Gensokyo Tea Time

by permafrost13

After engaging in a deal with a certain youkai, strange things started to happen to the light music club, eventually leading them to explore a never-before-seen world.

3. Rabbit's Afternoon

Chapter 3 : Rabbit's Afternoon

---

After taking a warm bath, Hiromi lazily went to the kitchen to drink anything that would satisfy her thirst. She opened the refrigerator then stared at the almost empty contents, save their usual water containers and the few remaining fish cuts they haven't decided what to make with. It was usually her job to restock their fridge as it was the only thing she could right, at least on what Kasumi observed so far. Her eyes glimmered as she saw something other than plain old water, a lonely can of soda hidden behind those containers. Wearing a childish grin, she quickly grabbed the can like it would be the last in her life and closed the fridge with a force that shook everything in its wake.

Suddenly, her head started to throb again as if someone demonstrated the wonders of free fall with a stone brick somewhere above and coincidentally struck her after taking a few steps from the fridge. She couldn't tell if the headache was from her extensive use of her ability, which naturally happened on some occasions, or it was just Yukari who knocked the sense out of her with more punch than she anticipated. A few hours already passed from the gap youkai's beating but she had felt something was not right – a particular thing that was supposed to be in the picture but ended up missing, nowhere to be found.

Perhaps it should not count as a fair fight since she didn't get a chance to strike back. Even though she would face someone that was far stronger than her, she still insisted to push herself to it, ignoring Kasumi's advice. Maybe she was too stubborn to accept that she was being reckless. Hiromi could tell that even she would irritate Yukari like a very persistent mosquito from time to time, the gap youkai somehow enjoyed every confrontation as if it was part of her fun-to-do-things list in her out-of-Gensokyo trips. She was not entirely sure either as she assumed that Yukari would go outside Gensokyo for her own amusement. If she could only find a way to bypass the barrier enclosing the gap youkai's place, Hiromi would definitely drop by anytime in Yukari's house to annoy her without any compelling reason.

Did the thought of why Yukari haven't disposed her permanently from the start ever crossed in her mind? More importantly, what she was doing was tantamount to suicide to the more level-headed ones?

Simply, Hiromi was just being Hiromi after all...

If she only knew more of Yukari's reputation in Gensokyo, she might start to reconsider her actions for a bit...

Even though she just met Yukari for the span of only a year and a half, her curiosity to the ancient youkai seemed to be endless. She was a native youkai of the outside world and hadn't reached the place to be considered as a haven for her kind. When nothing to do, she would sometimes relax and contemplate what could be seen inside Gensokyo and why youkai such as Yukari chose to live in such place – another important detail she was eager to know.

From the place she was on now however, youkai seemed to be forgotten. What was more depressing, the few who were actually aware of the youkai's presence despised or simply didn't like them, some even exterminating the pesky ones for a good price. Was that because of the youkai's savage history over humankind a few centuries back? She didn't know the specifics but that would be saved as another story for later.

Hiromi had been alone in their house for more than an hour now and recalled Kasumi going to the nearest store after she regained consciousness. She was also been told not to wreck things in her friend's absence. Those cynical reminders were somehow needed for the likes of the brunette, stubborn and all.

She turned on the television and sat cross-legged in front of it as she grabbed a game controller underneath where all of the game discs and console accessories were neatly arranged, thanks for Kasumi's effort. Video games, especially that includes blood and action, were a perfect pastime for Hiromi to vent all of her angry, temporarily forgetting a specific memory in her mind that would invoke her 'cranky mode'. Yet, this would give Kasumi another trouble in fixing those game controllers that usually ended up a perfect crisp on the inside when she couldn't make progress to a particular game, in very rare cases, she would destroy the disc itself and complain how hard it was to finish, or the excessive, unnecessary mashing of the buttons in some of her games, such as fighting ones, that left them easily worn-out, even if it was fixed to pristine condition in that same day.

After some more minutes, Kasumi opened the front door, carrying four grocery bags that usually lasted before the end of the week. The gray-haired girl immediately went to the kitchen without any other word and began to sort the things she bought. Her mood didn't get any brighter for today despite of her short 'practice shooting', as what she prefer to call it, with Yukari. Indulging herself to Hiromi's plans seemed to be a stupid decision for her part but she couldn't left Hiromi in the open for too long or she would cause wanton destruction, whether it would be from boredom or in an unconscious manner without giving a damn about the outcome.

At least, for Kasumi, it was good to see Yukari once in awhile...

She only hoped that they wouldn't reach Yukari's limit. Hiromi's meddling might annoy Yukari, but she could never be angry to them for that reason alone. She believed that the gap youkai patience was more than everything else.

The rest of the evening was a peaceful one for them, probably more peaceful if they left Yukari and the other blonde girl to their business. Hiromi remained in her game she left earlier, bearing concentration that Kasumi probably never seen in more sensible things before, as she tried to pin down a deformed bipedal assault weapon systems a tad larger than a two-story building using her lightweight machine gun, loaded with armor-piercing rounds, as her primary weapon and various portable rocket launchers scattered around the place for additive damage. Her character, a girl who was just about to get out of her teens, was already covered in thick blood as she tried to avoid every laser beams, chaingun bursts and multiple rocket barrage from her opponent, which in turn redecorated the whole vicinity with craters and blast marks. Those annoying combat-support drones that were deployed from the bipedal weapon was getting into her nerves although their individual damage was something to be ignored.

This proved quite worth watching as Kasumi went nearer to watch, especially when seeing Hiromi's game face on.

The girl seemed to be faster and having more endurance than any normal human. She could even ran on walls and execute midair jumps multiple times- all depending on her stamina level. She could also take more punishment as she would live even after catching a HEAT round in point-blank range, provided to give her time to recover before resuming combat. The girl was not alone, as other few humans, apparently heavily-armed soldiers of the resistance group, joined the fray and rained down countless bullets to the rampaging mech with their respective weapons. She smiled, as she thought it would make her job easier. The bipedal weapon was battered to the point it couldn't move anymore as it collapse to its knees. Activating a special ability, the girl's right arm morphed into a fearsome organic cannon about half her size and jumped on the mech's cockpit, aiming at point-blank range for a quick finish.

"Now's my chance!" The brunette cried fiercely as if she was the character herself, complete with the monotone voice. "Taste true power!"

But it only made things worse as she received a clean hit of a nasty warhead from a soldier wielding an RPG launcher far behind. If any normal person would catch something like that, body parts would definitely fly everywhere. In the girl's case, she was still alive and in one piece, given the gameplay mechanics, although incapacitated for a given time.

"G-Get up! No time to rest in the middle of a crossfire!"

It was nothing to worry as the girl's incredibly fast regeneration rate was a thankful addition to her abilities. The unexpected friendly fire gave a golden chance for the bipedal weapon to recover to its feet then, from all unlucky events that could possibly happen, accidentally crushed the girl in the process.

"W-What in the..." Hiromi stared at the game over screen for a few seconds before subsequently reacting like it was something unbelievable.

"DAMMIT! Stupid NPCs and their stupid aim! I was about to finish it!"

Kasumi giggled. "That's because you jumped in front of their line of fire? No one in their right mind would do that, much less in actual combat."

"Gah! You saw that, right? Are they blind? I bet those other humans were controlled by the psycho-freaks too! It happens all the time!" cursed Hiromi as she set down the controller, already losing interest. This was quite surprising for Kasumi, as her friend would usually do something in the daily routine like throwing said controller to the screen or to the nearest, unobstructed window. "Now, I have to repeat all of this again because there's no freaking checkpoint in this chapter!"

"Then blame the developer. Not me."

"I would like to mention that my copy of this game is broken too! I get to freeze in the middle of cutscenes and some missions too!"

"It's either that way or you really just suck. Maybe altogether? I don't know."

"I've lost my money pouch somewhere this morning, Yukari got me soaked in the plaza's fountain, then this! Is this day won't get any better?"

"You deserve it anyways. If she tosses you out in the ocean, I can't help to wonder what kind of miracle you'll pull out. If you asked me, I'll just watch you from afar with popcorn."

"Obviously, I can't swim! You should know that more than everybody else!" retorted Hiromi as she slumped herself on the couch. "Ugh, I think I'm going to catch a cold..."

"You better not," warned Kasumi as she put a hand on her waist. "I don't want to babysit you for the next few hours."

"So what should we do now?"

"I suggest anything that doesn't involve any pain and property damage. Why won't you try the 'leave your companion at peace' option for once? Also, you'll end up attracting them again."

"Hm. I guess it would be good to rest for a bit," Hiromi mumbled softly as she covered her face with a cushion, finally conceding. "My body hurts..."

"Running out of things to do, huh? Fortunately, I got plenty of things to do."

"Hey," called Hiromi as she shifted her body to the side and looked at her partner, "are all of your kind like that? I mean, they're all inventors or something?"

There was a short pause. Kasumi hesitantly glanced at the floor. "I...don't know. Why do you care anyway?"

The unexpected response made Hiromi frown. "Hey, what's with all that sullen mood? I'm just asking. Besides, you're originally from that place, If I'm not mistaken."

"Try to convince me instead. I might tell you if you do."

"Convince you? Sounds easy, after I take a nap...or maybe tomorrow. When I'm in the mood, I guess."

"Also, in case you'll forget later, you owe me a soda."

"It's not like I'm going anywhere..."

---

Hirasawa Yui barely opened her eyes as she felt a sudden surge of energy inside her, waking her whole system up in the process. Feeling like she slept for a whole day, she brought her body up in a single pull. With a still sleepy yawn, she slowly stretched her arms up high for a few seconds before setting them down. The visit of her friends and sister yesterday was a great boost to her spirit and mood. Even though she had to wait for some more days before she could go back, it was something that she appreciated the most since she bought her beloved guitar two years ago. In that thought, she leaped out of her bed but almost stumbled to the floor as her legs started to shake. She managed to get a hold of the window's frame before pushing herself back on the bed, deciding to take it more slowly instead as she was not yet in her best condition.

It was still dark as she gazed outside the window beside her fluffy bed, which was rare for her to be awake at this hour. The chilly fog surrounding the mansion was as thick as yesterday and she could hear strange noises from afar, probably from the ever-present youkai. She pondered about getting up early before the sun loomed over the horizon more often would be a new, refreshing experience for her. It might save some effort for her sister's part for going into her room just to wake her up.

Indeed, Hirasawa Yui woke up on her own earlier than anyone could expect...

That would be a great help for her hardworking sister, even for a bit. Ui would be so proud of her if that day would finally come, where Yui could open her eyes in the morning and prepare herself before even being told.

Then, she breathed deeply the morning air she never had before in the outside world. For her, it was like the air was generously filtered and added with an extra flavor she couldn't describe. Perhaps it was the same feeling for being in a different world from where she used to be. She could hear rhythmic footsteps as if it was going back and forth without any specific purpose in the hallway. It was always like this as the rabbits of the eternal mansion would do the chores, at least for this particular day she wasn't aware of.

Hmm! I'm feeling great today!

I wonder what's for today's breakfast...

Gathering her strength once more, she attempted to walk without any intention of hugging the floor with her face. Standing was surprisingly easy but she could feel her legs tremble again. Yui thought that she shouldn't be standing in the first place as Eirin never told her such. Well, she wouldn't know otherwise if she didn't try herself. Slowly, she took each step one at a time to avoid bringing her legs to its limits.

She slid the door open, only to look back as she forgot one more thing to do in her morning ritual.

"Ah, Gitah! Good Morning too! I've got to go for a bit. Behave while I'm gone, okay?"

Of course, the guitar remained silent beside her bed and couldn't respond to her by any means. As much love and concern Yui gave to the guitar; it looked like she was wasting her voice on a lifeless instrument that would never return anything to her. A very unique, childish mindset of hers that cannot be apprehended easily by anyone. All that matters for her was that she was enjoying every second of those moments and wouldn't regret them in her lifetime. It would be for the best to leave her alone in the little world of hers.

She carefully walked her way as she tried to find the manor's kitchen. The wooden floor of the hallway appeared to be cleaned thoroughly just awhile ago as if she could see herself similar to a mirror. A tiny part of her brain warned her again, kind of similar when her younger sister was about to hit her patience limit, as Eirin and the others would probably restrain her for good until she would behave herself like a child. Not only she was able to walk again; she also left her room and now wandering to find the kitchen. If there should be a need to put blame on her seemingly impetuous actions, it would be her empty stomach.

Does that mean her stomach had a will of its own too? One could only marvel on a breakthrough such as Hirasawa Yui.

In unexpected luck, She saw Tewi going out of a room on her right, carrying a glass of water. After staying up late last night, it would be natural for her to be tired.

"Good Morning, Tewi," Yui greeted in a drowsy manner as she passed by the youkai rabbit.

"Ah, Yui, morning. Where are you going?" replied the rabbit girl as she rubbed her eyes with her free hand. "You shouldn't be awake yet at this hour."

"Say, do you know where's the kitchen is? I'm hungry."

"Can't you just wait on your bed? I'll give it to you later..."

"But I'm already here. Can you just point where it is?"

"Straight ahead. Don't do anything stupid, okay?"

As soon as she was about to take another step, she suddenly froze and her eyes widened in awareness and shock, almost dropping the glass she was holding and removing her drowsiness completely. She slowly turned her head back to the guitarist who was able to move again with ease.

"What in the world? You're already fixed?" exclaimed Tewi, running towards Yui.

"Ah? Me? What do you mean?"

"Don't tell me that master's medicine worked! This is madness!"

"Why are you surprised? I thought you trust Yagokoro-san's medicines?"

"Not entirely!" Tewi looked at the brunette, particularly her dress which was the same hospital gown she wore before being sent to Eientei. "I think you need a change of clothes. Let's ask Reisen for that."

"Rei-chan? Where is she anyway?"

Tewi grinned as she heard the Yui's nickname for the moon rabbit, much to her amusement. "By this hour, she's in the kitchen now, preparing the banquet for later."

The two subsequently went to the place where it would be considered as the manor's mess hall. Wooden tables and benches filled the room which was strangely enough to accompany all rabbits living inside Eientei, despite of the limited area. Eccentric plants Yui never seen before decorated the walls and a cute drinking fountain was placed in one corner. The nifty counter, where all of the food was distributed by the staff, and the kitchen were at the opposite end of the room. Also, the large window at the right side was a thing to be noted as it allows open air to enter easily. The outdoor atmosphere was indeed fitting for the youkai rabbits and probably for everybody else as well. Even Eirin and Kaguya would sometimes eat their meals there more often that they should be.

"This is the refectory?" asked Yui. A few rabbits cleaning the tables give themselves time to glance at her before resuming to their work. "It's cute! I wish we had something like this in our school. Actually, I almost never visit our school's cafeteria since we have our packed lunch and Mugi-chan's snacks."

"Yeah. We built this area a couple of months back for us rabbits. We renovated this part of the manor since it doesn't have any particular use," said Tewi in a proud tone. She would always say that it was something that they made with their own hard work. "Oh, the kitchen is in the back. Reisen should be there now."

"Ah! I can't wait for breakfast!"

"Can't control your hunger, eh? Well, it can't be helped. That's why you left your room in the first place, right?"

"Why are the rabbits so busy than the previous days?"

"Oh, I forgot to tell you that tomorrow will be Reigetsusai!"

"Huh? What's that?"

"It's a festival suggested by Master Eirin and Lady Kaguya. We held it during the night of the full moon every month."

"Ah, sounds like fun. I love festivals!" Yui enthusiastically replied then placed her index finger on her lower lip. "Oh, if tomorrow is the festival. What are we celebrating today?"

"I thought you might ask," muttered Tewi as she scratched her head. "We also held a party of us youkai rabbits the day before the moon festival. We spend a lot of time pounding mochi and doing other stuff the whole time, you know? So, I demanded for this holiday for us. It took me a lot of time to press it on master's face though. This will surely increase the morale of the rabbits, especially every time when the rabbits prepare for Reigetsusai."

"But...you just play all day like Reisen told me one time. She kept complaining about the pranks you always do."

"Ah, well," Tewi stammered as she tried to cover her shame. "I do work...sometimes."

"Oh, really now? I wonder..."

"Hey, don't get started on me!" The rabbit retorted as she folded her arms on her chest. "In this household, I'm the one who does that."

As they reached the place, Tewi kicked the double doors open and entered the noisy kitchen. The sudden intrusion of the two didn't steal any attention from the workers. The handful of rabbits seemed to be absorbed on what they were doing since their demands were accepted by Eirin. Utensils and other silverware clattering to each other as the rabbits worked, occasional screaming on sudden explosions and errors, and sound of cooking, such as frying and boiling, that was typically to be heard inside every morning.

In Yui's surprise, the kitchen appeared to be almost as large as the dining hall. Several humanoid rabbits were helping Reisen to cook for their buffet for the feast later. Sure enough, a mansion housing a lot of rabbits would require them more than what they need but for this day, it seemed that they were making more than what they could consume. The kitchen had different workstations somehow similar to the outside world's restaurants. The coordination of the rabbits were a spectacle sight as well, each had varying roles in the kitchen as they worked on a specific meal. It was an interesting for Yui to know that youkai rabbits were able to make great dishes.

Amazing! So this is like to be in a kitchen filled with rabbits. Yui thought as excitement filled her body. Not anyone would be given a chance to catch glimpse on a rabbit-operated kitchen. Probably the only kitchenever existed that would allow such workers in the first place. I bet Ui would be very surprised to see this!

Probably, if Yui had a restaurant, she would gladly invite those youkai rabbits as her employees.

Well...that would be too weird to eat in a place like that. Waitresses, chefs and all others wearing those cute bunny ears, except that those ears were actually real. Then, what might transpire after her customers knew that her employees were youkai rabbits was a sight to behold.

"She got her hands full, huh?"

"We shouldn't disturb her now." Yui whispered to Tewi. "I could wait until she's done."

"Nonsense! This is rather urgent!" said Tewi in a voice not to be expected from a tiny rabbit girl then she puffed her chest in determination. Almost everyone was startled in the kitchen as the youkai rabbit of good fortune shouted her greeting. "Good morning everyone!"

"What do you want now? We're working here..." Reisen didn't bother to look back as she was still busy slicing bamboo shoots and other vegetables. Once she got into work, she would put all of her focus in the given task until she completes it - A trait that Tewi always used to her advantage when it comes to her pranks. Since it was only her prankster companion, she knew that it was not to be given of concern or importance.

"Reisen, can we borrow-"

A youkai rabbit with curly brown hair went out of her station to inquire the moon rabbit, cutting Tewi off. The brown-haired rabbit was carrying a small bowl of creamy mushroom soup. "Reisen, should I put more pepper into the soup? I don't trust my own taste."

Reisen tasted the given sample with a spoon, allowing her taste buds to absorb the soup's flavor. "Ah, I think this would do. Try adding a bit of pepper then simmer it some more."

"Er, Reisen. We need some clothes for-"

"Uhm, I think the rice is done. Where should I put this one?" shouted another rabbit a bit farther from the back as she raised a pot probably filled with said rice.

"Just put it next to the finished ones. Be careful not to topple them," said Reisen then she turned to Tewi. "What was that again?"

Suddenly, a burst of fire erupted from a stove as nearby rabbits took evasive actions to avoid being roasted to golden brown.

"Ahh! Fire! FIRE!" a fidgety rabbit girl cried while running in circles as the torrent of fire literally reached the ceiling. Apparently, she was assigned to a very convenient stove that uses magic as fuel and let her curiousness take over by setting the fire a bit higher than it should. She wasn't expecting a powerful output from the stove which took her by surprise. "W-What should I do?"

"Calm down and put that fire out!" ordered Reisen before panic completely take over the kitchen. Accidents like these happened frequently, much to her dismay, but she could see improvement as each day passed. "Master's going to kill me if that spreads!"

Another rabbit, who happened to be carrying a bucket of water, did the initiative of soaking the stove with water but to no avail. "Ah! It's too strong!"

As last resort and probably to save from more trouble, Reisen formed a gesture that seemed to resemble a gun with her right hand and accurately shot a red projectile straight to the stove. To her relief, the fire died in a flash and there were no additional damage made aside from the scorch mark above them. Then again, she was quite lucky that the stove didn't explode in the first place.

T-That stove's dangerous...

I think I should return that to Rinnosuke-san later; can't have something like that when the rabbits are around...

The clumsy rabbit girl earlier broke to tears as she fell to the floor in embarrassment and fear. This was not the first time she caused trouble in the kitchen and probably to other duties as well. "R-Reisen...I'm sorry for being a burden..."

Wait...she could have just turned it off in the first place...

Oh well...

"No harm done, I guess. I think it was the stove's fault all along..."

With an encouraging smile, Reisen offered her hand to the rabbit and took it afterwards. "Thank you...I'll do my best next time."

"Okay, break time's over. We're almost done, so let's get moving." Reisen said as she turned to the rest of the rabbits.

After what appeared to be a short television commercial, they resumed their work as time wouldn't wait for them. The dim sunlight already crawled its way inside the kitchen and there were still a lot of things to do beside from cooking. Yui suddenly felt bad about breaking everyone's momentum in their work.

"Uhm, Reisen? I think you need to listen to me now," said Tewi as she approached the moon rabbit from behind. "This is quite important."

"Okay, I'm listening. Just get to the point already."

"Oh, Rei-chan...Don't be so cold on me! That alone shattered my delicate feelings for you! It's like you stabbed my heart repeatedly without knowing that I cared for you in everything!"

"W-What ...What did you just said?" stammered Reisen as she began to lose focus on her work, her hands slightly shaking. "Anyways, we're kinda short here. Mind if you help us?"

Tewi pondered the offer for a moment before shrugging briefly. "Maybe next time."

"Are you here just to annoy me? We need to finish everything before noon. You should be the one enthusiastic about this since you're the one who made this up! Seriously, put some dedication to your work!"

Tewi just sighed. "Not really. I'm just asking if I could borrow your clothes."

Reisen stopped what she was doing as she heard the absurd. "Eh? As if those clothes would fit on you. If you want a new style for your dress, we could visit the village in our free time."

"Not me. It's for Yui! Just give me an answer already if you don't want to be disturbed!"

Reisen finally turned around and saw the guitarist at the doorway who waved a hand at her with a cheery smile. Her face turned to absolute horror as if she just saw something disturbing. She appeared to be relieved but suspicious at the same time. "Don't tell me that..."

"...Master's human regeneration enhancer drug worked?" Tewi continued. "Yeah, just what I said earlier but she's completely healed now."

"Hirasawa-san...are you sure that you're fine? Don't you feel anything...unusual?" asked Reisen in a rather coarse voice with widened eyes. She couldn't believe what she was seeing now. It was like her vision was induced by her own ability.

"Yep, I'm fine! Don't worry about me."

"Are you sure about that?"

Yui nodded several times. "Uh-huh. I don't know what happened but I'm positively okay now. It's like a miracle from the gods!"

"Everyone, continue your work. Excuse me for a moment!"

With that said, Reisen grab Yui by the arm and ran outside the kitchen with haste.

She had no doubts when it comes to her master's reputation as a pharmacist but she always had the urge to question behind Eirin's miracle drugs. If anyone could do such drug as Eirin's, she wouldn't be surprised by any means as if it was as easy as making pancakes. It wouldn't help her if the lunarian was secretly working on some new suspicious drugs that she didn't even know what it does unless she would drink it herself.

Reisen was the lunarian's apprentice after all.

"Reisen! Are you sure you two should be running? Her bones might break because of you!"

With that warning, they decided to walk to Eirin's room in a more convenient pace.

---

"Master! Master!" Reisen called out as she knocked at the door. "Are you there?"

"Udonge, what's with this ruckus?" asked Eirin in an annoyed manner as she reluctantly opened the door, her hands on her waist. "I hope you're watching the rabbtis on their work."

"Oh, good morning, Yagokoro-san!" greeted Yui in her usual energy.

"Did you slept well, Hirasawa-san? I see that you're in great shape today!"

"How about you?"

The lunarian's sullen mood faded in an instant as she nicely replied with a creepy smile. "You bet I am! How about we go have some breakfast together first?"

"Master, I-"

"Absolutely! Oh, you brought Udonge too! Perfect timing!" said Eirin in an overly excited voice, very far from her usual mood. In fact, Eirin's mood shifted so fast that it sent chills on the moon rabbit's spine. "Did you prepared our breakfast for this morning?"

"Uhm, do I look like having a twin sister working in this manor? A-Anyways, we already made breakfast," replied Reisen with a rather deadpan expression. "Master, what kind of scheme are you pulling now?"

"I'm not pulling anything, Udonge. Don't you think it's a great day for the rabbit's festival? I'm very positive that things will go smoothly as ever!"

"Ah, yes. But we still have to finish the preparations for later. It's not like I'm excused from work today..."

"That can wait, right? After all, you and the other rabbits have the whole afternoon for yourselves!"

"Right! I'm about to burst in excitement for this rabbit party!" exclaimed Yui with an eager thrust of her fist to the air.

"See? Even Hirasawa-san agrees with me. Since I'm feeling generous today, you only need to deliver some of my medicines this time."

"M-Master? I don't know what you ate last night but could you please stop this now?" pleaded Reisen, getting more scared as her master spurted out fluffy and airy words in a very short interval. The image of her master that she always looked up to was slowly fading into oblivion. Something was definitely wrong.

"No need to have doubts, Udonge. I'm your master and I know what will be the best for you. I will show you the light, my loyal apprentice!" Eirin claimed as she laughed, almost in a hysterical manner.

"Ahhh! The light is too strong for me to bare!" said Yui as she dramatically blocked her eyes with her arm as she pretend to be blinded. "Is this the power of your...charismatic mentorship thingie?"

"Someday, Hirasawa-san, you shall be enlightened by the light as well."

"T-That's it? You should be more surprised!" said Reisen as she pulled Yui in front of her, clearly not enjoying cheerful Eirin anymore. "I mean, she wasn't supposed to be standing now! Unless you have something to do with it!"

The Lunarian gave a shocked look to the brunette, deeply analyzing the guitarist's frame before narrowing her eyes. "Wait, you're right! Something's definitely wrong here."

"You see what I mean now? Wait...did you realize that just now?"

Eirin continued as she ignored the moon rabbit. "How can that be?" asked Eirin as she lightly scratched her chin. "Maybe it's Tewi's fault..."

Tewi's eyes widened in the claim. "What? Why blame me for this? I can't even heal myself that fast!"

"Well, I dunno. Maybe most of your luck got rubbed onto Hirasawa-san?"

Reisen just sighed and rubbed her forehead in her master's conclusion.

"My luck can't possibly do something like that," explained Tewi bluntly. "If being lucky would make you invincible, I won't be surprised if people will start worshiping me and build me a shrine of my own."

"That's a good point..."

"You could just told us that it was your medicine that fixed Yui," Reisen spoke as if she was about to lose her voice and motivation to pursue further. She only wanted to end this quickly. She still had things to check on.

"Fufufu, I guess that last medicine did reach my expectations."

"Master, can you please cut that out? You sounded like the mistress of boundaries..." muttered Reisen, starting to get more and more disturbed. "Anyways, I don't think it was just the regeneration enhancer did this."

"I don't know about that! I did nothing!" cried Eirin as she covered her face with her hands. "Why do you put the blame on your master?"

"You don't have to be so denial about this..."

"Huhuhu...You know me well, my loyal apprentice," said Eirin dramatically as a smirk formed across her face. "Perhaps it is time to enlighten you what really happened to Hirasawa-san."

"Did you rehearsed this last night? It's creeping me out..."

"Aw...Udonge, this is my only chance to brilliantly act like a mastermind," said Eirin as she pouted childishly. "You spoiled my fun." Her face shifted to a devilish grin. "I'm afraid I have to punish you for that."

"T-That's totally unfair!" Reisen protested as tears welled up on her eyes. Punishments were always a cruel game played by Eirin which in turn made the poor moon rabbit out of commission for several days. Although Tewi would enjoy the spectacle that looked like a comedy series every Saturday night, she would also suffer the consequences as she would take charge of the chores that Reisen left.

"I'm just fooling around," said Eirin, returning her normal tone before turning to Tewi with a hopeful wink. "Tewi, how's that for a starter?"

"Well played, master! I knew you're up to something behind that smile of yours earlier although that kind of thing doesn't fit you well. I guess it's all up to me in teasing Reisen. Just leave that part to the expert."

"Hm, I guess I need more tricks in my book."

"If you need help, just give me a call, master!"

Reisen didn't know whether she would cry or laugh. Perhaps both? She was supposed to be used to it now - tolerating every prank she receives from Tewi, the harbinger of her misery and enduring Eirin's punishment that became a casual game for the lunarian. Reisen knew in her heart that her master couldn't possibly turn to someone like Tewi. Not in her lifetime. If that would be inevitable, maybe she would be in the moon again before that happens. Whacking the heads of her master and the youkai rabbit seemed like a good option. However, she couldn't do that. The combined deterrent of those two was more than she could handle.

Doing the initiative, the pharmacist spoke again, "As you said earlier, the enhancer alone couldn't possibly heal Hirasawa-san completely overnight. I simply gave her another medicine before she slept."

Yui tilted her head to the side. "Huh? I don't remember taking anything..."

"Fufufu, of course you don't. I mixed it into the water you had before sleeping."

"Why am I not so surprised about this scheme?" asked Tewi in a thinking posture. "Typical, I guess."

"What is important now is that additive worked and she is now healed," said Eirin. "Oh, and those side effects will eventually wear out, so no worries."

Reisen had the urge to ask again. "What kind of side effects would that be? Master, I'm clearly aware that Hirasawa-san is your patient but you don't have to use her for those kind of things. She's a human too."

"Uhm, all of you here can call me Yui instead. No need for formalities," Yui chipped in. "Oh, my friends call me Yui-chan. You can call me that too!"

"Ah, about that? To put it simply, the enhancer basically pushes her regeneration ability to the limit, leaving her body in a state of shock as she couldn't possibly catch up on the sudden changes that occurred. She just need time to adjust and everything will be fine."

"That would be a relief then," said Reisen, contented on the response. Still, there was something that didn't feel right on the process. "I suppose she just need a few more days of rest for that."

"Now that you're fixed. I guess you don't have any reason to be here anymore," said Tewi. "If Yukari visits you again, you'll be able to get back to your place in a flash!"

"I wonder when would that be. I wonder..." said Eirin softly. Surely, Yukari, who was supposed to watch all of Gensokyo in case of an impending incident and the regular maintenance of the barrier, wouldn't forget about Yui. But when? She didn't have a slightest clue. The gap youkai's shikigami did most of her job while enjoying herself taking a 'nap' or doing something else 'entertaining'.

"No!" Yui quickly replied with firmness in her voice which made Tewi and Reisen rose an doubtful eyebrow as they recalled Yui's grumbling the past few days about being bored without nothing to do interesting other than a friendly chat or stare at the walls of the room until she realized it was already sunset and time for dinner. It was clear as day that the guitarist wanted to go home as soon as she was allowed so by Eirin, but what were the chances of meeting them again? Even if Yukari gave her access to the somewhat closed world of youkai, it would be hard for someone like Yui to find the eternal mansion.

Now that she remembered, Tsumugi was the one who was overly enthusiastic about exploring Gensokyo. Yui was interested herself, but it was something that was not to be considered important as her daily intake of cake and tea should be satisfied first. She would definitely give Eientei a visit if she knew what path to take or survive on the way.

"I wanna stay here until the festival's over!"

"Nice excuse, Hirasawa-san," said Tewi as she gave the guitarist a thumbs up. "You're really catching up!"

"What were you teaching her Tewi?" asked Reisen.

Eirin pondered the small request for a bit, turning her gaze away from the brunette.

Who could resist the power of the brunette's puppy eyes?

"I guess it won't be a bother. Well then, if you're more than willing, I guess it won't bother much if you'll help Udonge sell medicines in the village if the opportunity allows you so?"

"Sure, I'm used to part-time jobs anyway!" Yui enthusiastically replied as her eyes gleamed on a whole new level. "I won't let you down!"

"Don't worry, I'm not the type who rushes people to pay their bills. I have plenty of time anyway."

Tewi just nodded at the immediate decision of the guitarist. She just keep saying yes without any thinking. She's somewhat an airhead. If she was a youkai rabbit, master would be more than happy to have someone like her. Reisen, on the other hand...

"Master, she was just healed and you will send her to work already?" asked Reisen. "She should use her remaining time here resting."

Tewi made a smile before sighing to herself. Pretty much expected that...

"I would, but Yukari haven't payed her expenses yet, so..."

"Master, I think it's not fair for her. Why not ask Yakumo-san personally for the payment?" suggested Reisen as she was clearly not in favor. Eirin could be cold at times and she would use any available asset at her disposal.

Yui gathered her thoughts for some seconds before coming to a sensible conclusion – a recent and familiar one. "Ah, so my work will serve as an initial payment of my expenses?"

The lunarian grinned widely as she heard the guitarist's response. "It's good to know that you're a fast learner, Hirasawa-san. I'm starting to like you."

"I don't know if should really ask this, but...are you, by any chance, a relative of Yakumo-san?"

Eirin's eyes completely widened as if the question was the least she would expect from anyone. "W-What made you say that? That came from nowhere..."

"Uh, I could see the relevance."

"Maybe it would be best if you start helping now. I'm certain that you will enjoy working here," said Eirin, then beamed once again. "Don't worry, I will be easy on your daily tasks."

"Eh? Master? Are you serious?" asked Reisen.

"Ah, that's okay. I could manage all kinds of things! Well, maybe the easy ones..."

"Udonge, if you have anything to do, Hirasawa-san will give you a hand."

"B-But...Ah, okay...," Reisen conceded as she looked at Yui who nodded at her eagerly. "Maybe you could accompany me to Kourindou? I have to ask something there and also to return that crazy stove."

"Where's that?" asked Yui.

"It's quite a walk from here. A-Are you sure you want to join?"

Yui shrugged then beamed at the moon rabbit. "Why not? I got nothing to do interesting anyway. This is my chance to explore outside this mansion!"

"You sure are excited about this. Well, you are an outsider," said the youkai rabbit.

"Putting that aside," Eirin coughed once before continuing. "Tewi, you'll be the one who will take charge of the duties for now. Udonge won't be long anyway."

"Okay, but you gotta go back quickly Reisen! We'll start without you and eat all of the food!"

"Fine, I think there's more than enough for everyone," Reisen replied half-heartedly with a cold stare to the rabbit of good fortune.

"I'm not joking at the delivery part though," said Eirin as she went to the medicine drawers to fetch a couple of clear bottles containing thick greenish liquid. "I think Kourindou's proprietor requested this a week back. Since I was busy with Hirasawa-san's medicines, I forgot about this medicine until the other day."

Reisen's eyes slightly widened. "Oh, that. I remember now. He even asked you if there is a medicine that could reduce someone's sleep hours or even removing it entirely without suffering much of the consequences on that matter."

"Wow! Is that even possible?" asked Yui. "Is that similar to coffee?"

Tewi was slightly fazed but find it somehow natural for Eirin to make medicines beyond the limit. Well, she still had the right to react like magic never existed or the youkai were actually a product of a greater entity's imagination. "Yeah, if you think it that way, it sounds funny. No, seriously, did you already make one?"

"Sleep is essential to everyone, being a youkai is not an exemption. Depriving yourself of it will make your whole body sluggish, ensuing slower reaction time and the spirit will also be affected in a quite similar to the physical body although that would be another separate topic."

"Very true. You can't do much things without sleeping," Reisen added.

"This medicine will revitalize the body and spirit to make up for those lost hours of sleep. Rinnosuke-san will find this helpful, especially in times like these where he got a haul of new outside world goods."

"That seemed to be just your typical medicine then."

"Honestly, I can't make medicine such as that. Besides, relying on medicine all the time is not good either."

"It sounded not right coming from you."

"Just one proof that I learned from the past. I daresay that goes the same to everyone else. Now, get moving before I change my mind of actually giving you punishment~"

Reisen winced before she straightened her body. "H-How can you say that with that smile on your face?"

---

Azusa entered the empty club room after her class's last period. She felt that gloominess enveloped the room as if it was devoid of life for an ample of time. The rain outside didn't help to liven up the once relaxing ambiance of the room. She was expecting that the rest would be there soon. Maybe they had cleaning duty or some other tasks to be done first.

After setting down her bag and guitar, she didn't feel like sitting at all. Instead, she approached the water tank and stare at the room's resident turtle, Ton-chan. The petite turtle swam happily around the limited but large space of the tank for its size. Azusa lightly tapped the glass with her index finger for a few times, almost in a hypnotized manner. There were things that came into her mind and demanded her to search for answers that seemed to be entirely absurd to the world where she was well-aware of.

Now that she knew the true condition of Yui, she was free of worry and she could now focus more on her usual activities, at least on what she expected to happen but it didn't work on her favor. The visit yesterday lead her to more extraordinary questions that might make her look weird or crazy if she would share it to her classmates. Then again, probably the occult club would be the only ones who would be more than glad to listen to what she just learned. Maybe she would end up being recruited by the club and learn about supernatural beings instead of playing the guitar.

What baffled her was the fact that the only way that they could enter in that world was by the help of the blonde woman who could control boundaries, an ability that held many meanings which confused her more as she indulged herself more interpreting it. She could just forget every detail of them after her senpai returned as if it was a dream but it was likely to rather stay in her mind for a very long time. Conversely, why was she so interested to begin with? Was it because she was enlightened by something didn't suppose to exist?

The more frightening revelation was about the existence of youkai. Even though Yukari appeared to be no different to a human being, she claimed to be a youkai. Could it be possible that youkai also live among them? The question made her cringe as it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that she had seen or even met a youkai before, not only aware of their true identity.

What if Ton-chan is a youkai?

...

No, that would be ridiculous...too ridiculous...

Azusa just sighed to herself as she was getting overworked thinking about something unimportant. Claiming that their turtle was a youkai made her no better than Hirasawa Yui. Now that she remembered her senior guitarist, she wondered what could be the life of being in a youkai's place. From their visit, the youkai in the mansion were not that far from humans in any means. In fact, they were too accomodating that anyone wouldn't think that they were youkai. If that were the case, it would be safe to tell that youkai were not all savage and destructive, as portrayed in some random stories she read in the past.

"Oh, Azusa's already here."

She was too occupied in her thinking to the point that she failed to notice the rest of the club members already entered the room. They seemed to be in their usual mood today.

"Azusa, something wrong?" asked Ritsu as she casually threw her bag on the usual blue bench before their table. "You're spacing out..."

"Ah, well. It's nothing important really."

"Are you sure?" asked Mio, quite worried. Azusa quickly nodded in response as she didn't want to bring it up.

"You know, I had a hard time sleeping last night just because of thinking about youkai. Who would have thought that they actually exist out of those old stories? Can you believe that?" said Ritsu as she sat on a chair and rested her back comfortably. "I can't help to wonder if all of them are the same as Yakumo-san. Maybe some of them actually eat humans! Does this mean that ghosts exist too?"

Well, she had to thank the drummer for the refresher. She guessed that the whole youkai thing wouldn't get out of her system any time soon.

Despite of being Ritsu, she made a valid point. Could it be that there were other mythical creatures existed in the world aside from youkai? This would only open up a lot of questions that might cause Azusa's mind to collapse or implode in processing all of those alone.

"I-I thought that we're done with all of that youkai stuff?" said Mio as she gave Ritsu a fierce look. She certainly didn't like where the conversation was going.

"Did you enjoy my little story last night?" asked Ritsu with a smug face.

"Who said anything about enjoying that? Do that again and I won't answer any more calls from you again."

Ritsu ignored the bassists as she continued. "Also, I'm sure that you're aware of this, but the increasing number of disappearances in some places sure is scary, don't you think? The police is getting no leads about those cases too!"

"Ah, I've heard them in the news too!" Tsumugi chipped in as she prepared tea for the rest. "We should be more cautious, especially going anywhere outside our homes."

"...Because you will never know that the person you're talking to now is actually a youkai that will eat your intestines out like they were spaghetti!"

As an automatic defensive measure that the bassist unconciously practiced for years being with Ritsu, the bassist's left fist swiftly found its way on top of the drummer's skull, making the brunette stagger in pain and stop her from saying more creepy things. Tsumugi was quite fascinated at the scene.

"Well, I'm quite surprised you have the attention span of reading newspapers or watching the news," Mio said sternly.

"That's rude!" muttered Ritsu as she gently rubbed her throbbing head. "Ugh, if only Yui was here, she'll back me up..."

"Don't put her in the middle of this," she added coolly as she brushed the locks off her shoulder before she spoke up again, "Anyways, let's cut to the chase. We barely practiced since the other week. I know that summer vacation is near but we still have the final exams before that too."

"True, but I'm worried more about Yui-chan," Tsumugi said with a concerned look on her usually bright face. "She already missed a lot in class."

"Why worry if we have Mio?" asked Ritsu assuringly as she displayed her carefree nature once again. "Her tutoring should do the trick!"

"You say it like my tutoring is always a hundred percent. Also, We should spend the remaining weeks in practicing for the school festival after the summer break."

"Our last school fesitval huh?"

Tsumugi clasped her hands together as she was done preparing tea, eyes shining as if it she was dreaming. "True. I wished we could stay as high school students forever."

A smile formed on Ritsu's face to such silly wish. "That can't possibly happen, y'know?"

"B-But that's not impossible, right?"

"Don't give me that look, Mugi."

Azusa felt her heart sunk as she heard the inevitable truth – the last year of the seniors would mean the last year of the light music club as well. Her senpais will graduate soon and the club would be in shambles again. She was not against tea time, as she herself enjoyed the luxury of those food brought by Tsumugi; her only wish that the club would be more focused on practicing rather than eating sweets and drinking tea.

She was only worried about the future of their band, wanting to improve more in playing their instruments. True, those unproductive things that occurred almost every day hindered their progress but those were memories that she would cherish forever in her life as a high school student. The time that she enjoyed being with her friends.

"It's still raining cats and dogs," said Mio as her eyes landed outside.

"It will probably take some more weeks before we could actually feel summer. I can't wait for that!" said Ritsu. "Where are we going this time? I mean, in our summer vacation?"

"It's too early to think about that."

"Aw, come on! How about you Azusa?"

"Any place will do as long as we could practice."

"That's right. Practicing our songs is the most important before everything else," the bassist stated. "Do I have to remind that we're the light music club?"

Tsumugi displayed a mysterious smile as she finished distributing all of the cups, gaining the attention of the others to her. Mio squirmed a little in the smile of their keyboardist that might held a lot of potential meaning. Ritsu leaned forward on her chair in great curiosity.

"Mugi?" uttered Ritsu, quite excited. "I just thought that you knew a more interesting place for this year's vacation..."

Tsumugi raised her index finger in response, still smiling. "Oh, give me more time to think about it. For now, we should focus on our studies first."

"Oh, I get it now. More like a surprise, isn't that right?"

"Yes! We will bring this up again after Yui's return to talk about our summer vacation."

"See? I'm glad Mugi knows her priorities, unlike you who only cared for yourself," said Mio sternly, crossing her arms.

"So, let's enjoy the rain while drinking warm tea today. I will never get bored of this in my whole life!" said Ritsu, raising her tea cup delightedly.

Mio sighed. "Are you even listening?"

---

"How's the clothes, Hirasawa-san?" asked Reisen as they proceeded through the bamboo forest. So far, Yui was still in her great condition, displaying bliss as her arms swayed while walking. Her master's medicine was really something.

"I don't know what to say, but it strangely fits! Thank you!"

Reisen gave an embarrassed smile. "I'm quite nervous if my clothes would fit on you."

"These are your clothes. There's no need to nervous, Rei-chan," said Yui as she returned the smile with her own. "I'm glad to wear this too. It's almost the same with our school uniform!"

Calling her by that nickname...but she strangely liked it coming from Yui. It was rather sincere and honest, unlike a certain friend of hers who devised traps and other pranks for fun.

"Tewi has this habit of digging pitfalls for me. Be careful when walking around to and from the mansion."

"Yup, that's Tewi alright. You two come along together well, huh?"

"Well, if you put it that way..."

"Too bad you're not destined to be sisters from the beginning."

The comment alone made Reisen's puffy tail twitch and suddenly felt chilly on her back as if a ghost passed through behind her. Was that a bad idea of thinking on that possibility? Its either Reisen was a youkai rabbit living alongside with her kind in the bamboo forest or Tewi was a moon rabbit who also served Reisen's previous masters, apparently important princesses in the capital, and pulling devious schemes to her partner, in duty or not.

"It's relatively safe to walk during the day here. Some of those annoying youkai only shows up when it's dark and pounce on you, even if you're a youkai too."

"Could you tell me more about the youkai?"

"Well, as Tewi probably mentioned to you, youkai is the more dominant species here in Gensokyo. Some of them looked like your typical animal while others could assume humanoid form as well, like the rabbits in the mansion. Bear in mind that not all youkai are friendly like us. Some are even addicted to human flesh, if I'm not mistaken. I think you would easily distinguish the dangerous ones even for seeing them for the first time. Then again, there are deceitful ones who would take advantage of its victims by being docile at first."

"Can I ask a question too?"

"Go ahead, Rei-chan! This is a good way to know each other~"

"You're really like that, huh? What I mean is, you seem to accept things openly, free of worries. Are you not worried at all that you're here to begin with? So far, the only place I know where humans could leave at peace in Gensokyo is in the human village. I heard that most humans would get eaten first before even reaching that safety zone. You could try the Hakurei Shrine,"

The guitarist could only stare back with a rather dubious look before clasping her hands together, beaming like she recalled something pleasant. Eating cake or practicing her guitar, perhaps?

"Ah, that's no problem~ That's why you're with me, right? Yagokoro-san made that decision because she has trust on you and the things that you can do. From that, I'm sure that you would be able to protect me from those scary youkai!"

Reisen winced a little, not expecting such straightforward remark. In fact, she felt warm inside. "But...I'm not capable of fighting..."

"But you could shoot awesome bullets out of your hand! You don't have to be so modest, Rei-chan! You won't even reach the village in the first place if you can't defend yourself."

At those moment, she felt that the carefree outsider now walking with her through the bamboo forest seemed to be a new, different person – way too different to the Hirasawa Yui she knew

"Did you saw me doing that?"

"Yeah. Back in the kitchen earlier. How do you do that?"

"My danmaku? It's kinda hard to explain..."

Another smile formed on Reisen's face.

What kind of person is this Hirasawa Yui anyway?

---

Kourindou was an antique shop situated between the human village and the forest which mostly sell fairly interesting stuff, most of them were from of the outside world. The shopkeeper, Morichika Rinnosuke, was working almost nonstop in the last few days organizing his inventory of bizzare items. Since half of those outside world stuff ran on electricity, they had no specific use other than serving those items as decoration in the shelves or just being kept for future use. It was not something that made him disappointed though. He also had ways of his own for that small problem.

One of those altered versions of an outside world tool that he made ,which was also his first, was a portable electric lamp powered by magic and the sun's essence instead of electricity. It was a simple job for someone like him who could make magical artifacts. Then again, he wanted to work on something more complicated other than a simple device such as lamps. But that could wait for another time. He could only determine the use of a particular thing but other than that, he would need to research more on every tool's specific part before he could start making the necessary modifications. Yakumo Yukari was a great help to his questions about outside world goods, but she only comes at least twice a month in his shop, sometimes delivering some items when in a good mood.

The shop was fairly accessible to both human and youkai but he rarely get any customers at all, despite of his showcase of different goods that could never be found in Gensokyo. He always assumed that there should be at least one item in his inventory that would interest every customer. After all, they couldn't get anywhere of those things anywhere in Gensokyo. Visitors, sure, they were a lot of them in a regular basis but the term 'customers' had a completely separate meaning. His shop was sometimes used as a rain shelter for a few person he got acquainted with when they got caught by unexpected rain. Customer or not, he tends to welcome anyone with green tea as long as they wouldn't touch his valuable goods. Even if he didn't have much sales, he considered his business as a humble pastime too.

Did he had other choices besides that? At least he could have a hobby of his own.

"Rinnosuke-san? Are you there?" Reisen called out after knocking at the shop's door.

"Oh, it's you. Good Morning," greeted Rinnosuke after opening the door, wearing his usual kimono. He wasn't in his best condition just looking at his weary complexion from a few hours of sleep that he could spare in the previous busy days. "Well, it seems you brought a new interested customer with you."

"Not really. I'm just accompanying her," the guitarist replied with a smile. "I don't have money with me too."

"I see. Customer or not, you're welcome here. I'm Morichika Rinnosuke, the owner of this shop."

"Nice to meet you, Rinnosuke-san," said Yui as she bowed accordingly. "I'm Hirasawa Yui."

"The pleasure's mine." Rinnosuke managed a weary smile as he gestured inside his shop. "Please come inside. I take that you two just walked all the way here."

"Please excuse us!" Yui said as she entered first.

The two were welcomed by a bunch of different things here and there – a television set, three electric fans of varying sizes, an oven toaster, and even a portable game console displayed along with a few other devices like cellphones displayed in one layer of a shelf. The rest were just lying on the floor scattered, waiting to be sorted out according to their importance. Yui learned that Rinnosuke's store was the only store that showcased outside world items and other rare artifacts, especially of magic. Well, more like a small shop of different flavors in one. The place was randomly decorated as well - maybe because of the random things that could be found. What was fascinating were a few expensive appliances that she wondered what use could the shopkeeper get to them.

Yui noticed that there wasn't a single outlet to plug in some of the appliances. She didn't see any power lines outside either, pretty much the same to Eientei. Surely, the owner of the shop couldn't possibly use them conventionally. It seemed like those modern things weren't very useful anymore in Gensokyo and perhaps they use another alternative source of power to make up for it, like magic? If that was the case, the shopkeeper already used the electric fan from the start or lit a light bulb on the ceiling if he had one.

"Rinnosuke-san, are you the only one living here?" asked Yui as she finally grasped that the shopkeeper was the only person inside the shop. For one thing, the shop was located quite far from the human village.

"Yes, but someone would at least visit this place before closing time."

"That's nice. I wish I could live like that, but my sister would be worried."

Rinnosuke motioned to the small round table and asked them to sit on one of the three finely-crafted wooden chairs. On the table was a porcelain teapot together with a set of five cups of the same design and a half-read newspaper next to the tea set which she assumed that the shopkeeper was reading it until their arrival. "I'm sorry for this mess. I should make up my mind as quickly as possible of arranging these items."

"Well, we came here for a reason," said Reisen as she unpacked her bag, revealing a small electric stove. "First of all, I want to return this stove."

"Why? I spent nearly six months converting that item to put it some use."

"The rabbits would definitely get injured with this. I guess you won't need fire like it was lava coming out of an erupting volcano to cook something."

"Your point's understandable," Rinnosuke nodded once as he got a closer look of the stove. "I take that you just wanted some minor changes in this device?"

"Uh, yeah. Do that please. Other than that, it's really nice to have that stove."

"Very well. It's the only thing that I could do for you and your master making those medicines. It might take me a little while with all of these new things around me."

"Where did you get all of these?"

"The next day I woke up, there's this pile of outside world goods in the living room," Rinnosuke explained, placing the electric stove on a shelf behind the counter. "She's the only one who could do that kind of thing, right?"

"You mean, Yakumo-san? How generous of her, but suspicious at the same time."

"I remember that she was quite bored lately, that's why she tends to visit the outside world more and brings new things with her."

Yui nodded in accord as she sipped tea. "Yakumo-san sure is enjoying her life, huh?"

"I doubt that. You could never know her definition of having fun." Reisen reached for a small medicine box and handed it over to the shopkeeper. "Oh, this is the medicine you requested from my master. She apologizes for the delay though."

"Ah, just what I needed. I thought she's really taking her time making these," said Rinnosuke as he opened the box containing a dozen of vials filled with green liquid in each of them.

"My master also told us that she couldn't make a sleep-reducing medicine like you suggested last week."

"I figured that somehow. I might even regret having a medicine like that in due time. I don't doubt about Yagokoro-san's ability either."

"Oh, master insisted that you should take that medicine everytime before sleeping. Returning to your nomal sleeping habit is still the best way rather than any medicine that could be made."

"I'll definitely keep that in mind. Anyways, do you have other business, if I might ask?"

"Say, do you have anything that the rabbits can play with? They needed it for their games later."

"Hm, I remember some but I hid them somewhere in the stockroom the other month. This might take a bit, how about some tea while you wait?" Rinnosuke offered as he pointed at the tea set.

Yui perked up after hearing tea in the shopkeeper's sentence. "Thank you, Rinnosuke-san!"

"Please wait for a moment then. This won't take long."

A full minute later of sipping tea and Reisen reading random, pointless articles in the newspaper, someone spoke up from outside the shop, "Morning, Kourin! I hope you don't mind if I borrow some of your new stuff today!"

A blonde girl opened the door casually as if she owned the place, without any word of intruding or not even using the custom of knocking at another place's door first. Casually, for the girl, would mean kicking the door open like she belonged in a SWAT team raiding a shop of contraband goods. She was around in the age bracket of Yui's, wearing an overall outfit resembling a traditional western witch from fantasy tales – large brimmed hat and dress with the broomstick accessory in one hand. She had an aura that made Yui remember the light music club's drummer, spontaneous and easygoing. The witch stopped midway as she noticed the two seated by the small round table at the corner, looking at her suspiciously. She eyed the two for some more seconds before casually waving a hand at them.

"Oh, and here I thought I'm the only one here..."

Yui calmed herself down. "And I thought it would be a stick up or something..."

"Hm? Wait," Reisen uttered as she tried to dig out a particular name from her memory. "Marisa, right?"

"Ah, my bad. Morning to you both too!" Kirisame Marisa, the ordinary black witch, greeted cheerily as she threw her broomstick to the corner where it always used to be whenever she came to visit the shop. "Where's Kourin? I'm here to take a look on his new items."

"He's still finding what we requested in the storeroom."

"Ah, I'm glad he finally got customers this time!"

Yui stared at the black and white witch from hat to shoes.

Again, she glanced back at the witch's hat once more as if she couldn't resist looking at it and know why it was like that in the first place. It appeared to be all fluffy and cute as if it was an extra large yummy marshmallow that was good to eat and at the same time, weird to be worn around when just having a walk in the neighborhood. It was almost twice the size of any usual witch hat that she saw in any costume-related conventions or events so far. "People in Gensokyo really like to wear weird costumes, huh?"

Yui had a sudden urge of requesting a costume to her homeroom teacher – similar to Marisa's dress. She might ditch the rest except for the large hat.

"Costumes? I don't know what are you talking about, but you're a fresh face around here, ya'know? Are you a rabbit too or something?" asked Marisa, removing her unusually large hat off her head and placing it on a nearby countertop. She noticed that the brunette's eyes appeared to be glued on her only until she took her hat off. "Also, my dress is not that weird."

"She's just a human like you," Reisen simply replied.

"Oh, I didn't know that your mansion started to employ human maids. Neat!"

"She's not a maid either; just your typical outsider. She wanted to stay for awhile in our place."

"Heh? If she's an outsider, you might want to give her to Reimu as soon as possible. You never know what might happen to her next."

"No need. In fact, she's under the responsibility of Yakumo-san and us too."

Hearing the name of the gap youkai made her glance at the brunette again, quite curious why the gap youkai would be interested on an outsider like Yui. Whatever that reason was, it was nothing for her to be concerned about. Marisa shrugged. "Is that so? Much better, I guess. Saves some trouble for her and me. Not that I care~"

"She won't be long anyway. She just wanted to stay until the moon festival's finished."

"Are you really a witch?" Yui asked curiously.

"If you put it that way, yes. I'm the only magician in Gensokyo that uses flashy danmaku of overflowing elegance and beauty! My trademark specialty! No one could best that!"

"Wow! Magic! Can you do some tricks?"

"Yeah, you heard that right!" Marisa placed a clenched fist on her chest proudly. "What tricks, specifically?"

"Can you make a rabbit or bird pop out of your hat?" Yui eagerly suggested as she counted with her fingers. "How about making things vanish and revealing them in some other places?"

"E-Eh? I'm not into that kind of magic. My forte is to blow things up, ze!"

The brunette could only tilt her head to the side. "Aw, too bad! I think you're a great magician since you have that aura around you! I bet you could do something else!"

Marisa gave off a small blush. "Really?"

"How about a sample then? Anything! I want to see first-class magic that only you could do!"

"A sample trick, you say?" The black-white witch grabbed something in her skirt's pocket then grimaced. "Aw damn, I forgot my magic vials and stuff, but I know the best next thing!" Marisa raised her right hand and a swirling yellow-colored star projectile instantly materialized no larger than her hands as if it was an ordinary magic trick. "...Behold!"

Due to excitement like a child having a new toy to play with, Yui stood up and tried to grab the star from the black witch. "Waah~ Can I keep it? It's sooo cute!"

"Huh? Do you collect danmaku bullets? You're weird, y'know?" Marisa gave the projectile to the brunette. "I maybe a collector but I don't collect that kind of stuff."

"It feels all warm," Yui said, with her hands cupped around the star. "It reminds me of those glow-in-the-dark stickers..."

"It gets better! Try throwing it to that old kettle on that huge box."

Yui's curiosity buttons were pressed again but tilted her head in the exciting suggestion. "Why would I throw this?" Yui stared at the star then back to the black witch who gave her a thumbs up. "Ah, okay, if you say so..."

Reisen took notice as her danger senses took off in an instant. It was something that wouldn't end up well, especially when an ordinary black witch was involved. "Hirasawa-san? Don't -"

It was too late, much to the moon rabbit's regret. Yui threw it in a force stronger than needed, probably out of excitement, and struck the kettle off the box. However, the star projectile wasn't yet contented. The projectile quickly ricocheted around the room for a few times. Surprised, Reisen ducked under the table while Yui only stood as she admired the bouncing bullet that she thought harmless in any way. The volatile star knocked off a few display on the shelf, before it went straight to the right side of a large television screen. A bright flash followed as the projectile finally vanished. Marisa gave off a nervous whistle.

"Oopsie..."

"Reisen-san? Hirasawa-san?" They could clearly hear the anxious voice of the shopkeeper from the stock room. "W-What was that?"

"Oh, it's just me, Kourin! Continue whatever you're doing there!" Marisa quickly replied back.

"Marisa? What are you doing?" Reisen asked annoyingly. "The shopkeeper will be mad at us!"

"Eh? I did nothing!"

"You made her throw that!"

"What? I just showed her magic. Is that really all bad?"

"I-Is Rinnosuke-san going to get mad at me?" Yui worriedly asked, her voice trembling and eyes not blinking. "I broke the TV and..."

Marisa placed a hand on Yui's shoulder as she nervously laughed. "Nonsense! He'll understand that it was just a mere accident and..."

"This is my first time here...and...and..." Yui stared down to the floor, her hair covering her face, and whispered, "I-I feel like crying..."

"Aw, no! Please don't cry! What do you want me to do for you?" asked a flustered Marisa as she now grabbed both of the brunette's shoulders. She certainly knew whenever she overdid something. Yui sniffed as she wiped the tears escaping her eyes. "H-Hey, anything! Just say it!"

"Uhm, can you make me another one then?" Yui requested after she looked up to the blonde girl with teary eyes.

Marisa felt relieved as she confidently smiled as she stretched out an arm. "That's easy!"

"Seriously, Marisa. Don't give danmaku bullets to people just like that," said Reisen flatly.

Yui ignored Reisen's concern and raised her right hand. "I want a different color this time! I want a pink one!"

"Ah, that's no problem." With a few seconds of focus, Marisa made another similar star, this time, in Yui's requested color. "Just don't throw it like that again."

Upon receiving it, Yui brightened up. "Yay! Thank you! I'll call you Mari-chan from now on!"

"You're really weird but that works for me, I guess." Marisa sat on the last, unoccupied chair and rested her forearms on the table, looking at the reading moon rabbit. "I always come here but I rarely come across you. What's up?"

"Oh, we will have a party before this noon and we just asked things that can be used for the rabbit's games."

"A party, you say?" Marisa scratched her chin as she recalled the things that she needed to do for today. Realizing that she would only spend the rest of the day in the Hakurei Shrine, she looked at Reisen expectantly with faintly sparkling eyes. "Hey, you don't mind if I join in right? I won't make any trouble for you."

"Huh? That party is only for the rabbits. Well, I'm surprised that you could attend in any party as you wish."

Marisa paused for a moment. "Maybe I should wear rabbit ears as disguise? Ah, well...that wouldn't work. Anyways, there's always room for one more human, right?"

"Of course, that wouldn't work..."

For someone who always appeared at parties, Marisa seemed to be more dignified and proud than ashamed from her tone. It was not like she was going to do anything that would destroy the party. If there would be more food and drinks than anyone could take, she would happily invite herself in. She would be an interesting person to have in such events though, except for the occasional property damage and the like.

Reisen sighed, giving up to avoid further problems with the black witch. "I don't see the reason not to since its nothing important other than the fact that it was a day off for the rabbits. Knowing your reputation, I have this feeling that you'll still come even if I refused..."

"Heh. See? Even Sakuya doesn't mind that much anymore whenever there are celebrations in their mansion!"

"Marisa, what brings you here?" Rinnosuke asked as he finally got out of the stockroom, carrying a dusty cardboard box. Somehow, that came out of his mouth like it was recorded ages back, only to be played again everytime Marisa entered the shop. He pretty much expected that the witch would just visit him when got nothing to do in particular. Was Kourindou an interesting place to begin with? Probably anyone couldn't blame Rinnosuke for being very hospitable, accepting humans and youkai alike inside his shop and offering them tea while indulging them in idle talk.

"Eh? You sounded like you don't want me in your shop anymore!" Marisa groaned as she put up a pout. "That's harsh, you know!"

"I'm not yet done arranging all of these yet. Please don't touch them," Rinnosuke calmly replied.

"Are you implying that everything that I touch breaks?"

"Uhm, sorry about breaking your TV...I don't have any idea about this star thingie could do..." Yui sheepishly apologized as her body slightly shook, still holding the pink-colored star in her hands. "I-If I need to pay for..."

"There's no need for that." Rinnosuke smiled at the brunette as if it was nothing of importance. "I already have a lot of them."

"Really?"

The shopkeeper nodded. "Yes."

"B-But...it's...it's a plasma TV," Yui stuttered. The hole made by the projectile was indeed small but the whole screen wouldn't work all the same like before. How could she pay an expensive plasma display television? She still had to pay her medications from Eirin...

"So, that's what you call that? It seemed to be more larger but conveniently compact than the others, so I have a hard time knowing where to put it. Now it's broken, I won't be having that dilemma anymore." Rinnosuke placed the cardboard box on the floor. He then turned to the moon rabbit. "There's still more but I forgot where I store the others."

Reisen opened the box to find three decks of cards, two red-colored flying disks, a chess set, an obscure board game good for six persons, two pairs of badminton rackets with a couple of shuttlecocks and a seemingly new soccer ball straight from a sport store.

Yui looked at the moon rabbit worriedly as Reisen carefully brought the box up to her chest. "Rei-chan, I can help carrying them..."

"Sorry, but I can't possibly allow that. In fact, you shouldn't be here with me in the first place. I apologize for that..."

Yui smiled in response although feeling quite disappointed. "If you say so."

"Rinnosuke-san, I think this would do. Thank you for your time," Reisen said as she slightly bowed. "We will take our leave."

Marisa almost choked herself in the tea she was drinking. "What? Leaving already? I just got here!"

"You really need to go back now? Don't forget to send my thanks to Yagokoro-san. She's a lifesaver," Rinnosuke replied as he fixed his glasses. "Oh, do you need a hand?"

"Ah, I could manage. Besides, it's not that heavy," replied Reisen then turned to the brunette. "Let's go, Hirasawa-san."

"You won't finish your tea?"

Rinnosuke shook his head. "Don't need to worry about a small problem like that. I completely understand that you need to go back. Perhaps we could enjoy drinking tea some other time."

"Really? I'll remember to stop by here every time then! I'm sure that I won't break your things anymore!"

"I think I have no choice but to tag along now," said Marisa as she stood up and fetched her hat.

"Fine. Just don't do anything that would make master mad, okay?"

"Before I forgot..." Marisa glanced at the display of a variety of portable devices on the shelf. Since she was always visiting Kourindou, she got to know some of those outside world items. Eventually, something hidden caught her eye – a lime-colored rectangular device with buttons separated by an LCD screen at its center. She slid the glass cover open and quickly took the game console from its makeshift stand, knocking a few others out of their positions. "Hey Kourin, you don't mind if I take this one, right?"

"You're already holding it," Rinnosuke sighed, knowing the girl well enough that he couldn't do anything much if Marisa would 'borrow' something from him. "That's included with the new arrivals last week. But it seems to be only limited to entertainment purposes. Besides that, you won't be able to get that work without supplying it again with electricity."

"So, the battery's dead huh?" Marisa quickly lost her interest. "Why not make it something similar to that stove? Somehow the same concept in using a small reactor as battery, quite similar on the way I add more juice to my sparks with the hakkero."

"It's a lot easier when you think about it. For a delicate device such as that, I need someone or something who could at least tell me the function of each part. Also, disassembling that seemed to be a problem already, which needs proper tools and knowledge in that process alone."

"Isn't that a PSP? Ricchan used to have one," Yui suddenly spoke up, recognizing the portable console in the witch's hands.

"Y-You know that device?" asked Rinnosuke, quite surprised. "Ah, I see. You're an outsider after all."

Yui nodded. The shopkeeper seemed to like outsiders for some reason.

"Don't sweat it, Kourin. I'll take that thing some other time if you managed to make it work," said Marisa as she returned the PSP to its original place.

"I already expected that you would say that. It can't be helped..."

"Yay, Kourin~"

"Are you going with us or not?" asked Reisen, getting impatient and tired of carrying the box.

"H-Hey, you can't start without me!"

---

Reimu Hakurei, the shrine maiden of talent and idleness, sat by the table as she ate a delectable slice of chessecake with a fork. The heavenly taste was a good treat for her mouth as it perfectly matched the serene atmosphere around her, which was present as always in the shrine grounds. The soothing sound of the wind chime hanging above the door made her quite drowsy.

I must say, this cake sure is delicious. I never tasted a cake like this before. Still, I wonder what is she up to now?

She can't just pull humans in Gensokyo as she pleases.

A tear in space slowly opened and the youkai of boundaries carefully stepped out of the gap. Being aware of Yukari's presence, the shrine maiden just yawned and stretched her arms to fight her afternoon sleepiness without even looking at her new guest. Smiling, Yukari sat down in front of Reimu.

"What is this? It seems you already know me so much that you could even anticipate my next visit?" Yukari asked, slightly amused as a slice of chessecake and tea was already prepared on the table, leaving her the only option of joining Reimu in her tea time.

Reimu, eyes still focused on the scenery outside, lazily replied, "That one's supposed to be for Marisa but she's not here yet."

"Are you expecting her to come here?"

"Like she always do almost everyday. I'm sure you know that."

"Oh, how about me?"

"I don't care. You can just pop out of nowhere if you will."

"Don't be so blunt, my dear Reimu. I rarely visit you these days..."

"If it weren't for those sweets you gave me yesterday, I'd chased you out of the shrine now."

"Don't you find the sweets very delectable that even the celestials will crave for such treat? Apparently, I got acquainted and befriended an interesting outsider."

This time, Reimu directed her eyes to the gap youkai. "Oh, since when did you start being friendly to humans?"

"She knows the existence of youkai and other nonhuman beings. Also, she's the one who gave me all of those goods to me yesterday," Yukari casually replied as she took the cup of tea in front of her.

The shrine maiden managed her thoughts as she closed an eye, feeling sorry to the unfortunate human. "Why do I get the feeling that you're just using her?"

"My dearest Reimu, you shouldn't make assumptions like that. They hurt me."

"Stop calling me that. Aren't you suppose to be doing something else, like sleeping?"

"Oh, but I just woke up in the last hour. I just want to chat with you this time..."

"It's true that it will get boring if there's no one around." Reimu gave up as she took another bite from the cheesecake. "What is it you wanted to talk about? It's better be good..."

"Reimu, are you aware that the youkai of the outside world is not as fortunate as the youkai here?"

"That's a bit sudden for a starting topic."

"Pardon me. Should I start from a lighter one?"

This was something new to Reimu and certainly got her interest, especially that it concerns about the youkai. She was not a youkai herself but her world revolves around them and she tends to get the latest news from them. "No, tell me more about it."

"Youkai of the outside world were just as powerful as the native youkai of Gensokyo but they were constantly hunted down by a few humans who are widely-aware of other non-human presence moving around them in the society, regardless if those youkai are peaceful or not."

Reimu raised an eyebrow. "Why would the humans exterminate those youkai that haven't done anything yet? It's true that they get annoying from time to time, but you can't just remove them from existence for that reason alone."

"I'm sure that you're clearly aware of the youkai's history even earlier than the creation of this world of ours – a quite devastating one indeed. Initially, the sealing of Gensokyo with the help of a handful of volunteers was done in order to contain those dangerous youkai that once wandered in the outside world. This prevented the further downfall of what was left to both parties. Fortunately, things changed in time and youkai eventually settled down although not entirely as their existence would be for nothing. From what I have observed so far in the outside world, there are some who retained their grudge towards the youkai until now and exterminate one without any remorse. Knowing the nature of youkai such as I, we are not to be blame for being what we are."

Reimu felt coldness enveloping her body, making her sip from her cup.

Was she any different from those youkai exterminators?

"On the contrary, a few would even approach them without any ill intent like they were no different than humans, just like my new human friend. A benevolent, innocent girl at that."

"As long as those humans wouldn't be eaten first, it'll be fine, I suppose."

"You'll be surprised. They're not that ordinary as you might think, some of those humans, that is."

"Uh-huh. The outside world is really something."

Yukari went for a brief pause as she sipped tea. "What intrigues me is that a small covert group, where a select few of youkai are also members, successfully controlled and maintained the youkai's activity in their place for quite some time now. They managed to keep the problems related to youkai at its minimum, making a particular incident more or less unheard when it comes to the local news. The more civilized youkai are allowed to mingle with them but not necessarily considered them equal to humans, knowing that a youkai is still a youkai in the end. Some opportunists would even take advantage of youkai's ability for their own. Of course, these are only restricted for those who are brave or lucky enough to know this fact."

"It must be hard for them, unlike the youkai here that could freely create any incident they want. Maybe those outside youkai would, unless there will be someone kind enough to beat it."

"Yes. Also, did you know that some of them even knew Gensokyo existence?"

"Huh, really?"

"Well, Gensokyo was once part of the outside world. It shouldn't be that surprising since some of the current residents here are originally from outside and they knew about this place, or rather dimension if you ask other's viewpoint. Also, the problem is not all in the human-youkai relations."

"What do you mean by that?"

"As you already know, the outside world doesn't have something that serves as some kind of limiter or means to settle dispute without bloodshed. In our case, Gensokyo is quite big for a world enclosed by a barrier but the system was easily implemented, even for those who just recently entered here. If you have observed, youkai could still make whatever they want but this time, with the spellcard system you suggested to them. Funny as it seems, we tend to abuse this system over trivial things that, in fact, doesn't need to be fought over with. The system you made turned out to be a pastime to most of us."

"As if all youkai would actually listen to me. You did your part too, even if I'm not aware of it." Reimu smiled. Indeed, the spellcard system became a widespread entertainment for everyone; a fair game that could give anyone a chance to win regardless of their differences in power. "Ah! I remembered one time when Marisa and I fought on what ingredients to put in the hot pot last fall. Good times..."

"Is that the one where almost half of the shrine were singed by Kirisame's antics?"

"Oh, so you remembered that too, huh?"

"Going back. If we are to compare Gensokyo to the outside world, our place is somewhat on the...let's just say the regional level, it will be harder to impose a fair common rule to a wider scale, much less to the individuals who are too stubborn to accept a system such as ours. I'll be frank - there are humans and youkai that would kill for the sake of power, even if they were to face their same kind. When they fight, they tend to use everything they have, giving much straightforward result unlike in a spellcard battle; like its either one falls first. Simply to say, they don't want to be under of someone else."

"That's scary. I thought that kind of thinking was already gone? It's quite one-sided..."

"Ah, I didn't mean to scare you. Those are what I have observed in the previous years as a spectator of those tales. This isn't really a problem to begin with, but when they have the rules with set limitations, casualties, if not be avoided, will drastically reduce. The outside world has yet to change..."

Reimu remained silent until she finished her tea and returned her gaze outside. It was surprising for her to hear the gap youkai conversing about things of the outside world.

"Hm, is that your true purpose of coming here? I felt that you left out a few other key parts..."

"I'm merely sharing my thoughts and sentiments since you are Gensokyo's shrine maiden. It's nice to know a thing or two about today's outside world, don't you agree? Also, like I said before, please don't make such assumptions just yet."

"That's nice and all...but my only concern is you as of now. You keep doing weird things, just like yesterday."

Yukari ignored the shrine maiden as she took the last piece of what was left of the cheesecake with her fork. "Oh, I hope your friend wouldn't mind if I already ate her cheesecake. Next time, I will share something new to you. I'm absolutely sure you'll like it."

"I think she won't be coming today..."

---

"This looks like fun!"

"I wonder what kind of celebration they're having?"

"Apparently, it looks like a party exclusive to youkai rabbits."

Behind the thick bushes, three small figures watched the youkai rabbits enjoying every second of their simple party; eating, playing and singing together like they never done it for a long time. The sky already turned to an red-orange hue but the party seemed like it was just starting. The fairies were just collecting vegetables and other ingredients inside the bamboo forest when they stumbled on the lively party outside Eientei before going home. As they weren't in the hurry to begin with, they hid themselves outside the manor's perimeter. Apparently, some of the rabbits decided to play catch with the flying disk, throwing it with more strength than necessary.

As they learned from their experiences, a particular rabbit could actually see them despite of their camouflage. It was better to be sure than everything else. Also, why are they hiding if they didn't do anything bothersome yet? After all, the three were quite known for coordinating each of their respective ability to their schemes, making them more formidable than most of their kind if they were together.

"Watching them drink sake made me want some too," said the sun fairy wearing a dress of red and white, eyeing a group of rabbits drinking merrily like it was their last party. "I want one later..."

The blonde moon fairy wearing a white dress with a puffy black ribbon below the collar and small ones following on an interval, glanced at her, amused. "Heh. Didn't you just drink like there's no tomorrow the other night? Then, you'll get another terrible hangover."

"That's unusual," The black-haired star fairy with a blue and white dress muttered to herself as her eyes followed a single person in the party before them.

"What's unusual, Star?" Sunny Milk took noticed and returned her eyes to the crowd of youkai rabbits. "That rabbit? Yeah, she's a ditz. She already wasted three plates full of food while serving them."

"No, that one," Star Sapphire said as she pointed at a brown-haired girl in an outfit similar to Reisen. "She seemed to be the only human in there."

"You're right. She has guts to attend in a youkai party."

"Obviously, she's a friend of those rabbits."

"I know that. I was just wondering why is she there in the first place. This is a youkai party in the middle of a bamboo forest!"

"Oh, wait. Isn't that Marisa?" Luna Child pointed as she saw the blonde witch busy tasting all of the food in the banquet as if she was a food inspector. "She's invited too?"

"Nah, she always go where the booze are. Yeah, that might be it!"

"Well, that's Marisa, alright..."

"This is a chance for us to sneak in the mansion!" Sunny announced as she raised her fist in the air. "Didn't you remember what Marisa-chan told us about this mysterious mansion awhile back?"

"About the artifacts from the moon? I remembered reading an old newspaper about an expo they held here," replied Luna, crossing her arms to her chest.

The star fair nodded in accord. "If we could find the moon's treasury inside, it would be one of our greatest achievement so far."

"Eh? It's kinda risky. Also, it may not look like it, but the pharmacist is very scary."

"Hey, Luna. You've been collecting stuff from the moon, right? This is your chance!"

"I guess we could easily pass everything else as long as you two keep your abilities on," Star reminded as she stepped forward, appearing to be more absorbed on getting inside the mansion. "Shall we get going now?"

Sunny shot a suspicious look to the star fairy as she wanted to convey something. "You say that yet you're the first who vanishes when we got ourselves in a tight spot."

The star fairy fixed the large blue ribbon on her head before she gave the sun fairy a sly smile. "Don't worry. We can't be caught that easily this time."

"Then take the lead."

With the star fairy's cue, they stood up and carefully stalked around the mansion for an available entrance for them to use. Somewhat a cakewalk for them since they almost left no traces of life as they continued their way which includes both light refraction and silencing abilities. Glad that they found a window that was opened earlier by a youkai rabiit, they entered the mansion and found themselves in a room where a small table was sitted in the center and a few landscape paintings hanging on the wall. They scanned the interior for anything important before thinking of their next plan.

"The area's clear. I think all of the rabbits are in the other side of the mansion," Star announced as she finished 'viewing' the area around them using her own ability. "Let's start the search in the other rooms."

"Okay then. Just tell us if someone's around," Sunny reminded as she slid the door open. The hallway was empty and quiet as expected but they had to be careful nevertheless.

Luna glanced around as they walked on the hallway. Some of the rooms were opened as well. "For one thing, this mansion isn't that big compared to the vampire's mansion but it feels nice living here."

"Maybe we could try working here too," Star suggested, peeking inside the room that seemed to be empty. "Is it just me or this mansion has more empty rooms from what I have assumed."

Luna shook her head as she recalled that idea. It was rewarding at first but wouldn't do good for them in the long run. "I don't like that idea. Not anymore."

"Probably not. That's why they have all of those rabbits, right?"

After checking a few other rooms that had no clear purpose or eye-catching stuff to take, they finally entered a room which had more things, particularly furniture, inside the large interior compared to the others. A cabinet and a bookshelf were at the other side of the room. There was small desk with a couple of papers scatter on it was placed in one corner near a comfy bed; the white bed sheet and pillows still messy, suggesting that the person who slept on the bed didn't have to arrange it. From there, the moon fairy noticed something that stood out from the bland other things they already saw so far.

"Hey, I think you need to see this!" said Luna, pointing at a string instrument behind her.

"It's just a weird-looking guitar," Sunny said, somehow expecting more than an instrument. "Should we even bother taking that?"

"Is this really an instrument from the moon?"

"Well, we haven't explored much of the place yet. There might be something more interesting than that guitar," Star replied, uninterested.

"True, but we can't possibly take them all in one run."

For a few seconds, the whole frame of the guitar flashed a varying shades of red. This made the fairies hid behind the other side of the bed.

"W-Woah, what was that? You guys saw it glow red, right?" Sunny asked, slightly astonished. "Right?"

Luna stared at the guitar while thinking for an answer. "Maybe it's possessed with a spirit? Or maybe it's just like that..."

"It might be a cursed item!"

"It's really shiny and well taken care of. It seems like an important thing for them to have," Star said as she examined the instrument from all sides. "We should take what we find, whatever it is."

"You seemed very eager this time, Star," said the sun fairy.

Luna suddenly called out as she saw the star fairy reaching out for the instrument, "Star! Don't touch it!"

"Huh? I already did..."

"Are you sure that instrument's not cursed? I mean, we won't get stuck with bad luck or anything, right?"

The star fairy shrugged, frowning in response. "Of course, you shouldn't keep a cursed item carelessly if this was the case. The people living in this mansion should know their own stuff well."

Sunny tried to lift the guitar using both of her arms. "Hmph, this is heavy! Who could actually use this instrument?"

"Someone who is definitely not a fairy?" replied Star as her thoughts began to trail away.

The sun fairy rolled her eyes as she kept her grip to the guitar's body. "Oh, thanks for the info. Really much appreciated it. I'm sure you two don't mind helping me with this thing?"

"Luna, can you help her with that?" Star pleaded, hands placed together as she stared at the moon fairy. Before Luna could say anything, the black-haired fairy spoke again, "Someone's coming, probably in this room."

"Eh? No joke?"

"Hmm..." Star paused for a few seconds. "Right about...now."

Sunny just laughed as she gave the two a thumbs up. "Hahaha! Why worry if no one but Reisen could see us? She's busy tending the rabbits outside."

"Good point, but what if...?"

A girl wearing a blazer with its matching skirt was standing at the door with an astonished look on her face. She couldn't believe what she was seeing now. The fairies froze in their place without moving a muscle; their reactions somehow the same with Yui, especially Sunny Milk who was supposedly generating their camouflage.

"Huh, Gitah? When did you learn to float like that?" asked Yui, taking a couple of steps backwards as her guitar appeared to be slightly swaying in the air.

"Can she see us? That can't be!" exclaimed Sunny, balancing herself with her arms wrapped around the guitar in front of her.

"Oh my, we've been compromised. She isn't supposed to see us," Star said in her usual composure, not entirely concerned about their situation. "So much for saying that motivation earlier."

"This isn't fair! I felt like my ability is not so rare this days..."

"Maybe you should try some new tricks in your ability then?"

"What are we waiting for? Let's run for it!" Luna shouted as they charged to the door, the guitarist stepping aside in amazement, and raced down the hallway.

"Ah! Wait! Where are you going? Don't leave me here~," Yui called out as she followed her guitar. "I'm not good at playing tag!"

"What in the world is happening to your power, Sunny? She's still following us!" Luna cried as they raced on the hallway. "Did you eat something expired again?"

"No, I'm not that stupid! Don't tell me that she's like Reisen too!" replied Sunny, almost stumbling as she ran while carrying the guitar. "Also, even if we're indoors, it still doesn't make any sense to me!"

Star shook her head. "I don't think that's the case. I can tell that she could only see the instrument, not us."

"Any object in my field of influence should be invisible too!"

"I don't know more besides the fact that she could only see the instrument."

"What I can see now is nothing! This guitar's in the way!" Sunny complained, then slightly stumbled forward, almost falling face first.

Yui stopped as she watched her guitar to recover after the fall before it quickly scampered again as if nothing happened. "Oooh , I knew you're like me, clumsy Gitah! We're really soulmates!"

"C-Clumsy? Who's clumsy?" asked Sunny in an agitated tone, doing her best not to glance back in contempt.

"I'm sure she's not referring to us," Star remarked as a smile crossed her face. "Why am I having fun again?"

"S-Shut up! Why don't you carry this instrument instead!"

Luna interrupted the two. "Hey, you two can discuss that later. At this rate, the other rabbits would take notice of our entry here!"

The three made it out of the mansion as far as their legs could carry them after finding another exit and hurried back to the bamboo forest. Yui was not yet done in the chase either, determined to catch her beloved guitar.

"Gitah, Wait for me! Are you mad at me or something? We can talk about your problems without running like this! I just recently recovered and you're doing this to me?" Yui cried. "What do you want me to do for you? Am I that selfish for eating your share of cake everytime you're not looking?"

"She's persistent, huh? So, that's really her instrument," said Luna as she did her best not to trip or sprain anything in that situation. She was more likely to get herself in a bad situation.

The star fairy glanced back. "Likely. It's good that she's the only one following so far. I thought we already alarmed the other rabbits."

"Don't go! I promise that I will be the most loyal partner you'll ever have in this world!" shouted Yui once again.

Sunny was falling behind among the three, clearly not enjoying the course of events. "She just keep saying nonsense! Luna, why didn't you erase her sound anyway?"

The moon fairy who had the clever ability of removing sound in a limited area around her just smiled as if she just thought of the idea just now. "Ah, no reason. She's quite funny."

"She's not! She's annoying!"

With a teasing wink, The star fairy chipped in. "You're no fun, Sunny."

"Gitah! Don't leave me yet! I'm not ready for this! At least give me time to think more!"

"Gyah! I don't know what's happening now but I can't continue like this! I can't carry this thing anymore longer!" Sunny was almost ready to collapse. Plus, she wasn't interested in the guitar anyway.

"W-What are you implying now?" asked Star, glancing back at sun fairy.

"Why am I carrying this in the first place again? Sorry, but it's for the better!"

---

"Tewi, have you seen Hirasawa-san?" Reisen asked the rabbit of good fortune who was enjoying herself with sake while playing cards with a few youkai rabbits. "She suddenly disappeared half an hour ago..."

"Nope, didn't see her around here~," Tewi cheerily replied as her world started to change form. The wonders of excessive sake. "Hey, wanna play too? Punishment game for the loser~"

"No, thanks." The moon rabbit nervously glanced around once more. "If master knew about this, I'll be in trouble again."

"Want some sake?"

"I think what I had earlier is enough..."

"Suit yourself," said Tewi after finishing another cup of warm sake in a single gulp. "Ah, drinking's really good after working hard."

"You hardly worked at all. We're about to finish when you took over..."

"Okay, I get it. Just keep your voice down. I think the sake got into your head now~"

"Look who's talking..."

"You're just a cranky moon rabbit who doesn't have a friend to play with~"

"This isn't good," muttered the moon rabbit, completely ignoring Tewi. "Why am I the only one who gets punished if Tewi's the one looking after her?"

"Don't worry! She's old enough to know things! Knowing that girl, she'll come back when she feels hungry again!"

"Tewi, you shouldn't drink too much sake. We still have preparations for tomorrow's..." Reisen stopped midway as she realized something that was surprisingly normal. "Ah, go ahead. As if you're going to help me anyway. I hope you get a terrible hangover later so you wouldn't get in the way."

"Right, whatever Rei-chan."

---

"I think we lost her. She's not following anymore," Star announced, catching her breath as she propped herself to the nearby bamboo. She then turned to her friends and noticed something missing. "Where's the guitar?"

"I left it behind!" Sunny replied with a scowl as she collapsed to the ground, wiping the sweat on her forehead with the sleeve of her dress. "What so important about an instrument like that anyway? We're not musicians..."

"What's important is we can just fly away instead! Why did we ran all the way here in the first place?" Luna deeply gasped as she sat tiredly on the grass.

"Good point," Star muttered as she placed her index finger on her chin. "Why didn't I think of that? We might even bring that instrument at home. It looked pretty shiny too for a good display."

The sun fairy shot another deadly look to the black-haired fairy. "Something tells me that you really intended to ran in the first place!"

"A wasted opportunity for us," the moon fairy added. "Maybe we should continue our vegetable hunt instead of doing that. Well, you know, I don't care anymore..."

"We didn't lose anything, so, it's not that bad," the sun fairy pointed out with her index finger raised.

Star's eyebrows were drawn closer to one another as she remembered something else. "Wait, who's carrying our veggie basket earlier?"

"I don't remember anything..." Sunny gave an embarrassed smile. "Oh, good. We left them behind..."

"Star, can you get them? You're the least tired among us," asked Luna, now lying with spread arms.

"Maybe I would rather wait for you instead," Star replied with a wink. "I might get caught if I returned there..."

"You just don't want to..."

---

"I'm lost," Yui muttered to herself as she was walking in circles for almost an hour in the bamboo thicket. Although that she kept moving forward, she felt that there was no progress made. This made her wonder why do those weird people need to choose and build a mansion in such a remote location in the first place. Now that she think more about Tewi's stories, it was something to do with Kaguya and Eirin for hiding from their pursuers back in the moon. It was a crazy story to begin with but there were no reasons for Yui to have doubts to it.

Chasing her floating guitar wore her out too. Why would her guitar do crazy things now? She was sure that she didn't drink any sake during the party to make out that it was real. Importantly, she was thankful that the guitar gave up floating aimlessly.

The Bamboo Forest of Lost was known to challenge anyone who enters without losing their sense of direction. The thicket was mostly inhabited by rabbits here and there but other youkai also lived inside, waiting for unlucky preys to wander hopelessly in the superficially repetitious thicket. Yui admitted herself that she was no good in navigation. She often get lost in a foreign place and just hoped for her friends to find her before things gets worse.

Laying down the situation at hand, she had no contact with the others back in Eientei. Also, she didn't have her cellphone with her and Ui won't be able to find her way to Gensokyo just to fetch her. She was running out of time as darkness started to envelop the bamboo forest. Most youkai of the dark would awaken soon and begin the night with a tasty meal.

The only thing she knew was to find a way to get out of the thicket, return back to Eientei or Reisen and Tewi could find her. Unfortunately for her, this option was crossed out immediately.

If she only knew how to fly, it wouldn't be a problem at all.

She could hear eerie sounds around her as she felt her heart racing. She learned from both Tewi and Reisen that the bamboo forest was a dangerous place at night but the only thing she could do now was to continue onwards. Staying in one place wouldn't help her either way.

Yui's heart took a quick break from blood circulation as a large wolf-like youkai appeared from the darkness a few feet in her right. Its mouth was foaming and growling hungrily.

My first youkai encounter out in the field has finally arrived!

This is like one of Ricchan's games! Except I don't have any weapons like swords or bows or guns or...

Her thoughts bursted almost instantly as the youkai slowly crept towards her. She heard from Yukari that youkai eats humans and that was definitely bad news for her. A wolf and a wolf youkai made no difference as sighting a human means having food for their dinner table. Like any other person would do, Yui could scream for help, but that might only make the situation worse by attracting other scary creatures in the dark and probably start a battle royal with her as grand prize instead. Trying to outrun the youkai was not the best option either, as it would only delay the expected outcome. The only thing she had that moment was her guitar, unfortunately not a weapon to be used in the first place. Well, guitars could be made a great smashing weapon but Yui was in her right mind not to give the guitar any scratches, deformities or bloodstains.

She would almost forget it if she didn't feel the bulge on her blazer - the star projectile she got from Marisa!

With one final hope, she pulled the star from the pocket and assumed a battle stance of her own.

"You think I'm not armed? Take a look at this!" Yui squealed as she thrust her weapon forward.

The wolf youkai was not fazed even if it did stop to distinguish the object Yui was holding. In fact, it made the youkai more cautious, at the same time angry...

"I'm warning you! Not another step!"

The wolf youkai was continued its advance. Yui was within its reach now...

"This would hurt! You asked for this!"

Gathering her strength to her right arm, she threw the projectile to the youkai - the strongest that she could give.

Thankfully for the wolf youkai, it didn't have to move at all to dodge Yui's attack. It went to the cluster of bamboos before it exploded in a bright flash. The only thing the guitarist could do was to sit on the ground in defeat. Well, it was a good thing that the star didn't explode earlier or it could probably make a hole in her middle.

"O-Okay...I kinda expected that..."

The wolf youkai lunged forward to deliver the debilitating strike as she closed her eyes in fear and started to thank everyone who helped her for extending her life. It was quite funny. She thought that death was really trailing her from the beginning. and embarassing for her that she was saved from an accident which was a step away from death, only to be eaten by a youkai.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean it, really!"

Nothing happened...

Then she heard another voice.

"Get your filthy claws away from her. Touch her, or you'll meet your end!"

To her surprise, a seemingly incorporeal girl was floating in front of her as she opened her eyes. She had shoulder-length chocolate hair and wearing a more casual style of kimono with note and cake imprints everywhere. The wolf youkai was sent off a few yards back before resuming to its usual stance. It appeared to be threatened but it wouldn't give up yet as it began to stalk around them cautiously, looking for an opening to be used. The spirit girl's eyes followed the movements of the youkai and sighed nonchalantly. She had no time to waste now.

"Ah, ah, ah! Don't you even think about it! You'll just get yourself injured!" The spirit girl threatened as she waved a finger at the youkai then rubbed her chin in thought. "Wait, I already attacked. Okay then, I'll punish you more until you get your lesson!"

For most ordinary youkai, verbal threats had usually no effect for them whatsoever, unless you materialize a pink orb of destructive magic and hurling it towards a tree, just like the spirit girl did. Naturally, the tree was still standing after the simple explosion but the surrounding bamboo was scorched in the process. The youkai seemed to get the subtle message and decided to call it a day as it walked away in defeat and without having a human meal for the night.

Yui felt bad for the youkai as she herself detest getting hungry like it was a hard math test, especially when the food was just in your reach but could never be eaten. Definitely, it wouldn't do good either if she would be in someone's dinner menu either. Do all youkai eat cake too? Yukari got enthralled by the sweets; maybe it would do the same to the others? If she would go with Tsumugi next time, her hypothesis would be worth a try. For her, Gensokyo might become a better world if they promote eating cake instead of humans.

Is that even a good idea? Chubby youkai wouldn't be so rare anymore...

"Good! That takes care of that," said the spirit as she turned to Yui. "Hirasawa-sama, are you okay? Do you have any injuries?"

"W-Who are you?" Yui asked as she slowly stood up.

"Oh...pardon me. I should introduce myself properly." The girl straightened her body and gave the awestruck Yui a smile. "I'm a tsukumogami conceived from your guitar. I should thank you for taking good care of me from the very start. I am in your debt."

Yui took the time to direct her eyes to her instrument were as an unusual glow of red enveloped its entire form. "Eh? Tsukumo-what?"

...How should I explain to her? I hope this doesn't confuse her more. Maybe this would do...

"Beings, more like spirits, that come to life made possible by the love and care that the owner gives to that particular item," said the floating spirit; apparently not good in explaining things. "Uh...Basically, I am the product of your hard work to your guitar."

"Ah...so that's how it works then? If I put a lot of love in a particular thing, a spirit will be born from it?"

It's a good thing she doesn't think much of things like these...

"Not really. There's a lot of factors for an artifact spirit to..."

"Uh...you're Gitah?" The guitarist asked as she stared at the artifact spirit in great interest. "Y-You're a...girl..."

The spirit embarassedly flushed. "I...I'm sorry that I didn't reach your expectations, Hirasawa-sama, but I will serve you well."

"Hmm...It's kinda awkward if I kept calling you Gitah. Do you have a name?"

"Isn't Gitah good enough? Besides, I'm used to that name anyways."

Yui stared at the girl once more before she slightly nodded in accordance. "Okay...I'll think of a better name soon since you're a girl. But first, we need to get out in this bamboo forest."

"Yes. It's dangerous to be out this late. More youkai might appear in our way but as long as I'm here, nothing would harm you," assured the spirit girl with a small smile. "After all, I'm here to protect you from any danger."

"Don't you have something that could help us out of here?" asked Yui expectantly.

"Unfortunately, my powers are not of pathfinding and the like. I'm afraid we should continue onwards until we find our way back the mansion or to the village Inaba Tewi-san told you about."

"So we don't have other choices..."

"Let us find the way out then."

"Aw...I'm going to miss Reigetsusai." Yui childishly pouted then she pointed at the spirit girl in an accusing manner. "Next time, don't just rush off to somewhere else! I'll be worried!"

The spirit girl was on the verge of crying, nervously waving both of her hands in front of her. "I-I'm sorry! You missed some details about that part. I really...I didn't mean to run away on my own accord!"

"Uhm...I was just kidding..."