While Remilia Scarlet would always delight in showing others she had complete control over a situation, there were times in which even she would realize when a situation was beginning to grow serious. It was one of these times when Remilia decided to take a visit to the Voile Library to see her friend Patchouli and get an update on the investigation the GGA was holding.

"So," said Remilia as she flung open the door and took a seat in one of the comfy, padded chairs that Patchouli usually reserved for reading in, "three hours down, three hours to go, it seems. Let's hear what you've figured out, Patchy!" Sakuya remained at the door with her hands politely clasped in front of her, silently taking in all that was going on in the library. Held tightly in between her interlocked fingers were three knives with blue handles on them: Sakuya's traditional items of defense.

Patchouli arose from the table she was seated at with Marisa, Alice, and Youmu and slowly walked the few paces needed to reach the chair the vampire was sitting in. "Well, Miss Remilia," she said, "we don't seem to have a problem with finding suspects. The main issue we're struggling with is finding the evidence to determine who is lying and who is not."

Remilia rested her chin in one palm and drummed her fingers on the arm of the chair she was sitting in. "Go on," she told the librarian. "What suspects have you identified?"

Patchouli held up the letter that so many assumptions and theories had stemmed from. "As you are well aware," she said, "this letter you received this evening is the main piece of evidence we've been using to identify our list of suspects. The sole person to have bought stationery that comes in the pattern matching this letter is the ghostly princess of Hakugyokurou, Yuyuko Saigyouji. The only one who has been recorded on Hong Meiling's record sheets for an irregular reason we can't back up is the lucky rabbit of the Earth, Tewi Inaba. Lastly, from a memo Tewi was carrying, we identified the handwriting of the letter to come from the lunar rabbit, Reisen Udongein Inaba. The former two have vehemently denied having anything to do with this, and Reimu Hakurei is on her way to Eientei as we speak to find out what Eirin and Kaguya know about this plot and to bring back Reisen."

Remilia's drumming on the side of the chair began to incorporate a very complex beat as she concentrated harder on thinking. "So Yuyuko claims she didn't have a part in developing the letter despite it being written on her unique stationery, and Tewi says she was never here today at all, huh? Do you think they're telling the truth?"

Patchouli released a breath she had been storing and adjusted her nightcap. "Miss Remilia… at this point, I can't say with confidence whether I do or don't. On one hand, Yuyuko has a point when she says it would be quite foolish of her to write such an important letter on the identifying stationery, and Tewi has Chen backing up the alibi that she was playing in Mayohiga all day. On the other, Yuyuko has been known to be quite unpredictable at times; it's possible writing the letter on her stationery is part of some sort of reverse-psychology plot of hers. As for Tewi, we cannot forget that she has a history of being a liar and feigning innocence when it comes to taking the blame for her pranks. With Ran nowhere to be found, we can't verify Chen's support. Really, until we get Reisen in here, nothing is certain."

Remilia played with the frilly pink cuff around one of her wrists and blinked twice. "Have you verified with China that the records stating that Tewi entered the mansion are indeed legitimate? I'd say it seems a little fishy that Tewi would try to deny a written fact unless the fact isn't true itself."

Patchouli let a small smile escape from her stoic expression. "That sounds like a very good course of action. Thank you, Remilia. I shall keep you informed of everything we find out."

"Well, if that's that, I'll be heading back to the main hall. Good luck, Patchy," said Remilia as she rose from the chair and strolled back to the door where Sakuya was still waiting patiently. "Let's go, Sakuya. We ought to make sure we don't get in the way of all the girls working to save me from certain doom. Plus, I want to check on Flandre and make sure she's not too shaken up from the little… dispute we had."

"Certainly, my lady," agreed Sakuya respectfully. Just as she was about to return through the door, however, a very loud and sudden outburst of "No way, ze!" from Marisa startled the maid. This caused her fingers to open wide and let the knives they were holding to fall. One of them hit the floor harmlessly, but the other two become firmly lodged in Remilia's left foot.

"Ow!" she cried as red blood began to trickle out from beneath her white socks. Being a vampire and having little blood to begin with, Remilia did not bleed a great deal when she incurred an injury, but this did not diminish the pain such an injury would bring. She yanked the knives out from where they had impaled her and shook them menacingly at their owner, who was gasping in horror. "Watch it, Sakuya! It's clumsy acts like this that make me increase the desire to dish out a proper punishment, especially when I haven't done so for so long."

"M-my sincerest apologies, my lady," said Sakuya as fast as she could while making a polite bow. "If you stay here, I'll prepare the proper medical items for those cuts in a flash."

Remilia casually dismissed the idea with the wave of a hand. "Nah, don't worry about it," she said. "Being immortal and all, my injury is just going to heal itself in a few minutes. Of course, that doesn't change the fact that it still hurts like the devil. I'm going to head back to my room for a couple of minutes just to wait for the healing process to go underway." The vampire mistress with a bleeding foot and her anxious maid walked out of the library, leaving Patchouli and her friends alone once again.

The largest window in the Scarlet Devil Mansion, situated in the library, looked out to the west, while the front of the mansion itself faced the south. Knowing this, Daiyousei had suggested to Cirno that they hold their second meeting of the night beneath the great window to prevent being spotted by the gatekeeper and being forced to leave. The little ice fairy was, at the moment, slumped against the brick wall of the great building with her eyes gently shut, murmuring quietly in her state of sleep and creating a pool of drool along the side of her mouth. Daiyousei herself was also sitting against the wall and leaning on her friend's chilly body, hoping that the cold would keep her from going to sleep herself. Even though she was sitting with essentially a living freezer, her eyelids were beginning to grow very heavy as the pitch-black environment of the night was enveloping her. Dreams about the sorts of games she would be playing the next day at the lake with her friends began to enter her mind, and Daiyousei started to get confused about which environment she was thinking about was the real one. This, of course, was what typically happened when one dreams, but when it happens while one is battling sleep, it leads to a very strange sense of reality. Daiyousei tried telling herself verbally that she was sitting against the Scarlet Devil Mansion, but it was only a few seconds before she forgot that she had said this and began to question where she actually was again. The alluring idea of giving into the overbearing sense of sleep repeatedly crossed her mind, but she tried her best to shoot it down as she knew it would make her and Cirno very vulnerable against danger if both of them were asleep out in the open. Still, she eventually felt she could not stay awake a moment longer in such a dark and quiet place. Just as her eyes were beginning to close for good, she jumped in surprise as she heard a friendly voice shouting to her.

"Yo, Dai-chan and Cirno! We're back!" shouted a gleeful Rumia who ran up to the sleeping girls with Wriggle and Mystia. The sudden shout made Daiyousei instantly snap out of her sleepy state, but Cirno simply groaned, sucked the accumulating drool back into her mouth, and opened her eyes halfway.

"What's up with you two, anyway?" asked Mystia with a hint of disdain in her voice as she readjusted her wings from flight. "We found lots of info, and you're just sleeping the night away."

Daiyousei rubbed the last bit of sleep from the sides of her eyes and carefully unfolded her wings from the state they were in while she was sitting. "Fairies really aren't nocturnal, unlike youkai of night elements. We can't help but get a little tired this late at night."

"Nine o'clock is late for you?" scoffed Mystia as she pushed a few strands of hair out of her eyes with a single hand motion. "I'd say it's not until 4 or 5 in the morning when it's late."

Meanwhile, Rumia had made her way over to the lying Cirno, placed her hands on her shoulders, and enthusiastically began to shake the ice fairy. "C'mon, Cirno! Wake up already and see what we found!"

The jostling motion of her head being rocked back and forth as her body shook finally made Cirno come back to awareness, and she stood up tall and pouted, hands on her hips. "Why'd you hafta do that, Rumia? I was having a really good dream about beating up the boundary youkai and becoming the new strongest person ever in Gensokyo!"

"We're back from the mission you sent us on!" repeated Rumia while she waved her arms, which were still outstretched on either side of her body, up and down energetically. "We found something really interesting from the reconay… I mean, raconais… no, raccoon-ice…" She began to frown as she found she couldn't pronounce the word for what she and her friends were doing. "From the scouting we did. Show them, Wriggle!"

At the mention of her name, Wriggle walked forward and pulled out a folded piece of paper from one of the pockets of her baggy shorts. "Apparently, this is an article Aya wrote for today's newspaper," she explained. "Of course, I can't read, and neither can Rumia or Mystia, so we don't know exactly what it says. But from what we overheard from Youmu, Yuyuko, Yukari, and Marisa—"

"Hold on," interrupted Daiyousei. "Did you just say you heard something from Yuyuko?"

"You heard right," grumbled Mystia sarcastically. "Isn't it just swell? We had to eavesdrop on the ghost girl that once managed to devour and digest me alive, just because she was a little bit hungry! I still sometimes lie awake during the day after having nightmares of that experience."

Cirno blushed and shrugged her shoulders. "I didn't know she'd be here. Sorry about that, Mysti."

"Whatever," replied the night sparrow youkai with an indifferent look on her face. "Anyway, as Wriggle was saying, the powerful youkai standing around in the courtyard were all talking about what the article apparently says. From what I gathered, the Scarlet Devil Remilia got a letter three hours ago from someone claiming to want to let the weaker denizens of Gensokyo rise up against the stronger ones. The letter said that before midnight, Remilia is going to be killed. I'm guessing that's the reason why the security of this place has been jacked up."

"Whoa," said Cirno in awe with Daiyousei echoing her a moment later. "Is someone actually plotting a murder in Gensokyo? That's awful!"

Mystia cocked her head to one side and gave Cirno a questioning glance. "How is that awful?" she asked. "You're always babbling about how you're 'the strongest' and everything. It sounds like whoever wrote the letter is on our side if they want weaklings like us to finally get our chance of being dominant in this land. I don't know about you guys, but if Remilia Scarlet dying is all it takes to bring us to power, I'll welcome it."

Cirno furrowed her eyebrows and glared at the night sparrow. "Are you crazy? Look, I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid. If we're gonna become the strongest, we can do it ourselves without some weird killer out there to do it for us. Besides, killing people and youkai and stuff is just wrong; that's called being evil, not strong."

"I think you're right, Cirno," agreed Daiyousei, who spoke up cautiously in order to protect herself from getting shouted at by the two louder girls. "We formed this team to annoy and pull harmless pranks on some of the more powerful residents here, not murder them. If we can, we should try to find out who the killer is going to be so we can stop her from killing Remilia. That would give us a pretty good reputation around Gensokyo, wouldn't it?"

Mystia snorted with a sardonic sneer. "You're funny, Cirno. Always wanting to be the most powerful being in Gensokyo, and then backing down when the chance to do so is right there in front of you. Well, I can't be the only one here who wants to take advantage of such a great opportunity, right?" She turned around and looked hopefully at Rumia and Wriggle, who began to look slightly crestfallen as they realized they were about to be dragged into the conflict as well. "Surely you guys want in on it too, right?"

"Well… uh…" mumbled Wriggle, shuffling her feet uncomfortably, "I don't know about supporting the death of Remilia, but I guess being a part of the rise of the weaker residents of Gensokyo wouldn't be bad if that's all we have to do."
"Yeah, I agree!" echoed Rumia as quickly as she could, nodding vigorously.

"No!" shouted Cirno firmly. "I can freeze frogs and Mystia and Rumia can eat humans for food, but we don't just go around supporting plots to kill vampires, okay? End of story." She pointed around the corner of the building. "C'mon. Let's hang out around here and beat up whoever comes near us so we stop any killers from getting in!"

Mystia rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue. "Fine. Whatever you say, boss." When the two fairies had their backs to her, however, she narrowed her eyes and let the corners of her lips turn up into a devious smirk as ulterior plans began to conjure themselves in her mind. The firefly and darkness youkai both noticed it, and they exchanged worried glances with each other.

The ability of Tewi Inaba to bring good luck to humans near her seemed to work well with Reimu, as it took her only about ten minutes of walking after Marisa left her to find a clearing in the bamboo forest. In this clearing, hidden in the deepest part of the great bamboo forest and now looming in front of the shrine maiden was a great old Japanese mansion known as Eientei. While Reimu noticed many rabbits scattered around the yard of the mansion, some of them animals and others youkai, none of them appeared to be the lavender-haired Reisen.

As Reimu started up the gravel steps leading to the front door, some of the rabbits wandering around stopped to stare at her, but none of them looked as though they would attack. Even so, a certain amount of apprehension began to build in her body. After all, she thought to herself, Marisa and I did just beat up one of the most important rabbits living here. I can't imagine they'd be very happy to see me now. At this time of the night, it was very possible that almost every resident of Eientei would be awake, and they could all join together to defeat her. The butterflies forming in her stomach as this thought bounced around in her head began to overcome her, and she contemplated turning around, making up an excuse to Yukari, and returning right where she came from. Despite this, however, she soon found herself facing the great white door separating her from the inside.

"Well," she said aloud to nobody in particular, "I'm here. I guess there's no point in backing down now." With a firm yet quivering hand, she knocked loudly three times on the door.

"Just a moment," replied a confident and good-natured voice from within the mansion, which was just about the polar opposite of what Reisen's voice sounded like. As Reimu stood in place and stared down the white door, she could hear footsteps from inside slowly drawing closer. At last, they reached the door and the owner of them slid it open. "Ah, it's Reimu. Welcome to Eientei," greeted a woman with long, straight silver hair braided along her back. She wore a dress featuring patterns of constellations against a background of four alternating squares of navy-blue and red, and on her head was a navy nurse's cap also containing constellations and a red cross. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Hello, Eirin," replied Reimu as politely as she could, laying her gohei against the doorframe. "I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions about some of the rabbits around here. I couldn't help but notice Reisen wasn't here to open the door like she usually is."

"That's right," agreed Eirin. "She decided to use her vacation days now to take a break from studying medicine and being Kaguya's pet for a little while. That has left me as the one to do the random little chores around the house now, as awful as it sounds." She smiled and opened the door wider. "But enough of that. Please, come in. Follow me."

Reimu, noting that Eirin seemed unusually polite at the moment, picked up her gohei again and stepped into the dim house, getting only dimmer as Eirin slid the door to the outside shut again. As the two of them walked down a corridor with countless doors on both sides of it, Reimu noted that it thankfully didn't seem to stretch on forever like the illusion that Reisen had created last time had done. Every step they took made a long echoing sound that reverberated again and again, though there were virtually no other sounds in the mansion to add to them. "Is there a reason why Eientei is so… I don't know…"

"Quiet?" suggested Eirin, turning her head back to look at the shrine maiden. "Indeed, there is. Reisen is gone on vacation, so she's not around. Tewi and the other rabbits are still out playing in the bamboo forest. As for Kaguya, I, as her personal medical adviser, prescribed to her lots of rest after she got exhausted and irritable the last few days. Since she's sleeping right now, or at least I hope she is, you and I are the only ones awake in here. And if you're curious about why my manners are as refined as they are right now, Kaguya told me that in Reisen's absence, I have to be on my best behavior when I greet guests 'or else'." She smiled amusedly to herself. "I doubt that she's powerful and capable enough to go through with any 'or else' she has in mind, but it's really just quite easier for everyone involved if I follow her wishes. Still, I'd be most grateful if I could drop this charade without you telling her, Reimu."

Reimu shrugged and nodded, and the hallway fell silent again. After about twenty more steps, she let a shiver leave her skin as she gazed around the dark hallway. "Seems a little spooky," she said. "Being all alone in a dark mansion, you know."

"No, it doesn't," responded Eirin curtly. "It's very pleasant having the house to myself so I can develop my new medicines, drugs, and chemicals in peace. That is, unless I have a visit from a certain shrine maiden." Though Eirin made a certain effort to be cordial and polite during regular circumstances, she couldn't help but be a bit arrogant and rude at times as she followed her natural personality.

At last, Eirin stopped at one door which seemed identical to all the others along the hallway. "Here we are," she said, sliding the door open to let herself and Reimu in. Inside was a rather small room with a low table in the center placed on a tatami mat; a traditional Japanese room. A half-finished cup of unsweetened green tea was on one side of the table, and Eirin sat down to it, beckoning to Reimu to sit on the other side. As Reimu did, Eirin took a sip of tea before setting it down again. "Hmm," she said disappointedly, "it's gotten cold already. You didn't want a cup, too, did you?"

Though Reimu's stomach was aching for any sort of nourishment, she decided it would be best not to try Eirin's patience by asking for a cup of tea. "Of course not. I'd just like to know if you could tell me anything about what your rabbits have been up to today."

Eirin tapped her chin thoughtfully as she leaned back from her sitting position. "The rabbits? I don't recall them doing anything out of the ordinary today. Tewi's just been doing her pranks as usual, and Reisen seemed like herself before she left for her vacation. Why do you think they're involved with something?"

Reimu related to Eirin the complete story about the plot that had been launched at the Scarlet Devil that evening. "Tewi is the only one that is unaccounted for on the records of those who have entered the mansion today. When we showed her the letter, she apparently instantly identified the handwriting on it as being written by Reisen. So, I came here to get some answers some answers on what they're actually doing."

"I have to admit," said Eirin, "it seems a little suspicious that Reisen would choose today of all days to go on vacation, especially when Tewi saw her handwriting on the letter. I'm sorry, Reimu, but I really couldn't tell you what the two of them have done today. It's entirely possible that they did do something like this, and I wouldn't know it if they did. Reisen didn't even give me a location on where she would be going on vacation to."

"What about Kaguya? Do you think she might know anything about this?"

"Doubt it," replied Eirin. "She's almost always cooped up in her room throughout most of the day, and I tend to see Tewi and Reisen much more than she does. Oh, and you can disregard that thought I can imagine is brewing in your head of going and waking her up to ask her yourself. I'll be damned if I let anyone wake her up."

Reimu sighed in frustration and rubbed her eyes tiredly. "So, there's no way that you can help me?"

Eirin shrugged and stood up from her sitting position. "Maybe I could. I might have no knowledge of what the rabbits have done, but I could give your operation some help with medicine and drugs, you know? Besides, if they are working on this plot to kill Remilia, it'd be in my best interest to stop them, too. Eientei would get a terrible reputation if word gets out that Reisen is a terrorist rabbit, and that would make Kaguya give me an enormous earful like she so loves to do."

Reimu's eyes brightened. "Are you really going to help us solve this incident? Thanks, Eirin!"

Eirin smiled as she reached out from behind in the shadows to pull out her signature bow and single arrow. "Don't mention it. It beats sitting around and waiting every fifteen minutes to give sleeping pills to the princess." Sliding open the door to the hallway again, she turned her head back to look at Reimu again. "Oh yeah, one more thing."
"Yes?" asked Reimu, twirling her gohei nonchalantly.

"Ask permission before you take Tewi away next time. If you think you're doing it behind my back and being 'sneaky', you couldn't be more wrong. If you don't listen, you should be alert in case a cyanide capsule ever 'accidentally' ends up in your drink, okay?" She smiled cheerfully after delivering such an ominous message as Reimu shuddered and entered the hallway. "Well, let's go already! The night isn't getting any younger, and it's pretty useless to just stay around here and do nothing, Reimu."

Remilia sat on the side of her great bed next to Sakuya, slowly kicking her legs back and forth as she waited for the skin where her foot had been stabbed to repair itself. For most immortals, the self-healing process of the body either took place instantaneously or very quickly, and Remilia rarely had to wait for more than five minutes for an injury to heal. The wounds caused by Sakuya's knives, however, had been present for over ten minutes and had not begun to heal any faster than a normal human's wounds would. She poked at the thin scab that was beginning to form and winced as a minor surge of pain flowed through her nerves. "Why the hell isn't this injury healing itself like it should be!?" she asked aloud, angrily letting her shoes thump with great sound against the wooden frame of her bed each time her legs returned from kicking. "I'm a vampire, for crying out loud!"

Sakuya slowly edged away from the vampire to keep herself safe in case Remilia tried to use violence to relieve her anger. "I'm sorry, but there doesn't seem to be a reasonable explanation for it, my lady. It is almost as if you have lost the ability to regenerate your body parts instantaneously, for your injury remains here even after several minutes."

"No, really, it does?" asked Remilia, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "I would have thought that it sprouted sunflowers! But thank you very much, Sakuya, for telling me something that I couldn't realize for myself since I apparently don't have eyes to see it with!" As she watched a frightened Sakuya try to mumble a coherent reply, she muttered a curse beneath her breath and gave as friendly of a smile as she could, her cheeks blushing intensely in embarrassment. "Sorry about that, Sakuya. I'm just a bit on-edge with everything going on tonight. Having to bottle up my anger is only adding to it."

"Not to worry, my lady," Sakuya replied, her shoulders visibly relaxing with relief. As her eyes gazed upon Remilia again, however, they began to fill with worry. "Er… forgive me, Miss Remilia," she began cautiously, "but are you… blushing?"

Remilia brought a hand to her rosy cheek and lightly stroked it. "I guess I am," she agreed. "What does that have anything to do with this, though?"

Sakuya, hands clasped in her lap, looked at the floor as she carefully planned her next words. "Well, it may be nothing, but… When was the last time you have ever blushed, my lady? I cannot remember any single time in the past when you did, and it makes sense, for a vampire would not likely have enough blood in their body to allow blushing to happen."

"You do have a point there," admitted Remilia, who turned her head around to take a look at the elegant, brass-bordered freestanding mirror in the corner behind her. As she surveyed the image of the girl with pink skin and bright crimson cheeks that appeared before her, both she and her reflection frowned. "Now that you mention it, I can't help but notice that my skin is full of vitality and color instead its usual pale pallor." She grinned widely at the reflective surface and ran her index finger along each exposed tooth, touching canines that were as long and sharp as any average person's. "My beautiful fangs seem to have disappeared as well. What's happened to me?"

"If I didn't know better," said Sakuya, tilting her head up and down to completely look her mistress over, "I would say that you are a human with bat wings instead of a vampire, my lady. How this might have happened, however, is beyond me. Unless…" A suspicious look crossed her eyes. "A powerful being may have purposely changed your species to make killing you tonight easier. It's only a theory, I must say, but it may very well be the correct explanation."

"You know, that actually seems to fit quite well," said Remilia, pensively gazing out toward her window. "I find it hard to believe that losing my status as a vampire on the same night that someone sets out to kill me is just a coincidence. So, the question is, who is the perpetrator of my transformation into a human?"

"I think an easier answer to obtain is who is not the perpetrator," replied Sakuya. "To physically change the species of a person without having them realize it takes considerable power and skill, which can rule out any fairies, humans, or basic youkai. To the best of my knowledge, there is no creature in Gensokyo that has the ability to manipulate a species like this, as the more powerful beings like Yuyuko, Yuuka, or Suika have very specific abilities that wouldn't extend to this. In my opinion, there is only one youkai who could have done this sort of thing."

Remilia's eyes widened. "Of course!" she exclaimed. "Why didn't I think of it sooner? Sakuya, bring her here to me right now! Even if she didn't do it, she must have knowledge on who did and for what reason!"

"Of course, my lady." Sakuya, rising from her sitting position on the bed, bowed respectfully and removed a small gold pocket watch worn from years of use from the side of her dress. As Remilia watched Sakuya stare intently at the pocket watch for a few seconds before vanishing completely, she smiled as she observed her maid taking full advantage of the ability to stop time. Within two seconds of having vanished, Sakuya returned, carrying a cheerfully smiling Yukari by the back of her collar. "I apologize for taking so long, my lady," she said. "This one was admittedly a tad difficult to be brought from the library against her will."

Yukari laughed and turned her head toward Sakuya. "You don't really think I'm being brought against my will, do you? If that were true, I would expect you'd be lying in a pool of your own deliciously crimson blood at this time. No, I just thought I'd prefer to let you do the work of dragging me over here." She turned back toward the vampire sitting on the bed and waved casually. "Evening, Miss Remilia. I trust you're doing well, apart from having your life in jeopardy?"

Sakuya glared daggers at Yukari and brandished actual ones at her face. "Do not address my lady unless she addresses you first, or you shall be the one lying in a pool of your own blood!"

"Relax, Sakuya," said Remilia, causing Sakuya to reluctantly pull her knives back from Yukari's face. "Now, Yukari, I'd like to know what you were thinking when you decided to turn me into a human tonight, a pitiful species that accepts death so readily and easily. Don't bother taking me for a fool and denying it; I think a non-healing wound, blush on both cheeks, and loss of fangs is proof enough."

"Hmm, I suppose you do appear to be a human," agreed Yukari, carefully performing a quick scan of the girl in front of her with her eyes. "Is that such a problem, though? The only issue I see here is that a little girl doesn't like the pain of a cut in her foot." She smirked mischievously. "Want me to kiss it? That should make it feel all better!"

Without missing a beat, Sakuya returned the knives to Yukari's smirking face and produced a glare that would intimidate an oni. "Another insolent remark about my lady like that out of you, and I swear that these knives won't miss their mark!"

"Cool it, Sakuya," commanded Remilia. "As for you, Yukari, I think I'll sink my teeth into your lovely neck and let my maid go ahead with her threats if you continue to downplay this. I need answers, damn it! Tell me why you changed me into a human!"

Yukari yawned lazily and shrugged. "Sorry, but answers are going to be hard to come by for something that I have no knowledge of committing. Yes, I am the only one who could have done such a thing, as I know Sakuya said, but that doesn't mean I knowingly did it. Wish I could tell you more, but I'm afraid that's all there is."

Remilia raised an eyebrow and scowled. "Not good enough. I don't know whether you're lying or not, but it really doesn't matter at this point. I demand that you return me back to being a vampire so I will have a better chance of surviving tonight!"

"I would have preferred something like 'Please, my dearest Miss Yakumo, I humbly request your assistance in returning my species back to its original form, as you are the only one who can help me and thus I shall be in your eternal debt', but I guess that's not going to come out of the mouth of a young brat. Well, if it will quiet your whining, I suppose I could do it." Without bothering to do something flashy or even snap her fingers, Yukari manipulated the boundary of Remilia's species with her mind. The vampire's skin became pale once again, her injury from Sakuya's knives instantly vanished from view, and her two white, glistening fangs began to poke out from behind her closed lips again. "Happy now, Little Miss Vampire?"

Before Remilia or Sakuya could give a reply, the door to Remilia's bedroom was thrust open by an eager Chen who smiled and curled her tails around each other as she caught sight of her mistress's mistress. "Ah, there you are! Please don't run off on me again, Mistress Yukari!"

Sakuya looked behind her shoulder at the cat youkai. "Sorry, kitty, but Yukari is a bit busy right now. Why don't you wait for her out in the hallway?"

"Hold on a sec," interrupted Yukari, who finally decided to free herself from Sakuya's grasp and walked up to Chen. "Maybe she can help us shed a little light on this situation. Can you help us do that, Chen?"

Chen stared blankly at the youkai, maid, and vampire watching her, but then let her smile return to her face. "I'm not sure how much help I can bring you guys," she admitted, "but I can definitely try!"

"Excellent," replied Yukari. "I remember you told me that you and Tewi were playing at Mayohiga this afternoon. I woke up at about a quarter past six this evening to find you alone, without Tewi or Ran, having fun with whatever you were doing. So, please be a dear and let us in on what exactly happened before I awoke."

"Let me see," said Chen, taking a seat on the floor in order to focus her mind better. "Tewi came over around two o'clock this afternoon. Since you were asleep and Ran didn't have any jobs for me to do today, I agreed to play with her. We did all the regular stuff: playing games, running around in the meadows, and pulling pranks on people." She smiled widely. "You should have seen the look on the Human Village's schoolteacher's face when we painted her whole classroom orange! It was so funny! Of course, we narrowly escaped getting headbutted for that, and she said we have to come back tomorrow to clean it all off, and—"

"Chen," said Yukari, unamused by the cat's story. "Let's go back on topic, shall we?"

"Fiiine," whined Chen, disappointed that she couldn't say everything about her prank. "Anyway, at about six o'clock, Reisen came over to our house. She said that she was here to tell Tewi that Eirin requested her back home at Eientei, but she just wanted to say hello to you and Ran first. I didn't think there was anything wrong with that at the time, so I unlocked the door leading to the hallway where both of your bedrooms are. Reisen seemed to be there for quite a while, so Tewi said she would get going so she could return home before sundown. At last, Reisen came back out and left without another word, and a minute or two later, you emerged from your room, too."

"Ah hah!" declared Yukari triumphantly. "I believe we've come across our answer. Thank you very much, Chen."

"Uh… you're welcome, I guess?" said Chen, eyes wide with confusion and question. Remilia felt a similar emotion inside of her, but she decided to hide it to keep her pride intact.

"You don't understand it, do you?" asked Yukari. "Fine then; I'll explain it to the less mentally-gifted beings in this room. When I awoke at the first moments of the evening, I was staring into the red, bewitching eyes of the lunar rabbit herself. As you all probably know, Reisen has the ability to control waves of light with her eyes, and she primarily uses this power to turn others insane. In my case, I saw my entire bedroom melt away into a swirling mix of psychedelic colors and shapes. This, coupled with the typical confusion one feels when they first wake up from a long sleep, made me quite bewildered indeed. I wanted to manipulate a few boundaries to make this frightening illusion dissipate, but I was afraid of what disastrous consequences could ensue if I did.

"Reisen then spoke to me. She said, 'You are experiencing a dream, Miss Yakumo, but no ordinary dream. It can't be terminated by waking up. In order to free yourself from the terrifying hallucination you are undoubtedly experiencing, you must do exactly as I say.' She told me that everything would return to normal and that I would simply 'wake up' if I obeyed her commands. Feeling fear for the first time in what must be about a thousand years now, I figured it would be best to do what she wished and worry about the consequences later. In my hallucination, she picked up and gave to me what looked like the decapitated, obese, grotesque head of Reimu that held a boiling, rainbow liquid inside. From what she said, it was actually a flask of medicine she had stolen from Eirin that, when digested, will cause temporary amnesia for a few minutes. It seems to have worked, for after that moment, I only remember waking up as usual from my bed in my normal, non-psychedelic room and dismissing the entire experience as a dream. If what Chen said was correct, though, it was indeed real, and I must have manipulated the boundary of Remilia's species without remembering it."

Remilia seemed to contemplate carefully all that Yukari had said before deciding to speak. "Absurd… but plausible," she concluded. "I think we can agree that if Reisen is actually doing things like that, then she is indeed the one we're looking to stop."

"Exactly," agreed Yukari. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to return to the library to tell Patchy and the gang about everything we've discovered now. Until next time, maid and little vampire girl." Another break in reality appearing as Yukari's signature dimension of unblinking eyes tied with two red bows formed, and the youkai and her cat entered it, leaving Remilia alone with Sakuya in her room.

Sakuya turned to her mistress, who was still pouting and wearing an unhappy expression. "You have been restored to your status as a vampire, my lady. Is there something still the matter?"

Remilia's scarlet eyes glistened in the dim light, and she ran her tongue along her lips. "Yukari referred to me as a 'little vampire girl' who does nothing but whine nowadays."
"Don't listen to her, my lady. She's just being—"

"No, Sakuya," interrupted Remilia, a menacing edge growing on her voice. "She's right. These days, I have been reduced from the terrifying Scarlet Devil of the night whose name strikes fear in the bravest of hearts to a little brat with long teeth. It's understandable, for what type of vampire would willingly abstain from drinking the blood of her victims? A weak, pathetic, sparkling one, for sure. I can't survive on regular food and the occasional meal of animal blood any longer."

"My lady," said Sakuya, "I would be happy to offer up some of my blood to you if that is what you require."

"Thanks, but that wouldn't work," said Remilia. "What I really yearn for is the thrill of feeding off of an unwilling victim. It's been so long since I chased an innocent human through the moonlit hallways of the mansion, purposely slowing down at times to toy with them and let them think they'll get away. Then, finally watching them realize their impending doom as they see that the hall ends in a dead-end and I'm slowly closing in. The terror in their eyes is unimaginably delicious, and it's all the more satisfying to hear them beg and plead for mercy as my fangs draw closer. The taste of pure, human blood mixed with fear and adrenaline is simply something you must be a vampire to appreciate and enjoy to its fullest. It is richer and more satisfying than the most sinful of chocolate cakes with buttercream frosting baked by one thousand professional pastry chefs." Remilia paused in her analogy as saliva began to drip from her revealed fangs.

"M-my lady, are you feeling all right?" asked Sakuya, concerned by the almost trance-like state her mistress had entered.

"Of course, I have quite the light appetite, so I become satisfied with only a small amount of blood drained," continued Remilia in an ominous tone, ignoring her maid. "The victims would almost never die from blood loss, so they would be able to leave the mansion alive. This would never come without the permanent fear embedded in their heart, however. The humans would be well aware of the fact that the terrifying Scarlet Devil, descendant of Vlad Dracula himself, is still living and lurking, perhaps waiting at this very moment for the perfect opportunity to spring upon them, whisk them away to her mansion, and feed on their fear and blood. Ever since we have come to Gensokyo, however, this lovely reputation I built up has been lost. It's been long enough; I simply cannot go another day without feeding in the proper manner like I used to."

Sakuya, despite having lived with Remilia for the longest time and developed a great trust in her, became a bit frightened as she realized she was a human sitting in the same room as a vampire yearning for fresh blood. "My lady, please. I am sure we shall find a sufficient source of blood tonight, but I think it would be best to focus our attention on the efforts of the killer who wrote the letter at the moment," she said while cautiously edging toward the door.

Remilia's eyes returned to their typical brightness and she wiped the drool that was forming along her mouth with her arm. "You're right, Sakuya," she said in her normal voice. "I'll just be on the lookout for any victims that deserve a proper 'punishment' from me."

At about the same time that Yukari and Chen returned to the library of the mansion via a boundary gap, Patchouli thrust open the great door and walked into the center of the room. Marisa, Alice, and Youmu, who were all seated around the main table in the library, looked up as they saw the purple librarian enter with two different record sheets, one tucked beneath each arm.

"Hey there, Patchy!" shouted Marisa with a casual wave. "How's it going, ze?"

"Excellent," replied Patchouli with as much enthusiasm as she could show from her usual stoic expression. "I got some fresh air from outside to rejuvenate my lungs, and I have a new lead on this incident."

"Wow, you weren't just taking a pointless break?" asked Alice sarcastically, causing Marisa to playfully shove her to make her quiet down.

"Well, let's hear it," said Youmu, a few beads of sweat beginning to form along her hairline as she anxiously awaited the news. "I-it doesn't have to do with Lady Yuyuko, does it?"

Patchouli shook her head and slapped one of the record sheets down on the table in front of Marisa. The line that included Tewi Inaba's name was circled multiple times in ink. "This is the record sheet that we got about two hours ago." She then dropped the other sheet she was carrying next to the one on the table. As the other three girls looked at both of them, they noticed that the two sheets appeared to be visually identical with the exception of one missing line on the other sheet. "This record sheet is the one that Hong Meiling personally gave me a few minutes ago when I went to see her. Note the absence of any record of Tewi Inaba entering the mansion at 4:55 PM."

"So Meiling never saw Tewi come here at all?" said Youmu.

"Precisely," agreed Patchouli. "Unless Meiling was sleeping again, and judging from the number of records occurring very soon before and after 4:55 PM I don't think she was, Tewi was telling the truth when she said she was here at Mayohiga this entire afternoon and never came to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Therefore, the fact that we were given a record sheet that claims that Tewi was here means somebody was purposely forging it to lead us astray."

"Why would anyone wanna do that, ze?" asked Marisa.

"Seems pretty obvious to me," replied Alice, who quickly cleared her throat. "The way I see it, if Tewi was never hear in the first place, then nobody had to enter the mansion in order to deliver the letter. In other words, it was produced by somebody who works and lives here on a regular basis. This way, she could easily walk in and out of Remilia's bedroom without raising much suspicion. Forging the record sheets to make us suspect Tewi would be a way of covering her tracks for a little while longer. Unfortunately for her, however, it seems she didn't count on us finding her out so quickly."

"Why do you say that, Alice?" asked Patchouli, her fists beginning to tighten in suspicion.

"Well, instead of being off at the mastermind's headquarters, she's still here in the library," said Alice, casually pointing to something behind the librarian. Patchouli whirled around 180 degrees and spotted her devil assistant Koakuma holding a large glass platter of various pastries and offering them to Yukari.

"Sakuya baked these fresh from the oven just a few minutes ago," said Koakuma with an innocent smile. "She said you guys would get hungry and would appreciate some delicious snacks. Would you like to have the first taste, Miss Yakumo?"

"Don't mind if I do," said Yukari with a chuckle. With a single motion of her hand, she picked up a croissant that was still producing steam from the top of the plate and took a large bite from it. "Delicious," she mumbled between bites with a mouth full of pastry. As Koakuma made a quick exit from the library with her glass platter in hand, Yukari grew a puzzled look in her eyes, slowly moving her tongue around her mouth to completely experience the taste of the croissant. "Sakuya ought to learn how to bake pastries better," she decided aloud. "The last time I checked, barbiturates are not ingredients in croissants."

Patchouli, Marisa, Alice, and Youmu could only watch as Yukari collapsed onto the floor, completely unconscious. The door to the library that Koakuma had opened to leave slammed shut, leaving the huge room completely silent for a few seconds before the boundary youkai let out a quiet moan in her unconscious state.

"Damn it, ze!" shouted Marisa, slamming her fist onto the table angrily. "She's out cold. Knowing her, she's probably gonna be that way for at least eight hours or something. What can we do now that Koakuma's gone?"

"If she knew that we had figured out she was the one who forged the records, I don't think she would have taken the time to drug Yukari like that," said Alice. "So, if we follow her at a safe distance, she can probably lead us to Reisen."

Patchouli walked over to the sleeping body of Yukari and stared at it with unease. "I suppose we can do that. Still… Koa must have had a very specific reason to target Yukari. I can't help but feel as if something very terrible is going to happen in her absence."

[A/N]: With only two hours to go, it seems Reisen is nowhere to be found, and Koakuma is actually working against Remilia! Or is she? We will have to wait to find out the truth.

It was interesting to show Remilia in three different lights in this chapter: the confident and capable owner and mistress of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, the childish brat annoyed by knife wounds in her foot, and the frightening vampire who thirsts for blood from a helpless victim. Being able to act so differently depending on the circumstances makes her one of my favorite characters.

It may seem a bit surprising that Mystia would be the one that would agree with the ideas of the letter's author instead of Cirno, but I think that their characters would make the two of them do just as they did. The little fairy may always wish to be stronger than everyone else and can be a bit dumb, but she does have good morals. Mystia, however, seems like the kind of person whose ego would cause them to ignore the consequences while journeying down the road to greatness. What will happen to our favorite band of idiots throughout the rest of the day?

It was fun to implement the reference to the Yukkuri meme. It does seem to be the kind of thing the characters of Gensokyo would see in hallucinations.

Anyway, hope you all had a good Christmas, or Hanukkah, or Kwanza, or whatever. See you next year with Chapter 5 in the 10:00 PM hour!