In the kitchen of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, the mistress of the mansion was enjoying a cup of tea with the resident magician and librarian. Remilia took a delicate sip from her cup… and then immediately her face scrunched up in disgust.
"Bleugh!" Remilia set down her cup with a frown. In between chatting, she and Patchouli were also trying out different tea recipes together. "Pache, this is awful. Do you seriously enjoy this? No wonder you're such a gloomy fellow…"
"The tea Sakuya makes me is far more bitter than that. You're the one with the childish palette." Patchouli said, taking a tentative sip from her own cup. Her cold expression made it clear she didn't find it to her liking. "...Case in point, how much sugar did you add to mine?"
"Someone who correlates maturity with palette is the truly immature one." Remilia asserted, not for the first time and unlikely to be the last. "And you could definitely do with some more sweetness in your life. Perhaps I'll ask Sakuya to make sure you get more sugar in your tea until you're as sweet as me!"
"Don't you dare." Patchouli said with an exceptional unsweet glare. "In that case, maybe I'll ask her to swap your refreshments with bitter ones until your palette finally expands. All for the sake of our mistress' image, or something like that."
"Hey, no, she'll take you completely seriously!" Remilia urgently said to an uncaring Patchouli. "If she even gets the idea in her head, she'd-"
"Pardon me, Mistress. Lady Patchouli." The familiar voice of Sakuya was suddenly heard, as the maid had spontaneously appeared behind the kitchen counter, going through the cabinets.
Remilia tensed at the sudden appearance for only a second, before expertly composing herself. "Sakuya, you're back already? How did it go?"
"I've unfortunately hit a minor snag, so I'll be heading out again after resupplying." Sakuya said, unfolding the special compartment from the cabinet which stocked a whole slew of knives, organised by type and shape.
"A snag?" Patchouli asked, curiously noting that Sakuya was perhaps just showing the slightest hint of being disgruntled. "Did something happen?"
"Nothing either of you need to be troubled with. I just need to replace a broken set of cutlery." Sakuya took out a knife from the compartment, looking it over and mulling to herself. "Hm, the meridian set might be decent for the job… But I might need something with more weight…"
"Is it really 'nothing' if your knives were broken?" Patchouli's curiosity only increased, since whatever happened sounded a lot more taxing than just simple scavenging. "Do you want me to take a look? I could probably use some metallurgy to fix them up."
"No, I'm afraid my previous set was unsalvageable, and I already gave them to someone who said they'd put them to rest." Sakuya allowed a melancholic sigh to escape her. "If there is an afterlife for knives, I can only hope they have fun cutting and stabbing up there."
"If you say it's not worth troubling me about, I'll believe you. But Sakuya," Remilia said, finding the maid's actions and words to be a little bit eyebrow-raising. "Is this really still worth troubling yourself ?"
"Of course, Mistress." Sakuya turned around to face Remilia with a resolute expression. "A maid never goes back on her word, and I intend to see this task to completion, no matter who I have to skewer."
"Seriously," A baffled Patchouli threw up her hands. "What happened ?"
"I see…" Meanwhile, Remilia simply nodded in sagely understanding. "If my dutiful maid says she will do something, then I expect nothing less than such perseverance."
"Thank you very much. I won't disappoint you." Sakuya declared. Having picked out a new set of blades, she then vanished once more.
"Ugh. Seriously, Remi…" Patchouli groaned as soon as they were alone again. "Whatever she's up to, I already know it's completely unnecessary. You don't always need to encourage her, you know?"
"As the head of the mansion, I simply acknowledge and respect the fervour my subjects have for their duties." Remilia said with a confident grin before returning to her teacup… and then immediately frowning again. "...Oh, I should have asked her to prepare something different before she left."
"I made that bitter tea with 'fervour' too, why don't you acknowledge that by finishing it, hmm?"
"You first! Your mistress demands you finish your sweet tea."
Remilia and Patchouli stared at each other in silence for a few moments. Eventually though, they simply wordlessly exchanged teacups with one another, and continued drinking tea together in peace.
The sound of clanging metal filled the air of Kogasa's house-slash-workshop. She was hard at work, stopped down at the anvil and had been for sometime. It was good enough time for a break, so she put down the hammer and simply reached over her other side for her fruit basket for an apple.
The fact that everything was within reach was less a matter of convenience, and more because Kogasa's humble home was absolutely packed to the brim with stuff. While crouched by her anvil, she only needed to glance around to get a good view of everything she 'owned'. The walls featured many shelves lined with countless abandoned shoes, cups or utensils. There were clotheslines set up all around not just to hang laundry, but to hang dozens of abandoned umbrellas, including her own purple one.
She made it a habit of picking up any abandoned tools she came across, either to fix them up or otherwise give them a new purpose. Most of the time, however, she just ended up housing them as best she could.
As she chewed on the apple, Kogasa's thoughts started to wander as she took in the sight of all the tools around her.
"Hm. ...I wonder if all of you would have rather been found by someone else?" Kogasa mused to herself, not necessarily to self-depreciate, but simply as an observation.
Kogasa usually felt really accomplished about the efforts she went to for her fellow abandoned tools, even if they made her house a bit cumbersome to get around. But as she sat there thinking about her earlier encounters that day, she felt a lingering sense of inadequacy building up.
"I want to help all those ancient tools in that weird tomb too, but… Miss Raiko's grand ambition sounds so much more impressive than anything I could do for them. And Miss Sakuya is probably way more capable of taking care of them, so they probably wouldn't be unhappy being owned by her."
Kogasa leaned back against a soft pile of junk behind her, and sighed. " Do I really need to be involved, or am I just tricking myself into thinking I'd be useful? "
It wasn't the first time Kogasa had such thoughts. On some days she let herself to simply stir in those feelings for a while until they passed… but this time, she couldn't possibly allow herself that.
"No, no, I already told Miss Raiko I wanted to be involved! Whatever happens, I gotta at least give it my best effort!" Kogasa shook her head, literally shaking off her ennui, before quickly munching away on the rest of her apple.
After tossing the apple core into the bin that was also just next to her, she picked up her hammer and went back to work with renewed vigour.
"No more doubts for tonight, or tomorrow! I'm going to help save every single one of those tools, even if I'm just there to cheer for everyone else! An umbrella is made to lift people's spirits, after all!" Kogasa declared to nobody other than herself, and resolved to keep her own spirits high until the current matter was settled.
Under the moonlight, the scenery of the forest path was wonderfully serene. It made for a beautiful setting for anyone who wasn't afraid of the occasional youkai who might lurk in the corner.
Fortunately, that didn't apply to the gathering of tsukumogami who had all gathered in one spot tonight. Brooms, crowns, shoes, and all manner of tools were having fun around a campfire, chatting and drinking away.
Providing even more ambience were two particular tsukumogami who were playing an engrossing tune with their string instruments.
"Hey, can all of you take it a little easier?" Providing the soothing strums was a biwa player sporting long purple hair, Benben, who laughed at how hard the other tsukumogami were already partying.
"Honestly, you all better not become too drunk to enjoy the climax of our performance!" And offering the comforting bass of the koto, was Benben's younger sister, Yatsuhashi.
"Sounds like things are already in full swing." The voice of a new arrival to the gathering suddenly called, and the Tsukumo sisters turned their heads to see it was Raiko. "How are you two?"
"Ah, Raiko! How lovely to see you!" Benben offered a polite nod, without pausing from her strumming.
"Well, well, didn't think a busy celebrity like yourself would make it." Yatsuhashi said with a scoff, but the bright smile on her face indicated it was all in good spirits. "By the way, when are the three of us ever going to perform again? You're always on tour with the Prismrivers lately!"
"Haha, you know my music isn't exclusive to anyone. I want to spread my sound through all of Gensokyo, alongside as many people as possible." Raiko gave the same charming smile she always did to get Yatsuhashi to give up the matter for another day. "Oh, and thank you, Benben, for gathering everyone here for me."
"It's no problem." Benben said. "Our network is pretty close-knit, so it wasn't hard to do. You said it was for something important?"
"Huh, what?" Yatsuhashi asked, confused. "Raiko asked us all to come here? I thought we were just here to party."
"There will be plenty of time for that. But for right now," Raiko said, with just a bit more gravity to her words. "There's a matter that concerns other tsukumogami who are in danger, and I could really use some help."
"That sounds serious! Alright…" Yatsuhashi stopped her playing, prompting Benben to follow suit. She then turned to all the other gathered tsukumogami and called out to them. "Hey, everyone! Raiko has something really important to talk about!"
However, most of the tsukumogami did not even turn to look at Yatsuhashi, too absorbed in what they were doing, or just too drunk.
"Hey! Listen…!" Yatsuhashi shouted louder, to no avail. "Oh, I'm getting mad now…"
"You need to work on your presence, I think." Benben said, offering a comforting pat on her sister's shoulder.
"It's okay. Let me." Raiko calmly said, before pulling out her drumsticks.
She summoned her circle of pads, and began playing. It wasn't a particularly intense or complicated drumbeat, yet it immediately caught the attention of the other tsukumogami. Slowly and one by one, each of them began to happily crowd around Raiko.
"Seriously, how do you do that?" Yatsuhashi asked, pouting.
"Music is the best way to convey feelings from one soul to another." Raiko answered with a grin. "Especially to my fellow tsukumogami, who are more attuned to their souls than most."
Once everyone's attention was on her, Raiko paused her playing and spoke to the gathered crowd, alongside the Tsukumo sisters.
"Thank you all for being here. I wish it was under more pleasant circumstances, but there's a situation I could use support with. It's to do with helping our fellow tsukumogami…"