The Scarlet Devil 2: Scarlet Devil Rhapsody
by Cyberchao X

Disclaimer: All characters belong to ZUN except for the ones that don't.

Chapter 3

My name is Suwako Moriya. I may not look like it, but I'm an ancient goddess with a long line of descendants. Of course, Kanako and I sort of have a new shrine now, what with Sanae-chan marrying into the Hakurei family. I kind of like it, though. There's never a dull moment here…

Sanae shivered, grabbing Reimu and pulling her close. "Why is it so cold in here all of a sudden?"

"Well, it is winter…but yeah, it's definitely colder in here than usual."

"I'sh nah sho bad," Suika slurred.

"That's because you're too drunk to notice. This type of cold means one of two things—Cirno-chan's stopped by for an impromptu visit, or Kanako-sama's heating system has failed."

"I don' think Cirno-chan's makin' shocial calls thish win'er," Suika said, "She's jush' been workin' an' goin' ta the market sho her girlfrien' don' have ta…wha'sha word? Hiberna'e."

"Cirno-chan's acting responsible?" I asked.

"Cirno-chan's got a girlfriend?" the two mikos asked. The drunken oni smiled, nodded, and passed out.

"Well, if it's not Cirno-chan…then something must be wrong with the heating system," Reimu said. "Still, I'd never have figured…"

"Can we really trust Suika-chan's word when she's in this condition?" Sanae asked. "Besides, something about that story seems a bit off. Cirno-chan radiates cold; anyone who would normally hibernate during the winter wouldn't date an ice fairy."

I slapped both of them in the back of the head. "They were at your wedding, remember? You invited 'Team 9' as guests, and the majority of them had dates of their own."

"Suwako-sama, you should know better than to expect us to remember anything from our wedding day not related to each other," Sanae replied.

I rolled my eyes. "Right."

"Besides, everyone with any supernatural features was cloaking them for that day," Reimu pointed out. "So it wouldn't exactly be easy to recognize her even if I had seen her before. Hell, I barely even recognized the Scarlet sisters without their wings."

"Hey, Kana-chan, where are you going?"

"Surely you've noticed that the power isn't working."

"You don't know how to fix it?"

"The machine seems to be working just fine. Which means the problem probably has something to do with the raven."

"Time to investigate, then," Reimu decided, starting off in the direction of the Nuclear Furnace.

"Hey, wait, Reimu!" Sanae cried. "You're not going out in this weather dressed like that, are you?"

"…I guess you're right."

"…It's a wonder anything ever got done around here, with how eager Reimu-chan is to go off investigating whenever there's the slightest hint of an incident," Kanako said, and I agreed.

Kanako and I went ahead, since we didn't really have a problem with the weather. When we got there, though, Utsuho seemed to be just fine, if perhaps a bit spacier than usual. "Oh, hey, Kanako-sama, Suwako-sama. What's up?"

"That's what we were wondering," Kanako replied. "Your power output has gone way down."

"Has it? Sorry…"

"It doesn't feel like it has," I pointed out.

"Yeah, she's definitely still radioactive," Kanako agreed.

"I guess I just need to pay more attention to my work," Utsuho said. "Although, I don't really like having to do this all the time. It makes having a social life kind of hard."

"…Social life?"

"Indeed. Or at least, those are the rumors," Reimu said. I turned around, not realizing that the girls had arrived.

I tried not to laugh at Reimu's "winter attire". Her clothes were exactly the same loose-fitting ones she always wore, but her arms and legs were wrapped in sarashi as well. "What's so funny?" she asked.

"I think perhaps we'd best take the long way back," Sanae said gently, Reimu not getting the hint.

"Well, it's warm in here," Reimu said, "but we can't stay here for long. So, is this about your love life?"

"'Love life'? No, this has nothing to do with Satori-sama…" Everyone else exchanged glances, wondering what that meant, but as she continued, it became obvious that she was just innocent. "It's just that I thought that my two best friends would get along great with each other as well, but they didn't like each other at all! Yeah, they're both being super-extra-nice to me now so that I don't get mad at them, but…I'm still not happy. And this 'super-extra-nice' thing is really weirding me out!"

None of us said anything for a moment. I figured that one of these "friends" was Rin Kaenbyou, and judging by what Reimu said when she arrived, she knew who the other was. After a bit, we conferenced together.

"So Flan-chan has a rival for Utsuho-chan's love…Utsuho-chan must have a lot of pull over Flandre-chan if this other girl's still alive."

"Wait, what?" I asked Reimu. "Did you say Flandre Scarlet is the other girl involved in this?"

"Yeah," Sanae replied, "You know who the other one is?"

"Well, we don't know," Kanako said, "but Orin-chan would be the obvious assumption."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," Reimu said, "and she's certainly strong enough to at least withstand a few blows until Utsuho-chan intervened."

"There isn't really anything we can do, though, is there?" Sanae asked.

"Nope. Normally when I need to deal with a psychological/emotional problem, the satoris would be the first ones I'd call, but seeing as how it's Utsuho-chan, they've obviously already elected to let this play out or else they would've done something already," Reimu replied.

"There's no one else who would be an expert in this field?" I asked.

"The field of love? …I suppose I do know someone who would fancy herself an expert in that field, though I have trouble believing that someone who was so inept at handling her own affairs could really be much of a love expert. Also I'm naturally hesitant to ask her for help with anything, ever."

"Agreed. I'd sooner just take these rumors to Aya-baka and let her unique 'talents' run with it for awhile," Sanae said.

"Please tell me you're joking," Kanako and I both said.

"I think so. Involving Aya in anything is always a bad idea, though I have to admit that it would be kind of fun to see the fallout from letting her spread this one in her gossip column."

"You're horrible," Reimu said affectionately. "But Mari-chan is on fairly good terms with Flan-chan, and I guess I shouldn't really belittle her common sense any more now that she actually has some."

"She does?" Sanae asked, though it sounded more expectant than incredulous.

"Yeah. Alice-chan."

"Gensokyo's in so much better hands now that the problem-solving witch and miko have acquired better halves."

"Hey, I thought I was the better half!" Reimu shot back with mock anger.

"Uh…you do remember that we're still in the Nuclear Furnace, right?"

"Good point. If there's anything you two can do for her right now, go ahead; we'll get going," Reimu said, starting to fly off. Sanae grabbed her.

"We're leaving this way, remember?"

"I still don't understand why you want to take the long way home."

"Just trust me."

"What are you doing up so late, Sanae-chan?"

"…stupid winter. I can't sleep like this; it's too cold!"

"…In other words, you're not used to sleeping without a warm body next to you."

Sanae rolled her eyes. "Stop patronizing me, Suwa-sama."

"Well, you're too old to crawl into bed with Kana-chan and me, so there isn't really anything I can do for you. Sorry."

"…what are you doing up so late?"

"We heard you still up. We can't help but worry about you, even though you're not a kid anymore."

"…Thanks."

"And Reimu-san can't be any better off than you are, right?"

"Wrong. Suika-chan was passed out on our bed when we got back, so Reimu at least has someone next to her, even though it's just a matter of convenience."

"Ouch. She must be really mad at you if she'd let Suika-chan just stay there."

"I suppose I could've been a little more tactful about breaking it to her that her wardrobe is severely limited…but I still don't feel like I did anything wrong."

"You did subject her to Yamame-san. I take it she showed that same spirit we saw at your wedding?"

"Yeah…she laughed at Reimu's 'winter attire' as well, but only briefly, and then she went into 'designer mode'. …I guess being groped by Yamame-san probably didn't make Reimu too happy."

"'Groped'?"

"…Not really, but Reimu was acting like she was being violated."

"…I never knew Reimu-chan was such a prude."

"I think she's just in a bad mood today. I don't know."

"Well, good luck getting some sleep."

"Thanks."

CCX: …I thought that went fairly well. Lots of potential for a disaster, but I think I made it work. Ja ne!