This is a filler between Mystia's chapter and my next, which is still in the works, and a small expansion for Alice's background. I had intended for this section to be included in the next chapter as well, but the length would have been astronomical. This section is conversation-heavy.

Touhou belongs to Team Shanghai Alice. So do concepts, characters and everything else you have experienced while playing the game, except the dishes. Here's another man who wants to use his ideas for a story.

"… Mystia?" Alice Margatroid, who was wearing a hat despite being indoors, rose from her seat and received the Night Sparrow, who had threw herself into the puppeteer, similar to what Kokoro had done to her in the hotel. "You… you made it here?"

Mystia Lorelei nodded as she embraced Alice tightly, seemingly not wanting to let go, but she managed to keep herself from crying in relief.

"Where have you been all these years?" Alice asked as she gently pushed Mystia away to look at her face.

"Europe… all alone," Mystia replied, finally releasing Alice and straightening her brown dress. "I have come to Japan to search for the Yakumo Mansion."

"I have been living in Kyoto, Japan, for the past twelve years," Alice confided, taking her seat and inviting Mystia to do the same after one of the other orchestra member had vacated her seat. "But I haven't met anybody during this time."

"I saw Mokou a few days back in Nagoya!"

"Really?" Alice's eyes widened. "How has she been?"

"She looked to be stable, at least. She's got a job as a security officer in a shrine. What about yourself?"

"I almost gave up on life," Alice nodded and lowered her head slightly. "It wasn't easy making a living here. I spent my first six years wondering how I would survive. Then one day, I made a miracle, something which I had never succeeded in Gensokyo, and in turn, it brought me the money I needed."

"What's that?"

"Doll automation."

Mystia looked at the faces of each orchestra member again, which looked exactly the same. All of them were of equal height, almost matching her own, and had various hairstyles and headbands. Different groups of orchestra members wore their own respective dresses, which were obviously hand-sewn, except for two particular members, both of them whom Mystia was sure she knew of. "Are these… dolls?"

"Yes. You are looking at both Shanghai and Hourai, my two personal favorite dolls."

"But… Shanghai and Hourai… didn't they-"

"I remade them," Alice explained. "At first, making use of electronics, which I had learnt while I was here, I made a robot servant out of a life-sized Shanghai doll, which was made out of scrap material which I had scavenged all around the neighborhood. Shanghai moved stiffly, as you would have expected from a robot, kept walking into things and dropped stuff lots of times."

"Ouch!" Mystia winced at the thought of a robot walking in her own house, breaking everything that it came across.

"I wasn't able to improve her mainframe and circuitry much. I was living on a shoestring budget repairing dolls in the neighborhood, sometimes teaching others how to construct their own dolls. I barely had enough for food as well."

"You must have suffered a lot, Alice."

"Wow, you sure do have compassion for a youkai," Alice's eyes were wide in surprise.

"Thank the teacher of the Human Village."

"Computers were just beginning to be introduced six years ago, but I was working on something way beyond our times," Alice continued, adjusting an armband on her left arm. "This."

"Huh? An armband?"

"Not your usual accessory. This armband could have made me the richest woman on Earth if I decide to sell this."

"How?"

"I was working on a circuit board which I was planning to install into Shanghai to improve her movement logics," Alice said. "The circuit board was connected to Shanghai's new computing unit, something which I had found discarded near my home, which was already installed in Shanghai prior to that. My hand slipped on the wire I was holding and the live wires brushed against this particular spot on my arm."

The puppeteer slid the armband aside, revealing a darkened mark resembling a burn. "This spot is a burn I suffered while escaping Gensokyo. They said it was radiation burn. For one moment, Shanghai moved on her own and I thought I was dreaming. Ignoring it, I continued working and accidentally slipped on the wire again, causing it to land on that spot again. I only remember fainting right after I saw Shanghai turn around to look at me."

"How was that possible?"

"I don't know. I'm still trying to figure it out."

"Then… this?" Mystia pointed at the armband.

"Long story cut short, my memories were being read by Shanghai's circuit board when it was briefly connected to my burn. I only figured that out two days after that incident. Deciding to test my theory, I took the Shanghai robot's circuitry apart and retrieved the Shanghai doll that I had made myself earlier. I simply modified the doll by installing a hastily-constructed metal body skeleton into the doll, connected the same circuit board to it and the wires to my burn."

"And the Shanghai doll came to live?"

"Without any source of power!" Alice exclaimed, pounding a fist into the other hand. "Although it could not talk, as I had hoped, it recognized me and responded to her name!"

"And you tried it with Hourai?"

"Not immediately. I didn't have the resources to acquire another circuit board, but having Shanghai back at my side was good enough at that time. It was weird at first, having a sentient doll walking beside me with a length of wire attached to my left arm like an IV tube, but I didn't really care. Shanghai's distance from me was limited to the length of the wire, which wasn't very far. Since she was a normal doll, her strength was very limited and I had to reinforce the framework within her."

"What did you do with her?"

"I saved up enough money to get some steel and more cloth to increase her size, even though a large-sized doll wasn't in my original plans. I finally ended up with what you are seeing here. She's mainly a just a large doll with steel skeleton frame, but this mysterious connection on my burn allowed her to move her joints just as flexible as ours!"

"That's impossible! Magical powers in Gensokyo don't work here! Mokou had even said that she had lost her control over fire!"

"I wished I had an explanation. Another long story cut short, Shanghai got famous. Since Shanghai was one of my best combat dolls, I had her to fence rapiers with a prefectural champion and she actually defeated him! With the money I'm getting from doing stuff with this… 'invention', I managed to automate the Hourai doll and, as time went by, more of my other dolls. One day, the thought of using my dolls for orchestra simply slipped into my mind and so the Margatroid Doll Orchestra was formed. I play the piano, though, since that was the first instrument I have tried here, and it was easy to pick up."

"What are the instruments that they can play? Surely only mechanical ones like the shamisen and violin?"

"Nope," Alice had a sly look on her face when she answered that question. "Adapting artificial lungs from the medical industry, I managed to replicate non-certified ones for some of the dolls for wind instruments. With the aid of pressurized portable air tanks inside the dolls, they can easily mirror a real human playing the flutes and trumpets."

"Oh… wait a minute!" Mystia lunged her back from her seat. "You are playing the piano in the orchestra? Who is the conductor, then?"

"Naturally, me, but my armband processes my thoughts and my dolls pick up their synchronization from it."

"That reminds me; you said Shanghai was connected to you by wire on your burn. There's got to be at least thirty dolls in this room, yet I don't see any wires connected to you, and they are moving on their own!"

"Oh, I forgot to mention, I had another breakthrough just before the Margatroid Doll Orchestra's first public performance."

"What is that?"

"Wireless transmission. I studied how cordless phones worked, imitated the design and incorporated them into a circuit in this armband, which is obviously concealed. The design uses radio frequency, so I always had to remind the audience to turn off any electrical devices in case they interfered with mine. For each performance, all I had to do was to conduct with my mind, but it wasn't easy, especially when I had to first practice each musical instrument on my own to get a feel of how each worked. It began with a few easy songs while empty-handed to full theatrical complicated pieces while I was playing the piano."

"Your concentration must have been good!"

"Everyone in Gensokyo who participated in danmaku battles is sure to have good concentration."

"That's true. Say… Alice?"

"Hmm?"

"Did somebody send you a card, inviting you to Yume no Gejiko?"

"Yeah. How did you guess?"

"I've got one too. I was supposed to perform for tonight as well."

"Oh! I thought you were here as a guest! I had been told by the receptionist that I was to meet somebody for tonight's performances. Is that person you, Mystia?"

"I guess so. But who invited us?"

"I haven't had the slightest idea myself. I've heard of this place, but today is my first time in this theater. I was concluding a public orchestra performance in Kyoto two weeks back when a man handed me the card and left without so much as to give me more information about this. Enough about myself, what about you?"

Mystia gave a brief recount of the events, while also mentioning about Kokoro, that led her to visit Japan and, ultimately, the Theatre of Dreams. "Initially, I wasn't prepared to perform while on my vacation, but I was egged on by her."

"Kokoro probably did it for your own good. Yume no Gejiko is definitely every performer's dream in Japan right now."

"That's what I have heard, too. However, I only had three days to prepare, and there's this song that I had been requested to perform for tonight. Have you heard of Illusionary Maiden's Funeral?"

"I have, and I was requested to perform that song tonight. However, wasn't that song incomplete?"

"I have finished the song."

"How? Aren't you almost illiterate in Japanese?"

"I've had help, and I have been learning Japanese for two years already!"

"I must admit, your spoken Japanese did improve, compared to when we last met."

"Aww, thanks…" Mystia trailed off as she seemed to remember something. "Um… Alice… do you think… she would be listening to our stage performance tonight?"

"'She'?"

"You know… that promise I was forced to make."

"…"

"…?"

"… I hope so. Why did you ask about this all of a sudden?"

"This song," Mystia retrieved a folded sheet of paper containing the lyrics of the song. "That I have completed, I am going to dedicate to her, along with the rest of Gensokyo, both survivors and those who did not make it out."

Alice nodded solemnly. "You do that, Mystia. I'm sure they will appreciate it. In fact, this year's performance is going to be filmed on national television-"

"For real?" Mystia asked in disbelief.

"Yeah. You do know that the previous three years were never aired? The organizers are allowing the rest of Japan to view tonight's performance on air for the very first time! Yakumo Mansion survivors might see us on the television tonight!"

Kokoro will be able to see my performance too. And if I make that kind of dedication in front of national television, wouldn't she find out the truth about myself? But making my presence in Japan known to the other survivors is more important.

Or is it?

What should I do? Scrap the dedication, or go ahead with it? What if Kokoro suddenly becomes very afraid of me? What if-

Mystia felt something soft pulling at her hand; Hourai was tugging at it to get her attention. Alice was wearing a concerned look as she spoke. "Everything all right, Mystia?"

"N-no, uh, I mean… yes."

"You sure? You looked a little worried about something. Stage fright?"

"No way! I've been on the stage for years!"

"Maybe you are just hungry?"

"Probably. Shall we get something to eat?"

"Sure," Alice simply walked to the door and was about to reach for it when Mystia stopped her.

"Wait a minute! What about your dolls?"

Alice stopped in her tracks and appeared to be in deep thought, but only for a second, before waving her arm nonchalantly. In an instant, all dolls but Shanghai and Hourai took their seats in the room again and went limp after sitting down. Both Alice's favorite dolls followed after their master. "The dolls don't eat, but I have a habit of bringing just Hourai and Shanghai out with me."

"Well, I believe there's probably one more following you for today."

Alice turned around when she heard that. "Hmm?"

"That's me," Mystia pointed at herself with a smirk.

"Oh, right," Alice smacked her own forehead in mock silliness, Shanghai and Hourai imitating their master's actions in perfect synchronization. "I've totally forgotten about a living bird doll in cute brown dress."

Even though the optical illusionary world of Yume no Gejiko had many buffet tables set up in various places, both invited performers instead found themselves wandering into a restaurant within the building, thankfully modern looking and not part of the dizzy illusion that is the theme of the theatre.

Faces at tables turned to look at the quartet as they were being directed into a private booth, as requested by Mystia herself. The Night Sparrow was aware of the curious comments made by some of the other patrons, especially when they were referring to her dress code, most probably mistaking her for Alice's daughter.

"Those people out there were talking about us," Mystia said once the waiter had taken their orders and had left the room. Shanghai and Hourai were, of course, simply seated around the western table and observing the conversation without any real intelligence.

"I've heard them too," Alice took a sip from her glass of water. "There was one particular comment about us that caught my attention, though. He said that whoever who owned this theatre must have had very extensive connections around the world to bring two very unique performers into one act for tonight. He might have known you, for I am probably already known within Japan for my doll automation."

"Kokoro said that I was probably the first foreign performer in this theatre. Maybe that's how they know. In fact, some of the guests at the lobby seemed to recognize me as I entered the building."

"Honestly, I have never heard of you or seen any of your performances before today, or I would have contacted you earlier," Alice said.

"I was sure my popularity was centered mostly in Europe, but I was told my label was also known internationally."

"Not so much in Japan, I think, seeing that I myself haven't heard of you."

"So it's like me, coming to Japan, to try and spread my fame here, huh?"

Alice laughed, then reached up to adjust her hat, which she had not taken off despite being indoors.

Mystia noticed it and found it suspicious. "Wearing a hat indoors? Why?"

"My dolls have stolen my hair," Alice simply said as she poured hot green tea for both of them, as if she wasn't bothered by the remark. "Everything that I have is now sitting on their heads."

"For real?"

"I don't use replicas to dress my dolls, Mystia. The shoes that they wore are real shoes made for people."

"Even the ones you made in Gensokyo?"

"Yes."

"The hair, too?"

"Unfortunately, no, only the ones made in the Outer World. I've begun losing hair ever since I got out of Gensokyo," the puppeteer set the pot back to its initial position and gently served a filled teacup to Mystia, who accepted it. "If you have heard rumors of me selling my own soul to my dolls, it is actually only half true."

"The other half?"

"Thankfully still mine," Alice laughed.

The doors to their private dining room opened and two waiters entered through it, both of them carrying covered plates. As each of them was served their orders, a third water entered with a large bowl and set it on the table in the middle. "Please enjoy the dinner, madams," the waiter said as he bowed to both diners.

"Hmm? What is this?" Mystia asked, leaning forward curiously to see the contents. "I hope there's no poultry in it."

"Kitsune udon, Miss Lorelei. No poultry in it, as specified."

"Huh? 'As specified'? I don't think we ordered this…"

"It is on the house, Miss Lorelei."

"Excuse me, but how do you happen to know her name?" Alice asked.

"I deeply apologize if I mispronounced the name," the waiter bowed again. "But this is on instructions from the owner of the theater, Miss Margatroid."

"May I know who this wonderful person is?"

"The owner has made it clear to not reveal the identity, Miss Margatroid. Again, my apologies for that."

The pair (and possibly even the sentient dolls sitting at the table) watched as the trio of waiters retreated from the room after bowing again and closing the door after them. "Yume no Gejiko sure is mysterious," Mystia commented as she began cutting her hamburg steak. "Kitsune udon isn't exactly very special, but the owner sure has to be."

"Maybe he is watching us from… somewhere?" Alice wondered out loud as she ladled some of the soup from the udon into a bowl and took a sip. The reaction that had formed on her face immediately caught Mystia's attention. "Mystia, it's no ordinary kitsune udon."

"Surely you jest?" Mystia asked disbelievingly as she helped herself to the udon. After just one sip, she immediately stared at the waiting Alice. "This… this got to be…"

"the…" Alice continued, before both of them completed the sentence together.

The dolls, which had been sitting limply in the room, suddenly stirred to life as the four of them reentered the room and taking their seats in the VIP's lounge. One of the dolls immediately got up from its seat, ran to the nearby drinking fountain and returned with two cups of water. It served the first cup to Mystia before handing the other one to its master.

Both of them gulped down their drinks and sighed in relief. "That dinner was great, Alice," Mystia said.

"You seemed to have a preference for western meals now, huh?"

"That's for living in Europe for more than a decade, Alice. That rice set of yours looked pretty filling. I was wondering if you were able to finish it."

"For the amount of money they charged, I have to finish it anyway," Alice lamented at the large sum of money they had both just spent. "Well, we did finish everything…"

"Except the kitsune udon!" both of them pointed at each other with accusing fingers before breaking out in laughter.

"I have a mind to write a letter in to the restaurant," Mystia sighed when they stopped giggling.

"I told you it was no ordinary udon, remember?"

"Definitely one of the worst ever, way too salty! Even Mokou, who couldn't cook anything without burning the food, would have made better udon!"

"And just how sure can you be? For all you know, she could have gotten better at it. I do wonder if that was a prank though, but for a theater of this reputation, I doubt anybody would dare to commit such low acts?"

"If it was Cirno? Nothing is impossible," Mystia put the cup to her mouth, only to find it empty. Alice unconsciously ordered the same doll to help refill both cups. "Ahhhh… I missed that good friend of mine. Hell, I missed everybody. Seems that I'm the only one in the class who made it out."

"Well, we haven't forgotten about them for tonight, have we?"

"Let's make this a wonderful performance, the best that both of us have ever done."

"It will be one night to remember, Mystia."

"To our friends," Mystia raised her cup to toast, Alice following suit and both of them drained their cups again.

Mystia glanced at the watch on her wrist and then proceeded to remove and pocket it. "We've got two hours before it starts, and I don't think there has been a rehearsal for all of the performers tonight for their entry sequences."

"Mmhmm… now that you mentioned it-"

Before Alice could say any further, there was a knock on the door; Hourai was motioned to open it, revealing a black-suited man with equally black pants. A nametag pinned on his left breast pocket of his white shirt told them that he was a staff member of the theater. "Ahh, Miss Lorelei, I have been looking for you."

"My apologies, I was at the restaurant."

"In the latest turn of events, the opening ceremony has been cancelled, Miss Lorelei. The esteemed guests of the theater will be arriving early today, so it is with regret that I inform you that you will have to be prepared early. Miss Margatroid, that will apply to you too, as you will be the only orchestra performing for tonight."

"I see," Alice nodded. "Alright."

"One moment," Mystia called as the man was about to leave. "May I know what is going on tonight?"

"Oh, we are hosts to some of the most important figures in Japan tonight," the man explained. "They are currently having a private dinner elsewhere, and the organizer for their event today has made changes to the schedule. We were originally slated to host them only tomorrow, but as you are already here, it was changed to Friday, and now yet again brought forward to an earlier time slot."

"Would this not inconvenience other performers?"

"Other performers?"

"Yeah," Mystia retrieved her invitation card again. "It says here that I was initially supposed to do an opening ceremony based on the Anvil Chorus. That does require many performers."

"My apologies, I am not well-informed of the series of events taking place in the theater, but I do remember only having two performers for tonight."

"Two?" Alice and Mystia exclaimed at the same moment.

"Yes, and I believe the two madams here must be the said performers."

"There were no others?" Alice asked.

"Not that I recall of, Miss Margatroid," the man shook his head. "Please be ready and waiting in this room in half an hour, madams, and do excuse me as I have to be somewhere else at this moment." The man bowed, closed the door and left them alone.

"Two?" Mystia squeaked softly, unable to find her voice from the sudden revelation.

"Maybe they wanted to give only a small peek of what that is always happening in the theater?" Alice suggested with a shrug.

"I'm pretty sure whoever who's doing the media coverage for tonight was expecting a concert-style event, not just a girl singing with an extraordinary orchestra in the background!"

"That isn't our main concern, is it? We were simply invited to perform, and we are still able to do what we intend to do, right?"

"That's true, Alice."

"All that's left now is our entrance rehearsal."

"And I already got something in mind."

"Let us hear it, Mystia."

The theater hall was renovated to resemble the court of an English palace with an English evening outdoor theme, even though the hall was indoors. Lifelike street lamps illuminated the rows of throne chairs that were arranged in standard theater style on artificial grass, all of them covered in velvet, giving the impression of royalty and power to whoever who sat on them.

This extravagant treatment was not far from reality, as the most important people of the country were attending the performance that night. Policymakers, the various officials holding key positions in the country and the leaders of some of the biggest corporations from all over Japan were present with their immediate families, and their numbers were, surprisingly, not minor.

Ushers stood at each end of alternate rows of the seats, ready to assist their VIP audience in any way they could. As always, each of the guests would always stop to admire the optical illusions, appreciating the way that the theater could conjure up such reality in a building and chatting among themselves, and the ushers would subtly get them moving. It took a while, but the last guest was finally seated when one of the coordinators gave a silent signal for the performance to begin.

The Margatroid Doll Orchestra's members were already seated on the floating platform on an illusionary river, but their conductor was not on stage yet. The fake sun at the back of the hall that was 'setting' quickly shrunk beneath its metaphorical horizon and soon the theater hallways plunged into total darkness, save the small souls of light from the lamps at each end of the rows of seats, causing some gasps among the audience.

The stage was then slowly lit with mini light bulbs decorated all over it, allowing the audience to readjust their eyesight to the severely dim light. The light then grew brighter, but only bright enough for the audience to see the orchestra members, who appeared to be sitting (or standing) on utter nothingness. Alice's two star players, Shanghai and Hourai, both violinists, stood in front of the entire orchestra of the other dolls with their different musical instruments.

An emcee, whose location in the darkness was not revealed, greeted the audience as a whole and gave the usual introduction a theater would, covering the main highlights of the night's performance. After a rousing round of applause, the emcee called out to the theater's guest performers, Mystia Lorelei and Alice Margatroid, to take their places on the stage.

When the audience was totally quiet, the dolls began playing their instruments to the introduction of Johann Strauss II's Kaiser Walzer – OP. 437. Some of the audiences with musical background whispered to his or her neighbor of the perfect synchronization of the orchestra even without the conductor present.

Soon after, the lead violinist duo joined in and their melodies sounded as if only one violinist was playing. A small applause sounded for the miraculous performance, but quickly died down as the orchestra approached the climax of the short introduction of the waltz.

At the height, the percussion section of the orchestra joined and a spotlight beamed down at the short flights of steps on the right side of the stage, revealing Mystia and Alice. The pair ascended the steps, hand in hand, in accordance to the gallop of the segment of the waltz, the spotlight following just above them, and once on stage, released their hands and curtsied to each other before proceeding to the front of the center of the stage and executing a full Japanese bow to the audience, who responded with yet another round of applause.

Alice was gently led by the Night Sparrow to her piano, where she continued standing while gesturing for Mystia to take her place at the front. The introduction of the waltz had ended there, and all seated dolls stood in greetings to the audience. The applause was still ongoing when Mystia stopped in front of the stage, adjusting the mic stand to her relatively short height. They only stopped when Mystia was done with the adjustments, ready to greet the audience, and the Margatroid Doll Orchestra took their seats with the exception for the two main violinists.

This is going rather well, Alice thought to herself as Mystia began her introduction of both of them in her best Japanese. Never knew that bird has so much talent for stage. If it was me, all by myself, I wouldn't have been able to pull that off.

To all of Gensokyo, whether or not you still live, whether you are alive somewhere in this world, no matter if you are no longer with us, and especially you, Reimu…

Mystia has conveniently forgot her dedication in her introduction speech, but let me say it on her behalf:

Tonight, the twelfth year of our exile in Earth, Mystia Lorelei and myself, Alice Margatroid, will perform together in the prestigious Yume no Gejiko in Tokyo, Japan. We represent the finest talents of Gensokyo, and as children of the Eastern Wonderland, we seek to bring glory to ourselves, even if nobody here knows of our true existence. To all our departed friends, sit back, relax and enthrall yourselves in our magical performance tonight.

To all who are watching us on television right now, you see not just two of the lost survivors of the attack on Gensokyo, but the everlasting fighting spirits to continue living. Wherever each of you are right now, we are living the life that, at first, seemed impossible for us.

If you are watching us tonight, then you must have also realized that we had taken our home for granted. Youkai simply caused problems without nary a thought for our land, and Reimu had been trying her best to stem the incidents before they wrecked it, but she was only human; there's a limit to what she could do. Look at how one foolish hell raven managed turned our lives topsy turvy.

I'm sure everybody now is sharing the same wish as I do in my heart, and that is to be able to return to Gensokyo, vowing never to break that one refuge for the forgotten outcasts that are us, the various species and the humans who lived among us.

For all my fellow Gensokyo citizens, let our performance tonight resonate the resilience of our undying spirit! Survive, we must! Together, we will find that path back home to Gensokyo and live our lives once again.

Alice's mental dedication to Gensokyo and her citizens finished just as Mystia finished her introductory speech. The Night Sparrow turned to look at the orchestra's conductor, who nodded with a smile, indicating that the orchestra was ready, which was followed up by the dolls readying their various instruments. Alice, however, remained still and simply closed her eyes as the piano was not needed for the first song.

With another rousing applause for the performers, Mystia swallowed to clear her throat and let loose her voice, the same one that had almost all of Gensokyo hated, yet loved by the humans of Earth, to the waiting audience in anthem to the mezzo-soprano of La Habanera (or also known as L'Amour est un oiseau rebelle', Love is like a Rebellious Bird).

A.N.: And there we have it, the theatrical part of the story that had been one of my earliest ideas for Letters to Reimu. Once again, not much on letters or even Reimu. I'm pretty sure that there shouldn't be such major sidetracks again and doing the research for theater realism did take a couple of months. Even then I'm pretty sure I've still got some stuff wrong.

Currently, my entire story has been inspired by classical music that I happen to listen on the train. It had been Bach's Ave Maria for most of it, then Strauss' Kaiser Walzer for majority of Mystia, Kokoro and Alice's parts.

As promised, the next one will go back to the original intentions of the story, featuring the nine-tailed kitsune Yakumo Ran. How soon will it be updated? I don't know, I've got some exams coming up.