The final bell rang, and everyone went off in a mad dash to get out of the school, while Reimu took a more leisurely pace, and quietly collected her things from her locker, before swapping out her shoes and stepping out into the courtyard.
She immediately spotted Letty and Marisa standing by the gate, waiting for her and chatting about something, and she quickened her pace to catch up to the two girls.
"Ah, there you are Reimu-Chan, we were hoping to be able to walk home with you tonight," Letty explained as the three girls started off from the school.
"Yeah, feels like we've hardly spent any time together lately except during the morning," Marisa added, "like you've been too busy with the shrine again, or all the aftermath of that failed attack on you the other day."
"Could we please stop talking about that for one day," Reimu groaned, making her friends laugh. Unfortunately, the girl's walk was cut off abruptly by the sound of something vibrating in Reimu's backpack, which caused her to stop and begin digging through it, eventually coming up with her phone.
"Reimu, I didn't know you had a phone now, how'd you afford it?" Marisa asked in surprise, and Letty seemed equally mystified.
"It's a long story, sorry, I need to check this real quick," Reimu apologized, before flipping open the phone and quickly scrolling to the mail screen, where a short message had been jotted.
Meet me at the lake closest to the school, urgent business.
-Youmu
Reimu felt her blood run cold as she re-read the message, before looking up at her two friends, and finally noticed something missing, "Letty-Sempai, where is Cirno-Chan?"
Letty at first seemed to not catch the question, but quickly understood, "She chose to go home with her other friends, and said that they were going to be going past the lake, maybe stop to play for a bit. She promised that she would be home before it got dark though," The girl assured the pair.
That was the absolute last thing that the brunette wanted to hear though, and Reimu swore she could feel her heart drop into her feet as she suddenly bolted off, ignoring her friends cries for her to wait, and thankful of her late grandfather (rest his soul) for forcing her into taking care of her body and staying in shape, as she easily outran her friends.
Luckily the lake was only a few blocks away from the school, so the shrine maiden was on the scene as fast as her legs could carry her, luck remaining on her side as she encountered no traffic, and quickly found her partner standing by the roadside.
"I didn't expect you to get here so quickly Reimu-Sempai," Youmu said, and Reimu noted she was already transformed, meaning that it had to be Youkai, and that her best friend's little sister might be in there.
"What is the situation?" Reimu asked sternly, which seemed to take Youmu aback, but the silver-haired girl cleared her throat and explained.
"I was just packing up after my last class, when I got the call from Ran-Sama, that a Youkai was detected by the lake, and that we were to be on the scene as soon as possible, since this is a high-traffic location," Youmu answered.
Hearing everything that she felt was needed, Reimu tried to push past the shorter girl, but it turned out Youmu was much stronger than her, especially when her powers were not released, "Hold on Reimu-sempai."
"I can't hold on Youmu-Chan, my best friend's little sister might be in there along with a dangerous Youkai, and if she finds it before we do, I would never forgive myself," The girl snapped, before reaching into her bag and retrieving her spell card.
Holding the card above her head caused it to flash, and in a burst of wind, Reimu was now wearing her shrine maiden outfit, and had three Yin-Yang orbs circling her.
"I know how you probably feel Reimu-Sempai, but we can't rush into this, remember the other night when you entered the fray without thinking," The silver-haired girl reminded, as her wisp floated lazily around the pair.
Biting her lip, Reimu refused to admit that she did remember what happened, but waited for her partner to continue. She was surprised when Youmu simply gestured for her to follow, "C'mon, if there are a group of children in there, then we need to find them, or the Youkai, quickly."
"H-Hai!" Reimu stated, and followed the girl, absently summoning a fistful of Ofuda in preparation for combat.
It was very lucky for the pair that the lake was a relatively small place, which was why it was so popular among children for playing, and allowed the older girls to quickly find the Youkai.
Sadly, they also found Cirno, and her friends.
From a quick look, it seemed that Mystia and Wriggle, if Reimu remembered their names right, were knocked unconscious, and were bleeding from the forehead slowly, though their wounds were most likely not life-threatening. Otherwise they had a few scrapes and bruises.
Laying out not far from the water was Rumia, also out cold, but she didn't seem to have a scratch on her, which left Reimu confused, but she brushed it off as she heard a cry from nearby.
There was Cirno, and her luck be damned, she was currently pinned under what looked like a vampire-like Youkai, with large bat wings that were spread wide, as he bared his fangs at her.
"Get the hell away from her, monster!" Reimu cried with bravery she wasn't expecting, catching the attention of the beast. Charging in at the beast, the much smaller girl body checked the vampire, knocking him away from her friend. Youmu was quickly at her side, sword drawn, and ready for action.
"We must talk about your need to rush into situations, Reimu-Sempai," The younger girl quipped, but was ignored as Reimu growled at the monster, "Later Youmu-Chan, right now let's just do some extermination." The younger girl agreed wholeheartedly.
For some reason the Youkai seemed to find amusement in this, as he spread his arms wide and began laughing, "You two believe that you can kill me? I am a pure-bred vampire, my strength is a thousand times beyond your pitiful abilities."
"You speak a tough game Vampire-san, but let us see you back up these empty claims," Youmu challenged, before disappearing in a burst of cherry blossom petals. This was all the encouragement Reimu needed to once again charge, tossing her handful of Ofuda at the Youkai as an opening attack.
She was incensed as the paper talisman were casually dodged, but smirked as she turned the failed attack into a feint, gesturing with a hand to launch one of her Yin-Yang orbs at the creature, which hit him head on and caused him to stagger backwards, though he quickly regained his footing.
This momentary distraction seemed to be all the time needed though, as Youmu appeared behind the vampire, and buried her sword through his torso, hopefully for a killing blow on the beast.
Both girls cursed as the monster simply laughed off the attack, and disintegrated into hundreds of bats. Youmu closed the distance between the two, and the girls moved up back to back.
"So Youmu-Chan, know anything about how to kill a vampire Youkai?" Reimu joked, hoping for a positive answer.
"No, unfortunately Vampires are in fact considered a higher ranking Youkai than what we faced yesterday, and are surprisingly rare, so few Tenshi know how to properly dispose of them," Youmu explained.
"Well Shi-" Reimu's curse was interrupted by a fist impacting with her face, which sent her flying away from the shorter girl, and nearly into the lake, if she hadn't been able to catch herself in midair. After shaking the cobwebs from her head, Reimu took stock of the fight.
Youmu seemed to be holding her own against the vampire, at least, though every place her sword connected appeared to come away without any visible mark or sign of injury. Therefore, as much as Youmu was striking the beast, none of her attacks were actually doing anything to slow down or stop him.
"Damnit, this isn't working...we need a new plan," Reimu growled.
"Idiot, use your holy relics," A new voice called out from nearby, making Reimu snap her head around.
Standing by the lake, with her arms behind her back, was a blonde haired woman, wearing a purple dress and white undershirt, that had what Reimu could only call the strangest hat she had ever seen in her life.
"He's an Undead Youkai, your Holy powers are his kryptonite, use your brain you stupid Tenshi," The girl said with a teasing smile, before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
Blinking twice and wondering what the hell she had just seen, Reimu did realize that what the woman had told her was right, if he was Undead, then items charged with holy power should be able to properly dispose of him.
"Youmu-Chan, regroup!" Reimu called, and was pleased at how quickly the younger girl complied, jumping back to her side and trying to catch her breath, "He is more annoying than I expected."
"Don't worry, I think that I might have a plan to bring him to justice," Reimu replied, "But I need you to trust me, and hold out your sword for me a moment."
Unsure of where the shrine maiden was going with this, but knowing she could trust the girl, Youmu held out her hand, still keeping a firm grip on her weapon, while her other hand went to the hilt of her short sword still at her waist.
Resting her hand over the younger girl's, Reimu closed her eyes and began to focus, calling up locked away information in her mind, and smiled as suddenly something new opened inside, and she felt her powers beginning to leak out of her fingers, into the younger girls, whose own hand began to feel warm beneath hers.
Youmu also felt the power shift, and looked up at her senior in surprise, "Combining powers? this is an advanced technique."
finally cutting off the power transfer, and opening her eyes, Reimu sighed as she tried to regain balance over herself, and smiled down at her junior, "There, now let's take this vampire out."
"Hai!" Youmu answered, and moved to re-engage, with Reimu hot on her heels, a new set of Ofuda gripped between her fingers.
Sensing something different, the vampire prepared to defend himself against the two Tenshi, but howled in agony when he tried to parry the smaller girl's first sword swing.
Retreating back, the Vampire hissed at the two, "Holy weapons, how dare you!"
"How dare you try to feed off of innocent children," Reimu shot back emotionlessly, throwing the Ofuda at the creature, but was unfortunately dodged. This did little to stop the pair, as Youmu took the chance to again close the distance with the vampire, and began to lay into him with sword swipes, finally beginning to wear him down as the Holy-infused sword connected.
Reimu kept back to provide support as best she could, tossing countless Ofuda at the creature of darkness, sometimes connecting and causing him to stumble, other times forcing him to dodge, leaving him open to Youmu's attacks, but finally the beast disappeared into a flurry of bats once more and reappeared across the clearing.
"Fine, I can see that this meal is too much effort, I will bid you girls a good night," the vampire stated courteously, but Reimu wasn't about to let him escape after threatening her friend.
"Like. Hell!" The shrine maiden growled, and suddenly four Yin-Yang orbs were circling the vampire.
"W-what the?" was all the vampire managed to say, before the orbs detonated in a bright flash, engulfing the creature in holy light with a loud scream.
Reimu sunk to her knees after the draining attack, and tried to catch her breath, not looking up to inspect her work. She noted absently as Youmu came to stand beside her, and put a comforting hand upon her shoulder.
"That was very quick thinking Reimu-Sempai," The younger girl complimented, and got a small nod from her senior, who managed to at least give Youmu a thumbs up. Youmu returned the gesture with some amusement.
"How are the girls looking?" Reimu asked through her panting, reminding Youmu that they were even there in the first place, and causing her to disappear in a burst of cherry blossoms once more.
Taking the chance, Reimu fell onto her back, and stared up at the sky as the smell of spring wafted through the clearing, and she listened to Youmu go about the inspection.
Finally the younger girl reappeared standing above her, and gave her another thumbs-up, "besides some bruising and scratches, it doesn't seem like any of them are in serious danger, and we can probably leave them here to get home by themselves."
"I don't think I can do that in good conscience," Reimu admitted, "How about we escort the lot of them home, then regroup back at my place?" The girl offered as an ultimatum, and was pleased with the nod of consent she received.
"I suppose it would be irresponsible of us to leave a bunch of children who had just been attacked to fend for themselves," Youmu said sheepishly, before she was engulfed in a white light that left her in her school uniform. Reimu was quick to do the same, holding up her card, which after the transformation was once again decorated with the familiar Yin-Yang orb design.
Youmu helped the older girl back to her feet just as the children were beginning to regain consciousness, and the two went around to check on them.
Offering a cover story that they had heard screaming and come running, The two girls split up in order to cover as much ground as possible, Youmu taking both Mystia and Wriggle, while Reimu got Cirno and Rumia.
Despite a small mishap where Rumia couldn't even remember where she lived (which Reimu was thankful got cleared up quickly by Cirno helping out), the two girls walked back to Reimu's place, where she had a strong feeling she would find the older sister waiting up for the two.
"So I'm thinking the next time you guys want to go to the lake, you ask either me, your big sister, or Marisa to go with you, to prevent whatever attacked you guys from trying that again," Reimu suggested, and received a small nod from the blue-haired girl, which Reimu found unnerving. it was not very often that Cirno was at a loss for words.
The older girl was further surprised when she found Youmu standing outside of her house, checking out her phone while she waited for the two. The minute she spotted the pair though, Youmu slipped the phone back into her bag, and offered the girls a wave.
"Glad to see that you didn't have any trouble getting those two home," Reimu commented, receiving a nervous laugh.
"They were going on about some monster that jumped them, but it sounded like they had just been playing a very realistic game, and got injured when they fell over," The silver haired girl explained, making Reimu groan in her head 'As if we need anyone else suspecting anything, let alone a bunch of kids.'
"Anyways, shall we go inside and see if the freeloaders are here?" Reimu asked, and Youmu voiced her consent. The two would have walked inside, if Cirno hadn't spoken up.
"So how did you two manage to beat off that Vampire? I passed out just after you arrived."
And both girls froze.
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Chapter 5 - complete
For those of you who might be concerned, the combat will be getting longer and more complicated in future chapters, right now I'm more focused on driving the plot.
Stay tuned for chapter 6