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...?

46. Tanabata

Chapter 46 - Tanabata

Kyouichi and Soudai were a little relived to know that their work didn't start immediately, and they both had some free time to enjoy the festival. And as the big day was finally here, they both put on their best clothes and decided to wait for Midori in front of Naota's house. Another good thing was, that the dragon statue's forecast of rain was most likely not meant for today, as the skies were clear and blue, and even in the morning, the temperature was pleasantly warm.

"Sorry to keep you waiting~!" called out Midori's voice as she opened the door. She changed almost beyond recognition. Her hair was now trimmed by a pair of decorative chopsticks and she was clad in a green yukata with darker green leaf and pink sakura pattern.

"Oh~! Wow… Midori-san…" Soudai opened his mouth in awe when he saw her. "Is that really you?"

"Who else would I be?" she retorted and closed the door behind her. "Looks like most of the people from the village are already headed for the shrine…"

"And I don't even see any Ryuuken…" remarked Kyouichi as he watched the crowd of people slowly moving up the street, planning to take the northern road out of the village to get to the shrine.

"Well, since the natives are all capable of magic, they have more than a chance to defend themselves from any possible youkai attack." Midori speculated.

"I've even been to the Temple of Myouren this morning." Kyouichi informed his friends. "Byakuren-sama gave us another one of her blessings that would make us less likely to be attacked."

"Really? Why didn't I go there too?" Soudai asked himself as he followed the crowd, slowly nearing the northern entrance of the Human Village.

"Hey, don't worry. Once we're at the shrine, we won't need to worry about dangerous youkai anymore… I hope…"

"I'm curious to see this Hakurei person." said Midori. "She seems to be quite popular around the village."

"Apparently being popular doesn't necessarily mean that her shrine gets many visitors during normal non-festive days."

"But you've been to her shrine several times already, haven't you, club prez?"

"Because I was more curious than wise. I've learned my lesson, though…" said Kyouichi and rolled up his left sleeve to reveal his scars – the memento of his injuries caused by a young youkai of darkness. "But back then I didn't have these…" he took out a few of Reimu's amulets from his pockets. He never had to use them ever since, but he always had them in his pocket just in case…

"Is the shrine a long way from here?" Midori asked, apparently much less worried about any possible dangers.

"About a half an hour of walk. But at this pace, I don't know… Perhaps it might even stretch to a whole hour."

"Well, it's not like we're in a hurry anyway, right?"

"Hey, Kyou, we're probably going to spend a lot of cash at them stalls, right?" Soudai lamented over his lack of finances. "Could I… borrow some from you?"

"And what do you think? That I've got a money printer in my pocket? I've already given you quite a bit for your hospitalization." It wasn't that Kyouichi wouldn't like to lend some more money to his friend, but he was also getting worried of not having enough money himself.

Midori sighed in response. "You're so helpless, Asakura… I suppose I could spare a coin or two…"

"Midoriiiii~!" Soudai couldn't hide his happiness and the best way he could think of to express it was giving Midori a tight hug.

"Ughhh… Excuse me… Can I breathe?" the yukata-clad vice-president struggled for air.

"Thank you so much, Midori-san! I'll pay off all my debts to the last yen. It's a promise!"

"Hey, calm down, you two." Kyouichi threw a quick look over his shoulder to see what Soudai was doing.

"I'm pretty calm." replied Midori as she got finally released from Soudai's grip. "Not sure about your friend here, though."

"Oh, and one more thing…" Kyouichi raised a finger to give his friends a little warning. "If any stranger starts asking you who you are, do not, I repeat: DO NOT let them know that you are an outsider."

"Eeeh? Why would we want to keep that fact a secret from others?" Midori didn't understand.

"Because you never know if the person you're dealing with is not a hungry man-eating youkai, Midori-san. For such individuals, we, the outsiders, are like free pizza."

"I don't think that any of the dangerous youkai would dare to even go to the shrine, now that it's crowded with people…"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Midori."

"Fine…" shrugged the girl indifferently. "So I'll just pretend to be one of the natives then."

"Yeah, you do that… I'm only saying this, because I once let that fact slip out of my mouth, and the youkai who I was talking to happened to have a taste for some human flesh…"

"But you're still alive, I see." Soudai pointed out.

"I wonder myself how I managed to talk my way out of that one…" Kyouichi chuckled as he was recalling his little encounter with Mystia, the night sparrow. "Oh, yea, and the other day, Soudai too let this fact slip out of his mouth in front of a complete stranger. Needless to say that I wasn't very happy about it…"

"Me? When?" Soudai looked cluelessly at his younger friend.

"It happened just a few days ago and you've already forgotten? Why when we met Mokou-san, of course!" Kyouichi refreshed his memory.

"Ah, that… But she wasn't a youkai."

"Yeah, but what if she was? How could you trust her so easily?"

"Well, because I remembered her bringing me to Eientei. She couldn't be a bad person if she bothered to drag me all the way there."

"Hmm… Okay, you have a point, but still… Be careful who you spill your guts to, okay?"

Soudai made a funny grimace, mimicking a thoughtful contemplation. "It's going to be hard, but I'll try…"

"You can fully trust Reimu, though…" Kyouichi added as a matter of fact. "Not too sure about some of her acquaintances, but… the shrine maiden is on our side."

"Hey, hey…" Midori again called for attention and changed the topic of the conversation. "I've heard that there's going to be some new attraction this year."

"Really?" Kyouichi curiously raised his eyebrows. "I don't know anything about that…"

"Guess we'll see when we get there." said Soudai.

---

After something over 45 minutes, the long line of villagers has finally reached a well known crossroad, just several tens of meters in front of the stone steps leading to the Hakurei Shrine.

"Are we there yet?" Soudai impatiently demanded an answer, since he couldn't explain why the mass of people in front of him suddenly slowed down.

"Pretty much." replied Kyouichi tersely. "We'll just take a turn to the right and we should already see the shrine's torii."

And when the outsiders finally scaled the stairs and walked under the bright-red torii, they found themselves in a very crowded shrine yard.

"Whoa!" uttered Soudai as he tried to stand on his toes and look into the distance. All he could see, however, was the shrine's tile roof. "There's barely enough room to move around here…"

"How many people do you think are here?" wondered Midori.

"Well, the village has something over 2000 inhabitants, but surely not all of them are here…" said Kyouichi as he tired to make his way to the shrine. "However, I don't think that I'll exaggerate when I say that one half of today's visitors are not human…"

"So where's the shrine maiden?" asked Soudai as he followed his friend closely, so he wouldn't get separated from him in the crowd.

"I don't see her yet… Right now, I'll be happy if I'll see anyone familiar besides the two of you."

And as Kyouichi kept slowly progressing forward, prodding and pushing other shrine visitors and subsequently apologizing to them, he suddenly felt that his stomach hit something hard and sharp…

"Ungh~! Youch! Damn it… What the hell…?!"

"Kyah~! Hey~! Watch it!" sounded a high-pitched girl's voice from somewhere close by. For some reason it sounded very familiar and Kyouichi immediately turned his attention to its source…

As he looked down, he noticed a short ginger-haired girl with a pair of branch-like horns coming out of the sides of her head, decorated by several ribbons. Not another second was necessary for Kyouichi to recognize this girl. It was Suika Ibuki, an oni who could be often seen near or inside the Hakurei Shrine. She was one of Reimu's closer friends, but prior to that, she was once a source of an incident that forced the shrine maiden to stand against her in battle…

"Oh~!" Kyouichi's face brightened up when he saw her. "Sui-chan~!"

Suika's expression followed suit as she recognized the person who just bumped into her. "Haha~! Kyouichi~!" she exclaimed with a joyful face and raised her infinite sake gourd into the air like some sort of greeting. "I see that you recovered from your injury…"

"And I see that word travels fast around Gensokyo."

"Reimu told me… Anyway… tt's festival~! A festival~! Let's drink and eat and drink and drink~!"

"Who's this?" Soudai whispered into Kyouichi's ear as he saw Suika. "I like her attitude, but… is she even allowed to drink?"

"Oh, this is Suika. Suika, this is Soudai and this girl is Midori… basically the same species as me – a human from the outside." Kyouichi introduced his friends to Suika and vice-versa.

"P-pleased to meet you…" uttered Midori somewhat shyly.

"Wait a sec…" Soudai gave his friend a confused look. "You told us just a while ago that we shouldn't go revealing our identity as outsiders to anyone and now you…"

"Relax, Asakura… You can trust those that I trust… And I do trust Suika."

"O-okay…" he shrugged and kept curiously admiring Suika's most distinguishing mark. "So, Suika-san is…"

"She's an oni, so she's perfectly fine with drinking." Kyouichi explained briefly. "Besides, her age doesn't quite match her appearance…"

Suika confusedly tilted her head. "It doesn't? This is how most oni look like when they're around my age…"

"And… how old are you, Suika-san?" Midori got a bit curious.

"That's a se-cre-t~!" the oni replied with a smile.

"So…" Kyouichi resumed his conversation with her. "You said that Reimu told you about my injury… How does she know about it then?"

"Because she's been there too~. In Eientei, I mean. Hey… how about a drink?" she generously offered her gourd to the trio of outsiders.

"Wait… She's been there too? What happened to her?"

"Oh, she's not hurt or anything. She's just been working on that crazy fairy incident and to find out what was wrong with them, she agreed to catch some of those fairies and let Eirin study them… Guess that's when she saw you laying in one of the beds… Now, have some sake~!"

"Sure!" Soudai happily accepted the offer, but Kyouichi halted his hand reaching for Suika's gourd.

"Not so fast, buster! Remember. We're on an important mission here today."

"Eh? We are?"

"Of course we are… Say, Suika, do you know where we can find Reimu? There's something important that we want to ask her… Then we can drink."

"Oh, come on!" Soudai called out in protest. "It's just a bit of sake. It's not like I'm gonna get drunk from a few cups…"

"Trust me." Kyouichi gave him a serious look, "This sake is unlike any you have ever drunk before. You'll get a taste and you'll end up asking for more… and more… and more. And it's much stronger than your typical sake too."

"Oh, boy~!" Soudai rubbed his palms in anticipation. "Fine, so let's get the serious business over with first. Then I want to taste what kind of sake the oni drink…"

"Reimu's in the back, a little busy with organizing the tournament, but if it's really important, then you should meet her right away."

"Organizing the tournament, you say? What sort of tournament?"

"Oh, you haven't heard yet, huh? This year, to sort of advertise her shrine and the Tanabata festival itself, Reimu has decided to organize a fancy danmaku tournament."

"But… that requires quite some room, doesn't it?" Kyouichi pointed out.

"Sure, that's why she's in the back of the shrine. There's certainly more room than here, even with all those stalls."

"It's going to be quite a challenge getting there, though…" said the outsider as he looked around, seeing hundreds of people gathered in front of the shrine.

"Don't worry~!" Suika cheerfully smiled and waved her hand. "I'll take you there soon enough… Why don't you grab my hand and follow me?" she offered her right hand, which Kyouichi accepted without much hesitating, but he'd never guess what Suika would do afterwards.

"Hold on tight~!" she chimed happily and leapt into the air.

"Just a second… Waaaaaaaaaiiiiii…!." Kyouichi's scream faded into distance as Suika literally took him over the shrine's roof in a single bound, holding him only by one hand.

"Soudai and Midori were quite shocked by Suika's stunt as well, and were only hoping for their friend's safe landing once he disappeared behind the roof.

"You think we should follow him?" Soudai raised a question at Midori, his eyes still focused on the sky.

"We could try, but… We're not in a hurry anywhere, are we?"

"So, what do you want to do?"

"Well, I don't know… Have fun, maybe?" she asked in a sarcastic tone. "It's a festival… the like of which we won't ever experience again. Let's enjoy it to the fullest! Here, I'll share some money with you, as promised…"

"Ah, almost forgot about that, hahaha~!" Soudai laughed embarrassedly, but he gladly accepted Midori's offer. "Thanks again, vice-prez…"

"I'll expect every single yen back, though…" she gave him a cold and menacing glare.

"Hehe… Of, course, of course…" he laughed nervously and nodded repeatedly. "Like I said, I always pay my debts…"

"Good for you."

And as the two of them were slowly proceeding towards some of the stalls that lined the boundaries of the entire shrine yard, the young Asakura spoke up again.

"Man… I sort of envy Kyouichi…"

"Hm? Why?"

"…I want to be kidnapped by a cute oni girl too!"

Midori sighed in response. "Boys will be boys… Let's go buy something to eat, shall we? All this walking has made me hungry."

---

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Hakurei Shrine, Kyouichi was slowly standing up from a crouching position – the result of his and Suika's not-so-soft landing. Luckily for him, he landed on his feet and even managed to avoid falling on the ground right afterwards due to the force of momentum.

"Nice landing there~…" Suika praisingly smirked.

"It would be a pity if I got my freshly washed clothes all covered in dirt, so I gave it my best… I thought that when you said "follow me" you meant "follow me"… "

"Why waste time and patience in a slow-moving crowd of people when you can travel faster?" retorted Suika with a question. "Anyway… There's Reimu." she pointed at a red-white clad, dark-haired girl standing near a wooden stage, looking at something that resembled a notice board. Suika gave Kyouichi an encouraging tap on his shoulder, even though she had to stretch up a little to reach it, and with words: "Drink with ya later~!" she sent him off after the shrine maiden.

The area behind the shrine was truly much larger in comparison to the front, and even with all the people constantly flowing there from the front yard, there were plenty of vacant square meters and there was nobody standing on the stage yet.

Since she was facing the notice board, Reimu didn't notice Kyouichi approaching her. The outsider wanted to surprise her a little, so he quietly walked up to her until he was standing right behind her back. As he glanced over her revealed shoulder, he saw that Reimu was looking at something that very much reminded him of a spider chart, like the ones that are often seen at various sports events. It consisted of many branches, gradually thinning on the way to the top, ending with only one empty colon which would contain the winner's name. At the very bottom of the pyramid, there were over a dozen names and it seemed that Reimu was momentarily in a process of adding new names to the list of competitors. What Kyouichi found rather strange, however, was the fact that the shrine maiden's name didn't figure in the chart. On the other hand, he could clearly see that her friend, Marisa Kirisame was already listed there.

"A good day to you, Reimu-san." he greeted her politely and pleasantly.

The shrine maiden responded by a quick glance over her shoulder with a completely unamused face before she turned her attention back to the chart in the very next second.

"Sheesh… What's with that formal attitude?" she grumbled under her nose. "You're about to ask some favor from me, no doubt…"

Kyouichi was taken aback by Reimu's not-too-pleasant reaction. "Guh… Cold start, huh? I hope nothing bad happened to you since the last time we've seen each other."

He honestly expected a bit warmer welcome from someone he thought was quite cheerful and friendly, and who he hasn't seen for a while.

"Not really…" she replied without even bothering to turn around. "If you don't count the zillion fairies that wanted to kill me, then no… Nothing bad happened to me so far."

Interested to find out the reason behind Reimu's cold attitude, but careful not to pry, Kyouichi decided to change the topic by asking her an innocent question.

"So… You're organizing a danmaku tournament, huh?"

"Yeah… It starts in the evening, so you ought to do something to kill time until then."

"Aren't you going to compete too, Reimu?"

Reimu sighed and lowered her head, as if the question caused her annoyance. "I don't know yet…"

"Why not? Wouldn't you want to promote your fighting skills in front of such a large crowd to attract even more visitors next year?"

"I just think it would be a hassle to compete in the tournament and coordinate it at the same time." explained the shrine maiden, still holding the writing brush in her hand.

"Ha? Oh, come on… You could just ask somebody else to coordinate it."

"Like who? Marisa? She's going to compete too, so I doubt it…" Reimu answered her own question. "Or Suika? Yeah, right… She'll get roaring drunk before the tournament even starts. Out of question… Besides, some of the competitors aren't even here yet, so I have a bad feeling that this tournament ends up in a fiasco."

"But you just said yourself that there's plenty of time until it begins." Kyouichi opposed. "As for the coordinating part: why not ask someone who is NOT going to compete?"

"And I'll ask you again: WHO?"

Kyouichi smiled suggestively. "You were right at the beginning of our conversation…"

"Hm? What are you talking about now?" she gave him a confused look.

"I actually did come to ask you a favor."

Reimu smirked for the first time today in front of Kyouichi's eyes. "Hmph… I've been doing the job of a shrine maiden for quite some time. I can already tell when someone comes to me just to chat and have some tea, or to ask for assistance."

"That's more like it…" the outsider widened his smile in response to Reimu's. "A smile suits you much better than a frown, Reimu."

"Does it, now?" she asked a bit teasingly, but her faint smile still remained on her face. "So what is it that you've come to ask?"

"I've come to ask if you'd let us use your storehouse to store some of our traveling supplies. It would be of great help if you did. In return, I'd volunteer myself with helping you coordinate that tournament of yours. A favor for a favor. What do you say?"

Reimu let out a chuckle of doubt. "You? Do you even know the fundaments of Spell Card rules and danmaku duels?"

"Not much, but I'm a fast learner." Kyouichi still insisted on helping Reimu out a bit.

"Not to mention," Reimu continued, "this tournament is going to have slightly different rules from typical duels."

"Please, tell me more about the tournament."

The shrine maiden took a deep breath. "If you insist… Fine… So, the tournament consists of four categories: duels – that's the main event, survival – the goal is only to dodge a Spell Card attack and stay unhit for as long as possible, then there's team duels – the same as normal duels, except the competitors fight 2 versus 2, and finally, the visual contest – simply put: the most beautiful Spell Card pattern wins."

Kyouichi let out a whistle of admiration. "I'm guessing this is going to need more than just one arbiter or referee or whatever term you prefer… Especially those team battles."

"That's self-evident, isn't it?" replied the miko bluntly. "And if it was that easy to find any suitable candidates, I would have done so long ago."

"You could still at least give me a try, though."

"Look, I don't think that you're the right person to…"

"Ayayayaya~!"

Reimu's and Kyouichi's conversation got suddenly interrupted by a very distinct call and voice that could only belong to one person.

"Good afternoon~! Gensokyo's number one reporter, Shameimaru Aya is here~!"

A brief glance at the sky revealed a floating figure of a young-looking female crow tengu, Aya, armed with her ever-present camera and notepad. Even now she held her tool of trade in front of her face, briefly snapping shots of the whole area, then focusing mostly on Reimu.

"I was wondering when you'd show up…" Reimu greeted her without any polite phrase.

When Kyouichi saw her, his instinct drove him to take a few steps to the side and hide himself behind the notice board out of fear of becoming a victim of another one of Aya's articles.

"What's the matter, Kyouichi-san? Why are you hiding from me?" wondered the tengu reporter as she descended and touched the ground.

Kyouichi figured that his pitiful attempt to hide from the eyes of a tengu was of no use, so he just resignedly lowered his head and stepped out from behind cover.

"It's not like I'm going to eat you~." said Aya with an innocent smile.

"That's the least of my worries…" murmured the outsider with mixed feelings in his heart.

Fortunately, Aya's camera lens seemed to avoid capturing his image and remained focused on the most prominent person of the day – Hakurei Reimu.

"I've come a bit later, because I've just been at the Moriya Shrine." Aya explained her delayed arrival. "Sanae-san's just as busy as you are with all those visitors, even though there are almost no humans among them, but that's understandable… Her shrine is a lot harder to get to for humans."

"So… are you going to make a report and return to the Moriya Shrine or are you going to stay for a while?" asked Reimu.

"I'll stay. You've gone as far as organizing a danmaku tournament this year. I simply cannot let a chance to make an exclusive scoop about this event just slip away like that, can I? I'll leave the Moriya Shrine to Hatate and her Kakashi Spirit News. She doesn't need to fly too far from her home to get there."

"Moriya Shrine…?" Kyouichi repeated the name of apparently another place of worship in the Shinto religion that existed in Gensokyo besides the well known Hakurei Shrine.

"Yes, the second of the only two shrines standing in Gensokyo." Aya offered an explanation. "It stands on a plateau on the Youkai Mountain, a little higher than my village. The waterfalls that come from the nearby lake go all the way down, forming a river that flows into the Misty Lake. Since today is the Tanabata festival, the shrine gets a lot of visitors, but like I said: barely any humans."

"So this… Sanae-san is…"

"Kochiya Sanae. Gensokyo's second shrine maiden." Aya answered before Kyouichi even formulated a proper question. "She keeps up the peace, resolves incidents and fights against troublemaking youkai just like Reimu does… Oh~! That's right… She's an outsider, just like you. Perhaps you'd get along…"

"Really? An outsider? But you say that she fights youkai and resolves incidents?" Kyouichi found Aya's statements rather contradictory to what he's been told by everyone.

"Yes, but she's special, you see…" added Aya with a raised finger. "She's a distant descendant of a goddess and has inherited quite some magical potential. I think that's also the reason why she moved from the outside world to Gensokyo."

"And the first thing she did was showing up at my shrine, telling me to close it down…" said Reimu as she was recalling her first encounter with the girl in question. True, their relationship has changed for the better later on, but like with nearly all of Reimu's friends, Sanae also had her dispute with the Hakurei shrine maiden.

"Why would she do that?" wondered Kyouichi.

"A long story..." Reimu dismissively waved her hand, apparently not being in a mood for storytelling.

"Anyway, since I'm here for the tournament, I have a little bit of a dilemma right now…" said Aya while scratching the back of her head.

"What? You want to compete or just take pictures?" the miko asked her.

"That's the dilemma, Reimu… I'd sure like to try my luck and see how well I do, but then who would be taking the pictures? Sure, I've taken countless shots of various youkai and humans as they unleashed their danmaku at me, but… You know, I'd also like to have a picture of me taken while dueling."

"So, should I write your name in?" Reimu prepared her writing brush and again turned to face the tournament chart.

"Hmm… Okay then~!" Aya decided after a while of thinking. "I can still take plenty of pictures when I won't be fighting."

"And when you will be fighting, then I suppose I could snap a few shots of you…" Kyouichi wanted to be a solution to Aya's dilemma. "But I guess you're gonna just say no like Reimu when I offered her assistance with organizing this tournament…"

"Eh? I think that's a good idea…" said the black-haired reporter. "You must know how a camera works, right?"

"Ehh… yeah… unless yours is some special kind…"

"Well, you could say it isn't your ordinary human-brand camera, but it takes pictures in the same way as any other one that you've seen. Just push the big button on the top side while holding a steady focus on your mark with the finder~… So I'll let you borrow it for the time when I'll be dueling. Anyway, why would Reimu refuse your help with organizing the competition?"

"Because I don't really know the rules of danmaku duels… She'd surely like to compete herself, but with things as they are, there wouldn't be any judges to decide the winners and losers and keep the competition fair and square. And there should be more than just one person doing this, so I thought I could help a bit… But I guess I'm not cut out for this kind of thing…"

"Oh? Why not?" Aya curiously tilted her head to the side. "The rules are not that hard to learn, even for someone who is not capable of magic. We could be a part of the tournament staff together, I don't mind. Why don't you sign up for the tournament as well, Reimu?"

The shrine maiden only shook her head lightly in disagreement. "Even if we DID teach Kyouichi the rules and even if you would be a judge, Aya, we'd still need more people. I don't think that I could manage being a contestant as well as a judge at the same time. Besides, that should not even be allowed…"

"Hmm… well, that's true." agreed Aya after a moment of thought. "Unless all of the contestants would partially be judges at the time when they won't be dueling…"

"Yeah…" Reimu gave out a hopeless sigh. "I guess I'm not going to… Wait a second…" she opened her eyes wide all of a sudden, as if someone just spilled a bucket of cold water on her head. "What did you just say?" she leaned her face close to the tengu reporter.

"Ehe~… What do you mean? That all the contestants should take part in organizing the tournament?"

"Exactly that!" exclaimed Reimu while pointing a finger right at Aya's nose. "That might actually work… somehow."

"See? I sometimes get good ideas too~." Aya smiled warmly.

"We'll need to let all the contestants know about this before the tournament starts."

"Leave it to me, Reimu-san~!" Aya energetically raised her hand, as if ready to take off. "Oh, but before I go, I guess I should ask you who the contestants are."

"Here…" Reimu passed her a folded piece of paper. "It's the list of all of those who should be competing today. But not all of them are here yet…"

"Not a problem for the fastest flyer in Gensokyo~!" said the tengu reporter with a boastful smirk. "Let's see… Mmhm, 24 contestants… Should take about an hour to inform them all..."

"That's some bold estimation…" noted Kyouichi.

"Well, by the looks of this list, I'm likely to find the contestants together in smaller groups on various places. Like these for instance…" she briefly showed him the list. Some of the names were already familiar to the outsider; the others were not. "These 6 girls will surely be together in the Temple of Myouren…"

"Ah, yes, Byakuren-sama…" Kyouichi recognized one name, "I think she's still giving her blessings to the people who are leaving the village to go to the shrine."

"See? One hour might even be an exaggeration. Why would I be wasting so much time anyway?" Aya muttered the question to herself. "I still want to have a few drinks with Suika-san after all."

"Oh, but of course." Reimu waved her hand, as if she was already trying to tell Aya to get going. "You drunkard of a tengu…"

Aya just giggled at Reimu's remark. "Just hope not to see your own drunken face in the next issue of Bunbunmaru, Reimu-san~ ."

"Yeah, yeah…. Just go and inform the contestants about the new terms, will you?"

"I already said that I would…" the reporter soared slowly upwards. "See you soon~!"

And in another second, she was gone. It almost reminded Kyouichi of Sakuya's ability to teleport. Aya was truly lightning-quick. His eyes barely caught the direction in which she flew.

"Yeah, take your time, Aya." muttered the miko as she put away the writing brush, ignoring Kyouichi and heading towards the shrine to take a seat on its elevated wooden floor.

"Oh, hey, wait a minute, Reimu. Reimu~! Hey!" the outsider called as he trotted after her. "You still haven't told me if you agree with helping me~!"

He followed her and sat down next to her – not too close; not too far.

"So… can we use your storehouse?" he repeated his question after a while of looking at her.

For some reason, Reimu still seemed somewhat apathetic and just sat there with a blank expression, staring into the crowd of people.

"Hey… what's wrong with you, Reimu?"

The shrine maiden responded with nearly a three second delay. "Huh? What? No… nothing, nothing… What are you talking about?" she denyingly shook her head and smiled, but Kyouichi could see that she was faking it.

"Who are you trying to fool, Hakurei?" he asked her with a more serious tone.

"It's nothing, okay?!" retorted the miko loudly.

"Can't tell me, huh? Fine… Suit yourself." Kyouichi crossed his arms and looked away from her. "But I ain't leaving you alone until you give an answer to my previous question."

"Fine…" muttered Reimu almost inaudibly.

"What was that?" Kyouichi put a palm to his ear so he could hear her better.

"I said fine. You can use my storehouse… Hey… What do you want to use it for anyway?"

"I can see that you're not being yourself today, Reimu, so I'll repeat it for you…" smiled the outsider and explained his intentions with Reimu's storehouse. At least she paid attention to his explanation and nodded understandingly several times as Kyouichi went over the details of his plan.

"So you're going to stash your traveling supplies from Kourindou in that storehouse?"

"Yes, that's the idea I had…"

"I don't really mind, but that means I'll need to make some room in my storehouse… Clean the place up a bit and… It's out of question today…"

Kyouichi laughed heartily after hearing that. "Nobody ever said that you should get it done today, Reimu. There's still plenty of time until the end of summer."

Reimu exhaled with relief. "Oh, good… I honestly couldn't even imagine myself cleaning that place up today."

Kyouichi was glad that his negotiation attempt with the shrine maiden wasn't in vain, but he'd feel even more at ease if he knew what was bothering her today. For a while he just sat there with her, quietly watching the ever-shifting crowd of people gathering in the back yard of the shrine.

"Hey…" he suddenly broke the silence again. "Since it's Tanabata today, I was wondering if you had also set up a wish tree for tanzaku papers."

"Mhm…" Reimu nodded. "Want to write a wish?"

"Yes, I'd like to."

"Alright, come with me then." said the black-haired shrine maiden while standing up. "It's right there in the front, close to the donation box. Haven't you noticed?"

"With such a crowd, I'm glad that I at least noticed where the shrine was standing."

"So, the bulk of the villagers has already arrived, huh? Good… Follow me."

"Hold on…" Kyouichi suddenly stopped and gave Reimu a worried look. "It's going to be a bit of a problem getting to the front yard… I hope you're not… going to… uhh… do what Suika just did…"

"What are you talking about?" she looked at him confusedly and opened the back door of her shrine. "We're going through the shrine, of course."

"O-oh! Through the shrine… Hehe… yeah, that's a good idea…"

"And don't forget to take your sandals off." she called at him after she entered the building.

"Yeah, yeah…"

---

As the two of them emerged from the front door, they found themselves right in front of the donation box and the immensely long line of worshippers waiting to pray. Even the shrine maiden herself was surprised to see so many people gathered in her shrine yard. As soon as the people saw her, they started calling at her, greeting her, and saying various words of praise. On one hand, she was happy to have so many visitors, but on the other hand, she was also equally annoyed. She has just come out to show Kyouichi where she had the wish tree set up, and now she didn't know who she should respond to first.

"Okay, everyone, please excuse me, I still have a lot of work to do." Reimu announced to the shrine visitors and beckoned at Kyouichi, giving him a signal to keep following her. And he did so without a word. There, just a few meters away from the shrine, stood a branched bamboo shoot with numerous colorful paper strips tied to it. According to the custom, people would write their wishes onto the papers and tie them to the wish tree in hope that their wish gets fulfilled. As he walked with Reimu towards the tree, he could hear her muttering…

"Man… Just look at that bunch of hypocrites… They barely ever visit the shrine and now, they're acting like we're all best friends… Seriously…"

Kyouichi couldn't suppress a chuckle after hearing her complaint. "And isn't it hypocrisy when you put up a cheerful, friendly face in front of them when you don't even care about them?"

"Don't act like you always understand everything, Ishimaru Kyouichi." she retorted with a hint of anger. "If I acted like a jerk in front of all these people, they wouldn't visit my shrine at all."

"So you're admitting that you're usually acting like a jerk?" he asked her provokingly.

"Like I just said: don't act like you understand everything…"

"I don't. That's why I'd appreciate a little explanation for your current behavior… Is it your typical behavior, or has something happened to you recently that triggered it?"

"Here, take this..." She passed him an ink-coated quill and a thin red paper strip called tanzaku that people use to write their wish on. She probably did so just to silence him for a while and to avoid answering his question. It seemed to work… for the time being.

"Ah, thank you~!" he smiled, grabbed the paper and scribbled down his most desired wish.

"May I take a look?" Reimu peeked over his shoulder.

"Sure, why not?" shrugged Kyouichi. "It's not like it's a big secret or anything…"

"I wish to return home…" the shrine maiden read the short wish aloud. "It must be really nice…"

"What?" the outsider didn't quite understand her last comment.

"To have a family…"

"Well… it's not a complete family that I live in, but… at least they're all alive."

"Good for you. I barely even knew my family… Died when I was just a little kid…"

"What happened?"

"Don't really know that myself, but what else than being killed by youkai comes to mind? Before the Spell Cards… well… you know how things went in Gensokyo…"

"It must have been really tough for you. Who took care of you after that?"

"Funny…" Reimu let out a bitter chuckle. "I don't even know. I can only recall my past as far as when I was five or six… And by that time I was already working as a shrine maiden. Not hunting youkai yet, but selling ofuda, trinkets, doing basic blessings, basic exorcism… Paradoxically, I used to get more visitors back then and sometimes even at the shrine on the other side…"

"You mean the one standing in the outside world?"

"That's right." she confirmed. "It used to have visitors too once upon a time… Sometimes people would even leave food and sake as offerings, which sometimes found their way to this shrine here, in Gensokyo, at times when the barrier was shifting. That way I didn't need to buy as much food and I could drink sake without anyone's permission."

"Hahaha~!" Kyouichi was amused by Reimu's attitude. "Naughty, naughty Reimu… Well… not that I wouldn't do the same…"

"Anyway… Since you've already put your wish on the tree, let's move on before this crowd surrounds us." she commanded and headed again for the back yard, but this time around her shrine.

Kyouichi again obediently followed, and as he walked, he curiously observed the whole setting of the festival, the people's clothing, the food at the stalls and even the decorative lanterns…

"Is that why you're so weird today?" he threw another question at the miko. "Because you miss your family?"

"No…" exhaled the exasperated shrine maiden. "That's not it…"

"Then what is it?" thought the outsider quietly. Apparently, Reimu didn't want to share her problems with him, so he didn't even bother asking about it any more. But even if he couldn't get an answer out of her, Kyouichi was determined to at least help her take her mind off whatever was troubling her.

"Say, Reimu… Don't you think there are a bit too many food stalls standing here?"

She shrugged at the question. "Don't know… But we're expecting Yuyuko to visit as well…"

"Yuyuko-sama?" Kyouichi immediately changed his carefree expression to a worried one. "In that case, there's hardly enough!"

For a second, he thought he could hear Reimu snicker at his remark. Once they were again in the back yard of the shrine, Kyouichi suggested another idea to her.

"About the tournament… I figure I could call some of my friends and ask them if they'd like to be a part of the staff too. I'm sure at least a few of them would like that…"

"What friends?"

"Outsiders, just like me. They've nothing better to do here anyway."

"If you could convince more people to help, then maybe I could try and explain the rules of the tournament to you. I just hope that you and your friends will be able to comprehend them."

"We've already had the basics covered at school and during my previous visits. Even saw a couple of duels firsthand. Have more faith in us outsiders, Reimu… We're all humans after all. We can adapt fast and learn new things. I'll be back soon…"

"I'm not gonna hold my breath, but… do as you wish."

---

Fifteen minutes later, Kyouichi was already marching towards the designated location where Reimu was still making preparations for the upcoming danmaku contest. Six eager people followed him. Iwakami Midori, Asakura Soudai, Hayashi Sayuri, Daniel Morrison, Saitou Chitose and Hieda no Akyuu. He managed to find all of these people in the crowd with a certain deal of luck. Not all of them were outsiders, but he knew them well enough to trust them, and they knew him well enough to agree with his suggestion. Now they all stood before Reimu, offering their help with managing the tournament.

"That was rather fast…" the shrine maiden commented with a hint of surprise reflected upon her expression.

"Ahaha~! Reimu-samaaaa~!" Chitose couldn't hold her excitement back any longer. As a great admirer of the shrine maiden, it didn't take any convincing for her to agree with helping her in any way she could. Reimu, however, apparently had some misgivings regarding the team that should be managing the tournament.

"Umm… I still don't think that this will work very well."

"You can never know that unless you give us a try." said Kyouichi and gestured at his group of friends.

"And… Akyuu-chan?" Reimu was puzzled by the young chronicler's presence in this group. "Do you really want to help with the competition too?"

"My work is to record history of Gensokyo. And you, Reimu-san are now making another mark in it. You just might have founded a new Tanabata tradition. It would be my pleasure and honor if I could be a witness to your innovative festival attraction." explained Akyuu with a smile on her face.

"Furthermore," Kyouichi continued, "Akyuu's special ability makes her more than a perfect candidate to be one of the judges. And even if we forget some of the rules that you'll be explaining to us, she can simply remind us any time…"

Reimu took a while to consider her options, but in the end she accepted everyone's assistance. Perhaps her desire to compete as well was greater than her doubts.

"Okay, everyone, I… I'm glad that you're all willing to help me with this…"

"No problem, Reimu. We're sort of just paying off a favor for you taking us across the barrier when we'll be ready… Oh, by the way, Soudai, yes, you've guessed it. This is our salvation, Hakurei Reimu."

"She's beautif… err… I mean… Pleased to meet you, Hakurei-san." Soudai bowed to the shrine maiden.

"I'm not really used to being called by my family name." said Reimu.

"Hey, Ishimaru…" Soudai whispered to his friend. "…you never said that she's so beautiful…"

"Well… she is, I'll admit." Kyouichi murmured his reply back. "Shrine maidens are often very attractive…"

"You think it's like one of the hiring criteria?"

"Hehe… could be…"

"Hey, you two…" Midori reminded them of her presence. "Have some manners… Sheesh… Please, forgive them, Reimu-san. Uhm… by the way, I'm Iwakami Midori. Nice to meet you in person."

"Likewise." the miko replied tersely.

"So, how can we help with this tournament?" Midori asked her.

"First we need to wait for all the contestants to arrive. Then we can start explaining the modified rules. Basically, you'll be in a role of judges, but it's not as easy as you'd think. You'll need to look sharp and have a constant overview of the situation even with all that chaotic danmaku flying in all directions… I hope you can handle it."

"We'll give it our best, Reimu-san." Midori showed a thumbs up.

"Then find something to do to pass the time. The tournament starts in the evening and I don't even dare to estimate when the contestants arrive."

"And when they arrive?" Soudai asked.

"Then there's going to be a call for judges, followed by a danmaku signal…" Reimu pointed her finger at the sky and demonstratively launched a white, brightly glowing shot of divine energy upwards that burst into several fragments each of different color.

"Wooow!" exclaimed the young Chitose. "Once more, once more…"

Reimu paid her little attention and went on with her explanation. "If you won't hear the call, then you'll see this… If you do, gather here and you'll receive your detailed instructions. Don't be late and don't disappoint me…" she added the last sentence like some sort of warning.

"R-Reimu-sama?" Chitose probably never saw the shrine maiden so deadpan serious before, and truth be told, neither did Kyouichi, but for now, he knew better than to provoke her with further questions.

"Come, Chitose… Reimu is not in her best mood today, so let's just leave her alone for now and give her time to finalize the preparations."

"Kyou-kun? What's wrong with Reimu-sama?"

"No idea." he shrugged. "Guess that's not for us to know… Come on… Let's go."

---

And so the group has again dispersed into the crowd, leaving Reimu to do her work… whatever that was right now…

"So… that was the shrine maiden that is going to get us out of here, huh?" Soudai asked as he and his few friends got mixed into the crowd again. "Pretty, but a little bit too… I can't even find the right word… Serious? Strict? Bossy maybe..?"

Kyouichi shook his head. "She's not usually like this. Something must be bothering her, but what, I have no idea."

"Haven't you talked to her about it?" Midori spoke up. "Aren't you friends with her?"

"Friends… Yeah. And I've known her for how long? A month? I've got childhood friends who I know better than their parents do, and still we don't share all of our problems with each other… Asking her didn't get us anywhere. One month is just too short period of time to label someone as a close friend."

"But you've known her for as long as we know each other and I wouldn't hesitate to call you two my close friends…"

"Actually, I've known her for a few days longer than I know you, Midori, but I don't really consider myself as one of her close friends."

"A friend in need is a friend indeed." Dan mentioned an old saying.

"True…" Kyouichi admitted. "And in this aspect, Reimu truly is a friend by helping us… The actual reason why I dragged you guys into this tournament business is so that I could at least somehow repay her for her willingness to help us… And to take her mind off her problems… Whatever those may be…"

Soudai gasped and mockingly made a shocked grimace. "Did you hear that, Midori-san? We've been tricked into this! Just kidding, of course… I'm 100% with you on this one, Ishimaru. Who knows, maybe if we'll prove to be good tournament judges, we could make Reimu-san a little happier…"

"I still think you should try talking to her and find out what the problem is." said Midori with concern.

"Easier said than done, though…" retorted the glasses-wearing young outsider. But Midori's suggestion did give him an idea… While he had doubts that he could make Reimu talk, he could ask one of her closest friends to do the talking instead.

"You know what? You're right… I need to find Marisa."

"Marisa?" Soudai blinked in confusion. "Who's he talking about now?"

Not bothering with any explanation, Kyouichi simply prompted his friends to follow him and help him look for a person they didn't even get a basic description of.

"No, seriously… Who the hell's Marisa?" Soudai couldn't rest until he got an answer, which came surprisingly fast.

"Ah, there she is!" Kyouichi called out and pointed at a familiar figure with blonde hair, dressed in a black and white witch outfit. She was currently standing near one of the food stands, having a lively conversation with the vendor.

"THAT is Marisa?" Midori raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "She… she's dressed like witch…"

"Not just dressed. Marisa IS a witch."

"Wiiiiitch~!" Soudai jokingly exclaimed in response.

"Yeah, don't startle her." Kyouichi played along. "Everyone, kill your light!"

"What are you talking about? What light?" Midori didn't get the reference.

"Obviously, you haven't killed enough zombies in your life, Midori-san…" Soudai chuckled at her reaction.

"Oh, you're talking about some game again, aren't you?"

"No, real life." he retorted with sarcasm. "Of course we're talking about a game…"

"Alright, enough fooling around." Kyouichi got serious again. "Let's go greet her."

And as he said so, he moved onward to meet her.

"You still haven't explained who she is and why were we looking for her." Midori reminded Kyouichi as she tried to keep up with his brisk pace.

"Maybe she's Reimu-san's friend." Soudai made a guess.

"I applaud your sharp wit and perception, detective Asakura." Kyouichi jokingly confirmed the correctness of his guess.

"Whoa! Really?" he couldn't believe it himself.

"Hi there, Marisa-san~!"

The magician quickly turned around as he called her name and her reaction was similar to Suika's, or the opposite of Reimu's…

"Ohoho~! What a surprise… I thought you were still in Eientei, Kyou." she stepped a bit closer to have a better look. "Um… and it's a good thing that you still remember me, ze… After being hit in the head and all... By the way, have you met Reimu yet?"

"Uhh, yes. Unfortunately..."

"Unfortunately? Why? Something bad happened between you?" Marisa looked at him with puzzled face.

"Heh… I was kind of hoping you could tell me. She's been acting weird from the moment we met today."

"Really? I've talked to her several times today and she seemed okay to me. Haven't noticed anything weird about her, ze…"

"Hmmm…" Kyouichi was surprised by Marisa's words. "Well, if you haven't noticed anything, then whatever happened to her must be something very recent…" he speculated.

"And… how was she acting weird exactly?" the witch wanted to know more.

"Well, for example, she hasn't even greeted me when we met, she's been spacing out and she seemed kind of… distant. Something's troubling her, but when I asked, she just brushed me off, saying that nothing's wrong."

"Maybe she's just nervous about the success of the tournament." said Marisa.

"Maybe that's all there is to it, but I wanted to ask you if you would please talk to her. Don't be too pushy or straightforward about it, but I guess you know her much better than I, so I don't even need to tell you that…"

"Okay then… I'll try to find out what's bothering her and help her if I can. Thanks for telling me."

"No. I thank you." Kyouichi bowed to the blonde girl. "If there's someone who can make her talk and help her, it's you, Marisa."

"Hey, what are friends for? I'll talk to her, but I wouldn't worry about her too much. If you'd know her a bit longer, it wouldn't surprise you that she's sometimes grumpy, insensitive or even outright cold. Couple that with a bit of arrogance and overconfidence and you'll get something very close to Reimu when she's dealing with youkai or people during an incident resolution."

"Aaah…" Kyouichi nodded understandingly. "So maybe her mood has something to do with the current incident. She hasn't resolved it yet, has she?"

"No." Marisa let out a sigh as she shook her head. "Not that there's been any trouble since our Grand Fairy Regulation Initiative near Kazemura, but I highly doubt that's the last time we've seen any crazed fairies. I'd be sleeping better at night if I was certain that we've dealt with the problem, but I'm afraid we only managed to delay another attack…"

"Wait a minute… What's the Grand Fairy Regulation Initiative?"

Marisa giggled. "Oh, sorry… I thought just about everybody in Gensokyo knew about it already. It happened several days ago. Around the time when you were brought to Eientei, I think… Byakuren came up with the fancy name when Aya was interviewing us. In short, it involved us – that is me and Reimu and eleven more girls, and just about every single fairy that lived near the quarry village. It was a tough battle. Our original intention was only to bring a few live specimens for Eirin's research, but our presence near Kazemura must have caused the crazy fairies to go into an all-out attack. But that's not entirely a bad thing. We somehow rallied together and exterminated them all, so there shouldn't be any fairy attacks for at least a couple of days. But since we still have no idea what the source of their madness is, it's just a matter of time before we get to fight the swarms all over again."

Kyouichi let out a weak whistle. "Sounds like Gensokyo is going through some hard times."

"Yeah… One would think that with all the past incidents, this is just a minor annoyance, but it turns out that the supposedly weakest youkai are causing the biggest of problems, ze…"

"But you can resolve this situation, right?"

"Sure. Once we get any solid lead where to start looking… So far it all depends on the efforts of Eirin and Patchouli, but how long it will take them to yield any results, I dare not say."

"Guess I shouldn't be surprised why Reimu is acting like that." Kyouichi noted.

"Reimu isn't always very friendly. To be frank, I'm a bit surprised she accepted you so well when we first met. But I'm guessing that your donation had something to do with that. Otherwise she'd just tell you something like: "Aw, damn those annoying outsiders…" or something like that… Not that I'm a shining beacon of politeness or anything, hehe~. Guess that goes with the line of work that we do. You won't drive away any youkai with nice words."

Even though the outsider had a different opinion and experience to back it up, he just remained quiet and nodded.

"Don't worry…" Marisa smiled reassuringly. "I'll try to figure out what exactly is on Reimu's mind."

"Or at least keep her mind focused on something else…" added Kyouichi.

"That shouldn't be a problem. She's got a tournament to run after all. Hope you'll come to watch. I'm going to compete too, ze…"

"Not just watch, but I've already volunteered myself to be one of the judges. Along with these people here…" he pointed his thumb backwards at his friends.

"Really? Wow… I didn't expect that…" said the witch as she eyed the group of outsiders. She then leaned closer to Kyouichi and whispered: "You really care about Reimu, don't you?"

"Don't get any false ideas. I'd be equally worried about any of my other friends."

Marisa chuckled in response. "Is that right? Well, no matter… it's nice of you to try helping her. I'm sure she means well, but she's got a lot of things on her mind today. I'll let you know when I manage to cheer her up a bit. See you around~!" she raised her hand and headed off towards the shrine, disappearing in the crowd. And just when Kyouichi was wondering what he'd do next, somebody called at him.

"Hey! Are you going to block my lamprey stand all day, or are we going to do business?"

He instantly recognized the voice, and as he turned around, he only now noticed that the vendor, who Marisa was talking to just a while ago, was none other than Mystia Lorelei, a youkai night sparrow.

"M-Mystia-san?!" he almost jumped from the surprise. He knew that this particular girl, although harmlessly-looking, was a predator that sometimes preyed on humans. "What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like? I'm selling fried lamprey. Only 200 yen." she added with a warm, but deceptive smile.

"Oh, Kyou…" Soudai tapped gently on Kyouichi's shoulder. "You know this girl too?"

"Yeah, but I wish I hadn't…"

"Why?"

Before Soudai got his question answered, Mystia impatiently drummed her clawed fingers on the counter of her stand. "So, are you going to buy some or not? There are others waiting in the line behind you, you know."

"We're not hungry, thank you!" Kyouichi hastily answered, bowed and was already dragging his friends away from the lamprey stand. "Come on, people why don't we go play some games while we're here? Or maybe buy some souvenirs…?"

---

"What's gotten into you all of a sudden?" Daniel asked.

"To put it simply; stay away from her."

Soudai chuckled as he tried to guess. "What? She didn't try to kill you or something, eh? Hahaha… Haha… Ha?"

But after seeing Kyouichi's deadpan face, his laughter subsided and he copied his friend's nervous expression. "Don't tell me that I'm right…"

"Yes, Soudai, you have a knack for guessing things correctly."

"Damn! What did you do to her, man?"

"We crossed paths."

"You… crossed paths?" he repeated his words in an asking manner and stole a glance at the distant lamprey stand. "That's not something to kill someone for."

"Usually not… Unless you're a human-eating youkai."

"Wait… THAT girl eats humans?! Holy crap! What are such dangerous youkai even doing at the shrine?!"

"Welcome to Gensokyo…" shrugged Kyouichi as he was increasing the distance between himself and Mystia. "It wouldn't even surprise me if I saw Rumia here today…" he muttered to himself.

"We should inform Reimu-san about this…" Soudai continued talking. "I don't mind enjoying a festival with youkai, but having man-eating youkai selling food here? That's nothing that I support, man… But… hey, if she tried to kill you, Ishimaru, what are you still doing among the living, huh? You sure you aren't just pulling our leg here?"

"Pulling your leg?" Kyouichi finally stopped in the middle of the crowd and turned to face Soudai. "Just take a look around! You've got all sorts of youkai here! Even those that you'd best steer clear of… Like… that vampire over there…" he pointed at a bat-winged humanoid figure standing not too far from his position, immediately recalling that he already knew this person. "Wait a second… That's Remilia-sama. Oi~! Remilia-sama~!" he shouted and waved his hand in the air to get her attention. Before his friends could even react, he was already walking towards the eternally young vampire.

"…the hell?!" Daniel confusedly stared at Kyouichi's distancing back. "Didn't he just say to stay away from youkai such as vampires?"

"I think our club prez likes to act in contradiction to his own statements." Midori humorously pointed out.

Soudai crossed his hands and shook his head. "I ain't following him…" he declared resolutely, but as he saw that Dan and Midori were already going onward, he changed his mind. "Hey, don't leave me all alone~!"

The outsiders regrouped just as Kyouichi got noticed by the mistress of the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

---

"Well, well, well…" said the vampire, smiling mischievously. "If it isn't the fresh blood from the outside..."

"Ah, Remilia-sama..." Kyouichi returned a smile and bowed respectfully. "Just who I wanted to meet…"

As expected, Remilia was seldom seen without the company of her loyal human maid, Sakuya, and this time was no exception. Since it was still only afternoon, the maid's main job for this time was holding a parasol over her mistress's head to shade her from any possible harmful effects of direct sunlight.

"Uhh… hello to you too, Sakuya-san…" Kyouichi greeted her a bit nervously. For some reason he couldn't shake off the uneasy feeling whenever he was near her. He didn't even have any reason to fear her, but he did anyway… Not even he knew why exactly.

"Good afternoon." she reciprocated the greeting and bowed elegantly.

"Oh? You actually wanted to meet me?" Remilia asked. "For what reason?"

"Forgotten already? For the same reason you invited me to your mansion in the first place." he reminded her.

Of course, Kyouichi was still expecting some sort of payment for keeping his agreement with the vampire and carrying out an investigation in the village of Kazemura.

"Ah, but of course…" she nodded understandingly. "Patchouli told me about the report."

"Isn't Patchouli-sama with you today?"

"She's still in the library, trying to uncover the mysteries that you've brought from that mining village. She told me to go on ahead without her, so I expect her to show up around evening."

"Well, I've done what you asked of me. I expect to be compensated accordingly."

"Although you could have carried out your investigation more thoroughly, you at least brought some pieces of information that can move us a bit forward."

"Yeah, I didn't find any culprit if that's what you're getting at." admitted Kyouichi.

"You stopped there for just a few hours. That's barely enough time for any consistent investigation…" Remilia pointed out, her tone sounded almost accusingly. "Nevertheless, fate has led you to discover a crucial piece of the puzzle that has yet to fit into the whole picture… And I will keep my word, human. Sakuya…" she turned to her maid as she called her name.

The maid didn't need any explanation to know what to do. "Yes, my lady." She reached inside the pocket on her apron and took out a thin paper envelope, passing it to the young outsider.

"Sometimes it's not a complete waste to hire some extra help." Remilia commented as she watched Kyouichi taking the envelope. "With little luck, I might even be able to solve this incident before the shrine maiden does."

"If you have a common goal, shouldn't you two be working together instead of competing?"

"Who ever said that we're competing?" giggled Remilia. "It just so occurred to me that my mansion was probably the first target of the fairies, months before it became known to Reimu. And since we've been trying to resolve it much earlier than her, I just thought if would be natural if we managed to do so before her."

"But apparently, the situation got a bit… out of hand."

"It is only a matter of time before we find out the source of the fairy attacks and put a definite stop to them." replied the vampire calmly. "I don't really care if it will be me, Reimu, Marisa or anyone else who solves it… But of course, I'd feel happier if it was me to…"save the day" for once. It'd make the revenge for attacking my mansion all the sweeter." she slowly licked her lips, exposing one of her vampiric fangs.

"Heh…" Kyouichi let out a weak chuckle. "Can't you trace the source of this mess with your "fate vision"?" he asked a bit provokingly.

"Oh? And you suddenly started to believe in fate all of a sudden?" she retorted with a question. "I've already told you that my vision is limited. Even when I stared at the fairies that attacked my mansion some time ago, I barely saw any fate lines… Probably because I'm unable to see a person's fate beyond their life, and as you might have guessed, the lives of those fairies weren't very long as soon as Meiling made it to the scene…"

"So, are you just going to wait until Patchouli or Eirin find out more about the attacks?"

"That's right. Patchouli mentioned that she planned on visiting the ruins personally in the following days. Even said that she was assembling a team for that… I'm sure she'll find out what's causing the fairy attacks."

"I wish you all luck then. But… have there been any attacks on your mansion lately?"

"Hmmm…. Now that you mention it, not a single one for almost a whole month… Instead, the attacks have spread southwards and to the southwest. Maybe it's just an erratic behavior of crazed minds, but maybe there's a pattern to it. A forest near Kazemura, a grove near the Hakurei Shrine, Alice's house in the Forest of Magic… But not my mansion. Maybe whoever is responsible finally learned their lesson and is trying their luck elsewhere."

"Perhaps." shrugged the outsider, accepting the probability of Remilia's theory. Then he hesitatingly opened the envelope he just received and found a thin bundle of 1000 yen notes inside. "Wow… I didn't expect such generosity from you…"

"Generosity? You haven't yet seen a smallest fraction of it. The money I paid you is merely loose change to me… But IF I find any further need for your assistance, I might hire you again. But that's highly improbable."

"Even if you say so… Thank you, Remilia-sama… This will help me a lot."

"Good… Both parties satisfied… more or less. I don't suppose there was anything else you wanted to meet me for, was there?"

"Well… We could have an idle mundane conversation…" Kyouichi said more out of jest than seriously.

"Hmm… Okay." Remilia agreed unexpectedly.

"R-really? I didn't think you'd actually agree to that."

"Why not? I have nothing else to do anyway."

"Wait… so you aren't here for the tournament?"

"I am, but there's still plenty of time until evening. Me and Sakuya are going to win the double duel category for sure." she said with strong confidence.

"But mistress," Sakuya spoke up, "What about Meiling-san? Didn't you say you wanted to try teaming up with her once?"

"Ah~. That's true." admitted the vampire. "Meiling… We've already fought alongside each other once, haven't' we, Sakuya? But that's exactly the reason why I picked you. We'll have a greater chance to win when we already have some experience with double dueling."

"Didn't you tell me yesterday that you've just come to have fun and that you don't care who wins?" asked the maid.

"W-what? When did you hear me say such nonsense?" Remilia denied with an embarrassed tone.

"Just yesterday, my mistress…" Sakuya smiled sweetly at her.

"I… I'm sure you must have heard me wrong… What good is participation in a competition for when you don't win anything?"

"It saddens me to remind you, but as far as I'm informed, there aren't any prizes for the winner of this tournament. Its purpose is purely intended to be a means of entertainment…"

Sakuya's words have left her mistress speechless for a good while, so she added a few words of comfort as well.

"But if it puts your mind at ease, my lady, I'll still do my best to help us win."

Remilia was still struck dumbfounded by the fact that the tournament had no prize to win.

"No… no prizes? There are no prizes…" she murmured to herself as she stared into the ground. "I need to have a word with Reimu about this…"

"Ah… well…" Kyouichi bashfully interrupted their conversation. "I don't think it's the best idea to see Reimu right now. She's busy with the festival; not just the tournament. But don't worry; she'll give us a signal when she wants to talk to us…"

"What do you mean "us"?" Remilia blinked at him in confusion. "You're not a contestant."

"Nope, I'll be one of the judges."

"A judge? You?" the vampire tried her best to hold back her laughter. "Oh, I get it, it's a joke! Haha… You're joking… right?"

"Now you almost sound like Reimu… She doesn't think I'm up for the task either. But in the end, she agreed."

"What is that shrine maiden thinking?" Remilia asked a rhetorical question.

"Yes, I wish I knew what she was thinking about too…" Kyouichi muttered, referring to Reimu's troubling thoughts that she didn't wish to share with him. "In any case, she said something about the tournament having modified rules of danmaku dueling, so she'll summon us all to explain."

"A human outsider judging danmaku duels? That's preposterous!" Remilia crossed her arms and gave Kyouichi a disapproving stare.

"Now, now… There's no need for any racist comments." Kyouichi tried to reassure her. Perhaps I won't even be a judge… The truth is, I just suggested the idea to Reimu, because she was hesitating to enter the tournament herself. She said that managing the contest would make her too busy to compete in it."

"So that's how it is…?"

"Yes… And it seems Aya-san got an even better idea, when she suggested that all the currently non-dueling contestants are going to assume the task of judges, so in the end, there might not be any need for us outsiders after all…"

"Hmm… Well… at least we won't be just idly sitting and watching other contestants when we won't be dueling. But still, we should also bring up the issue with there being no prize. A tournament should definitely have one."

Kyouichi shrugged in response. "And what would you like to win, Remilia-sama? You're wealthy enough to afford almost anything…"

"Hmm…." the vampire again protruded her left fang in a thoughtful expression. "I got it!"

"You do?"

"Aya's idea just gave me an idea…" she smiled pridefully. "When all of the competitors are going to be their own judges, why not have each competitor add a little something from their possession as a prize?"

"Sounds very interesting." said Kyouichi. "I think it's a good idea. Even though, I'm not the one organizing the contest…"

"I don't recall myself ever having bad ideas, do you, Sakuya?" Remilia turned to her silver-haired servant.

"…" the maid answered her with a silent gaze.

"Sakuya?"

"Ah… Excuse me, my mistress, I was just thinking about something and didn't catch your last question." Sakuya apologized politely, but Kyouichi would have sworn that she simply chose to purposefully and elegantly evade answering by pretending to space out for a moment.

"Geez, Sakuya… What are you daydreaming about? By the way, have you already bought some sweets for Flan?"

"Just as you asked, my lady."

"Oh, that's right…" Kyouichi got reminded of Remilia's younger sister. "How is Flandre doing? Isn't she here with you?"

"Oh no, heavens forbid…" replied Remilia with an oddly serious face.

Kyouichi, who knew basically nothing about the Scarlet family was naturally surprised by that answer and wanted to know the reason. "Why?"

"Let me put it this way… The last thing Gensokyo needs right now is another disaster."

"I'm afraid I don't understand…"

"I'm not usually the one who warns humans or protects them from danger, but with Flan, I have that odd… perplexing sense of… responsibility."

Kyouichi was still wearing his puzzled expression. "I'm afraid I still don't understand you any more than a while ago."

"You've met my sister once, haven't you?" she suddenly asked him.

"Yes." the young human replied with a smile. "You have a very nice younger sister, Remilia-sama."

"Ehh…" Remilia sighed heavily. "Well, yes… and NO." she gave an ambiguous answer.

"No? Why? She was very sweet and cute."

"Listen, Kyouichi." Remilia looked him straight in the eyes. "What I'm about to tell you is very important."

"I'm listening."

"I know that you've made a little… promise with Flandre about taking her to Human Village, should your attempt to return home before winter fail..."

"Hm? You know? And what about it?"

"Yes, I know… Flandre keeps reminding me that almost every day, constantly asking me if it's autumn already, and happily awaiting the time when you fail and keep your promise."

"Really? So… what do you want me to do? Take her there before I leave?"

"On the contrary…" the short vampire girl shook her head. "I want to ask you that should you ever pay another visit to the Scarlet Devil Mansion in the future, stay away from her."

"Whoa... I didn't know I had THAT bad influence."

"That's not the issue here. I just want you to avoid seeing my sister again."

"Okay." shrugged the outsider, still confused about Remilia's request. "I don't plan on paying another visit to your mansion anyway. No offense…"

"Please! I'm serious about it." she kept her scarlet eyes intensely focused on him. "Forget about what you promised her and stay away from the basement."

"Uhh… Hello?" Kyouichi waved a hand in front of her face. "Are you even listening to me? I just said that I won't visit your mansion… EVER! The only reason why I broke my habit and made that promise is because I knew that I wouldn't have to keep my end of the bargain. I'll be gone and home by the end of summer after all. That's what I and your sister agreed upon. If I go, well, tough luck, but no hard feelings…"

"Please keep what I just told you in mind anyway." said the vampire with a strange look in her eyes. As if she could see something that the young human could not. But what made her so concerned about her sister's innocent little promise with him? Kyouichi couldn't understand…

"Fine." he shrugged again as he agreed to Remilia's request. "But may I at least ask why you are so insistent about it?"

"Your encounter with my sister was a mistake... A one that I should have anticipated and taken steps to prevent from happening… But it happened anyway. Not even Sakuya expected her to come out of her basement at that time."

"I swear I didn't do or say anything bad to her." Kyouichi defended himself.

Remilia chuckled bitterly. "No… Of course you didn't. I was surprised that she didn't do anything of that sort to you."

Kyouichi was still blinking at Remilia in confusion, but he was slowly beginning to understand what she was hinting at. "Is there… something about your sister that I should know about?"

"Yes, I believe there is something about Flandre that you should be aware of… For your own good and for the good of others…"

Kyouichi's silence was a cue for Remilia to continue explaining.

"She may be my younger sister, but… Flandre was born with power that by far surpasses my own, and I'm not talking about the ability to see the strings of fate. Vampires are naturally some of the most powerful beings, which you may already know… But Flandre… well… she puts most of our race to shame."

"That powerful, huh?"

"You couldn't even imagine…"

"But even if she has immense power, she's very sweet and friendly."

"But immense power wasn't the only thing my little sister was born with." Remilia continued. "She's ill… Mentally... Highly unstable, highly… unpredictable."

"Really?" Kyouichi raised his eyebrows in surprise. "I didn't even notice that."

"While it's true that her state has been slowly getting better over time, she still poses a great danger to her surroundings. Fortunately, she's very obedient… to me at least. Her obedience is the only thing that has helped me to prevent her from causing havoc all over Gensokyo. I've been keeping her existence a secret for well over 495 years until THAT incident…"

"What incident?"

"You've heard about it, I'm sure." Remilia smiled slyly. "The red mist that I used to obscure the Sun. My first encounter with the local shrine maiden. And finally… Flandre's little… misbehavior that made her no longer a secret of mine…"

"Now that you mention it, I think Marisa said something about her and your sister "playing a game of danmaku"."

"Both Marisa and Reimu had the chance to test their skills against her. And if it hasn't been for the Spell Card Rules that were just recently introduced at that time, they wouldn't stand a chance."

"Wait…" Kyouichi interrupted her. "You've been keeping your sister locked up in the basement for five centuries?"

"Not locked up. She preferred to stay down there of her own volition. She could have left anytime if she wanted. And even if she WAS locked up, there's no door, no wall, no cage sturdy enough to resist her magic."

"But to me she seemed to be interested in the world outside the mansion's walls." Kyouichi pointed out.

"Indeed… Lately, Flandre's interest in the world around her and in humans seems to have increased greatly. Ever since she met the witch and the shrine maiden… And her recent meeting with you hasn't helped either."

"But why not at least give her a chance? You said yourself that her health has been slowly getting better."

"I don't want to take any chances." Remilia disagreed. "Flandre's behavior was worse, true… Sudden outbursts of rage, seizures, split personalities… In the last hundred years, however, she became more… manageable. Now she merely resembles a child who cannot quite tell the difference between what's wrong and what's right. I don't want to risk the chance of her destroying the village."

Kyouichi smiled weakly. "And since when you cared about the well-being of humans?"

"Ever since the Human Village became my main source of food, of course." replied the blue-haired vampire.

"Ah… well, that makes sense." acknowledged the outsider and chuckled. "Have you tried finding someone who could help her?"

"I've been doing my best to teach her step by step all the things about the world, life, nature, humans, youkai… Patchouli too, of course, but Patchy hasn't always lived in my mansion, so I've been Flandre's teacher for much longer time than she has."

"That's amazing, Remilia-sama… I mean… your love, patience and dedication has managed to partially cure your sister's illness."

Remilia has rarely heard words of praise or admiration coming from a human. Perhaps that was the reason why she was silently staring at Kyouichi with flushed cheeks as her only response. Since she wasn't used to that, she didn't quite know how to react.

"And what about Eirin-sensei?" Kyouichi asked another question that brought Remilia back to reality. "Could she possibly help your sister?"

"Uhm… The Lunarian? I don't know… I don't know her or trust her well enough to let her take care of Flan. And I doubt she'd want to help anyway. Besides, we're not on the best of terms with each other. I think it's best to leave things as they are."

"Then I wish you good luck. You've already made great progress with your sister by yourself. Perhaps one day you'll bring her up to be a wonderful young lady such as yourself."

"I… I hope so… But that will yet take a lot of time. It's too early for Flan to be independent, but we'll be working towards that goal no matter how long it takes." concluded the vampire with a determined look and optimistic smile.

And just as she said that a sudden explosion of colorful lights erupted over the shrine's roof. It was doubtlessly Reimu's signal, calling all contestants and judges to gather near the stage.

"Looks like it's just about our time…" said the outsider, looking over his shoulder at the fading colorful sparkles that were not too visible in the broad daylight. At least the noise was loud enough to get some attention.

"Let's go, people!" he called at his few friends that were patiently standing by his side the whole time.

---

Remilia and her maid followed them too, since they already said they would compete. And once they saw the unmistakable red and white of Reimu's outfit, they could already see some familiar faces. The number of the persons gathered, however, wasn't even a half of the expected number of contestants. Besides Reimu, Sakuya and Remilia, there was Marisa, Aya, Alice and Meiling. There was also Akyuu, but she wasn't going to compete.

"Okay, is everyone here?" Reimu checked the paper she held in her hand and the small group of people standing around her. "No? I think we can begin anyway..."

She took a deep breath and began explaining. "I've gathered you here so we could go over the rules of this tournament, since we'll be using modified Spell Card Rules. First, however, I should let it be known, that due to slightly hasty planning, some aspects of the tournament have not been entirely thought through. The greatest issue regarding the staff shortage was fortunately resolved by an idea that Aya came up with, so I'd like to thank her in this regard…" she made a light applause and other contestants followed suit.

"Good work, Aya~!"

"Thanks for saving the tournament, Aya-san!"

"Long live the crow tengu, ze~!"

"Aw, come on~!" the blushing crow tengu waved her hand. "It's not like I've made some amazing discovery."

"But thanks to you, Reimu can compete now, right, Reimu?" Marisa pointed out as she shifted her gaze from Aya to the shrine maiden.

"Moving on…" Reimu continued, evading Marisa's question, "Aya's idea simply means that all of the contestants are going to fill in the role of arbiters at time they will not be dueling themselves. Those who get eliminated early in the tournament shall take on this role for the whole duration of the tournament. In other words, those who lose first are going to be "punished" by being permanent judges until the end of one discipline or the tournament itself."

"That's… interesting…" echoed the whispers in response to Reimu's announcement.

"Due to this solution," the shrine maiden glanced over at Kyouichi, "the voluntary help of other people is not required… You can simply enjoy the festival and do what you like. But thanks for your offer anyway…"

"See?" Kyouichi whispered to Remilia, who was standing right next to him. "What did I say? You don't need to worry about me judging the contestants…"

"It looks like our plan was for naught." commented Midori with slight disappointment.

"What are you talking about?" Kyouichi raised his eyebrow at her. "It went even beyond my expectations. Reimu can happily compete in the tournament herself, and what's more, she doesn't even need our assistance. That ought to bring her mind to some happier thoughts…"

"By the way…" Soudai sounded after a moment of silent observation. "Does anyone else besides me find it a little… unusual that all of the present contestants so far are female?"

"I don't." his younger friend shrugged.

"I guess it's only for Reimu-san's friends." Midori speculated.

""Friends" is a very tricky word here…" remarked Kyouichi as he took in the faces of the girls surrounding Reimu and listening to her instructions.

"Well what are they then?" wondered Midori as she crossed her arms.

"I'd bet the whole content of this envelope," he waved the mentioned envelope which he received as payment from Remilia, "that each and every one of these young ladies has first met Reimu in battle."

"I don't see how that is a reason for them not being friends now." she retorted.

"Yes, true… It all depends on your definition of the word "friend"."

"So what do we do now, when we're no longer needed?" asked Soudai.

"You can do whatever you like" is what she said." replied Kyouichi. "And right now… hmm… I think I still want to learn something about these rules of danmaku. Just curious, that's all…"

"Alright." shrugged Soudai phlegmatically. "But after that I want you to find that oni girl so we could have a drink or two."

"Sounds like a plan." Kyouichi grinned approvingly and opened his right palm.

"Yeah, I'll high-five you on that one!"

Midori just exhaled and looked away from the two, as if she was embarrassed to admit to be their friend. "Getting drunk… Is that all you two care about?"

"Ha? What's wrong with that?" Soudai turned his face to her.

"Don't you want to play some games? Or buy some souvenirs?" she reminded Kyouichi of his own words from not too long ago.

"Sure. But we'll have plenty of time for that yet, Midori-san. Why not enjoy some sake too while we're at it?"

"Well… I suppose there's nothing wrong with a few cups." she admitted. "But you should know your limits… I… umm… once… ehh…" she blushed in embarrassment. "You know what? Never mind."

"Ohohoho~!" Soudai gave out a forced melodramatic laughter. "You let something slip out of your beautiful lips, Midorin… There's no use trying to hide anything now. Hmhmhm… So… you said something about you doing something once. What was it? Don't tell me that you got drunk senseless!"

Midori lowered her head to hide her reddened face from him. "That… that's none of your business, you know!"

"And don't tell ME that Soudai has made another blind, but spot-on guess." said Kyouichi as he was amusedly listening to their conversation.

"Looks like we've hit bull's eye again." Soudai grinned almost maliciously. "But I thought you said you were 16. You can't drink without permission."

"I… Of course I was drinking with permission." Midori answered, confirming Soudai's guess. "I can't buy alcohol yet, but I already drank a few times… It was my birthday after all, and dad said it was okay to have a taste."

"You've got a benevolent dad." Soudai remarked. "Mine would probably strangle the life out of me, even if I'm turning 26 this year… He says that alcohol is the blight of mankind. Tsch… What does he know?"

"Mine would probably just shrug it off…" said Kyouichi, with his father on his mind. "…like my entire existence…"

"But what happened on your birthday party?" Soudai continued interrogating Midori. "You got more than just a taste, didn't you?"

Midori sighed resignedly and showed her exasperated and disgruntled face again. "You just don't know when to stop, do you?"

"And neither do you, it seems." Soudai retorted. "How much did you drink then? A bottle? Two?"

"Four…" she murmured in little voice.

"Whoa…" both Soudai and Kyouichi whispered in amazement, exchanging their surprised looks.

Midori's embarrassment was again dyeing her face bright-red and paralyzed her tongue.

"Respect!" said Soudai and bowed to the girl in front of him.

"She's a natural…" added Kyouichi and followed suit.

"I never would have said that about her. Our honor student…"

"Oh, cut it out, you two!" she pleaded them with a lowered voice. "Straighten yourselves up!"

"Alright, alright…" muttered the oldest of the group as he obliged Midori's request. "But damn… downing four sake bottles in one evening? That takes some stomach!"

"Those bottles were small, alright? It only happened once and I don't ever wish for it to repeat itself." pouted Midori.

"I need to challenge you sometimes." jested Kyouichi.

"Not a chance."

"But you won't mind one cup, will you?"

Midori didn't answer.

"I'll take it as a yes then."

"Shhh…" Soudai suddenly hushed him and gestured at Reimu. "I think she's already explaining these rules that you were curious about."

"Oh… Okay. Thanks…" Kyouichi thanked him and took a few steps towards the shrine maiden and the small group of girls she was talking to.

---

"…So unlike the classic danmaku battles, we're going to limit the Spell Cards to 3 per round. Also, to make things quicker, whoever lands 3 successful hits against their opponent will be declared a winner. In the final match of a discipline, the number of hits and Spell Cards will be increased to 5." Reimu explained. As for the survival category, each contestant is going to get a random opponent who will use one Spell Card, which they can keep up for as long as their energy lasts. The contestant must dodge and stay unhit for as long as possible. If they remain unhit when the Spell Card runs out, they get a bonus to their score. The surviving contestants are going to duel each other in the same fashion. Is everything clear so far?"

"I think so…" said Alice as she glanced over at Marisa.

"Yeah, that's simple, ze." confirmed the witch.

"And what about this… visual contest?" asked the red-haired Meiling as she was studying the tournament charts.

"Oh, that… I've added that just for fun." replied the shrine maiden. "Simply choose one of your Spell Cards that you think is visually the most appealing and present it on the stage. Then we'll have the people vote for the most beautiful pattern."

"That could be fun." nodded Aya.

"Oh, by the way, Aya, where are the others? I thought you went to tell them to come to the shrine."

"But I did. It's just that they still have some things to do. But they all said that they should be here before sundown. I didn't go to the underground or to the Netherworld, though…"

"If the rules are that simple," Alice raised her hand, "why do we need multiple judges?"

"Because we need to keep things as fair as possible." the black-haired shrine maiden replied. "Surely each of us can take more than just three shots to go down, so the judges are here to make sure that the battle doesn't continue once somebody gets those three hits. Also… The room for dueling will be limited to the boundaries of the shrine yard, so we need someone to keep an eye that none of the contestants crosses this boundary. If they do so, they are automatically disqualified."

"Hmm, fair enough." shrugged Marisa. "But what about lasers?"

"Lasers?"

"Yeah… How many hits does it count as if you're hit by a beam-like danmaku?"

"Hmm…" Reimu hummed thoughtfully, since she didn't expect such a question. But Marisa did have a point. Laser danmaku was not an uncommon practice in Gensokyo. In regular duels, being hit by a beam wasn't any worse than being hit by any other projectile. For the purposes of this tournament, however, Reimu would have to devise some kind of special rule for this type of danmaku.

"Okay… so… With beams, each second in its field will count as one hit. Any objections?"

None of the girls seemed to have anything against the suggestion.

"Fine. That should be all for the rules then… Have a good time and enjoy the festival. See you in the evening."

"Wait a minute." Remilia stepped forth along with Sakuya who still held the parasol over her head. "I wanted to discuss prizes."

"Prizes? We don't have any…" Reimu began explaining, but was cut off by the vampire.

"And that's the problem! There should be some kind of prize! Like each of us contributing a little something… Like an entry fee."

The last words certainly caught Reimu's attention as well as interest. "An entry fee, you say? Hmm… But that also means that I have to throw in something as well…"

"What's the matter?" Remilia asked with a teasing voice. "Are you perhaps… afraid that you'll lose? Don't worry about it~! I'd be too if I were in your place and had to fight against me."

"Pfff… Yeah, right." scoffed Reimu. "Fine… Whoever wins the tournament can have…"

"Your donation box?" Marisa asked jokingly.

"Your gohei?" Alice played along.

"A picture of you taking a bath?" Remilia joined the girls in guessing.

"My lady, that's a bit too…" Sakuya tried to warn her that she wasn't being very polite.

"Meh, I already have that…" Aya waved her hand.

Everyone turned their face at the crow tengu reporter with their eyes wide open. Especially Reimu's look wasn't what you'd call friendly.

"What did you say?"

"Ehehe… Nothing, nothing." Aya feigned innocence.

"…Really?"

"Really, really." Aya nodded repeatedly. "Must be your imagination."

"Alright… I think I've decided what to offer as a prize."

"What is it then?" Marisa tilted her head.

"10 percent of my donations." replied Reimu.

"Eh?" the blonde witch was somewhat surprised by the answer and so were some other girls.

"That's like dividing zero by ten!" laughed Remilia.

"I meant today's donations."

"Oh… That's right." Marisa's face turned serious again. "You're going to rake in some serious donation money today. Ten percent, huh? That could be worth something, I guess…"

"But not nearly as much as I could offer." the vampire pridefully declared as she raised her head.

"Really?" the magician looked at her curiously. "How much are you offering then?"

"I never said I'm offering a monetary prize, though."

"Not it bothers me or anything… I'd be happy with just a few books from your library, ze…"

"The library is under Patchouli's jurisdiction, so you'll have to wait for her until she arrives and decides what to offer."

"Then you could offer Patchouli as a prize. Hehehe..." Marisa grinned wryly and rubbed her palms until Alice loudly cleared her throat.

"Not quite, Marisa." Remilia shook her head. "I'm willing to contribute one full sack of my most prized red tea to the winner."

"You can keep it…" muttered the disappointed witch quietly. "I want Patchy… Ouch~!" she exclaimed as Alice's palm landed on the back of her head. "What was that for?"

"That's for being an idiot."

"Patchy's books! I meant to say Patchy's books, ze!"

"U… Umm…" uttered Akyuu with her childlike voice and tentatively raised her hand.

"Yes, Akyuu-chan?" Reimu was the first to take notice.

"You said that you no longer needed anyone else's help, Reimu-san… But… Can I still record the tournament into my diary?"

"Why of course you can, Akyuu-chan. And if you want, you can be the main judge."

"How's main judge different from the other judges?" wondered Marisa.

"Main judge is a main judge." replied Reimu without giving any explanation.

"Oh~! Now I see." said the witch sarcastically. "I didn't know that."

"Hey, Marisa…" Kyouichi whispered to her.

"Huh? What is it?"

"Reimu looks a bit friendlier now, doesn't she?"

"Uh…yeah… to Akyuu-chan at least…"

"So, did you find out what was bothering her?"

"Well… not yet. But I did notice that she's quite tense. She seems to talk less than usual and yeah, she spaced out a few times as well. She's like that from time to time; there's nothing you need to concern yourself about. She'll get over it."

"Maybe she just needs to relieve some stress, have some sake…"

Marisa smiled amusedly. "Hehe, well if you can convince her to drink now, then by all means, go ahead and try."

"You think I'm not going to do it?" Kyouichi looked at her daringly. "Then watch!"

The tall outsider stepped out of the shadows, walked nonchalantly right into the middle of the small circle of girls and stopped in front of the shrine maiden.

The raven-haired girl gazed at him with surprised eyes silently, waiting for him to explain his sudden action.

"What's that human doing?" muttered Remilia as she watched the scene, being no less surprised than Reimu.

"It appears to me like a proposal, my lady." guessed her silver-haired maid.

"Eeeeh?! A proposal? This is a bit too sudden to be…"

"Ahem…" Kyouichi cleared his throat and waved both arms over his head to get everyone's attention. "Excuse me! Your attention, please! Thank you…"

"Oh my, he really is going to confess to her." Remilia disbelievingly stared at the two people standing in the middle of the circle.

"And in front of everyone…" added Sakuya as she clasped her hands, "How romantic~…"

"Okay…" the outsider continued, once the sights of all nearby people were focused on him. "So… now that the process of the tournament has been more or less decided, I'd like to take this opportunity to invite you all for a few rounds of sake. Let the good times roll!"

Dead silence.

For an eternity-lasting ten seconds, none of the girls showed any reaction to his words. They just stared with blank expressions like a circle of statues. Then, all of a sudden Marisa's voice broke the awkward atmosphere.

"Sounds like a good idea, ze~!" she winked and showed a thumbs up.

"Ayayaya~! Count me in~!"

"Sure, I don't mind." shrugged Alice.

"Mmmm… I haven't had good sake in a long while." said Meiling.

"Can't disagree with that!" Soudai called out.

"Oh, yes you can…" muttered Midori.

"I can, but I don't want to!"

"Hmm…" Reimu was considering the offer for a while. "Fine, but just a few drinks. I've still got a lot of work to do."

"Umm… Are we going after Suika-san now?" asked the worried chronicler of Gensokyo's history.

"You bet we are." Kyouichi confirmed her worries.

"Then please excuse me for a…"

"Hold it right there!" he halted her before she turned around and left. "You're coming with us, of course."

"That's what I was afraid of…"

"What's to be afraid of? You'll enjoy a few pleasant cups of sake with your friends."

"But I shouldn't be drinking. I don't want to end up like last time."

"Sleeping in Reimu's lap? That was rather cute." Kyouichi teasingly commented.

"But… I have to record this festival into the chronicle." she argued. "I can't do that properly with my senses clouded by alcohol."

"Nobody is going to force you to drink more than you can take… Reimu will make sure of that, right, Reimu?"

The shrine maiden nodded twice.

"See? Don't worry; even if you get a little dizzy, I'm quite sure it will pass until evening."

The little chronicler sighed resignedly. "You like to sway people with words, don't you?"

"Just a little." smiled Kyouichi. "Besides, I know all too well that the majority of your chronicle is not based on your direct observation, but rather on relayed information from various other sources. You said that yourself, after all."

"That… that's true…" the purple-haired girl admitted. "Fine… But like Reimu-san said, just a few cups… small cups for me… And I hope my parents won't catch me drinking; they're here too, you know…"

"I knew you wouldn't let us down, Akyuu-chan. Okay then, everyone, let's go find that oni!"

"Let's hunt her down~!" Marisa excitedly raised her arm in the air.

"I think you need to calm down a bit…" Reimu chilled her down.

"No, no. YOU need to cheer up, ze!" the blonde countered. "Come on! Suika can't be too far."

---

And as the group was set into motion, Remilia's maid just shrugged at her mistress's questioning gaze and said: "Well… that was quite possibly the weirdest proposal I've ever heard, my lady."

"As if you've heard any proposals before… Seriously… you read too many romance novels, Sakuya."

"But my lady likes reading them too, if I'm not mistaken."

"Hmph… I don't know what made you think I indulge myself in such lowly literature."

"What about that pile of books I've stumbled upon when I was cleaning up your bedroom, my lady?"

"U… auuuu~! T-those were… you see… yes! Patchouli must have forgotten them there! That's right!"

"And what would Patchouli-sama be doing in your bedroom, mistress?"

"Uhh… No, no! It's not what you think, Sakuya! She umm… forgot them in the dining hall… so I took them and intended to return them to her later…"

Remilia's poor excuse, however, was no match for Sakuya's wit. "But mistress… Patchouli-sama rarely ever leaves her library. And I never saw her reading any books on those rare occasions when she was in the dining hall… And even if she forgot her books there, the library is much closer from there than your bedroom…"

"Uuu~… Alright… I did check a few of those books. Not that I'd be particularly interested by the genre… It's just that I was bored out of my mind and…"

Sakuya's giggle interrupted her mistress's last sentence. "You don't need to be shy about it, my lady."

---

"There she is~!" Marisa's sudden call attracted their attention. The blonde magician was levitating a few meters above the crowd of people and pointing her finger at one particular place below her. "Oi~! Suikaaaa~! Time to drink~!"

Not a moment later, the short, horned oni girl ascended above the crowd as well, with a cheerful expression as usual, and with one arm raised over her head as a sign of agreement and excitement.

"Yaaay~! Let's get smashed~!"

"We don't want to get smashed just yet, but a few gulps wouldn't hurt… Let's get inside the shrine."

"Let's call Reimu and friends too."

"She's already with us, waiting inside." the magician gestured towards the shrine building as she was looking for a place to land.

Suika happily followed her into the living quarters of the Hakurei Shrine where she saw a group of familiar faces. Everyone was already seated on cushions around Reimu's kotatsu and the shrine maiden was just taking sake cups from her cupboard.

"This is why I love festivals so much!" Suika smiled widely and tapped her hand over her magical sake gourd. "Hurry up, Reimu! Don't keep us waiting."

"Don't get too excited." she replied to the oni. "We're only having a modest amount for now. We can't have a good danmaku tournament if we get drunk…"

"Well, I for one would have a hard time dueling when sober." remarked Suika. "You should all feel lucky that I didn't sign up for it."

"Would you look at that, Sakuya..." Remilia glanced at the oni as she addressed her maid. "This little braggart of an oni thinks she could take us all on."

"Not just think, Remily-chan…." she addressed the vampire endearingly. "None of the listed contestants would stand a slightest chance against my raw power."

"It apparently escaped your attention that the tournament has rules to allow everyone a chance to win. And besides, even if we all returned to the old ways and forsook the Spell Card Rules, you'd still have to give it your best to be a match for me."

Suika's laughter echoed inside the shrine as a response. "Oh, Remi… You're so funny! Looks like you already drunk something before you got here. It's obvious that you've never faced an oni in a real fight… otherwise you wouldn't be among us anymore."

"Nor have you ever faced a vampire in a serious fight, my little horned friend." retorted Remilia.

"That sounds like a challenge. You really want me to sign up? We'll see whose arguments are stronger."

"Go right ahead if you're ready to bear the shame of defeat." the vampire made a dare.

"As you wish then… But don't cry if I win the whole contest… Reimu~!" Suika called at the miko. "Sign me up!"

Reimu curiously eyed her oni friend up for a while. "Okay…"

Even though the oni were rumored to be a god-tier youkai, nobody seemed to have the slightest concern about Suika joining the tournament. Nobody was really afraid of her.

"But remember…" Reimu raised a finger. "You still have to fight according the rules. Otherwise you're both disqualified." she gave Remilia the same warning look.

"If it means teaching a cocky vampire child what her place is, I don't mind being disqualified…"

"All those centuries of drinking sake have obviously taken their toll on your mind, oni brat. Expect no mercy."

"You'd be both in violation with the Spell Card System." Reimu announced calmly as she was putting the sake cups on the table.

"And what would you do, Reimu?" Remilia asked provokingly. "Without the rules you are no different from the rest of humans – weak and fragile. Think you could stop us from settling our score? You'd die before you knew it."

The shrine maiden just giggled amusedly. "And you'd risk the collapse of the barrier? You wouldn't just have to go up against me, but against every single human and youkai who value the balance and the very existence of Gensokyo. That includes Yukari too and she could erase you both from existence by a mere thought."

"Yukarin's my friend…" muttered Suika thoughtfully. "I wouldn't do something that she'd be against…"

"Your gap youkai friend is not even here! I doubt she cares for Gensokyo any more than this human here…" she randomly pointed at one of the outsiders – particularly Soudai Asakura.

"Me? Oh… uhh… I do care for Gensokyo! I do… As long as I'm here at least…"

"Oh cut it out already!" Reimu couldn't take it anymore. "Both of you… You want to fight each other? Fine! But at least leave it until the tournament! We're here to enjoy the festival, are we not?"

Nobody dared to say any funny remarks when the Hakurei miko raised her voice.

"I ask you both… Don't break the rules. Isn't there already enough trouble with those mad fairies everywhere? Does Gensokyo need more chaos caused by a youkai rebellion?"

"You're my friend too, Reimu…" said Suika after a long pause. "And I honor our friendship. Don't worry; I was only trying to provoke Remi-chan a bit… Right?" she smiled and winked at the vampire.

Remilia, who also valued her friendship with the shrine maiden, had to agree with Suika. "We won't break your rules, Reimu… But we will fight to the best of our abilities."

"Good." Reimu smiled and finally took a seat at the table. "Let's drink already."

"Yes, yes, coming right up." Suika nodded as she was opening her gourd.

"Thank you~!" said Marisa as she watched the oni pour sake into her cup.

Next was Akyuu's cup, but she didn't want to have her cup fully filled. "J-just a little for me, Suika-sa… yaaaah~! Not so much~!"

"That's just an appetizer, Akyuu-chan~! Now… one for Reimu… And one for… uhh…"

"Soudai…"

"Yes, yes, Kyouichi's friend… Soudai-san… there!" smiled the oni and poured a bit too much sake into his cup, the excessive amount spilling over.

"Whoa, easy there!"

"Aaand Aya! You should have probably brought a soup bowl instead of a cup…" jested the horned girl, as she knew that Aya had a very high alcohol tolerance.

"Don't worry; I'll pull out the bowl after the tournament."

"And one for you, Alice… don't look so sad~!"

"I'm not sad…" shrugged the blonde dollmaker as she was holding the cup, or to be exact, as she was making her doll hold it in midair.

"Oi, Shanghai… Aren't you a bit too young to drink? Hehehe…"

The doll silently shook her head in response and then she gestured drinking the content of Alice's cup and patting her stomach afterwards.

"Oh really? But Alice is probably not going to share, is she?"

Shanghai shrugged and flew back to her owner, passing her the cup and then staring at her with pleading eyes. Alice's free hand was making very subtle movements, controlling the doll's every motion and making her act like a living being. Right now, she was making Shanghai act as though as she wanted a taste of Suika's sake.

"And one for Meiling…" Suika continued serving the sake to everyone. "And you too Sakuya… I don't envy you, being always bossed around by her." she gestured at Remilia, who was sitting right next to her.

"I heard that." grumbled the annoyed vampire.

"And one for you, Remi. Enjoy while you can…"

"Yes, I'll enjoy one last drink with you, Suika… You'll be missed…"

"It's not even certain that you two will end up fighting each other in the tournament." remarked Reimu. According to the chart, your first opponent should be Satori. And Suika will first have a duel against… wait I need to add her name into the chart…"

"Who decided on the opponents?" wondered Remilia.

"I did." replied the shrine maiden bluntly. "Is there a problem?"

"Not really. Did you just randomly pair the contestants or…?"

"I didn't really sort the names according to any pattern. Why?"

"I just hope you didn't do the same thing with double duels."

"No… But… Hey, that's not such a bad idea." said the shrine maiden after a thoughtful moment. "How about we randomized the dueling pairs in double duels category as well?"

"No~! Don't do that~!" Remilia protested, looking somewhat childish now.

"I think it's a good idea too." Aya supported Reimu's idea, which was actually inspired by Remilia's question.

"So we're going to have a lottery, huh?" Reimu muttered to herself. "Fine, I'll get a piece of paper…"

"I can spare a page…" Akyuu volunteered to tear off a page from her diary.

And while Reimu was tearing the paper into strips, Suika continued to pour her sake to the rest of Reimu's guests.

"And finally, one for you… she filled up Kyouichi's cup and took her seat next to Aya and Reimu. She was the only one without a cup, since she drank directly from her gourd anyway.

"Hey, Reimu, you can do this thing later, can't you?" she asked as she raised her gourd. "It's impolite to keep your guests waiting, you know."

Reimu sighed and reluctantly put the paper strips aside, grabbing her sake cup instead. Her face was telling everyone that she wanted to get this drinking over with as soon as possible.

"Fine… So… uhh… a toast to a peaceful summer, good health, a plentiful harvest… and… for more donations!"

"May we meet like this on the next year's festival too~!" called Suika.

"I hope she didn't mean us as well…" Kyouichi whispered to Midori.

"Cheers~!" everyone raised their cups and drank. Some finished them in a flash; others took just a small sip to better enjoy the taste.

"Damn, this stuff is great~!" Soudai expressed his first impression.

"This is no ordinary sake, is it?" Midori asked right afterwards. "I can tell it's stronger than any brand I've tasted."

"Hehe~! You won't find this kind of sake in Human Village, I can guarantee." chuckled Suika.

"Uhmm…. Could I please… have one more?" Soudai apparently liked it, since he was asking for another one.

"Don't be rude…" Midori chided him, but Suika obviously liked to share.

"As much as you like~!"

"Really?"

"Hey, how about a dare?" the oni grinned mischievously.

"What kind of dare?" Soudai wondered.

"Can you drink up this entire gourd?"

The said gourd didn't look particularly large. Its rough volume could be 1.5 up to 2 liters at best. However, the outsider had no idea that the gourd in fact held an infinite reserve.

"This thing? Are you sure? I mean… not that I couldn't drink it all, but… what about your guests?"

"First of all, they're not MY guests… They're Reimu's guests." Suika corrected him. "I'm also one of them… And second… don't worry~! We'll always have more, hehehe~!" she indirectly hinted the impossibility of her dare.

Kyouichi knew about this interesting property of Suika's gourd, but for the fun of it, he remained silent and just amusedly smiled at his friend who was about to get really drunk.

"You must be an idiot…" Reimu muttered to him.

"Oh, come on, Reimu~!" Suika looked at her pleadingly. "Don't spoil the fun."

"And what do I win if I drink it all?" asked the unsuspecting human with confidence.

"A nice big… hangover." grinned Kyouichi.

"Pfff… I ask you! Even if it is a little stronger… Suika-san has already poured us at least a half of this gourd's volume."

"So, Soudai-san… Are you ready?" Suika asked and passed him her most precious item.

"I was born ready!"

"Hey… Midori…" Kyouichi turned to his classmate with concerned look. "Someone is going to have to take care of him afterwards."

"And why are you telling this to me? You're a man. You take care of your drunken friend."

"Like that's exactly what I always wanted to do on a summer festival…" he grumbled back. "Maybe we should stop him before it's too late."

"Aaaand go~!" Suika has already given Soudai a signal to start.

Midori gave Kyouichi a doubting look. "You think one little gourd of sake is going to get him seriously drunk?"

Kyouichi just silently nodded as he watched his friend gulping more and more sake. "It's been nice knowing you, Asakura…"

Marisa, Suika, Aya and Meiling were cheering him on and laughing at the same time. The expression on his face was gradually turning into a "what the hell?!" kind of look. No matter how much he already swallowed, the sake just kept pouring on.

"Come on, Sou-chan~!" Suika teased him. "You're almost there…"

The stubborn human clenched his fist and kept on chugging sake, as if his life depended on it.

"For crying out loud, Soudai, stop!" Kyouichi called at him. "You know how long it is to Eientei from here? Do you really want to return there?"

Suika giggled. "Don't spoil the fun, Kyouichi~!"

"I'm trying to stop him from killing himself."

Soudai still thought that he could actually empty the gourd and showed no signs of stopping.

"Umm… You really should obey your friend, Asakura-san…" Akyuu worriedly advised him.

Finally… after over a minute of hard struggle, Soudai parted his lips with the mouth of the gourd and spat out the last mouthful of sake as he began coughing.

Reimu was not amused at all. "You're going to clean this up. Now."

"What is this treachery?!" exclaimed the surprised Soudai as he incredulously observed the gourd in his hand.

"I'll have that back, thank you." muttered Suika nonchalantly as she reclaimed her sacred artifact.

"There's just no end to the sake!"

"Exactly…" confirmed Kyouichi.

"You knew it all along didn't you?" he stared accusingly at his grinning friend.

"That's why I was trying to tell you to stop."

"Damn…" Soudai cursed and glanced back at Suika, who was using her sleeveless shirt to wipe the gourd's throat clean. "Where can I get me one of these?"

"In your dreams..." Kyouichi jabbed sarcastically.

"Hehe~! In the Ancient City, deep underground…" replied Suika. "But you'd have to be born as an oni."

"Man… If I had such a thing, I could open my own tavern! And I wouldn't even need a supplier."

"Yeah, yeah, Soudai… IF…"

"So… Did Suika-san made a dare with you too?" he changed the topic.

"Sure… only she was merciful enough to tell me that I'd stand no chance. I drank 15 cups and had enough… You must have drunk at least twice as much right now."

"Ho-leee craaap!" Soudai exclaimed and fell on his butt, right into the small pool of sake that he spat out.

"Looks like it's already starting to take effect."

"Are you alright, Asakura-san?" Midori looked worriedly at him.

"You didn't have to clean it up with your butt, though…" commented Reimu.

"Don'… don't worry about me…" Soudai tried to act cool, but Suika's sake was starting to get the better of him. "I just… did that on purpose…"

"Hey, I got a new dare for you now." said Kyouichi. "To walk straight…"

"Screw you, Ishimaru~! Ugh… Oh… hello there, pretty young miss…" he suddenly spoke to Reimu, who just happened to be in his field of vision. "What a cute ribbon you have…"

"And this…" Midori pointed at the drunken Soudai with her thumb, "is one of the main reasons why I don't ever want to get as drunk as I did on my birthday…"

"What, you started flirting with shrine maidens?" Kyouichi asked a ridiculous question.

"Since I don't even remember the rest of that day, I can neither confirm, nor deny that." answered the female outsider.

"Hey, Aya!" Kyouichi suddenly called at the tengu reporter. "Why aren't you taking pictures now? This is definitely a newspaper material here…" he gestured at his intoxicated friend.

"Well, I could snap a shot or two." she admitted. "But this still isn't as interesting as a man wearing a shrine maiden's dress."

"Yeah, of course… Did you hear her, Soudai? You're not interesting enough. Hurry, put on some of Reimu's old miko dresses!"

"But he's still conscious." Suika pointed out. "We can't enjoy that surprised look on his face like we saw on yours. Besides… your hair is long, so we could even fix a ribbon."

"This conspiracy against me will not be easily forgotten, Suika. And you too, Reimu… Don't give me that innocent look… I'll never take any shady pills from you! And you, Aya… Fine… taking a funny picture is one thing… But why putting it on the front page, damn it?!"

"Because I'm Aya~!"

"Hey, at least you didn't catch a cold." Reimu justified her action.

"Oh, so I should be grateful to you girls for making me publically known as some kind of lunatic? And what are you snickering about, Midori? Do you think I was laughing when I was returning to the village dressed up like that?"

"Ahahahaha~!" Midori couldn't hold back her laughter anymore. "Sorry, sorry… I just can't get that priceless picture out of my head."

"Can't say I blame you." muttered Kyouichi. "The only people in the village who aren't giving me strange looks when I pass them by are those who don't read Aya's newspaper."

Aya raised her eyebrows. "Eh? There are still people in the village who DON'T read Bunbunmaru?"

"Not sure…" shrugged the outsider. "Maybe they all do, but some of them just didn't recognize me… or didn't care…"

"There… Finished…" announced Reimu and showed a pile of paper strips with names. "It's time to arrange the matches in random order. Akyuu-chan is here to make sure this lottery is not manipulated in any way. Let's shuffle these names up a bit… and time to draw!" she took the liberty of being the first one to draw two names.

"And the first duelists are: Hijiri Byakuren and… Lorelei Mystia."

"Hell, I wouldn't wanna be in Mystia's shoes now…" commented amused Marisa.

"Hey, maybe Mystia will surprise us all and win." argued Alice.

"You don't believe it yourself, Alice." said the ordinary magician.

"By the way, what discipline are we talking about now? The Single Duels or the Survival?" Marisa wanted to be sure.

"The main event of course." Reimu replied matter-of-factly.

It was now Marisa's time to draw two names from the pile, so without further ado, she did so and passed the strips to the shrine maiden.

"In the next match we'll see: Shameimaru Aya and Konpaku Youmu…" Reimu announced the second pair of contestants.

"A duel of the fastest… how fitting." the witch kept commenting. "Here, Alice, you draw… And make an interesting match."

The dollmaker, as expected, sent her doll to the pile of paper strips and made her take out another pair of names.

"Thank you, Shanghai." said Reimu as she accepted the papers. "So let's see… hmm… Toramaru Shou will go up against Reisen Udongein Inaba…"

In this fashion, all contestants in the room took turns in drawing the names, but since there were now 25 contestants in the list, it was impossible to pair everyone up.

"Hmm, maybe we should find one more person willing to compete." thought Reimu aloud.

"But who?" asked Marisa. "Want to compete, Akyuu-chan?"

The chronicler shook her head in disagreement.

"Yeah, I thought so…"

"Anyone knows if folks from Eientei are going to visit the shrine today?" asked Alice. "Besides Reisen, I mean…"

"Eirin-san said she might show up here even with the moon princess herself…" Aya replied. "But not even she knows when exactly."

"Well, look!" Marisa again turned everyone's attention to herself. "There's tons of people and youkai gathered here today. Surely we could find at least one more willing person…"

"I agree." said the crow tengu. "Furthermore, not everyone from the Temple of Myouren has signed up, so maybe we could persuade Nazrin for instance…"

"And didn't Satori say she'd come together with her sister?" Marisa gave a questioning glance to the shrine maiden.

"Did she?" Reimu tilted her head to the side. "Well, as long as it's not certain that she's going to show up, I cannot add Koishi's name into the list yet."

"Guh… guess we… can't volunteer ourselves to… help you with this… ungh… problem…" mumbled Soudai with obvious difficulties.

"No, Soudai, we can't." Kyouichi confirmed his assumption. "Hey, come on… Let's go get some fresh air… That might make you feel a bit better."

"Ehehe… please excuse us." Midori bowed with a shy smile to the other girls as she accompanied Soudai and Kyouichi out of the shrine.

"Don't forget to come here after the tournament~!" Suika waved her hand at them.

---

"You don't have… to… ugh… carry me home, guys…" Soudai continued to ramble as he was being escorted by his friends out of the shrine. "I… I'll order a taxi…"

"Yeah, if you can order us a taxi that can take us all the way home, I'll forgive you your debt."

"Aaah… screw you, Ishimaru~!"

"Yeah, yeah, I like you too… Come on… you need to drink some fresh water.

"You won't take my Kaguya-chan away from me… unemfermf…"

"Asakura... Hey, Asakura!" Midori gently slapped him on his cheek to help him stay awake. "Whatever you do, don't fall asleep here. People would trample you… We must get you somewhere where you can rest."

"And somewhere where he won't be eaten." added Kyouichi. "Somebody will have to stay with him until he gets better."

Midori gave out a heavy, reluctant sigh. "I know…"

Together with Kyouichi's help, she managed to drag Soudai away from the center of the crowded shrine yard and made him sit down on the grass, propping his back against one of the nearby trees.

"Idiot…" Midori muttered at the drunken young man with contempt. "You had to stimulate your ego and keep drinking… Couldn't you tell that something was not right with that gourd?"

"I'm sorry, Keine-sensei." he muttered in his delirium. "I've forgotten my homework today... Please don't leave me after school…"

"Heh! Keine-sensei… If only she saw you in this pitiful state. She'd leave you after school for a whole year!"

"Alright, Midori." Kyouichi turned his face at her. "I'll bring him some water. You stay with him, I'll be right back…"

"Hey, wait… Why do I have to stay with him?"

"Oh… You're right." Kyouichi nodded and reached inside his pocket. "Here… If some youkai would threaten you, use this." he gave her one of Reimu's amulets.

Midori puzzledly looked at the amulet in her palm. "What is this thing?" But before getting an answer, Kyouichi already disappeared into the crowd.

"Geez… What does he expect me to do anyway?"

As promised, Kyouichi was back in less than five minutes, carrying a glass of water.

"Oh, you're back already?" Midori was a bit surprised. "Where did you get the water from anyway?"

Kyouichi pointed his thumb back over his shoulder. "From the well, of course. And I borrowed that glass form Reimu, so try not to break it."

"Tell that to your drunken friend."

"Here, Soudai, drink this." he held the glass in front of his mouth.

"No more sake~!" Soudai protested as he lightly thrashed about.

"It's water, dude. Fresh, clean water." Kyouichi reassured him and took the first chance when Soudai opened his mouth to make him drink. Of course, he managed to spill some water over Soudai's clothes in the process, but none of them cared about that.

"Gaah… That was a good drink, man~!" sighed Soudai with a blissful expression.

"Well, at least he looks like he's not suffering." stated Midori as she watched him.

"But we still can't just leave him alone like this."

"So what are you going to do? Stay by his side the whole day?"

"I can't really think of any other idea." Kyouichi shrugged helplessly.

"Well, I can!" Midori crossed her arms. "Go to the shrine and ask Reimu-san if we could leave Soudai rest in her shrine until he gets better."

Kyouichi had his doubts about that. "Well, I don't know…"

"And you won't know until you try. Now go there and negotiate!"

"Y… yes, madam!"

---

Inspired, or to be more exact, intimidated by Midori's dictatorial attitude, Kyouichi directed his hastened steps back into the living quarters of the Hakurei Shrine to try his luck. Of course, he did this also in his own interest and the interest of his friend who drank more than he could take. As he entered through the sliding door, he saw that some of the contestants have already left the room. Only those who he thought to be Reimu's closest friends have remained seated at the table. The shrine maiden herself was there too, of course, but she was now standing at her stove, reheating some food. It was already lunchtime after all.

"Sorry to intrude again." Kyouichi apologized as he let himself in. "Reimu… I… I'd like to ask another favor of you."

As expected, Reimu was not exactly glad to hear another request, but despite that, she at least wanted to hear him out.

"What now?"

"It's about Soudai… My friend…"

"The drunken one?"

"Yeah, him." he nodded to confirm. "We're worried to leave him sleeping outside, so…"

"Bring him here then." said Reimu before Kyouichi's sentence was even finished.

"A…are you really okay with that?"

"I already let you sleep in here a few times, didn't I?"

"Well, true." admitted the outsider. "And I wasn't exactly sober either…"

"Tell your friend to come here. He can rest over there, but he better not make any mess."

"Thank you very much for this, Reimu!" he bowed appreciatively and left the room as suddenly as he entered it. Reimu agreed to oblige his request almost too easily for him to believe it. Not that he intended to complain about it.

---

"Back already?" asked the surprised Midori, who was expecting to hear bad news, since Kyouichi returned so soon. "So… what did you find out?"

He didn't answer directly to Midori. Instead, he looked down at Soudai and called out loudly: "On your feet, Asakura! You're going to take a nap in the shrine."

"So Reimu-san agreed…" muttered the girl in yukata. "You better thank her properly and apologize to her when you come back to your senses, Soudai… You've caused us quite the embarrassment back there."

"He probably doesn't even perceive what you're telling him, Midori, but I think he should have at least enough honor and courtesy to know that himself when he comes to. Now… Would you please help me get him on his feet?"

"Sure." she smiled and took Soudai's left arm. On the count of three she and Kyouichi lifted him from the ground into upright position.

"You are my best… *hic*… friends forever…" Soudai uttered in a half-sleepy state as he was being literally dragged back into the shrine.

"Oh, so first you say "screw you" and now we're your best friends?" Kyouichi scoffed at his delirious ramblings. "This just keeps getting better and better…"

"Uh-oh…" Midori worriedly looked ahead. "Stairs…"

There were two small steps connecting the ground with the elevated floor of the shrine building. For a healthy person this was, of course, no obstacle, but with a 75 kilogram lump of dead weight called Soudai Asakura, Kyouichi and Midori had to exert themselves to overcome this problem.

"Some… umpf… cooperation… would be… appreciated, Soudai…" complained Kyouichi as he slowly helped him climb the wooden steps.

With great effort and patience, the two sober outsiders finally made it inside and put their already sleeping friend on the floor where Reimu had shown them. She was even kind enough to let him sleep on one of her futons.

"Well, at least no hungry youkai should take advantage of him now…" Kyouichi remarked.

"No youkai has ever eaten a human near the shrine." opposed Reimu.

"Oh really? So that Rumia or whatever you call her just wanted to play with me back then?"

"That… that was…"

"What?"

"That was the first time she ever dared to attack someone so close to the shrine. That was very daring for a weaker youkai."

"You know what they say: There's a first time for everything… I wouldn't leave Soudai sleeping out there alone. Not after what happened to me… Once again, thank you for letting him stay."

"Don't mention it." she waved her hand and continued stirring the content of the pot.

"But if he causes you any trouble, don't hesitate to use some Spell Card on him." added Kyouichi in jest.

"By the looks of it, he won't be waking up any time soon, though."

"Yeah… He wanted to make some good memories of this festival, but now it will be a surprise if he'll even remember that there was any festival in the first place."

"How did you meet him anyway?" wondered Reimu.

"Didn't I already tell you? He's the same as me and Midori here… An outsider… We all got spirited away while riding a subway... if you know what that is…"

"Well, I was only asking because there are a few outsiders who have been living in Gensokyo for a longer time."

"Well, Soudai is not one of them…" Midori cleared up any possible misunderstanding.

"That's right." nodded Kyouichi. "And since you've already brought up this topic, Reimu, I can't help but to complain about a little problem that we're currently having."

The shrine maiden suspiciously glanced at him for a moment. "Another favor that you want me to do for you?"

"No, you can relax. It's nothing that you could help us with anyway."

"Oh really?" she asked with doubt in her voice. "So why are you even bothering to tell me about it?"

"Sheesh, I don't know… I just felt like talking. You know… to help me ease my mind. Don't you ever talk to Marisa when something's bothering you?"

"I guess I do."

"See? There's nothing unusual about it."

"So what problems could you guys possibly be having?" wondered the peacekeeper of Gensokyo.

"You've already mentioned that a few outsiders have already lived here for quite some time. That is, of course, no news to me. But what really puzzles me is the reason why they decided to settle here. If they really wanted to return so badly, they could have done so long ago, using the same way that we are about to use in three months… What actually made those outsiders decide to settle here? I just don't understand… I'm not talking about those who had no idea that there was a way out of here. I mean those outsiders who knew they could return back, but decided to stay here of their own free will."

"Hmph…" Reimu shrugged her shoulders. "You should probably try asking them instead of me. I've never really been in the outside world any further than my shrine. You come from that place, so you should know what it's like to live there and compare that to the life in Gensokyo. Perhaps it's more peaceful here, perhaps the air is fresher and life is calmer, perhaps the people who settle here didn't have any place to stay in the outside world, perhaps they just wanted to run away from there in belief that Gensokyo is a better place. Maybe they found someone special and discovered a new meaning of life here… I don't know… Besides… why would it be troubling you anyway?"

"Because quite a few people who originally planned on leaving Gensokyo with us together have suddenly and unexpectedly changed their minds and decided to stay… I just didn't know what to think about it. I'd probably understand it easier if they told me that they don't trust my leadership or something, but it was just so sudden and without any explanation… Now there's just 13 of us who are still firm in our decision to leave. Heh… lucky 13… Or unlucky? Who knows?"

"Well, if someone decides to live their life here, there really isn't much you can do about it." admitted Reimu and tasted the food that she was reheating.

"I know… I just hope that the rest of my friends won't abandon me in the same fashion. Or worse yet, that I myself end up with a decision to stay…"

"That's entirely up to you." said Reimu wisely.

Marisa, however, seemed to have a different opinion. "Well, if Yukari has any further intentions with you people from the outside world, that it's no longer a matter of your personal choice."

"I'm afraid… no… I'm GLAD that this is most likely not the case." said Kyouichi. "According to Patchouli, over two dozen outsiders spirited away to Gensokyo on the 28th of Satsuki were found dead in various locations all over Gensokyo. I could have been one of them… This makes me believe that Yukari has no further interest in us. Not in our well-being at least…"

"She's not a mindless killer, though." Reimu pointed out.

"If I was Yukari," Marisa began to theorize, "I'd probably justify this by saying that I was making a natural selection of individuals… Those who survive can prove useful to me later."

Both Kyouichi and Reimu silently blinked at the witch with confused faces.

"That doesn't sound like something she'd do." the shrine maiden disagreed. "But then again… it's Yukari we're talking about, so even you may be right this time, Marisa."

"Come on, Marisa." Kyouichi looked at the witch. "Don't destroy our hopes with your theories."

"Oh, don't take me too seriously." she chuckled and dismissively waved her hand. "For all we know is that Yukari is not in Gensokyo and that she's been away for more than six months."

"And you think that the fairies have gone crazy as a result?" Kyouichi wondered.

"There may as well as may not be a connection between these two occurrences." the blonde admitted. "Remilia told us a while ago that Patchouli is working hard on deciphering the signs on the ruins and that she's planning to go to the site personally with a research team."

"Yes, I know about this directly from Patchouli."

"Well, then you know that we won't be able to tell if we're facing one or two different incidents at the same time, until she can translate those writings."

"Or until we get some other clue." Reimu complemented her statement.

"A new fairy invasion, you mean…" Marisa humorously corrected her. "I almost feel sorry for those little creatures. They aren't even realizing that they're being controlled."

"At least they have no hard feelings if we vaporize them time and time again with danmaku."

"It would be better if we could somehow prevent the fairies from entering that dangerous area."

"Eirin is researching the incident too…" remarked Reimu. "Maybe she'll make a drug of some sort that will cure their madness…"

"Then she would have to make a lake of that medicine in order to treat all the fairies."

"Remilia also said that she wanted to be the one to resolve the incident." Kyouichi revealed what the vampire told him today.

"If an incident becomes a general annoyance to everyone in Gensokyo, it's only natural for them to want to take action." reasoned the shrine maiden. "Which is definitely not a bad thing… There have been times when incidents got resolved by youkai. It's nothing unusual…"

"Well, I just thought you might want to know…"

"Hey, if Remilia thinks she can solve this incident and do all the hard work by herself, then by all means… let her do it!"

"So if I understand this right, you'd trust her with this incident?"

"Our motives may be different, but our goals are the same, aren't they?" answered the shrine maiden with a question. "It's quite likely that this incident will be resolved by teamwork."

"It already IS being resolved by teamwork." Marisa slightly corrected Reimu's statement. "So far, all of us are waiting for the results of Patchouli's and Eirin's research."

"Yeah… They better work fast, or then I'm taking radical steps."

"Isn't that what you usually do?" Marisa jabbed at her.

"Yes, I'm just being very optimistic, so I'm giving them both some time to try and solve it their way."

"Hey, by the way, Reimu…" sounded the witch again. "Have you already checked your donation box today? Maybe you should go withdraw the money so that people could put in more…"

"Hey, I know that I just said that I was an optimist, but I'm not that naïve… I've never seen my donation box full to the brim."

"You know, you've been acting somewhat… strange today. Any other day, you'd be racing out of the shrine to see if someone even accidentally dropped a single coin there… But now… you look like you're… tired. And it's not just me who thinks so…" she briefly threw a glance at Kyouichi.

"Maybe it's because it's so hot today." replied Reimu as she yawned. She looked as though she had barely enough energy to hold chopsticks in her hand as she ate her lunch.

"Not sure if the summer heat is the only thing to blame, though…" the witch remarked as she scanningly watched her friend.

"Hey, even you get tired from time to time, don't you?"

"Sure, I do. But at least I can always tell why. For instance when I skipped breakfast or when I'm feeling sick. Or when I just returned home after a grueling danmaku fight… If you're feeling unwell, I could fly home and bring you some of my homebrewed medicine…"

"You can relax, Marisa." Reimu silenced her before she said anything more. "I don't feel sick."

"Well, I'm a bit relieved, but…"

"Just concentrate on the festival and the tournament, okay? You too have a lot of work to do. Remember what you promised last week."

"Sure, sure, hehehe…" Marisa chuckled bashfully. "I haven't forgotten. I was supposed to help you make those dumplings. But "helping" doesn't really mean that I do all the work for you, Reimu."

"Perhaps so, but you can start… At least you shouldn't be able to burn them in the first stage of preparation." the shrine maiden poked fun at Marisa's infamous cooking skill. "And remember, even if your cooking can't kill Yuyuko, Eirin, Kaguya or the fairies, the rest of us are still mortal, so make sure you follow the recipe properly."

"Yeah, ha, ha…" Marisa unamusedly pretended to be laughing and walked up to one of Reimu's cupboards to prepare the necessary dishes and ingredients. "But shouldn't you have made these yesterday?"

"I was busy with other things with greater priority."

"Have you now? Such as?"

"Such as a trip to Kazemura and back for instance…"

"Wait… What?!" the magician almost dropped a bowl she was just holding. "You've been there yesterday? Why? Did something happen that I don't yet know about?"

"No, but I just wanted to make sure. I've made a preventive reconnaissance flight around the village, making sure that the fairies weren't massing up for an attack somewhere… Luckily, none of my worries were confirmed."

"Oh, so you actually did a bit of preventive work? Unusual for you, but I approve. Better safe than sorry, right? But going alone? Not even telling me? What if you ran into a huge swarm like the last time? What would you do? You wouldn't stand a chance against such numbers."

"Having you there with me wouldn't make any difference, Marisa."

"You could have asked me to do it for you! These fairies don't just raid and pillage, they intend to kill. Our only luck is that none of them succeeded in the latter yet… Going up against them alone is like returning to the times before your Spell Card System. In other words – putting your life on the line. Now, I know that you solved a couple of incidents like that too, but… to be honest, I'm a bit worried about you as well…"

"Hey, I'm not a kid anymore… I can tell the difference between a challenging and an impossible fight. If I startled a swarm, I'd flee before they could get close to me."

"Well, at least your thinking is still quite reasonable…" praised the blonde witch.

"I thought you know better than to worry about me… Really…"

"Oh, I still do." the magician bent her lips in a confident smile. "We may still end up fighting each other today, so you better be prepared."

Reimu giggled a bit forcedly as she pointed one of her chopsticks in the direction where Marisa was standing. "Such brave words for someone who has troubles with fighting certain ice fairies…" she made an obvious reference to Marisa's alleged duel against Cirno, in which Marisa claimed to have been bested.

"Hey, trust me, don't take that ice fairy too lightly either." the blonde spoke in serious tone. "You'll drop that smile of yours once she starts freezing your amulets in midair…"

"We'll see if she even makes it past her first match."

"Yeah, we'll see… Maybe this hot summer air has weakened her somehow."

"Oh, and you guys…" Reimu put down her already empty bowl on the table as she looked over at her neglected guests from the outside world. "Just to let you know, there's a bunch of performers who are going to perform their acts before the tournament if you're interested… Alice will be there, Mystia will be there and the famous Prismriver sisters are going to play too."

"Well, thanks for telling us." thanked Kyouichi. "I'd sure like to see Alice-san's performance. Not too sure about Mystia's, though… And pardon my ignorance, but this is the first time I've heard of these… Prismriver sisters…"

"Them?" Marisa raised her head to respond. "They're a trio of poltergeist performers. A violinist, a keyboardist and a trumpeter. They're quite popular around here and have a very… distinct and unique music style that you probably won't hear anywhere else…"

"Wait, did you just say poltergeist?" Kyouichi halted her to make sure he heard her right.

"I did." Marisa confirmed with a nonchalant expression. "They wear quite distinctive band outfits, so you can hardly confuse them with other bands around here."

"You said one of them plays a keyboard? That's quite a modern instrument for this place…"

"But not so uncommon in the outside world." the blonde witch pointed out.

"So they're outsiders too?"

"Well, technically, yes… They and their mansion must have come from the outside."

"Wait… Don't ghosts live in the Netherworld?"

"They're not ghosts." Marisa corrected the outsider. "I said "poltergeists". There's a world of difference between them."

"Well then, please, enlighten me…"

"Well, let's see… In layman's terms, ghosts are basically the souls of the deceased, whereas poltergeists are a phenomena caused by living persons. Well, in this case, however, the person who is "responsible" for the existence of the Prismriver sisters is long since dead, which is not a common thing. I'm sure someone like Patchy would give you hours of lectures about the differences between ghosts and poltergeists, but to satisfy your curiosity, I think that's all you'll ever need to know."

"Maybe I'll give their performance a shot… as long as it doesn't make me night-blind like Mystia's songs or something."

"Hey, don't worry about that little sparrow. She's harmless."

"Yeah, for you maybe…"

"You know what her fried lamprey business is like? She roams the roads of Gensokyo while singing songs that make the passerby go night-blind just a few seconds before they run into her lamprey stand. Then she tells them that her magical lamprey is a perfect cure for night-blindness. And most of the time, people are desperate enough to believe her, even if that's an obvious lie and their night-blindness would eventually disappear anyway."

"And she occasionally eats someone, right?" Kyouichi completed the information.

"Even so, you don't need to worry about that here."

"I wish I could actually trust those reassuring words of yours."

"You can trust us. There's not going to be any incident at this shrine today! The shrine yard's crowded with people and there's quite a lot of Ryuuken too… Today, this place may very well be the safest one in Gensokyo, even if it may not look like it."

"Hey, Marisa…" Reimu suddenly got up from the table. "Are you going to just talk or are you actually going to help me make those dumplings?"

Only now did the witch realize that she hasn't done anything more than putting the necessary ingredients and dishes on the table. She was too distracted by the conversation to even start working.

"Oh, where was I? Oh, yeah… the dumplings… Sure, sure, hold on a moment…"

"Well, then don't let me disturb you." said Kyouichi and bowed, ready to take his leave. "Come on, Midori. Let's go get some yakitori or something…"

The young girl silently nodded and bowed to the owner of the shrine as well, before she followed Kyouichi out of the shrine.

---

Several hours have passed and Kyouichi spent them mostly in the company of Midori and his other friends from school. He checked out all of the various food, souvenir and game stands that were set up around the whole shrine yard. All except one… Mystia's Fried Lamprey. Despite what Marisa had told him, he didn't trust anyone who once threatened to kill him. Aside from that, he got himself quite a few souvenirs as a keepsake and spent a decent sum on various food and snacks too. By now, the majority of the shrine visitors were concentrated at the big stage, meaning that the front yard was less crowded. Kyouichi and his companions decided to take this chance to make another prayer here. The line in front of the shrine wasn't too long, so they didn't have to wait for longer than 10 minutes until their turn. Kyouichi took a peek into the donation box before he threw his few coins in. There was quite a pile of money inside. Not just coins, but some of the visitors have left more generous sums as offerings to the god of this shrine. The prayer which the young outsider made this time was not a plea to return home safely. He already put that on the wish tree after all… Instead, he prayed for the resident of this shrine to be happy and to have even more donations during the next festival. His friends also made some prayers, but nobody spoke of what they wished for. As they were returning to the stage, they noticed that Reimu was standing on top of it and saying something to the people that had gathered around.

"It looks like the opening ceremony is just about to start." said Midori and gestured to the other outsiders to follow her to the stage. The area around the stage was so crowded, that it was nearly impossible to get at least within earshot of Reimu's voice.

"This way…" Kyouichi called at his friends when he found a small unoccupied area that was relatively close to the stage.