave-shaped magic shots at the opponent who was in terms of raw magical power way out of their league.

Despite her whimsical and carefree attitude, Koishi was no idiot. She began making some rapid dodging maneuvers, making her opponents' work even harder. Furthermore, she returned fire with her dazzling non-declared danmaku.

Marisa quickly drew the Hakkero closer to her lips and muttered her favorite spell into its opening. Then she pointed the mini furnace against Koishi and loudly declared: "Love Sign "Master Spark"!"

The Hakkero started emitting a very distinctive low humming sound and not a second later, released a huge magical beam of white light with terrifying destructive potential.

"Now, Nitori~!" Marisa called at her companion. "She may be immune to Spell Cards, but not to normal attacks. Shower her with your danmaku~!"

"I know…" replied the kappa as she tried to find her target which disappeared somewhere in the bright flash of the Master Spark. "…But now I can't see her!"

"Don't fret over details, Nitori, just keep firin' and everything's gonna be fine, ze~!"

The kappa just giggled dryly at Marisa's simplistic attitude. "Honestly, Marisa… I expected you to have some kind of strategy up your sleeve, but the way I see it, you're just surviving this fight, not fighting it…"

"Hehehe~!" the witch giggled at the witty remark. "Reimu? Is that you? Please, get out of Nitori's body, will ya?"

"I'm serious… You've no idea what to do…"

"Don't be silly. Can't you see how well my strategy works? I'm keeping her in check, while you're dealing the damage."

"Oh, am I really?" wondered Nitori as she blasted danmaku where she estimated Koishi's position.

Not before long, Marisa's spell lost its spark and revealed the satori who was hiding somewhere below its danger zone.

"Ehehe~!" Koishi giggled lightly. "…Just as expected from Marisa-san… All power, but not too much accuracy..."

"It would be nicer if you weren't cheating with your spell-dodging ability, you know…"

"I didn't use it during this spell." she revealed. "I just wanted to have the thrilling feeling of danger that you humans have when you face more powerful opponents than yourselves. Besides I'm already familiar with Master Spark. It's quite a pretty spell, but not too hard to evade."

"Say, Koishi, why don't we just call this a draw so you'd finally come with us already?" Marisa tried to negotiate. "You already managed to down Alice."

"But both of you are still afloat, aren't you?" replied Koishi with a question. "And I can still keep playing too…"

"Look, you'll be of no use to us when we knock you out of your senses."

"Tehehee~! I like your courage, Marisa, but can you back those words up with some solid performance? Let's find out…"

A third Spell Card appeared in Koishi's hand. Marisa briefly turned her face at Nitori and shrugged. "Well, it was worth a try to ask…"

"Tell me, Marisa, but frankly…" said Nitori, giving a questioning glance to the witch. "Do we even stand a chance?"

"Of course we do, ze~! We've beaten two of her cards already; we're winning."

Nitori bent her lips into a bitter smile as she looked down at Alice who was still holding onto a tree branch, unable to continue the fight.

"Winning? Well, I don't know…"

"Suppression "Super-ego"!" Koishi just declared her third spell of this battle.

"Alright, Nitori, I remember this as well. It's basically the same as the one we faced now, just reversed." Marisa gave a brief explanation of the upcoming spell.

"Reversed, eh? Then I have an idea…" said Nitori, who was still hovering behind Marisa and turned her back to the enemy. Now, Marisa and Nitori were hovering close to each other, each facing an opposite direction.

"I'll be watching your back and warn you from incoming shots; you'll be shooting your standard shots right at her…"

"Hey, not a bad idea, Nitorin~." smiled Marisa and nodded. "This time we'll beat her spell without getting hit, ze~!"

Just as Marisa said, once activated, the spell began drawing blue heart-shaped shots from a wide radius and gathering them towards Koishi's hands.

Marisa didn't wait and opened fire, her every shot landing precisely on her target.

"Umm… Go to the left… No, I mean to the right!" called Nitori from behind as she tried to warn her from danger.

"Make up your mind then! Is it left or right?"

"Right! Move to your right, quickly!"

Marisa made a fast maneuver to her right side, simultaneously with Nitori who moved to her left. Both girls managed to slip through the stream of blue hearts just in time to avoid being hit. Marisa didn't stop her fire for even a second. Her magic napalm bombarded Koishi and was weakening her spell with every successful shot.

"Now ascend a little… slowly…" signaled Nitori as she herself began slowly gaining altitude, staying away from danger. Marisa didn't even look back and relied entirely on her guidance.

"And now descend while moving to your left…"

"You're doing great Nitori~!" Marisa praised the kappa. "Without your help this card would be quite a bother~!"

"Whatever… Just keep shooting!"

"And just what do you think I'm doing right now?!"

"Down!"

"What?"

"Move down, Marisa!"

"Oh…"

Marisa managed to evade one of the blue hearts that just grazed her by the tip of her black hat.

"Uh-oh…" sounded Nitori's voice again. "The shots are speeding up! You better break that spell soon…"

"I'm trying my best here!" replied the witch and gritted her teeth, trying to give her shots some little extra punch with a little extra focus.

"Prepare to dodge in rapid succession…." the kappa issued another warning.

"I'm… almost… done… here…"

"Left! Up! Down! Right! …Move forward a little and again up…!" Nitori almost messed up as she herself had her mind busy with dodging the ever faster danmaku.

Another loud popping sound, resembling breaking glass was like music to her ears. It meant that Marisa finally managed to defeat Koishi's Spell Card.

"Woohohooo~!" exclaimed the witch joyfully. "We did it~! We've scored a clean Spell Card! Nice job, Nitorin!"

The young kappa engineer gave out a sigh of relief, but as she turned her face again at Koishi, she noticed her holding another card.

"Hey, you're good~!" Koishi called at the girls. "You managed to stay unhit this time. Precise and skillful dodging maneuvers are always worth watching… They're just as fascinating as the beautiful colorful danmaku patterns themselves… Now… my last Spell Card for this game. Just do like you did now and you'll win without a problem~." she said almost as if she was rooting for them. "Now… take a good look at this danmaku and tell me what do you see~!"

"Did she just say this is going to be her last Spell Card?" asked Nitori.

"So it seems..." shrugged Marisa and corrected her hat. "Guess she's being easy on us. At least we won't have to deal with ten spells, ze…"

Koishi was already raising her hand into the air and declaring: "Subconscious "Rorschach in Danmaku"!"

First, bright strings made of white light started spreading from the center of Koishi's third eye, bending and twining and making symmetrical ellipsoid patterns. Then each of the patterns changed its color to blue, teal or purple, spreading itself wider and wider until each string broke into dozens of small bullets which continued in a fairly predictable path. However, Koishi began drawing the patterns ever faster. Marisa and Nitori were having serious difficulties with dodging them all. It wasn't long before the sky was littered with hundreds and later thousands of tricolor magic shots.

"W-W-What the hell is this?!" stuttered the panicking kappa as she was desperately trying to make heads or tails of this complex pattern. Even her eyes were barely able to process the amount of dangerous projectiles flying in the air.

Marisa didn't look any more relaxed. Several of the shots have grazed so close by her that they made a few tears and holes into her clothing.

"This isn't what it looked like the last time I faced it, ze…" she uttered while trying to stay alive. She even tried to fire back at her opponent, but due to the overwhelming number of Koishi's shots, she was unable to see where she was shooting at…

Each second seemed like an eternity. Marisa's heart was pumping rapidly and she even began losing the feel of her limbs. So strong was her adrenaline rush…

"Come on…" she said to herself. "Stay focused… This is the last Spell Card… I almost have her… Just don't screw it up now…"

After more than ten seconds, Marisa still managed to evade every shot. Big droplets of sweat began forming on her forehead, but a good feeling of an upcoming victory was settling in her heart.

"Alright, Nitori, just a little longer and she's ours~!" she shouted at her ally, even though she lost track of her position in all that bullet hell. "…Nitori~?" she took a split second to look around. The blue-haired kappa was nowhere to be seen. Now the self-proclaimed ordinary magician started to panic. "Nitoriiii~?! Where are you~?!"

"Down here…!" came a weak call from down below.

The witch dodged another series of shots and in the little time that she had before another wave, she looked down. There she saw Nitori lying on her back on another large tree branch, apparently after being hit too many times to continue the battle.

"Oh, crap!" she cursed upon realizing that she's now alone in this fight.

Normally, losing a danmaku duel was nothing anyone in Gensokyo would fret about, but right now, Marisa really didn't want to lose. She knew that Koishi wouldn't come with them and help them with resolving the fairy incident if she would lose to her… She felt an unnatural urge to win this duel. She took a deep breath and entered focus mode. She tried to aim her shots where the bullet clusters where the thickest, assuming that Koishi, who was their source, would be somewhere in the middle of them…

Shots were becoming harder to dodge with each passing second. Marisa knew that using Spell Cards against Koishi wasn't going to win this fight, but at least she'd buy herself some time to take a breather from dodging.

"Okay… The situation's quite crappy already… Time to use this…" she thought to herself as she reached inside her pocket for a Spell Card.

"Here goes… Magic Sign "Milky Wa…" Ungh~!" her spell declaration was interrupted by a bright purple shot that went unnoticed by her eyes and found its way to the left side of Marisa's jaw…

"Nooooooo~!" she gave out her last shout as she fell backwards, stretching out her hand to the sky. She was shot down… beaten… defeated…

---

Just like the two of her friends, she also got caught by one of the many tree branches. As she was looking into the blue summer sky in a semi-delirious state, she noticed that all the chaotic, but still symmetrical danmaku patterns have suddenly disappeared. Koishi was still hovering above the trees as the sole victor of a handicap match. The young satori took a while to realize that she just eliminated all her opposition. Even though this was just a game, she felt a bit guilty for making her last spell a bit harder than usual. She descended lower to make sure her defeated opponents weren't seriously hurt.

"Umm… I'm sorry, girls… Are you alright?"

"Ehehehe~…" Marisa uttered a weak laughter, showing a thumbs up gesture. "Koishi-chan… That was a good battle… ze…"

"And your dodging was quite impressive too, Marisa-san~." replied Koishi with a smile.

"Ahh… So comfy…" sighed Alice who was still resting on another branch of the same tree, indifferent to the fact that she was just beaten.

"I feel kind of sleepy now…" murmured Nitori and yawned.

"Hey don't worry, girls, I'll help you…" said Koishi and volunteered to carefully bring her defeated opponents to the ground. She grabbed onto Alice's hand and helped her sit up. Then while supporting her weight, she descended with her and rested her against the tree trunk.

"T-Thank you…" nodded the puppeteer who rarely ever saw such compassion from someone who has just beaten her in a danmaku battle.

"For someone who's never battled me before, you did really well, Alice-chan… Now wait a bit, while I bring down the rest of your friends, okay?"

…

"Aww… It was so nice up there… Why are you bringing me down?" protested Nitori with a sleepy voice as Koishi carried her weakened body and propping her against the tree trunk next to Alice.

"I can't leave you up there… You could fall and hurt yourself." explained the satori as she was already ascending up again to pick up Marisa.

The witch also found her horizontal position on a tree branch quite comfortable as the warm sun was lulling her to sleep. However, some unknown object has suddenly blocked out the sunlight…

---

"Who the…?" she focused her eyes and noticed nine human-shaped figures hovering above the trees. "Oh… It's Reimu… and company…" she referred to the group of other girls, which included Sakuya, Satori, Byakuren and her complete crew…

"Oh, look~!" Reimu pointed at the blonde magician. "A Marisa-bearing tree…"

"Yeah, ha, ha, Reimu, very funny..." groaned Marisa with a semi-painful expression. "Oh… wait a sec… Is that… Satori?"

"Yeah." nodded the shrine maiden, throwing a brief glance at the purple-haired girl. "Would you believe that Byakuren managed to go into the underground? Along with all of her youkai followers… Oh, by the way, what the heck happened to you? And where's Alice and Nitori?"

Marisa turned her head slowly from left to right and shrugged. "Beats me… They were here just a few moments ago… But how did you even manage to find me?"

"We followed the lights." Sakuya gave a simple and clear explanation.

"Oh, yeah… About that… Hehehe~… I think I've found a good candidate for our little tournament, Reimu…" uttered the witch just as Koishi ascended above the trees.

Reimu's eyes widened in surprise as she saw the familiar figure and face of Koishi. "T-Th-That's… That's your sister, Satori-san… Right?"

Both Satori and Koishi opened their mouths in a long silent stare at each other's faces.

"Koishi…"

"Satori-neechan?"

Apparently, it's been quite a while since the two have last seen each other.

"Koishi-chan~!" exclaimed Satori and flew towards her younger sister.

"Satoriiii~!" rejoiced the younger Komeiji sister and hurried to embrace her older sibling.

The two sisters threw their arms around each other and smiled.

"Koishi… I'm so glad to see you again…" whispered Satori into her sister's ear.

She loved her very much, but ever since Koishi decided to seal off her third eye, not even Satori could see what she was thinking about. As Koishi became more carefree, she left the underground and set out on her own adventure, exploring Gensokyo and meeting many different people.

"I missed you so much since you left…" Satori continued, tightening her embrace around her beloved sister.

The lid of Koishi's third eye shifted a bit, as if it was about to open up. "Don't you think that I've forgotten about you, Satori-neechan~." she said with a sweet voice and planted a kiss on Satori's cheek. "Chuuu~ ."

"What a cute family reunion…" commented Sakuya with a daydreamy face as the two Komeiji sisters very much reminded her of her mistress and her younger sister.

"By the way, Onee-chan, how's Okuu? Is she still causing trouble? And Orin…? Do you play with her every day?" Koishi began asking her sister about their pets.

"They're both doing well, but now is not the best time for us to talk, Koishi." replied the older sister. "There's something serious going on… I'd like you to come with me."

"Oooh… An adventure? Together with Onee-chan? Yaaay~! Where are we going?"

"Uh… Well…" Satori paused herself, taking a look at Reimu and reading her thoughts. "I believe our next destination lies to the east of here… Near some Kazemura… place…"

"Kazemura?" Koishi repeated the name of the mining village. "Hey, I've been there a few times… Lots of big youkai live there… And some humans too… But… what are we going there for, Onee-chan?"

Satori took another quick glance at Reimu who just opened her mouth to give an explanation of the situation, but Satori beat her to it.

"We're going to… Catch some fairies?"

"Oi, Satori…" Reimu gave her an annoyed look. "Please stop taking words out of my lips."

"Hey, girls…" sounded Marisa who was still lying on a tree branch after having lost a danmaku fight. "A little help here…?"

"Oh, sorry, I completely forgot about you there, Marisa-san~." said Koishi and hurried to assist the beaten magician down from the tall tree.

"So… you two had a little opinion dispute, I take it?" asked the shrine maiden, watching Koishi as she took Marisa into her arms.

"Actually, there were four of us involved… And it wasn't even much of an opinion dispute as it was just a little game…"

"So, where are Alice and Nitori?"

"I've seated them down at this tree so they'd rest up…" answered the younger Komeiji and disappeared below the treetops as she descended with Marisa in her arms.

Reimu sighed and put on a half-confused and half-concerned face. "Great… Now our team is three members short…"

"Don't worry, Reimu-san." Byakuren put a comforting palm on her shoulder. "We can take your friends back to Eientei, since we already know where it is."

"If it's just about catching a few fairies, then we really don't need a team of 13 people, do we?" said Sakuya.

"Perhaps not… But it'd be better if there's more of us for the task." replied Reimu as she began to descend to take a look at Alice and Nitori. The other girls were also quite curious, so they followed her down. Once the shrine maiden's feet touched the ground, she saw the kappa and the youkai dollmaker resting their backs against a large tree trunk. They both looked okay, if a little tired.

"Just what exactly were you doing?"

"Oh, we just met Koishi-san here…" said Alice, beckoning at the younger of the Komeijis. "Then Marisa said that she might help us just as much as Satori-san, so we asked her to come with us."

"But she wanted to play a danmaku game first, so we all had a little battle…" added Nitori. "She's really powerful, you know…"

"Do you think you'll be able to fly?"

"Uh… yeah… I think." answered Alice as she touched the places where she got hit to check if they still hurt her. The pain was slowly going away, but she still needed to regain her strength.

"I think I'm okay too…" said Nitori, trying to move all her limbs. "But please… Just give us a few more minutes, okay?"

"What about you, Marisa."

"Um… well… my back still kinda hurts after falling on that branch… Don't know if I'll be able to go with you guys…"

Reimu frowned as she looked at her friend. "That's a pity… Never mind then… Byakuren or one of her friends can take you home or to Eientei."

"No problem…" confirmed the youkai monk.

As Koishi heard that Marisa could be hurt more seriously, she started to feel guilty for overcharging her last spell that earned her victory.

"I… I'm really sorry, Marisa-san. I didn't mean to hurt you… I just… Just wanted to play with you for a while…"

Satori took pity of her younger sister as she walked up to her, trying to comfort her.

"Don't blame yourself, Koishi… That sometimes happens in danmaku battles… I know you wouldn't hurt Marisa intentionally… You just…" she turned her head to the witch and stopped herself in the middle of her sentence. She turned her attention away from her sister with her third eye focused on Marisa and stepped forth to her. Satori's slightly surprised expression was quickly followed by an ominous smile.

"Uh-oh…" Marisa quickly realized that her little pain faking was going to be exposed.

"You're not really hurt."

"S-She's not?" asked both Koishi and Reimu.

"W-What are you talking about?" asked the witch, denyingly shaking her head. "I'm really hurt here… (Crap… She found out… Damn you, Satori! Damn you!)"

"I think she's just wants to slack off." said Satori, revealing Marisa's intentions.

"Just what exactly is she thinking about right now?" Reimu addressed the question to the mind-reading youkai girl.

Satori tilted her head slightly to the side, and scanned the witch's thoughts, citing them exactly as she saw them: "Damn you, Satori! Why can't you just put some sock over that third eye of yours, or at least be quiet about things that are none of your business?! Oh, great… Now she's saying exactly what I'm thinking… Reimu and Sakuya and the rest of these girls can go catch those damn fairies even without my help. I could have just stayed at home, reading one of my borrowed books, but NOOO~… Some nosy satori just has to ruin everything... ze…"

A long, dull silence came about and was interrupted again by Satori.

"What exactly is this "ze" anyway?"

"So…" Reimu spoke after hearing out Marisa's train of thought, tapping her gohei wand against her palm. "You'd like to avoid responsibility, eh…?"

"Don't listen to her, Reimu… She just made that up so she could discredit me… Ehehehe~."

"Normally, if this was some ordinary day without any incidents going on, I'd have some understanding for you…" said Reimu with a menacingly calm voice as she kept slapping her gohei against her palm. "…But not today…"

"Ehh… Reimu? What are you going to do with that thing?" asked the witch with a bit shaky voice.

Reimu's answer was swift and merciless. She grabbed the witch by the collar and pulled her up from sitting to standing position. She then immediately swung her gohei and a stinging hit landed on Marisa's backside.

"Kyaaaaah~!"

"You can rest just as soon as we catch at least three living fairies; not before!"

"Alright, alright! I'm going with you!" Marisa consented, rubbing the fresh source of pain on her butt. "Geez, Reimu… I didn't know you were into that kind of stuff."

"Ehehe~." Nitori gave out a frightened giggle as she saw what Reimu just did to Marisa. "Reimu-san is scary."

Afraid that she might end up similarly, the young kappa hastily stood up and dusted off her clothes. Alice also didn't want to look like a weakling and hurried back up on her feet.

Reimu smiled sweetly. "Good… Now that we're all ready, we should go over our plan once more."

Sakuya, the Komeiji sisters and Byakuren's crew were still not entirely briefed about Reimu's plan or reason to catch fairies in the northeastern part of Gensokyo, and so, the shrine maiden made a recap.

"So, Sakuya… You'll take these and throw them at the fairies to tranquilize them…" she said as she passed the box with sedative syringes to the maid.

"Alice and Nitori will then take the tranquilized fairies… at least three of them and head back to Eientei. Satori and Koishi will then examine their minds to figure out what's making them act so aggressively… The rest of us will have our hands full with fighting against the other fairies, because these little youkai are never lonesome… Any questions?"

Nobody asked anything.

"Then let's get this over with… With a bit of luck, we'll figure out the source of this incident before sundown."

Reimu then took flight and was quickly followed by the other twelve girls. Right after ascending above the trees, they set their course towards the east, keeping their eyes opened for any signs of fairies.