A Shadow over Gensokyo Part 2
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"TTeybayo, the weekend is here!" Marisa cheered as the four girls walked out into the school courtyard, the blonde-haired girl smiling wide as she lead the charge, arms held up and being followed by an excitable blue-haired girl.
"Yay for the weekend!" Cirno echoed her Sempai, chasing after the blonde as the pair hurried ahead of the two more refined girls of the group.
"What are we going to do with those idiots?" Reimu grumbled, though Letty laughed good-naturedly at the girl's antics.
"Let them be, it feels like it's been a very long week, and they deserve to let out some energy now. Besides, this means they'll be less excitable tomorrow, and maybe we can actually get something done," The older girl pointed out, Reimu nodding in agreement.
"What are our plans for this weekend anyways Letty-Sempai?" The brunette asked, "I still haven't been assigned any hours, and I do have one small errand to run, but otherwise I'm free."
"Oh I'm sure that between Marisa-Chan and Cirno-Imouto, we'll have plenty to do," The older girl laughed again, "Now c'mon, before we lose sight of the two."
"Hai Sempai," Reimu agreed, and the two quickened their pace after their wayward friends, though Reimu noticed something out of the corner of her eye that caused her to pause a moment in surprise and concern.
Standing beneath a withered cherry blossom tree was Rumia, and she looked worse than she had that morning. Her skin was a sickly white, her eyes were sunken in and turning a red colour, and her hair seemed to be turning white. This unnerved the shrine maiden, but she was snapped out of her daze as her Sempai called her out.
"Are you coming Reimu-Chan?" Letty asked, "I know you are slow, but please try your best to keep up," She teased.
"Hey!" Reimu growled, "I'll be along in a minute, I was just..." But when she turned back to inspect the small blonde girl further, she was surprised to find Rumia gone, along with the withered tree.
"You were just what, Reimu-Chan?" Letty asked, walking up behind Reimu and looking where she had been, "How sad, they finally removed that one sickly cherry blossom tree."
"But," Reimu would have explained what she thought she'd seen, but an odd nagging at the back of her mind caused her to bite her tongue, and instead reply with simply, "Yes, how sad." Regaining her composure, the brunette grabbed her Sempai's hand and began to drag her along, "C'mon, like you said, we shouldn't leave those two to their own devices for too long. We don't want Marisa giving Cirno any of her bad habits."
A small smile played at the older girl's lips as she allowed herself to be dragged along, though her eyes found their way back over her shoulder at the hole where the tree had once stood, and she sighed to herself.
Luckily the two girls hadn't gotten that far ahead of them, and they were able to catch up with them in a short time. Reimu was quick to attempt to chastise the Blonde, "Marisa, you shouldn't go out of our sight, what if something happened to you?"
"Geez Reimu, you're not my mom, and I'm the same age as you, you aren't the boss of me," Marisa complained defiantly, folding her arms across her chest and pouting, which made the other girls laugh.
"So Letty-Nee, what are we going to do this weekend?" Cirno asked, looking up at her big sister, whose hand she was now holding onto tightly. She also reached out and took Reimu's hand, forming a human chain between the three girls.
"Reimu-Chan says that she has an errand to run this weekend, but otherwise I'm sure that we can find something to do," Letty explained, "did you have anything you need to pick up or do Marisa-Chan?"
"Huh? oh, yeah, actually, I really should check in with my buddy Kourin, feels like it's been forever since I last saw the guy, and god knows what kind of crazy junk he's picked up since my last visit," The blonde replied, intertwining her fingers behind her head as she walked next to Reimu.
"Kourin, you mean that man that owns that small second hand store? What was it called again?" Letty asked curiously.
"Kourindou, I'm sure that I've mentioned it before," Marisa replied, trying to subtly intertwine her fingers with Reimu's as the girl was distracted, listening to Cirno for the moment.
Reimu recognized the name immediately as the place she had overheard Yuuka-Sensei suggest, and suddenly the pieces clicked in her head, "Oh yeah, let's go see Rinnosuke-San, he is always getting in odd things, and you are always talking about him so animatedly Marisa-Chan," Reimu pointed out, which made her blonde friend grin.
"Then I suppose it's settled, we will go to Kourindou after Reimu finishes her errands," Letty said with a nod, receiving affirmatives from the other three girls. A calm silence followed the end of the conversation, until Reimu thought of a topic she felt needed to be discussed, "Hey Cirno-Chan?"
"Hai?" Cirno asked.
"I couldn't help noticing this morning that your friend, Rumia-Chan, I think it is, looked a little under the weather," Reimu breached, "Did she say anything to you guys about anything being wrong?"
"Oh," The young girl's head seemed to fall as she was reminded of her friend, but quickly perked up, "Rumia-Chan said that she had a lot of trouble sleeping yesterday, and that she's been really stressed out over a test we have coming up soon, so she ended up looking like that."
"What's with the sudden interest in Cirno-Chan's friends Reimu?" Marisa asked, "usually we just ignore team (9). Something come up?"
Ignoring Cirno's indignant cry about the blonde's nickname for her and her friends, Reimu replied to the blonde, "It was just playing at the back of my mind that something seemed up with the girl, I'm allowed to be curious."
"I guess, but I'm sure that if it was anything really bad, Rumia would have told the (9)'s about it," Marisa reasoned.
"Back on topic, where else should we go this weekend?" Letty said, trying to steer the conversation away from where Marisa was taking it, I.E, in the direction of making fun of Cirno's friends, and giving her a headache to deal with in the future.
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Reimu found herself awake surprisingly early that Sunday morning, and after completing her morning ritual, came downstairs to find her friends had already arrived, and were taking up residence at her kitchen table.
"Good morning Reimu-Chan," Letty greeted, already working on breakfast with the groceries she and Cirno had most likely brought along, while the Blue and Blonde haired girls sat at the table, tossing around crazy ideas, both wielding pencils and paper which were covered in doodles.
"Morning," Reimu grumbled, and accepted the cup of tea thrust into her hands by her Sempai, before taking a seat between her two friends at the table, and trying to ignore the pair's babbling conversation.
Once breakfast had passed, the group, all wearing casual clothes, set out, Reimu stopping to lock up first.
as they made their way downtown, a thought crossed the Shrine maiden's mind, and she fished out her phone from the backpack she was wearing, gaining the attention of the other girls, "Who Ya texting Reimu?" Marisa asked.
"Youmu-Chan," She ignored Marisa's overblown groan at the name, "One of the teachers suggested we go to Kourindou to find something we need to keep repairing the shrine, and I'm asking her to meet us there," Reimu explained.
"Well I suppose it's okay," Letty said good-naturedly, though Marisa continued to make a fuss about it as the group entered the shopping district, "So where is your errand taking us Reimu-Chan?"
"A little shop called Suzunaan, There's a book there I need to look for, that I heard from a reliable source might be in their stock," The younger girl explained, receiving a nod of understanding from her Sempai, who asked, "Is it for school?"
"Sort of," Reimu half-lied, not wanting to reveal to her friends she was actually going to try and find a book about Shrine maidens, to hopefully get a better grasp of her powers. She felt the less she told them about the matter, the better for everyone involved.
Finally the small shop came into view, and Reimu and Letty immediately grabbed Marisa by the shoulders to stop her simply walking in.
"Now Marisa-Chan," Reimu started, "You know the rules," Letty continued, "No stealing!" Both announced.
"Hey! I wasn't even thinking about it!" The other girl denied, though she received matching incredulous looks from her friends, "I wasn't, this is just a boring old bookstore, I doubt they have anything that'll catch my interest."
"Uh-huh," Reimu was not convinced, "Letty-Chan, I hate to ask, but would you mind staying out here with Marisa and Cirno-Chan, while I go in and look around?"
"I don't mind at all," Letty replied cheerfully, her grip on the Blonde girls arm strengthening, "I'm sure that Marisa doesn't mind either, do you Thief-Chan?"
"A-absolutely not," Marisa said, forcing a nervous smile as she was reminded just how scary her Sempai could be.
"Great, well, I'll be back as quickly as I can, so don't worry," Reimu perked up, and hurried inside, leaving Letty alone with the two troublemakers.
Sighing as she stepped into a world of paper once more, Reimu found herself taking in a deep breath, and immediately regretting it as she began coughing from all of the dust that seemed to be in the air.
"O-oh I'm sorry, I was just dusting the shelves, and there must be tons of the stuff in the air," A younger-looking girl said as she rounded the corner, beginning to rub Reimu's back for her in an attempt to help her expel the dust from her lungs.
"N-no trouble," Reimu croaked out, still trying to catch her breath.
"Where are my manners, I'm Kosuzu Motoori, welcome to Suzunaan books," The girl introduced as she continued to try and help the older girl.
"Reimu Hakurei, and thank you," Reimu replied as she straightened her back, "It's nice to meet you Motoori-San."
"So what brings you to Suzunaan books today Hakurei-San?" The girl asked, brandishing her feather duster and returning to work, looking over her shoulder at the taller brunette.
"I heard this store was well-stocked in ancient books, and I was hoping you might have something along the lines of what I'm looking for," Reimu replied, following the girl along the shelves casually.
"And just what kinda book might you be interested in, Hakurei-San?"
"Any books about Shrine maidens you might have, especially any about any stories that people tell of things they could do, like demon sealing and purification," The girl explained, not exactly sure how to put into words just what she was looking for, but hoping to give the other girl a general idea.
"Ah, I think we have something along those lines among the books of ancient legend, near the back of the store," The girl pointed out, and Reimu nodded, though she couldn't believe it 'more myths and legends? Ugh.'
"Thank you very much Motoori-San," Reimu said with a bow, and hurried to the back, leaving the girl to her dusting. It didn't take long for the shrine maiden to find the book in question, as it was aptly titled "Legends of the Shrine maiden of Paradise. Huh, sounds a little conceited if you ask me."
"I would have to agree," Kosuzu agreed, and Reimu jumped, having not heard the girl sneak up behind her, "Well if that's the book you're interested in, you can borrow it for a few days."
"Borrow it?" Reimu was curious, "I thought this was a bookstore?"
"No, this is more like a lending library," The girl admitted, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly, "My father doesn't like to sell his 'collection,' so instead we have a policy of lending out books for a time equivalent to how much the customer pays, and then expect them to return it by or before the deadline."
"Sounds like an easily-abused system for such a small place as this," Reimu grumbled, but noted the hungry look that flashed in the girl's eyes, which put the shrine maiden on edge.
"Oh don't worry Hakurei-San, no one would dare miss the deadline, we have ways of persuading them to return their books on time," The girl stated, and a shiver ran down Reimu's spine at the creepy statement, though the younger girl immediately perked up, "So how long would you like to borrow that book for?"
In the end, Reimu was able to pay to borrow the book for the week, and promised Motoori-San she would have it back by then, if not sooner. The smile she received once again made her shiver, and she began to wonder if this girl was hiding something, but brushed it off once she stepped out back onto the street.
Unfortunately she didn't find her friends there waiting for her, and groaned loudly as she set out trying to find the lot of them.
"God, can't even take simple directions," The girl growled. Luckily she doubted they had gone far, and had an idea of where they had ended up. Just down the street, with a small, worn-down sign, was the girl's next destination.
Kourindou. And standing outside was a familiar Silver-haired girl.
"Ohaiyo Youmu-Chan," Reimu waved.
"Ah Reimu-Chan, where are the rest of your friends?" The younger girl asked, looking around for signs of the three.
"Well, if my intuition can be trusted..." The girl mumbled, before looking at the building the two were standing in front of, and suddenly heard a loud crash from within, which made Reimu smack herself in the forehead with the palm of her hand, "Damnit Marisa..."
"How do you know it wasn't Cirno-Chan?" Youmu teased.
"Letty-Sempai wouldn't let Cirno-Chan touch anything breakable," Reimu explained, and the two sighed as they entered the store. Neither saw the blonde-haired girl standing across the street, head hanging down so her bangs hid her eyes from view, and a black aura dancing around her form. The girls arms began to raise, until they were stretched out perfectly horizontal.
Tilting her head to the side, the girl hissed out, in a distorted voice, "Is that so?"
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Chapter 9 complete
Stay tuned for Chapter 10