"So...err, where do we start Youmu-san?" Reimu asked, as the two girls overlooked the courtyard below.
"The most important step to take for a newly awakened Tenshi is to bind your powers appropriately," Youmu replied calmly, without turning to regard her future partner.
Reimu was noticeably surprised by this title, "Tenshi? Selling yourselves a bit highly, aren't you? Can't we just be called magical girls?"
"We do not use the term lightly, Reimu-Sempai," The younger girl replied, turning to face her, "We use it based on it's meaning, as a protector, a guardian angel for those that cannot protect themselves from the creatures hidden in the darkness."
"Still sounds kind of high-and-mighty to me," Reimu grumbled, but went ignored as a blank playing card was suddenly thrust in front of her, "And what's this for?"
"Binding your powers, like I said," Youmu replied, "Our powers can be very dangerous when not monitored in the beginning, since you don't have a grasp on controlling them, so the higher-ups distributed these cards, in order to seal your powers away, mostly to prevent incidents in new recruits."
"And you speak of this from...experience, I take it?" Reimu asked, vaguely recalling Youmu's little cherry blossom storm, and the ever-present smell of spring the girl seemed to carry about her.
The younger girl blushed and turned away, hiding her face behind her bangs, "I may have had an accident or two when my powers first appeared, but Yuyuko-sama was there to help me, so it wasn't as bad as it could be."
"By the way, what's the little creampuff following you around supposed to be," Reimu asked, as she snatched the card away from the swordswoman and began to look it over in earnest.
Blinking in confusion, Youmu looked around, and suddenly realized what Reimu was referring to. Floating beside the girl was a large white spirit, which was currently blushing, somehow.
"Err, that is a long story, Reimu-sempai, but I will simply tell you that it is my own form of manifestation, and that it is no threat," The younger girl answered shyly. "Now, we need to bind your powers before you do any more harm to yourself today, and before we can go out and begin to train you."
"Kay, so what do I do?" Reimu asked lazily, now weaving the blank card between her fingers.
"Do you remember how you got your powers to manifest just a moment ago?" Youmu asked, and received a small nod, "I need you to focus like that again, and then point all of that focus on the card. I will take care of the rest of the sealing, with the powers Yukari-sama has gifted me with."
"Okay...but I just want you to know that I totally don't believe in any of this mumbo-jumbo, and the only reason I am going along with it is because I trust you," Reimu warned, "don't make me regret it."
"O-of course not, Reimu-sempai..." Youmu replied nervously, 'So scary! Why did Yuyuko-sama have to pair me with her?'
Reimu sunk to the ground, and settled into a praying pose, with the card held between her hands, and began to breathe steadily in and out. Youmu was impressed as she saw the Yin-Yang orbs manifest around the girl's head once more, and then began to glow brightly.
Once the card in her hands also began to glow, Youmu quickly grabbed the card from the girl, and started chanting in the foreign language that Yuyuko-sama had been training her in for the last few months, in preparation for a new Tenshi that Yukari-sama had informed them would be appearing soon, and the card gave off another bright flash.
Youmu was surprised once again, as she saw Reimu-Sempai's uniform replaced by a ceremonial shrine maiden's uniform for a brief moment, before a second flash went off, and the girl slumped to the ground, panting loudly.
Youmu hid a small smile as she took a look at the card in her hand, and noted the picture of a Yin-Yang orb upon it, informing her that she'd done the sealing correctly. Returning her attention to her new partner, Youmu was reminded that Reimu was doubled over, gasping for air.
Hurrying to Reimu's side, Youmu offered the girl a bottle of water she'd had in her bag, and Reimu gladly took it, drinking greedily from the bottle and capping off with a content sigh, before smiling up at the girl in a way that made Youmu find herself blushing, "Arigatou Youmu-Chan!"
"I-it was no problem, Reimu-sempai," The younger girl replied, scratching her cheek nervously and looking away, as she held out the new spell card to the girl. It was taken with nary a word, and Reimu began to inspect the now decorated card curiously.
"So...this little card here, It has all of my power in it now?" The brown-haired girl asked, as she felt the card gently pulsing in her hand, like it had it's own heartbeat.
"It has most of your power in it Reimu-sempai," Youmu corrected, "You will still be able to see the supernatural, and you can most likely manifest a small portion of your powers without using your card, but for all intent and purposes you are now as close to 'normal' as you are going to get," The silver-haired girl explained.
"So what next Youmu-Chan?" Reimu asked, pocketing the card for now, and looking up at the girl.
Youmu opened her mouth to answer the girl, but was unfortunately cut off by the appearance of one of the teachers, "Oi, you two, stop slacking off and get back to your classes!"
"For now I suppose we will lead our 'normal' lives, and talk again after school," Youmu said, and bid the older girl farewell with a small bow, which Reimu mimed.
Once down the stairs and around the corner, far away from the brown haired girl, Youmu released a small squeal as her cheeks lit up in a bright blush. Holding her cheeks and feeling foolish did little to stop the fluttering of her heart, as the kendo enthusiast and swordswoman remembered the girl's kind words, only causing her to squeal again.
Floating nearby, unknown to the Tenshi, a blonde-haired woman was grinning to herself, "poor girl doesn't realize how much of a lady killer she is, if she has already stolen the heart of such a normally stoic girl. This ought prove entertaining," The woman said to herself.
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By the time lunch rolled around again, Reimu had become relatively used to the strange new vision gifted to her by her unleashed powers, and wasn't startled in the least as she noticed everything new about the people around her, some she had known for years.
She had quickly determined that yes, Marisa did seem to be wearing a witches hat, but when she went to try and steal it from the girl, her hand only met open air, and she was forced to make a quick explanation on the spot to her blonde-haired friend, who seemed to accept that her friend was simply sleep-deprived after yesterday. This sadly did little to stop her friend's other worries, though.
"You sure you're okay Reimu?" Marisa asked as the two sat down in the courtyard, "Having to go to the nurse two days in a row can't say anything good about your health."
"I am fine Marisa," Reimu growled, "I've obviously just been working too hard on the shrine, and haven't been getting enough sleep."
"You know Reimu, if you ever bothered to ask, any one of us would be happy to help you with the shrine, and I'm sure that the school board wouldn't mind you accepting a little extra help," Letty added, watching on with a small smile as Cirno took a huge bite of her sandwich, ignoring her older sisters warnings to eat slower. "It is a big job for just one girl."
"I have managed that shrine on my own for almost two years now, I do not need help with it," Reimu argued back.
"I think you're being a bit too hard-headed about this Reimu," Marisa started up again, "Just because the school board only assigned you to the job, doesn't mean you have to be too proud to not accept help from others from time to time."
Reimu growled, sick of listening to these girls question her abilities, and grabbed her backpack as she turned away, intending to storm off in a huff, but forgot about the fact they were sitting at a park bench, and tripped over the seat, causing Marisa to begin laughing at the top of her lungs.
Without another word, Reimu walked off, though several pairs of eyes followed the girl as she returned into the school.
Letty sighed as she regarded the stubborn girl's choice, Reimu was like that sometimes, and it seemed like the best plan was to leave the girl to her own devices for a while and let her calm down. That was what she was planning to do, until Marisa spoke up.
"You ought to go after her, I'm sure she needs some kind of emotional support right now, no matter how much she's trying to hide it," The blonde girl stated, causing Letty to turn and regard her other friend.
"We both know how Reimu is Marisa, when she's like this she needs her space," the older girl answered.
"Ah don't give me that, no girl walks away from nearly being killed by thugs without a little emotional damage, and I'm sure if it's you she'll be happy," The younger girl replied, wiggling her eyebrows to imply what she really meant.
"What do ya mean Marisa-Sempai?" Cirno asked, looking up from her sandwich, causing both girls to remember she was there. Marisa quickly put her hand on the younger girl's head and grinned down at her.
"Tell ya when you're older squirt," The blonde stated, causing Cirno to begin flailing her arms.
"I'm plenty old you Black-white thief!" The blue-haired girl began to complain, making Marisa laugh. Turning to regard her other friend, Marisa explained, "I'll watch your little sister, you go and try to cheer up Reimu before she levels the school."
Letty huffed at the thought. It was possible that the girl could level the school when she was angry, that girl was a firecracker. So the pale-haired girl grabbed her bag, gave Cirno a comforting pat on the head, and followed after their friend, unaware that she was being watched.
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Reimu sighed as she slumped against the wall across from the door to the roof, which she had found, with some annoyance, was locked. No doubt this meant that Kazami-sensei was up there, tending to her plants, and did not want to be disturbed.
There weren't many other places for the girl to go though, to be honest. Her friends were outside, and after she stormed off, she didn't want to see their (especially Letty's) smug faces as she came crawling back, The shrine was a definite no, as she felt unsafe going there, even with Youmu's promise for protection, and most of the classrooms were locked during the lunch period.
Reimu was thus, surprised when, just down the hallway, a tall blonde-haired girl stepped out of classroom 4-C, with a pair of fairies on either shoulder, and noticed her, "Oh, Reimu-San, Konnichiwa."
"Konnichiwa, Margatroid-San," Reimu replied. She couldn't really greet the girl by her first name, as the two had never really spoken to one another. The only reason Reimu knew Alice Margatroid was through her connection to Marisa, and considering their on-and-off friendship (mostly due to Marisa's schemes and pranks) the pair had never been formally introduced.
"May I ask what brings you all the way up here?" Alice asked, slipping off her backpack as she took a seat next to the brown-haired girl, who noted that neither fairy seemed to move in the slightest, besides the barely noticeable movement of their tiny wings. She really had to ask Youmu-Chan about this supernatural vision the next time she saw her.
"I just felt like I needed somewhere to be alone, but unfortunately the door to the roof is locked, and I dare not intrude if Kazami-sensei is up there," Reimu explained, which earned an understanding nod from the doll maker.
"Am I close in assuming Marisa is the cause of your quest for solitude?" Alice asked with a small smile, which for some reason made Reimu want to smile as well.
"Hai, She is getting on my case about working too hard on the shrine again, and I just can't take it after what happened yesterday," The shrine maiden explained, sighing and laying her head back against the wall.
"Yes, Marisa is quite the abrasive personality sometimes, and I've found she doesn't understand things like personal space or boundaries," Alice explained, and Reimu nodded along, that sounded just like her friend, "But I am sure she is well-meaning."
"I don't doubt that she is, it's just that I don't want to accept help, it's my shrine, maybe not on paper, but I've worked on that shrine for the last year and a half, putting my own money into it, and working hard on it's upkeep, all by myself," Reimu explained.
"So you are simply too proud to accept help?" Alice asked, making Reimu groan. "Sorry, sorry, I'm assuming that's exactly what Marisa said?"
"And Letty," Reimu added, "They never offered to help before, and I don't see why they're bothering now, when I've managed just fine up until I nearly get attacked."
"Have you ever considered they may be worried about you?" a softer voice asked, and both girls jumped.
"Ah, Patchoulli-San, what a surprise to see you out of the library," Alice commented dryly, but was promptly ignored by the purple-haired girl.
"Well...they might just be worried about me, but they've voiced their concern about me overworking myself before, and I don't think they've ever offered to ease the workload on my shoulders," Reimu replied, looking at the girl with the moniker of "knowledge."
"Perhaps it is because they didn't think they needed to," Patchy continued, "Maybe they simply thought the silent offer would be enough to catch your attention, and are only now coming to realize that if you are not picking up on them, they must resort to more direct measures," The asthmatic girl pointed out.
"You think that, all this time, they've always wanted to help?" Reimu asked, and received a nod from both girls.
"It does make sense, even though Marisa is anything but subtle," Reimu noted that Alice's eyes shot across from her at the purple-haired girl, before returning her attention to the shrine maiden, "When it comes to you she seems to be much more vague in her offers."
"And Letty-sempai would not simply spell out what her words implied," Patchy continued without missing a beat, "That girl is a master of subtlety, and even the most famed psychologists would have a field day attempting to pick her brain."
"I would simply like to know if Cirno-Chan and Letty-sempai are actually related, they act so differently," Alice commented, but was silenced by a look from the girl on Reimu's other side.
"God I can be such an idiot sometimes," Reimu groaned, laying her head back again, "You really think that all this time they've been hinting that they've wanted to help me out, but I've simply been too dense to pick up on it."
"Most likely."
"I wouldn't be surprised."
"Well great, now I just feel bad for snapping at them like that," Reimu grumbled, but was caught off-guard as the two girls began to laugh. "What could possibly be funny about that?"
"Reimu-san, I don't think you have to feel bad about that, those two are a headache to try and read at the worst of times," Alice began, and her sentence was quickly picked up by the other girl, "much like trying to read the work of Shakespeare."
"Besides, Marisa would most likely never accept your apology, since she wouldn't see what you did as wrong," Alice continued, "In fact, I doubt she was even really hurt by what you said in the first place, that girl has thicker skin that the legendary dragons."
"Well, maybe not a greater dragon," Patchy commented, "But if she could learn to breathe fire, she could pass as a lesser dragon."
"And what does breathing fire have to do with her being dragon-like?" Alice asked, and Reimu noted how the girl's fairies seemed to be gaining life, as they flew from the girl's shoulders and were now hovering on either side of her.
"Many of the more powerful dragons in lore can breathe fire, I assume it is a sign of strength among them, and if Kirisame-san could not breathe fire, then she would simply be a komodo dragon, one of the most boring subspecies of dragons next to drakes."
"Would you really want Marisa to be able to breathe fire?" Alice asked, as Reimu noticed one of her fairies beginning to blush with a goofy grin, while the other now had it's arms crossed and was looking indignant. She had to wonder if these fairies were somehow tied into the girl's subconscious, but brushed it off as another question to ask Youmu later that evening.
"I'll just excuse you two to your argument then, and thank you for the advice Margatroid-san, Knowledge-san," Reimu stated as she grabbed her backpack and made a hasty retreat, stopping to bow to the two girls, which went unnoticed as they continued to argue.
"My, Marisa does make some strange friends," The girl said to herself as she began to make her way to fifth period.
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Reimu found the rest of the day, following her talk with Marisa's friends, passed in a relative calm. She met up with Marisa outside of their fifth period class, and the girl was still giving her that goofy, all-knowing grin that made Reimu positive that the two girls had been right in suggesting that she wasn't going to hold a grudge against her.
Reimu tried to ask the other girl for help in class, and was pleasantly surprised by how willingly Marisa gave her hints and suggestions with her work, only further cementing the point the pair of bookworms had offered.
Finally though, Reimu was forced to face her demons, and after bidding farewell to her friends at the front gates, and assuring them that she would be fine, having to remind them that Youmu would be there with her, Reimu stepped to the back of the school, and climbed the stairs up to the shrine.
She wasn't surprised to find Youmu already sitting at the shrine, wearing her green dress with her long hair and blades, calmly sipping from a cup of tea Reimu couldn't fathom the origins of.
"Hey Youmu-Chan," Reimu greeted, and smiled at the small nod the girl gave her. Taking a seat next to the girl, Reimu waited for her junior to break the silence.
"We received our first assignment," Youmu announced to the older girl, just as both girls phones went off in their pockets, startling the shrine maiden. Fumbling with the apron pocket of her shrine uniform for a moment, Reimu finally managed to extract the phone, the same time as Youmu pulled hers from her breast pocket, and both flipped them open simultaneously.
flashing across the screen was a small mail icon, and Reimu followed Youmu's movements in order to open the message, where only a short line had been typed.
Hunt down the Youkai that invaded the school grounds, bring them to justice.
-Ran
"So, who is Ran?" Reimu immediately asked once Youmu snapped the phone shut, and she followed along, turning to regard the white-haired girl.
"Ran is both our vice-principle, and Yukari-Sama's personal assistant," The swordswoman explained calmly, "She is also a Youkai."
Reimu spluttered at the blunt news, "A Youkai! I thought that we were supposed to be hunting Youkai, how can we have one simply wandering the school, let alone her being our vice-principle!"
"Yukari-Sama beat her in combat a very long time ago, and spared her life in exchange for Ran-Sama binding her powers to Yukari, and has been her servant ever since," Youmu answered.
"So we could potentially spare Youkai, if we can get them to agree to bind their powers to someone?" Reimu asked, and received a small nod. "Then why do we have to hunt them at all, when it sounds like Yukari-Sama could simply beat every Youkai and have them dedicate themselves to her?"
"The problem is that each person can only have so many Youkai bound to them, and binding more than your soul can manage could kill you," Youmu replied, "Very few people can manage binding more than one Youkai's powers to them, and we are severely undermanned in the first place, so peaceful resolutions are unfortunately not an option."
"But, what about the Youkai that don't pose a threat?" Reimu asked, already nearly in hysterics, "We simply kill them in cold blood because we have no one that can bind their powers?"
Youmu looked away from the girl, her face solemn, "We try our very best to save all of the Youkai that we can, but sometimes a quick and painless death is a mercy compared to what could happen to them."
"Like what?" Reimu choked out.
"Those Youkai that we defeat, but do not kill or bind, are often later killed by their kin, for only the sin of losing," Youmu explained.
"God that's...horrible..." Reimu muttered. "And there is nothing we can do?"
"Nothing that we have been able to think of so far, but we try our best to save as many Youkai as we can, and we offer the rest a respectful death in order to put their souls at ease."
"But not all Youkai are like that, are they?" Reimu asked darkly.
"No, There are many Youkai that see killing humans as merely a game, sport for their amusement, like those six that attacked you. Some like to take on weak targets like you were, Tenshi whose powers had yet to be unleashed, in order to become more powerful themselves, by what is basically eating your power," Youmu stated, "I have seen it, and it changes how you see the world forever."
Youmu was startled by the abrupt hug her partner pulled her into, and blushed noticeably as she all but melted into it, the tense aura around the shrine lifting.
"I promise I will do everything in my power to try and think of a way to save all of the Youkai, every one that is willing to surrender, so we do not have to spill any more blood on our hands, Youmu-Chan."
The two girls remained hugging for a short time, as the night wore on, unaware of the person watching them from high above.
"A bold promise, but you are yet a newly risen Tenshi, shrine maiden. Can you be the Guardian angel that the demons need?" Yukari said to herself, before floating away into the night.
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Chapter 2 complete
stay tuned for chapter 3