I have updated once more! I'm going to let you know that even though I am able to get these out rather quickly, please don't expect it to be frequent. I plan on getting them out as fast as I can, and I don't plan on churning out Imperfect Metamorphosis-length chapters. I'm going to shoot for at least 5,000 words each chapter, and some may be longer or shorter than that, depending on whether or not I think that I am at a good stopping point for that chapter. Chapters may also change a bit if I think I can do something more to them, as well. If that is to happen, I'll let it be known here in the author's notes!

Just like last time, if you see any issues worth pointing out to me let me know!

This would've been out sooner, but I recently came down with the flu after almost a decade of not having it, so it kind of kicked my ass.

The morning sun shone through the windows of Reimu's home. As it began to illuminate the main room, the two futons, both of which had been laid out on the opposite sides of the room, began to stir as their occupants were awoken by the invading light.

"Come on, Sarge... Juzgimme me five more minutes... I wuzzon watch last night..." Ray mumbled.

He pulled the futon's blanket over his head to hide from the dawn, but in the end, it wasn't the sun that made him wake up. He felt something prod him in the side. When that didn't seem to get the message, he felt the blanket be torn away from him.

"Wake up." Reimu said.

Her voice was just as groggy as his, and after pulling the blanket off of him, she left and went into the nearby room. Ray stood up and stretched. He looked around the empty room that he slept in. Aside from Reimu's futon, the small table that was moved to the corner, and some stuff on the walls, the room was bare.

He usually got started on his morning routine at this time, but with all of the things that had happened within the last thirty-six or so hours, he wasn't in any mood to do any exercises right now. He walked around the room and looked at some of the stuff that Reimu had hung up on the walls. A lot of it was what he thought was normal for a shrine maiden. His gaze fell on one of the shelves, where there sat a few framed photos. The photos were monochrome, and the frames made of bamboo, but the photos didn't look old.

In the first one, he saw what he guessed was Reimu standing next to some girl who was just slightly shorter than her, in a pointy hat, who was holding a broom. Strangely enough, he noticed someone in the background who had seemingly been lounging on her roof. It was a girl who looked obviously younger, but with what looked like horns or something protruding from her head. The other one had Reimu when she was much younger in it. There was a woman dressed in what he would have said was a more conservative version of what Reimu wore, but also a lot less customised. He couldn't make out her face, since the light was obscuring it. Just when he made to pick it up, he heard Reimu shout at him from the other room.

"Hey! If you want to eat you'd better help me in here!"

"I'll be there in a second!" He shouted back.

He hastily threw the t-shirt that he wore under his suit shirt on and headed into the adjoining kitchen. When he stepped foot in said kitchen, his jaw dropped at the state of Reimu's kitchen. The kitchen was so... "Sad and empty" were the first words that he could use to describe it. The kitchen was somewhat smaller than the one at his old home, but almost every shelf that he could see had nothing on it, at all. All of the ingredients that he saw in this kitchen were where Reimu was standing. She was preparing what looked to be a very meager breakfast of rice and miso soup. He looked around for anything that he would have needed to prepare and found nothing else near the workstation. He furrowed his eyebrows and looked back at Reimu, who wasn't paying any attention to him.

"So what do you need my help with? It uh... looks like you have it under control."

"Go and get the dishes from over there," She pointed to her right without even looking up. "And then set them up here so we can get breakfast plated."

Her tone sounded both stern and annoyed at the same time, and Ray took note of that, but he still went and got the dishes from the cupboard on Reimu's right side and set them out for her. He stood around for a moment or two before he just sighed and grabbed the jar of miso from Reimu's workstation.

"What are you doing?! Give that back!" She demanded.

"I know how to make miso soup, just because I'm a foreigner and an outsider doesn't mean I'm useless here. Pass me the pot, please." He replied.

The two continued to work in silence for some time, the tension having been made thicker and thicker by Reimu and Ray's willingness to just not talk. That was, until Reimu decided to cut through the tension.

"How do you know how to make miso soup, if I might ask? Foreigners don't seem to know much in general about Japanese... Well, anything when they arrive here."

"I had an associate in Tokyo I'd visit occasionally, and his wife would only let me stay with them if I helped out around the house."

"Oh. That makes sense. Wait, why would a foreigner be visiting Tokyo?"

"With me, it was mostly for getting direct news about China and the like. That, and I was damn sure that I could find a tsuchinoko if I looked hard enough."

The latter elicited a snicker out of the shrine maiden, which brought a slight smile to Ray's face.

"You'll probably have better luck here than in the Outside World. I can't tell you if I've ever seen one, but they'd probably be here."

"Good to know."

By the end of their preparations, they were both smiling wryly when they set out their breakfast on the little table in the main room. They sat and talked a bit about this and that.

"So, since I'm new to Gensokyo, is there anything important I should know?" Ray asked. He took a sip of his soup and then had some rice.

"Oh, there's a lot of things you need to know." Reimu answered.

"Like what?"

"Well," She took a sip of her tea. "The first thing you need to know is that until you're living in the Human Village, you're not safe from any youkai. You look like and sound like an outsider, so they'll know right away."

"So... am I in danger here then?"

He looked around at the windows, just in case he saw someone staring at him. Reimu chuckled at his reaction and shook her head.

"No, no. You can stay here as long as you need to."

He raised an eyebrow at this, then took a sip of his own tea.

"Thanks I guess. Is there any reason why? Yesterday you didn't look particularly thrilled at having someone else here."

"I think it's a good way to show my thanks for getting Yukari flustered like that. I've never seen a human do that to her, ever. You made my day with that, and I think the least I could do is show a bit of gratitude for that."

"... Okay then. Not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth and all that." Ray said, looking away from Reimu.

This went on for quite some time, as the two sat in silence and ate their breakfasts, and by the time that they were finished, someone threw open the door to Reimu's home. Without even looking in her direction, Reimu picked up her cup of tea and took a sip of it, having closed her eyes as she savored the flavor of the tea.

"Yo Reimu! I heard you've got another roommate now, da-ze!"

Ray looked over and saw that the person that stood in the doorway was from one of the photographs. It was the girl with the pointy hat and the broom. He looked her up and down, and she looked him up and down. She then leaned her broom against a nearby shelf, walked in, sat down, and rested her chin in her hands, a smirk on her lips and a spark of curiosity in her eyes.

"So who's this, Reimu? I thought you said you weren't going to let anyone else move in!" The girl teased.

"Marisa, this is Ray Dobbs. He's the newest outsider that Yukari brought here." Reimu explained, not even having opened her eyes to meet this "Marisa"s gaze.

"Morning, Marisa-san. Like she said." He held out his hand for her to shake it. "Ray Dobbs, former freelance journalist, P.I., and many other things. it's a pleasure to meet you."

She grabbed his hand and finished the handshake. This girl's grip was pretty strong too, but he was sure it wasn't as strong as Reimu's. Probably.

"Marisa Kirisame, ordinary magician and treasure hunter extraordinaire. Nice to finally meetcha, Ray-san!"

"Finally?"

Reimu and Ray asked this at the same time, and then looked at each one another, then looked back at Marisa.

"Yeah, your arrival is in the Bunbunmaru, da ze!" Marisa answered.

She placed a bound newspaper on the table in front of the two. Reimu picked it up, unfurled it and began to read it silently, her lips moving slightly as she mouthed the words. Marisa watched her, her hands covering her mouth as small snickers could be heard escaping her. As she got to a certain portion, a blush spread across her face and she began to shake in what Ray guessed was barely-suppressed anger.

"Uhh... Are you alright there, Reimu-san?" Ray asked.

Reimu placed the newspaper on the floor next to her, and resumed drinking her tea. Her face was still red, and she simply refused to acknowledge the existence of both Ray and Marisa, simply keeping her eyes closed.

"Just what did this person write, anyway?" He asked as he picked up the newspaper.

He began to read it himself. He was apparently worthy of a front page news story. If it weren't for the circumstances that brought him to this illustrious honor, he would have been rather thrilled.

"Gensokyo's Newest Outsider and the Hakurei Shrine Maiden... Forbidden Love?" He read aloud.

His lips formed into a sneer and his brow furrowed as he read, and what he read was definitely not what actually happened when he met Yukari and Reimu yesterday. After poring over the rest of the newspaper and placing it back on the table, he chuckled a little bit.

"Marisa-san." He stated, his eyes having looked in her direction.

"Yeah?" She asked.

"Who wrote this schlock?"

"Aya Shameimaru is the one who wrote it, Ray-san." Reimu interjected.

She stood up and walked over to one of the closets. She opened it and retrieved a red bow from it. She pushed her hair up and tied it back using the bow.

"Marisa, If you would be so kind, could you please show Ray-san around the Human Village?" Reimu asked.

Reimu stepped over to the door and picked up the stick. Out of nowhere, two floating orbs, emblazoned with the yin-yang symbol, appeared over her shoulders. She didn't even stop to close the door as she took flight and flew toward a large mountain that was off in the distance.

"Ooooooh, Aya-san's in trouble, ze!" Marisa said through barely-contained laughter.

Ray looked toward the direction the shrine maiden disappeared at and then at the witch.

"I'm guessing an angry Reimu is bad news for youkai?" Ray asked.

Marisa looked at him, a smile on her face.

"An angry Reimu is bad for anyone," She stood up and grabbed her broom. "But that's not our problem right now!" She mounted the broom and motioned to it.

"Alright, get on! Reimu wanted me to show ya around Gensokyo, and that's what we're gonna do!"

Ray inhaled sharply at Marisa's suggestion of travel. He looked at her, then at the broom, then back at her again. He slumped his shoulders and sighed.

"Alright, let me get my shoes on."

Rinnosuke Morichika sat in his shop, thumbing through a magazine that he had found. Like usual he had his store's door open, and like usual no one was visiting his store. He let out a sigh and cooled himself with a fan. Compared to when he first opened his store, he wasn't as dejected as back then about the lack of customers. At some point, he had grown to expect the occasional kappa or for Marisa to come and "borrow" something of his. In fact, if he concentrated hard enough he could almost hear her flying toward Kourindou to look through his newest selection of wares.

"Hey, calm down! We're almost there, ze!"

He looked up from his magazine in utter confusion. He stood up and leaned out of the doorway to see what was the matter and sure enough, Marisa Kirisame was coming in for a landing. What was out of the ordinary this time was that she had a passenger, and he wasn't wearing anything that looked normal for Gensokyo. Rinnosuke knew just by looking at him that the man was an outsider.

He waved at Marisa and the stranger, which elicited a wave back from Marisa, the stranger still preoccupied with his white-knuckle grip on Marisa's broom and praying to whatever gods he worshipped.

"Hey, Marisa-chan!" He shouted.

"Hey, Kourin! Ya got some time to talk to the newest outsider?!" She shouted back, a grin plastered on her mug.

She already knew the answer to that. "Kourin", as Marisa had called him when she was much younger, always enjoyed talking to any outsiders that survived long enough to meet him.

Maybe he can help me with the uses of some of these new items... He thought as he watched the duo land nearby. The man, who was more than just an outsider, but also an obvious foreigner, shakily stepped off of the broom and fell to his hands and knees, taking short, shallow, anxious breaths. His forehead glistened with sweat in the summer sun. As he stood back up, his hands shook just like his legs were. Kourin stepped over to the man and placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it slightly.

"Come in, get some tea, and sit down for a while, friend. We'll get you used to flying yet." Kourin said, in as sincere of a voice as he could muster.

"What do you mean, 'used to'?!" The man asked. "Oh god, I think I'm gonna be sick!"

The man bolted away from the two and fell into some nearby bushes, where they heard the man retching for a moment or two before he stood back up, using the tree to help him stand. Kourin leaned in closer to Marisa, who looked at the man with her eyebrows furrowed and her mouth slightly agape.

"Marisa-chan, just how fast did you fly here?" He asked.

"Not fast enough to make anyone do that." She answered.

Kourin rolled his eyes. He knew how it felt to fly with Marisa. To her, "not fast enough" was very subjective. He thought back to the first time he flew with her when she had just learned how, and how he was happy to have survived it, since the tree that they'd slammed into didn't fare as well.

"Maybe he's afraid of heights or something?"

"If he were, why'd he get on my broom, ze?"

"You both know that I can still hear you, right?!" The man asked, his tone exasperated and his voice raised.

The man leaned against the tree for a few more moments, kicked some dirt into the bushes, and then decided that he had composed himself enough to finally rejoin Marisa and Kourin near the storefront.

"Okay! Okay, okay. Sorry you had to see that, Sir," The man extended his hand for Kourin to shake. "Ray Dobbs. Outsider, journalist, former P.I., and pansy who can't handle flying with Little Witch Stig over here," He pointed his thumb in Marisa's direction."It's a pleasure to meet you."

Kourin shook his hand and nodded.

"Rinnosuke Morichika. Kourin to my friends. I'm the proprietor of this store."

Kourin pointed to the store behind them, using his thumb the same way Ray did. Ray looked at the front of the store. His gaze moved from one strange object to another. Some of the stuff in front of the store was just completely out of production, even by third-world standards.

"Do you run a thrift store or something?" Ray asked Kourin. Kourin looked at him like he had just spoken to him in another language that didn't translate. His eyebrows furrowed and he looked between the store and the outsider.

"What does 'thrift' mean, Ray-san? Is that an Outside World term? Kourindou is an antique store, if that's what you mean." Kourin answered.

"They're more or less the same thing, just that 'thrift' is trendier for the kids," Ray ran a hand through his hair and looked into the door of Kourindou. "So you said something about tea?"

"Yes, I did. Please follow me." Kourin answered.

The two did follow him. As Ray looked around the store, he took notice of just how many items that Kourin had in stock. The man had such an eclectic stock that Ray wondered just where he got all of this stuff from. Kourin produced a few tall stools from his side of the counter and set them in front of the counter.

"Give me just a moment and I'll have some tea ready. Please make yourselves at home until I return." Kourin said with a slight bow, then he walked through a door on his side of the counter and was out of sight.

Marisa, who waited just a second to make sure that Kourin was preoccupied making tea, walked around to look at the "recent finds" section of the store. Ray, not really knowing what to do, followed her. The "recent finds" section, which was noted by a sign that was hanging from the ceiling in front of the shelves that it indicated. Marisa was looking at the items in a frenzy. Her gaze focused on something and she began to inspect it, picking it up and examining it from multiple angles. Eventually, she presented it to Ray.

"D'you know what this is, Ray-san?"

He accepted the object and looked it over. It was some sort of metal can. The can was coated in an olive drab paint and had large, blocky black lettering on it that read "Property of U.S. Army". The top of the can had a threaded end, so it must have belonged to something that it attached itself to. He held the can-like object closer to his eye and attempted to angle it so he could see down it. He thought he saw some sort of seal in it, and so decided to take a guess as to what it was.

"I think this belongs to a... Gas mask, I'd wager?" He stated.

"What's a gas mask?" She asked. She cocked her head to the side slightly, one of her eyebrows raised.

"You serious?" He replied.

Marisa pouted at him, her hands on her hips in and her brow furrowed at Ray's reaction to her question.

"I'll take that as a 'no', then," He said. He held up the can so he could inspect it more in better lighting. "A gas mask is used to keep a person from breathing in bad stuff like toxins and uhh... spores and other contaminants in the air. This little can would go on it and filter out the air and make it safe to breathe."

Marisa chuckled at his explanation, and then pulled something out from underneath her hat. She held it out for Ray to look at. It looked like a miniature wooden cage that also had a small yin yang symbol emblazoned on what he guessed would have been the top of the device.

"Sounds similar to this then, ze. It's kinda like my mini-hakkero." Marisa stated.

Ray inspected the thing for a moment, trying to figure out how it actually could be similar to a gas mask. Eventually, after a few moments of him having carefully inspected the object, his brow furrowed and his hand on his chin in a pondering gesture, he looked back at Marisa, who had a grin on her face from having witnessed the man be stumped.

"Okay, how does that," he pointed at the little cage-like object. "Work like a gas mask?"

Marisa shrugged her shoulders slightly at that, which elicited a raised eyebrow from Ray.

"Dunno. Kourin made it for me after I left home," Marisa said, as she looked at the mini-hakkero affectionately. "I can do all sorts of things with it, and Kourin said it could help me in the Forest of Magic."

"It's a multifunctional item that has a multitude of uses." Kourin's voice could be heard from around the shelf that blocked the counter from view. Marisa motioned back to the counter, as if to say "let's go back", which Ray nodded in response to. When they returned to the counter, there were rice crackers and tea waiting for them, with Kourin having already started on his share. When the trio had finally gotten settled, Kourin leaned on the counter and looked at Ray.

"So, Ray-san," Kourin took a sip of his tea. "Pardon my inquisitive nature, but where did you come from?"

"I'm from this place called 'America', specifically from the part of it called Vermont," Ray said. He took a bite of a rice cracker, and then took a sip of his tea. "There's not much to say about the place. It's just a really quiet state in general."

"I bet Reimu would love it there then, Ze! No incidents, no youkai, no Yukari..." Marisa added.

"There's all sorts of other problems that I'd say are worse, I think." Ray replied.

"Like what?" Kourin asked.

"Well," Ray took a long swig of his tea, and then took a deep breath. "There's taxes, having to get around without flying, having to do some awful job if you didn't get lucky like me, and how the world is overall just not very enjoyable in general. I have to give the Outside World a few things, like air conditioning, electricity, and I'm sure I'm going to miss the Internet, but other than that I get living here will be loads less stressful than the Outside."

"What about any people? I'm sure there's someone you'll miss out there." Marisa asked.

"Oh sure there are," He held up three fingers. "I'll miss my uncle and his two kids. After my parents passed they were my saviors. Other than that, nope. Won't miss any associates, any coworkers, and how they can't keep their political opinions out of their work. D'you know how easy it is to not spin every news story or article? It's really easy."

"Sounds like we have another journalist in Gensokyo now, doesn't it, Marisa-chan?" Kourin asked. He looked over at Marisa, who smiled at him and nodded in response.

"Yeah, I heard from Reimu and Yukari. They said I'll meet her eventually. I've definitely got more than a few words for her when we do meet."

"And just what words would you have for me, outsider?" Asked an unknown voice.

The voice was femenine and it came from outside of Kourindou. A moment later, and the voice's owner revealed herself. To Ray, this girl looked kind of similar to some of the other non-humans that he had met already. He put two and two together that she was one of those youkai just from the fact that her ears were pointed. Along with that, his eyes were drawn to the bright red, weird-looking hat that he would have likened to being similar to a yamaka, albeit much more angular and large. He wondered if those tassels that were hanging off of it ever got in her eyes while she flew. She probably flew like everyone else here did.

As she walked in and out of the summer sun, he could get a better look at her. He saw the camera hanging off of her neck, and the orange armband that he would have likened to a press pass if he were outside again. He had to admit that she was pretty, but that had been a common thing here with every woman that he had so far met. Her hair suited her, but he would have recommended that she grow it out a little more, personally. She dressed well, albeit he wondered if a skirt was well suited for flying, especially if you got to higher altitudes where it got colder. Finally, his gaze reached her shoes, where he had to stifle a snicker when he saw just how much they modified her height. Quickly, he made eye contact again, and then stood up. With the shoes, she almost met his eyes without having to look up, but he was sure without them he'd be a head or so taller than her.

"You're the one who wrote that article, didn't you?" He asked.

"Why yes, I did," The bird-woman exclaimed. She reached out to shake his hand, which he obliged. "Aya Shameimaru, Gensokyo's fastest flyer, and its most accomplished journalist, at your service."

"Ray Dobbs, former marine, private investigator, and journalist. Pleasure to meet you, Shameimaru-san." Ray replied.

"No, no. The pleasure's mine, Dobbs-san."

"No, Shameimaru-san, the pleasure's both of ours. I do have a few words for you."

Ray motioned to his stool, bowing slightly like he were Aya's butler. He had a small smile on his face. This garnered a raised eyebrow from Aya. She knew what he was implying, and so she took the seat he offered. Kourin had already placed another cup on to the counter, and filled it with tea before she even had noticed.

"I've gotta say that the article you published couldn't be further from the truth, and I really think that you should put another article in the paper that sets the record straight. I'll even work with you right now to correct the record."

Aya crossed her legs and leaned forward just a little bit, her eyebrow still raised. She picked up the tea and took a sip. "Thank you, Morichaka-san. Like always, your tea is phenomenal and almost as delicious as Reimu-san's."

"You're quite welcome, Shameimaru-san." He replied, a smile on his face.

After a few moments, Aya produced a notepad and pen from somewhere. Ray didn't see where she produced it from, and he didn't really have the time to think about it. He'll think about it later, when things weren't as tense.

"So, Dobbs-san-." Aya started.

"Oh, you can call me Ray." Ray interrupted.

"Er," She looked away for just a moment before composing herself once more. "... Ray-san. You're the newest outsider that has come to our land, and I would like to know why you chose to stay with the Hakurei Shrine maiden? That's never happened in her time as the Hakurei miko."

"Well, I was essentially carried there by a 'Team Nineball' after Wakasagihime pulled me out of some lake. I asked them for directions and according to her, I was lucky to not be eaten. I was pretty drained, and Hakurei-san said I could stay there until I was able to find a home, since I also got Yakumo-sama flustered and she'd never seen that before." Ray explained.

"And did you-"

"Nothing. Happened." He stated, slowly and clearly. He emphasized the words to such a degree that he leaned in a little when he said them.

"Fine, fine, fine. Nothing happened. I understand," She quickly wrote some things down again and then looked back up at him. She studied his features, looking to see if his body language was portraying that he was nervous or anxious. He wasn't at all, and that was a surprise to her.

The two continued to converse, with Aya asking him all manner of questions about himself, along with follow-up questions related to those. Eventually, their tea went from lukewarm to cold, and they ran out of rice crackers.

"Well, you're one of the first outsiders whose been incredibly forthcoming with information, Ray-san. Most of them are very... guarded, which leaves many of them in a very enigmatic position to many of our readers." Aya explained.

"I'm guessing that's a bad thing?" Ray asked.

"Well, it's only really bad if they refuse to become a part of the Human Village," She readied her pen again. "Speaking of the Village, when you join it, what would be your preferred profession to take up if possible?"

Ray stroked his chin and looked up at the ceiling as the thought for a few moments.

"I think I may start a news publication, if I can get ahold of the materials. If not, I'd probably open up a detective agency." Ray answered.

"Mhmm, mhmm. A detective's agency? Intriguing," Aya closed her notepad, stored her pen within the coils of the pad, and then stored it somewhere behind her. After that, she reached for her camera and quickly took a picture of Ray, not giving him a chance to not get his photogenic face on.

"Damn, girl! Give a man a warning when you're gonna take his picture!" He exclaimed as he rubbed his eyes.

"The best photographs are taken when the target of the photograph isn't ready for them." Aya replied.

"Yeah, I guess."

Aya let her camera hang loose around her neck once more, she bowed to Marisa and Kourin, and then stepped back out into the afternoon sun.

"Well, Ray-san, it's been a pleasure speaking to you today, and I'll make sure that you get a copy of the next edition of the Bunbunmaru personally."

Aya looked up to the sky, and then, without even saying goodbye, she was gone in a flash, only leaving behind a few feathers that lazily floated to the ground.

"Aya Shameimaru! Get back here!" Reimu's voice thundered from outside Kourindou.

An explosion shook Kourindou, spilling his tea and knocking a few things off of the shelves. Ray, wanting to know what was going on, stormed outside and scanned the horizon. What he saw caused his jaw to drop. In the sky, it looked like there was a fireworks display going on, if he had to describe it to someone in his own words. A moment later, both Marisa and Kourin joined him outside.

"Who do you think will win? I'm thinking Reimu-san will." Kourin said.

"Yeah, I'm putting it on Reimu on this one." Marisa agreed.

"Okay you two, what in the hell is," Ray pointed up to whatever was happening above them. "All of this?!"

Both Kourin and Marisa looked at him, eyebrows raised. After a moment, they looked at each other and laughed.

"What's so funny?" Ray asked.

"Has Reimu not told you about spell card battles?" Marisa asked.

Ray shook his head slowly, his eyes occasionally being drawn back to the battle that took place above them.

"Well, that's what's happening above us right now, da ze!" Marisa exclaimed.

"That still doesn't explain anything!" Ray retorted.

"I'll take care of this, Marisa-chan." Kourin said. He stepped forward and put his arm around Ray's shoulder pointed up at the battle.

"When Reimu-san became the shrine maiden, she created a system to ensure that problems can be solved without a large amount of bloodshed, which is how spell card duels became commonplace in Gensokyo. You make them yourself and use them in these battles here. Most likely that's what happened with Aya-san and Reimu-san." Kourin explained.

"Uhh, okay then. I mean I get it but at the same time I don't." Ray replied with a slight shrug.

In just a few moments, the "spell card duel" was over, and Reimu and Aya descended from the cloud of smoke they'd made, with Aya looking much worse for wear than before.

"This is nothing more than an attack on the press!" Aya shouted.

"Stop spreading lies about me and I'll stop. How many times does this make?" Reimu asked.

Aya grumbled under her breath, and then took off into the sky once more.

"I will not be silenced!" She shouted.

She flew off toward that mountain in the distance, and Ray was left wondering what it was he had just witnessed.