The Scarlet Devil 2: Scarlet Devil Rhapsody
by Cyberchao X

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

Chapter 5

My name is Rinnosuke Morichika, and this was not what I was expecting when my girlfriend asked me if I minded if our date night could become a double date. We met at a wedding, after all, in which I was the best man and she was the maid of honor, so it would be logical to think that maybe we'd be with those close friends of ours. Instead, it turns out that she's working overtime, chaperoning one of the young mistresses of her new place of employment, the Scarlet Devil Mansion…

"I'm sorry again about this, Rinno-kun," Sara apologized. "Patchouli-san was supposed to be chaperoning this date, but she's taken ill again and Remi-sama and Sakuya-san are…away." "Away" was code for "don't ask"—no one knew exactly where they went but everyone had a pretty good idea of what they did there. "Besides, I thought you said you wanted to check out the Palace of Earth Spirits some time."

"Yes, I did, but it isn't exactly my idea of a romantic place for a date…"

"You could just let me go on my own," Flandre suggested. "I don't really need to be supervised anymore."

"Patchouli-san and Sakuya-san certainly seem to think that, too…but I don't think your sister would be too happy if we allowed that, Flandre-sama. You know how she gets where you're concerned."

"Yeah… We're meeting at Okuu-chan's place, though, so—I don't think oneesama has anything to worry about."

"Except maybe you and Orin-san fighting with each other."

"…You know about that?" Flandre looked displeased."

Sara laughed nervously. "Mei-chan isn't exactly the best at keeping secrets. Don't worry, though, I'm pretty sure Sakuya-san has at least managed to keep this info away from your sister." Flandre's face brightened a little. "Well, we're here." She turned to me as Flandre went off to join Utsuho. "Sometimes I wonder if Remi-sama isn't just deluding herself where Flan-sama's innocence is concerned. She's absolutely right, after all; she never goes anywhere unless it's to see Utsuho-san, but if she did, Remi-sama probably would allow her out unsupervised."

"Overprotective much?"

Before Sara could answer, we were interrupted. "What are you doing here, Kiri—you're not Kirisame. Whoever you are, you should leave. Now."

"Rinno-kun's not going anywhere!" Sara shot back.

"And you are? …Ah, I see. I'm sorry to hear that Patchouli isn't feeling well; please send her my regards. I suppose I could allow this man to stay, as long as he's under my constant supervision."

"What's this all about?" I was confused. "Why am I being treated like a criminal?"

"Why do you think? This place is a bit isolated, so the only mind with a comparable curiosity to your own that's come through here is that of your good friend Marisa-chan."

"…Mind?"

"Yes. My apologies; I realize that reading people's minds isn't considered terribly polite but it's somewhat automatic. I see now that you are not a thief, though I question why someone in your line of work would associate so closely with one such as that witch. I may actually have some items that interest you; you're into objects that came from the outside world?" The mind-reader left.

"That was…"

"…The mistress of the Palace of Earth Spirits, Satori Komeiji. This is my first time actually meeting her, too, but she's apparently become friends with Patchouli-san, and that was in part how Flandre-sama and Utsuho-san first met."

"Automatically seeing into the minds of everyone around you must be somewhat trying," I mused.

"Yep. Why do you think I closed my Third Eye up?" I was startled by this new voice, seemingly coming out of nowhere.

"Koishi-san!" Apparently Sara was a bit more familiar with the source of the voice than I was.

"Sorry. Couldn't help overhearing. I was just planning to keep an eye on Orin; make sure she doesn't do anything stupid."

"You mean you were going to use your ability to hide in people's subconscious to spy on the three of them."

"You make it sound so negative, Sara-san." The owner of the voice made herself visible—how did she manage to remain invisible even after speaking, if her ability was supposed to be dependent on evading others' perception rather than actually bending light?—and was revealed to be of the same species as Satori, though indeed her Third Eye was tightly shut. "Is this your boyfriend?"

"Yes, and we'll have none of your brand of mind-reading, either."

"Rinnosuke Morichika," I offered, and the green-haired girl introduced herself as Koishi Komeiji.

"Wasn't planning on it. Besides, you kind of wear your heart on your sleeve anyway."

"I-I do not!" Sara protested, turning red and somewhat proving Koishi's point. It's quite adorable, actually. Marisa says that we remind her of the early days of her courtship with Alice, but most of my early dealings with Alice were in a strictly professional setting so I never actually witnessed her alleged "tsuntsun" side, which more or less vanished completely once she and Marisa started getting serious—although from what I hear it resurfaced in a huge way at Alice's bachelorette party.

"If you say so." Koishi's tone was somewhat playful; her personality starkly contrasted with Satori's.

She made to disappear again, but just then Satori returned. "Ah, Koishi, I didn't realize you were here. …Though I shouldn't be surprised."

"That's the other reason why I was hiding. Neesan can't read my mind when I'm cloaked."

"…Nee-san?" I said incredulously.

"You're surprised? I did introduce myself, so it shouldn't have come as a surprise that we're sisters."

"He thought you to be the older one," Satori said simply. Absolutely correct, although now that I thought about it, Koishi's personality was more befitting of the younger sister. "We don't get much in the way of artifacts down here, but occasionally something appears."

"Thank you for your hospitality, Satori-san."

"It was no trouble, Rinnosuke. I apologize for my hostile reaction to you when we first met."

"It's…understandable. When the only 'collector' you've met is Mari-chan, it can kind of turn you off to the entire idea of us."

"How was your, uh…date?" Sara asked.

"Pretty good. Orin-san and I aren't fighting as much, though she's still my rival."

"Ah, that's…good…" Sara wasn't quite sure how to react.

"Don't tell oneesama about that last part, though."

"Of course not. Probably shouldn't tell Meiling, either, right?"

Flandre smiled. There was still something ever so slightly unsettling about her smile, but it seemed more like the smile of a regular girl than that of the legendarily unstable vampiress. "Right."

As we were preparing to leave, a postal fairy arrived. "Hm…we don't usually get mail down here. I wonder what this could be about," Satori mused. She opened the letter. "Ah…" A small smile crossed her face.

"What is it?" Orin asked.

"It's…probably not something we should discuss with guests still here. Although I suspect a couple of these should be making their way to the Scarlet Devil Mansion as well."

"So if we're going to find out anyway, why not say it now?" Flandre asked.

"…It seems that the author is pressed for ideas and is falling back on an old standby for this series."

"…I think you just broke the fourth wall," Koishi said.

"My mistake. What I meant to say was that a couple of our friends are tying the knot this summer." (CCX: It's still at best spring here, if not still winter like it was in the previous chapter.)

"Ah, that's great!" Orin said.

"…Maybe we should've left before having Satori-sama reveal that information," Flandre said dejectedly. "I don't get invited to many of these big shindigs."

"You might be surprised," Utsuho said. "I've got a good feeling about this one."

CCX: Don't worry; there will still be a few more chapters before we get into that. But what Satori said is absolutely correct. I feel like I am relying too heavily on weddings.

Kogasa: It's not like you didn't foreshadow this.

CCX: …Oh, yeah, I forgot you were here. I kind of strayed from the "conversation" gimmick by the end of The Scarlet Devil, and you were pretty much only here for the prologue and Chapter 1, so…yeah.

Kogasa: Well, surprising people is my job, so mission accomplished. Ja ne!

CCX: …I still feel like this chapter was kind of underwhelming.

Kogasa: Don't be too hard on yourself; it was a rewrite, and you've never been much good at those.