The Scarlet Devil 2 Phantasm: Scarlet Phantasmal Rhapsody
by Cyberchao X

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

Chapter 6

My name is Michiru Kannazuki, though my friends just call me "Mika". My girlfriend calls me "Kami", no matter how much I tell her not to, but…it's kind of sweet. She said she had something important she wanted to talk to me about…I'm a little worried. "We need to talk" is usually a prelude to a breakup…

"What's the matter, Nitori-chan? You sounded so scared over the phone."

"Yeah…I guess I am. What I have to say is not going to be easy to believe, and I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to break up with me after I tell you this…but I can't leave you out of the loop any longer. We're… we're becoming too close for me to keep this a secret any longer."

"A… secret. That would make me want to break up with you."

"…Oh, no, it's nothing like what you're probably thinking! It's…probably nothing you ever thought possible."

"Just…just say it." I was starting to tear up. There's someone else, I just know it.

"This place… the shrine where Reimu-san and Sanae-san got married, where we first met; the mountain where we are right now, my home…and pretty much anywhere where we'd been together for an extended period of time, simply out of necessity…it's not the world you know. This is the land of Gensokyo, where things that are no longer believed in end up, like mythical creatures and forgotten gods. Sanae-san ended up coming here because of a lack of faith in the goddesses of her shrine; they moved the entire thing here. That's where she went when she disappeared; not just some other country. And…I'm one of those mythical creatures. That's why I had to arrange for pockets of Gensokyo to cover the mundane world whenever I visited you; if I stayed in your world for too long, I'd start to revert to my monstrous appearance."

"…You're right. I don't believe you. What is this really about?"

"I'm not lying. Come walk with me, and see some of the other species that live here. Maybe get reacquainted with some of the people you met at Sanae-san's wedding, when they're not disguising their less human features. Right now you're in kappa territory, and as you can tell our humanoid forms don't have any visible monstrous features, but we're not too far from where the tengu live."

"You're telling me that kappa and tengu are real." Nitori nodded. "Oh, my…you're not lying."

"No…wait, there shouldn't be tengu here…OH SHIT THAT'S NOT A TENGU! G-Get down, Kami-chan!" Suddenly Nitori's backpack started…I don't even know. It was more science fiction than classic mythology; it was like it was creating a force field or something. But against what?

"So then what is it?"

"Her name's Utsuho Reiuji. She's a hell raven…I don't know what she's doing here."

"And if she finds us?"

"Oh, no, she's really not that nasty. Well, okay, maybe she's kind of nasty, but I'm more worried about the, ahem, 'fallout'." She chuckled a little.

"What's so funny?"

"…That I meant that literally. This shield is to protect us against radiation."

"…What."

"I'm worried. What would she be doing here?"

"You already asked that."

"Having some trouble? Surely you haven't forgotten what's at the top of Youkai Mountain…and what's at the foot of it."

"Gah! Yukari-sama!" A somewhat familiar older woman appeared seemingly out of nowhere, and then we were suddenly at the Hakurei Shrine. "Hmm…yes, she's right, the Nuclear Furnace does open up to the top of Youkai Mountain, because that's where the Moriya Shrine was before Sanae-san hooked up with Reimu-san. I even worked on building it. But at the foot…the Misty Lake? Why would she be heading there?"

"Scarlet Devil Mansion," replied a voice I did recognize. "What brings you here, Nitori-san?"

"Yukari-sama just sort of gapped us in," Nitori replied.

"'Us'? …Kannazuki-san."

"Hello again, Ko—Hakurei-san. So then, there's no denying that this is not the world we came from."

"People of our world aren't supposed to know of Gensokyo. I guess Nitori-san filled you in."

"I didn't believe it until I saw it with my own eyes. Strange creatures like that hell raven…oh, and there's a girl with horns. Wait…she was at your wedding, wasn't she? Without the horns."

"Yeah, that's Suika. She kind of just moved in here awhile back and started mooching off of Rei-chan. She's an oni. And, well…"

"…Yeah. Nitori told me that she's a monster too. She doesn't have any monstrous features, though."

"No, you're right, she doesn't. The closest thing she has to resembling her youkai form is that backpack that looks like a shell."

"That's…not exactly true," Nitori said. "I said we don't have any visible monstrous features—well, ones that would be normally visible. But like I said…I'm a kappa." It had never really occurred to me that I had never seen Nitori not wearing a hat, but it suddenly became obvious as she removed it and leaned down, parting her hair with her hands. Just like the kappa of legend, there was a large hole in the top of her head. (CCX: Again, there is absolutely nothing in canon to contradict this, therefore it shall be so within this story.) "Not so cute now, am I?"

"Hmm… I wonder. On television, whenever a character is mostly human-looking with some non-human feature, said feature is especially sensitive to touch. Would you happen to have this trait as well, Nitori-chan?"

"Eh~! Ah, Kami-chan, stop that! Aaah…" She pulled my finger out of the hole with surprising force. "Yes, it's very sensitive…but not 'ecchi' sensitive. Just…painful sensitive."

"Oh. Sorry."

"Just never do that again." She covered her head again.

"So if I remember the legends correctly, kappa can't lean over or the water in their heads will run out and they'll be powerless. Does that restriction apply to you?" She nodded. "That must make things awfully difficult at times. Like, you know…in bed."

"…What are you saying?"

"That I still love you, Nitori-chan, even if you're not human. And that if you'll still have me, I'm willing to take our relationship to the next level. I…I guess this is why you'd been so distant lately."

"Had I been?"

"It seemed that way. I thought I was just trying to move things along too quickly, but…it seems that you had a good reason for wanting to keep me at a distance. Or at least, you thought you did." I embraced her and gave her a long, deep kiss. "You were wrong."

"Yeah…I guess I was."

"Hey, Sanae-chan! Oh, you have guests, ze… Um. I'll… just… come back later."

"Hey, Marisa-san. Don't feel the need to leave because of me; in case you haven't noticed, my love life is actually finally going well."

"Oh. Yeah, of course it is. I'm so happy for you, Nitori-chan."

"Was there…something between you two?" I asked.

"Like a relationship? No, I've never been more than a friend to Marisa-san…"

"Then that awkwardness…"

"…Yeah. I kind of had a crush on her for awhile, but… that's all in the past. I have you now, Kami-chan."

"Besides, I'm married."

"That too."

"Dare I ask…?"

"She's just an ordinary human magician. Like I said, there are plenty of humans here too. Perhaps I should take you on a tour…the natural way."

"As opposed to what?"

"As opposed to Yukari-sama whisking us away again, wherever she may be."

"You still haven't answered my question, you know."

"Which one?"

"About how that hole is going to affect our…sex life."

Nitori smiled. "You'll find out."

"Now, the first area of interest I should show you, providing I'm allowed to actually find it, should probably be the Human Village."

"Allowed to find it?" I asked.

"Gensokyo has some people with very improbable abilities. One of them guards the Human Village, protecting it from youkai by making it literally disappear from history whenever they get too close."

"…from history?"

"Yes. But right now…I have no idea where we are. We're either hopelessly lost, or we're already there."

"Well, there are definitely a lot of people around…and they all look like they're human, so…I think it's the latter." For some reason this made Nitori rather nervous. "Calm down, Nitori-chan. This place is safe, right?"

"Not as safe as it usually is," someone replied. "We've still got enough strong fighters here that we can ward off some weaker demons if they were to attack, but if something strong were to decide to attack us…"

"Did something happen to Keine-sensei?" Nitori asked. (CCX: Remember, the title "sensei" is given to professionals. Even though Nitori isn't actually one of Keine's students, she still warrants the title from her out of respect.)

"Uh… No, nothing. Ms. Keine is still in perfect health."

"That's good to hear." Once we were out of earshot of any other humans—did I really just specify that? I'm adapting to this far too well—Nitori told me, "That's the second time today where I've felt like I'm out of the loop somehow. I'm supposed to be guiding you, but I can barely guide myself."

"What was the first?"

"When we encountered Utsuho-san. Sanae-san said that she was probably headed for the Scarlet Devil Mansion, but I have no idea why that would be so and she didn't give me any extra explanation."

"It's a mansion, right? So that would make it someone's residence. She's probably visiting someone there."

"Maybe. And if Sanae-san felt that no explanation was needed, it's probably something that's already been spread around. Old news." Was that a note of disdain in my sweet Nitori's voice? I'd never heard her get condescending before; she was usually a regular shrinking violet.

"Something wrong?"

"No, why do you ask?"

"I've never heard you talk like that. It sounded almost, I don't know, derisive."

"Yeah, well, we don't really read the local 'newspapers', if you can call them that."

"They're more like tabloids, are they? And who do you mean by 'we'?"

"What's a tabloid? And I mean the kappa. I mentioned before that you're unlikely to see a tengu in kappa territory; the reverse is also true. We don't get along. Sorry if I let my natural racial prejudices come out, Kami-chan."

"That's…fine." I guess the tengu controlled the local media. "A tabloid is something that purports to be a newspaper, but most of the stories are little more than gossip at best. Some of them deal in outright fiction, stuff that…" I stopped myself before saying "couldn't possibly be true", because a lot of those things were very much true here, "could only have been witnessed by someone who knew how to get to Gensokyo."

"Yeah, that sounds like the Bunbunmaru."

"There aren't actually any half-man, half-bat creatures here, are there? One of the American tabloids had this fixation with one of them."

"You mean vampires?"

"No, not vampires. Wait, there are vampires here?"

"Yeah, the Scarlet sisters. They were at the wedding, though for obvious reasons their wings were concealed."

"…Wait, 'Scarlet'? Like that mansion?"

"Yeah. Now this makes even less sense."

"Why is that?"

"Utsuho-san is radioactive because she literally ate a sun god. Her powers would be deadly to vampires."

"Eh, don't worry about it. Is there any place around here we can go for a bite to eat, maybe something to drink?"

"How should I know? I've never been here, either. But I think this is where the woman who was working the reception is from, so there should be something." We searched around until we found a place called "Koko's". I didn't recognize the man who was behind the bar, but I did recognize one of the patrons. (CCX: Yes, Koharu has other employees. I could've sworn I'd given a name to one of them, but I couldn't find it anywhere.) "Keine-sensei…so this is what they meant when they said you were still in good health when I asked if something had happened to you."

"Huh? Nitori-san? You shouldn't be here…"

"Had to show my girlfriend around Gensokyo. This was the first place on our list, since she's a human."

"Your girlfriend is from the other world?"

"Yeah. We met at Reimu-san and Sanae-san's—"

"Don't say it!" Ah, now there's the woman in question. "Sorry to interrupt you, but as you've no doubt noticed, Keine-chan's kind of been in a funk lately, and I think you were about to say something that would've made things worse."

"…If you say so."

Next up we ended up at a place that Nitori called the Forest of Magic. "You were asking some questions earlier about how things ended up in Gensokyo? If there's anyone who can answer them—and will, since Yukari-sama might know more but she kind of just does whatever she wants—it's Rinnosuke-san." She led me into a building labeled "Kourindou".

"Ah…a lot of this stuff looks like it came from my world!"

"Yukari-sama's latest 'spiriting away' victim?"

"I wouldn't exactly use the word 'victim', though that is indeed how Kami-chan got here. Rinnosuke Morichika, I'd like to introduce you to my girlfriend, Michiru Kannazuki. She's new here."

"I'm not actually a permanent resident," I said. "Yet. Are you saying you want me to be?"

"Uh… kinda?" She blushed, and I gave her a peck on the cheek. She's so cute… though it sounds like she was suggesting that if she stayed in my world for too long she'd start to look like the ugly kappa of legend? I can't picture my adorable girlfriend like that, even if she does have a hole in the top of her head… and a very enchanting fondness for cucumbers. That was certainly something I'll never forget. In retrospect, that was another sign that could've pointed me towards the truth. There certainly had been enough clues that if I was looking at Nitori with an eye towards conspiracy, I probably would've been able to deduce that she was actually a kappa—but why would I even consider something like that about my new girlfriend? I wasn't a person who believed in the supernatural, and my self-esteem isn't so low that I'd automatically think that I couldn't possibly end up with a girl this great and therefore there must be something suspicious about her. Besides, those prototypical fantasy girlfriends are usually more outgoing, not like my adorably shy little Nitori-chan.

"Well, we'll see if we can make that possible. It's not exactly easy to just uproot yourself from your prior life, though."

"O-of course not. Forget I said anything."

"I can't do that, Nitori-chan. I love you, and I want to be with you."

"R-really?"

"Really."

We passed two other people whom I vaguely remembered seeing at that wedding as we exited Kourindou. "Ah, welcome! I'm not used to seeing you come here in person…"

"Normally I wouldn't have taken you through the Former Hell if I wanted to show you the Nuclear Furnace…but then again, normally I wouldn't have shown you the Nuclear Furnace. But since it's apparently empty right now and I'd rather finish our tour with Youkai Mountain and possibly even the Misty Lake, this is the best route to go through for now."

"'Former Hell'? This place doesn't look so bad. Is that a store? It seems so out of place here."

"It gets more dangerous the deeper you go; I'm still wondering if this is a mistake. And there's no need for us to stop at this shop since," Nitori couldn't help but grin, "there's apparently a branch in your world as well."

"Um…the photographer at the wedding where we met, was she one of the natives?"

"…Yes."

"Oh. I'm guessing by your tone of voice that she was a tengu. I-I'm sorry, then; had I known, I wouldn't have bought those pictures. But I only bring this up because I figure that when you say that there's a branch in our world as well you're referring to that woman who was taking orders for dresses. Obviously I hadn't realized, well, I didn't even know about this world until today so of course I didn't realize that she was from here, but I know that she has been selling dresses and such in my world since then. …Would it be wrong of me to ask what her real form is?"

"Not at all, though based on her profession you might be able to guess it yourself."

"A demon that makes dresses? I'm not sure if I follow."

"Tsukigomo. Spider youkai. She makes her own silk for her creations."

"That's… I don't know what to say. The idea of someone who basically looks human, at least to me, creating silk like that, seems absolutely disgusting, but… I guess that's just how things are around here."

"Yeah. Watch your step; like I said, this place can be treacherous."

"You actually work down here?"

"Sometimes, yeah. Why?"

"It's kind of…hot, isn't it? Don't you need to stay cool and, um, hydrated?"

"Yeah, well, I just have to make sure to bring plenty of water. Wait, what are you doing?"

"I told you. It's too hot. I'm not dressed for these kind of conditions." Nitori had turned around just as I'd been removing my bra from underneath my half-unbuttoned blouse. I then removed my socks, putting my shoes back on afterwards because I still didn't want to walk around barefoot on this terrain, and also decided to take off my panties. "Can I store these in your backpack?"

"Yeah I'm suddenly feeling quite warm too let's hurry to someplace cooler," Nitori said quickly, turning bright red and nodding quickly in response to my question.

"Am I showing too much skin for you? If this bothers you, I can't imagine how you're going to deal with having sex with me."

"Th-th-that's different. Nobody's actually here right now, but we're still in a public place… Anyway, we're here, so I guess we can get out of here pretty quickly now."

"…How do you suppose that?" I looked up at a very distant point of light. Did this go all the way to the peak of the mountain?

"It's a straight path to the former site of the Moriya Shrine from here. Come on…" She suddenly put her hand to her face. "I'm such an idiot… Well, it could've been worse. I could've tried taking you here from the top."

"Okay, let's just be clear: You're saying that the path from here to Youkai Mountain is straight up?"

"Yeah…it's not really an issue because most native Gensokyans, even those without wings, can fly. Most demon wings are largely ornamental. Marisa-san's broomstick is just for show, too." I had noticed that the "ordinary human magician" I'd met earlier looked very much like a stereotypical witch, in stark contrast with the stereotype-defying people I'd been meeting all day. "…Wait, that's it!" Nitori removed her ever-present backpack—her "shell", as it were. "I was worried that I'd have to try to carry you—not that I'd mind; I'm just not sure if I'm capable of flying with two people. But I designed a jetpack into here! I didn't really think I'd ever need one, but it was a thing I could do so I did it because it was fun."

"You designed a jetpack?" Her backpack was now on my back and she was fiddling with it.

"Yep. If you encounter anything that looks more technological than magical but is still undeniably Gensokyan in origin, it was probably made by a kappa. Don't worry; I tested it out, and I'm pretty sure it works. But I'll hold your hand the whole time just in case."

"Are you sure you don't want me to go ahead of you so you can catch me if I fall?" I teased.

"No that will be perfectly fine I think I'd rather be right beside you!"

"Of course you would."

Our tour ended with Youkai Mountain, ending up at the river which Nitori called home. "As to your earlier question, kappa are amphibious, so we usually sleep underwater. But we don't really have to be fully submerged, as long as we don't go empty. Um…since you're kind of still, uh, half-naked…perhaps you want to find out for yourself how that'll work? I-I hope you don't mind having to be on top the whole time…"

"Why would I mind being on top?"

"N-no reason. I just was worried that, you know, you might want some variety…" And then she was undressing.

I was kind of expecting I'd end up on top; the idea of Nitori taking a dominant position seemed foreign to me, although I've heard that often the shy ones are actually really completely different once you get them into bed. So then when she said she didn't have to be completely submerged…ah. She laid down in a shallow "bed" of water, enough to almost completely cover her, but still leaving something above the surface for her non-amphibious girlfriend. "That's still not going to be terribly convenient… You pretty much just have to lay there and let me do all the work." I got down low, on top of her face, as I finished removing my blouse. Of course, it wasn't any fun squatting over her with a skirt and no panties when she couldn't do anything about it. "There's got to be some easier way…"

"Other than doing it standing up?"

"Maybe if we did it on an incline…or, I don't know, somehow supplied you with more water. Isn't there some way you can just plug it up so the water doesn't run out?"

"Too painful, remember? I guess…maybe under a waterfall or something, but that would cause a lot of the same problems as actually being underwater would." She carefully sat up, pouring some water into her head to replace what had managed to run out as she did so. "Although I think you're exaggerating the issue. It's not like I'm going to die right away if all of the water runs out; maybe if I was deprived of water for a long time I'd die, but just running out? I'd probably just grow really weak and maybe faint. Which, if we're doing it in water that's deep enough, would end up refilling me. So please… don't hold back on my account."

I'm not sure I could have if I tried. She looked so beautiful, half-submerged in the water reflecting the setting sun, her petite breasts bared, her hair down rather than in its usual pigtails. I sat, or perhaps laid, down on top of her, hands caressing those slight curves, and I saw that cute blush return to her face as she reacted to my touch, her arms around me, hands creeping under the waist of my skirt. I would definitely have to stay the night, or else find something else to wear; there was no way that this skirt wasn't going to end up drenched. Less than 12 hours ago, I was worried that Nitori wanted to break up with me, and now I find myself wishing I could breathe underwater so I can get even closer to her. There was something about having sex in the water that was…I don't want to say "calming" because things were anything but calm at the moment, but maybe "soothing" would be an appropriate word. Or was it just that Nitori looked more comfortable than ever? Her head tilted back in ecstasy, and I quickly helped lower her back into the water. She was happier than I'd ever seen her, and by extension, I was happier than I'd ever been when I'd been with her. I drank a little of the water as I kissed her—a little water wouldn't hurt me; it's actually quite vital, and this water was incredibly pure and refreshing—and I felt her body bucking beneath mine. I held my mouth at the ready to receive her breasts as they broke the surface of the water, taking in her sweetness…and maybe a little bitterness? I really shouldn't be surprised that she tastes like cucumbers, since they're clearly her favorite food. Hmm…if this is where she lives, I'm sure there's some of those vegetables around here… "I just got an idea. Where do you keep your food?"

"Huh? I'll show you, but…now? Seriously?"

"Oh, it's not for eating. Yet. You can eat it afterwards if you want to…though it might be a little sticky."

She showed me to the food, and I picked out a cucumber that was slender enough to comfortably fit inside us. "Wait, what are you going to do with that cucumber?"

"Don't worry. Like I said, there's no reason why you wouldn't be able to consume it afterwards. Now lay back down." Nitori nervously did so, and I carefully inserted the cucumber into her and then equally carefully lowered myself onto it. "Ah…I picked one out based on diameter because I didn't want it to be too wide, but I think this one's too long…our bodies aren't anywhere near each other."

"Mi-Mi-Michiru…"

"You've never done this before? Seriously?"

Nitori shook her head. "Cucumbers are not to be debased like that. Besides, kappa make all of the best toys, remember?"

"…Hey. You called me by my real name."

"Yeah, I did… you always said that you were embarrassed by the nickname I'd given you."

"Well, being called a goddess is kind of embarrassing, but it's also kind of sweet…although, now that I know that there are actual goddesses here, it's even more flattering than it was before. Here, I'll rinse the cucumber off, and now it's not debased. It was just a thought; I guess we'll skip that."

"Well, like I said…we kappa make all of the best toys. Catch my drift?" And suddenly I found myself seeing something that I knew all too well, having shared them with two previous girlfriends. A two-sided vibrator. "I just hope this one works as well as my usual one does. It's not like I've ever had anyone to share one with, you know?"

"Well, you've got someone now." We got into position and switched it on.

…Whoa.

WHOA.

Wh—wait, where'd it go?

"What's wrong?"

"It's too powerful. It's not supposed to do that. Also it was overheating."

"It…wasn't supposed to be warm like that?"

"It was supposed to be warm. Not that hot. With how fast that thing was moving, I was afraid it was going to blow up, and that would be disastrous."

"…blow up?"

"Well, that's just the worst-case scenario. But making someone's genitals explode is not generally viewed as a proper form of courtship, so I'd like to avoid that."

I laughed. "You're right. That would be bad. Maybe we should stick with the tried and true standbys."

"Which are?"

"These," I replied, and inserted two fingers into the box of the kappa of my dreams.

CCX: Well, that was…enlightening. In case you'd forgotten, Michiru was first mentioned by name just under a year ago, in Chapter 17 of The Adventures of Team 9 Catering, and then completely failed to make another appearance until now. Also, I find it amusing to see how the webcomics and such that I read end up influencing my writing; I'm pretty sure that the "talk really fast, kind of loud, and with no punctuation when you're flustered" thing was stolen from Jeph Jacques. Ja ne!