When Reimu came to, she was sitting up at her table, supported by the end of Yukari's tail, which was wrapped casually around her waist. The violet dragon was still present, and cheerfully drinking tea.
"Thank you for the fear. It was delicious," Yukari said, grinning.
"I… what?" Reimu still felt a bit dizzy. There was a cup of tea in front of her, still hot, and she downed it in one go, hoping it would calm her a bit.
"Oh, youkai such as myself haven't eaten humans for a long time. There are so few humans that are aware of us that we simply feed off of your emotions. I'm sorry for scaring you like that, but I used up most of my strength recovering from my injuries and I needed a meal." Yukari's tail released Reimu, and they stared at each other for a minute.
"…So you… scared me. And ate the fear. And you're a dragon youkai," Reimu said, trying to let this sink in.
"Yes, that's about right. Now then, you wanted to know how I ended up in your yard? I think you might have an easier time believing me now," Yukari said.
Reimu opened her mouth to protest, then thought better of it. Even if Yukari claimed she didn't eat people, Reimu didn't want to argue with her.
"…Go on."
In another blink, Yukari had shifted back to looking like a human, though an odd one with her blond hair and gold eyes. Reimu relaxed a little more- being in the same room as a mythical creature was less nerve-wracking if they weren't four times your size.
"It started a few hundred years ago. Once, we were truly as we are in the myths. Farmers in small towns would clang pots together, and the ringing would summon me with rainclouds in tow. When you prayed to a kami, more often than not they would literally appear to converse with you. This was because most people truly believed in dragons and youkai and gods."
The dreamy smile on Yukari's face as she said this quickly faded as she continued.
"But there were some people who thought that youkai were the biggest threat to humanity, and they started spreading lies that we were harmless, we were rare, and finally, that we simply didn't exist. And as belief faded, so did our strength. Many youkai have died because they have been forgotten, I can barely use any magic, and so far as I know, only two new youkai have been born in the past century."
To demonstrate her point, Yukari snapped her fingers, and a rather small splash of fire appeared over her hand. Reimu thought it was impressive, but it was obvious that Yukari had once been able to do much more.
"Anyways, with youkai so weak now, those people who believe we're such a danger have been hunting us down systematically. I'm lucky that I can still fly, or I wouldn't have been able to escape from them. Even then, I still took quite a beating. Your house reminded me of the old days from the outside, and I had to land somewhere, so… here I am," Yukari finished. She let out a faint sigh, and laid her head on the table.
Reimu sat there in silence, quietly staring at Yukari. If she had just told Reimu this story back when she'd first appeared, Reimu really wouldn't have believed it. But now that she had seen Yukari's dragon appearance, and felt her violet scales firsthand… it was a lot easier to swallow.
"…are youkai dangerous?" Reimu asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.
"Only because people believed they were. Now people believe youkai are only stories, and soon that is all we will be," Yukari said.
Okay, that was just sad. Reimu didn't want Yukari to just disappear because nobody believed in her, even if she was a dragon and honestly kind of terrifying. But Yukari said that she wasn't going to eat Reimu, and Reimu believed her. If the youkai just didn't have to be feared…
Wait.
"Hey, Miss Yukari. If people believed in youkai, but they didn't believe they were dangerous, would youkai be stronger and all but also mostly harmless?" Reimu asked, her mind racing.
"Uh… yes, I think that would be the case," Yukari said. She looked up at Reimu without lifting her head. "Why?"
"What if we got a bunch of youkai and got them on international television, convinced everyone that they exist and that they aren't going to hurt anyone?" Reimu tried.
Yukari shook her head slightly.
"Most youkai, people can't even see that they're youkai anymore. You've probably met at least one and just couldn't see what they were. The only ones I'm aware of who still look like youkai to uninformed humans are myself, the demons in the dream world, Inaba, and Kazami. Out of those, I suppose I would be alright with it. Inaba, possibly, if we can find her. Kazami is… well, recent human activity has hit her pretty hard, so she might not be too enthusiastic. And as for the dream world, you can forget them. There's no way to get there at this point," Yukari said. She did sit up straight with mild interest, though.
"Well, do you suppose you and… you said Inaba and maybe Kazami…? You think that would be enough?" Reimu asked.
Yukari considered this, tapping her fingers on the table.
"…It very well might if we can get both of them. Would you be willing to help me convince them? And to arrange to get us on television in the first place?" she said after a minute.
"Yeah, I'll help. It could be good for me, too. Maybe I could get a book deal out of it, afford real food," Reimu said, smiling.
"Then I will hold you to your word. With the way things are, it is worth trying one last-ditch crazy plan thought up by a human who is barely a shrine maiden," Yukari said, returning the smile in full. Reimu had the vague feeling she'd been insulted, but shrugged it off. At least she'd cheered up the dragon youkai.
That was about when Yukari yawned, and put her head on the table again.
"…You're tired again?" Reimu asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I need to conserve my strength and spend a lot of time resting if I am to remain a powerful youkai," Yukari said. Reimu sighed, and shook her head. In another blink, Yukari had become a dragon again, but smaller- only about twice Reimu's height in her length. She gracefully padded over to Reimu's bed, coiled up across half the pillow, and closed her eyes.
"…And you can turn tiny. Miss Yukari, you are just full of surprises today, aren't you?" Reimu sighed.
The rest of Reimu's evening was uneventful, as the sleeping dragon didn't disturb her schedule of a dinner of plain rice eaten over her annoyingly in-depth history homework. When she finally decided she ought to get some sleep herself, she didn't hesitate to get in bed and rest her head beside the sleeping Yukari. The dragon really didn't seem to care, so Reimu saw no reason why she ought to.
The next morning, Reimu woke up to find that Yukari was no longer tamely coiled up next to her as a small dragon, but lying across Reimu in her 'human' form.
"Oh for gods' sakes," Reimu muttered, trying to carefully move the woman off of her.
"Ah… good morning, Miss Reimu, and my apologies," Yukari said with a yawn. Whoops, Reimu hadn't meant to wake her up. Yukari quickly got up off of Reimu, and sat there rubbing her eyes while Reimu set about getting ready for the day.
"You didn't roll all over me night before last," Reimu commented once she'd gotten her tea started.
"I was still healing from my wounds night before last, so I didn't move around. When I'm not injured, I do tend to move closer to warmth in my sleep," the youkai explained with a small shrug. Reimu had the feeling that she wasn't sorry in the least. "So… what are you doing? It's early."
"I have classes, Yukari. Humans do this thing called school where they learn how not to be entirely useless to other humans," Reimu said, looking over at her.
"Oh. I suppose that will complicate trying to help me…?" Yukari said.
"Not really. I actually have a two-week break that starts tomorrow. I just have to survive a couple of tests today and then it'll be all good. By the way, I want to tell Marisa about this. She is my friend, after all," Reimu said.
Yukari grinned at this.
"She won't believe you without proof. Perhaps I should come with you to this 'school' of yours," she said.
"No," Reimu responded flatly. She poured herself a cup of tea, and drained it without waiting for it to cool. It was best hot, after all.
"But why not? I have never been to a human school before, Reimu. And I promise not to get in your way. I can just use my dragon form, make myself very small, hide in your shirt-"
"You're not hiding in my shirt!"
"-your bag, then, and nobody will even know. Except this Marisa friend of yours," Yukari finished.
Reimu sighed.
"Fine, fine. But if you get me in trouble and I fail my test, I'll step on your tail."
"You wouldn't." Yukari suddenly looked rather pale.
"Then don't mess up my tests," Reimu said. She had finished drinking her tea by this point, and walked over to the door to get her bag. Yukari got to her feet and followed her over, and Reimu glanced over at her to see that she was once again a dragon, but absolutely tiny- a bit longer than Reimu's forearm, and a bit thicker than her thumb.
"If someone showed me a photo of you like this, I would say it looked fake as hell," Reimu said, opening the front pocket of her bag where she didn't have anything else. Yukari hopped in, and Reimu left it slightly open so the dragon could breathe.
"That's simply because you are unused to youkai. Oh, and if anyone you know has any… unusual features you may not have noticed before, try not to stare too much," Yukari said, poking her head out. She slipped back in, and Reimu tossed the bag over her shoulder and started out the door.
As Reimu walked out of history class, she had no idea if she'd done even remotely well on the test. It had all been stuff she'd studied before, but she had been pretty distracted by the fact that her teacher had horns.
"Reeeimuuu!" a voice called from somewhere behind her.
Reimu stepped aside at the last second, and Marisa shot past her and fell flat on her face. Again.
"Hello to you too, Marisa. I'm fine, thank you for asking. How are you?" Reimu said dryly, helping Marisa back to her feet.
"Can't complain. Haha. So since this is the last lunch we're having before break, I'll buy you some sweets afterwards, ze," Marisa said, grinning. Reimu immediately perked up.
"Marisa, have I told you you're amazing?" she said, trying not to drool at the idea of having something sweet.
"Only every day, ze," Marisa said teasingly, winking.
It was a short walk to the park, and it was only after they got there that Reimu remembered she had yet to introduce Marisa to her new 'friend'.
"Oh, Marisa, hey, I forgot, I have something to show you," she said, stopping near a bench.
"Huh? That's not something I hear from you very often," Marisa said. She waited while Reimu took her bag off her shoulder, and unzipped the front pocket. Reimu reached in, and pulled out the tiny purple form of Yukari, who was… sound asleep and dangling limply from Reimu's fingers.
"Oh my gods, Yukari, wake up," Reimu said, poking the dragon's nose. Yukari snapped awake at once, and leapt out of Reimu's hand, shifting into her almost-human form before she hit the ground.
"Did you really have to wake me up? I was comfortable," Yukari whined, rubbing her nose and letting out a yawn. Marisa stared.
"What," Marisa said.
"Yes, I had to wake you up. I only have my friend here for you to meet. Marisa, this is Yukari Yakumo. She's a dragon. Literally. Youkai are real. Yukari, this is Marisa Kirisame. She can set anything on fire. Anything," Reimu said.
"Pleasure," Yukari said amiably.
"What," Marisa said.
"Marisa, are you okay?" Reimu asked, raising an eyebrow.
"She just- I don't- but she was tiny! Where did all the rest of that mass come from?" Marisa finally blurted out, looking completely lost.
"Magic," Yukari said, shrugging. "Honestly, you should be asking where it went. At my full strength, my true form is about a hundred feet long."
"THAT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE!" Marisa's grip on the handle of her own bag was so tight that her knuckles were starting to turn white. Reimu was starting to think that introducing the scientist to the youkai might not have been her smartest decision.
"Oh, you silly, you're just not thinking about it right. Magic is a force of nature. Like gravity. Only it's powered by the belief of sentient beings rather than subatomic particles," Yukari said, still pleasant and composed.
Marisa opened her mouth to say something, then paused. She started to speak again, then stopped again.
"…I'm not buying her anything," Marisa finally said, turning and starting off towards the yakitori stand.
"That went well," Yukari said. Reimu stared at her for a moment, confused, then picked up her bag and hurried after Marisa. By the time Reimu caught up, Marisa had stopped and was staring blankly at Mystia, who looked rather self-conscious.
"Kirisame…? You're, um, you're kind of freaking me out," Mystia said. Mokou was obliviously continuing to work, and Reimu had an immediate idea of why Marisa was just standing there.
"Hi, Mystia. Don't mind Marisa, she… probably just likes your wings, and is trying to think of an appropriate compliment," Reimu said. Yukari lightly trotted up beside Reimu, and waved.
There was a few seconds of silence.
Then the stand erupted into chaos.
"YOU CAN SEE MY WINGS?!" Mystia cried, literally jumping. She did indeed have a pair of soft-looking brown wings, and matching fluffy ears.
"YAKUMO?!" Mokou blurted out, her usual stoicism utterly broken and replaced with a look of total shock.
"You KNOW this weirdo?" Marisa asked, finally snapping out of her stunned state, and looking back and forth between Mokou, Yukari, and Mystia.
Reimu groaned, and buried her forehead in her hands. Yukari was turning out to be so troublesome. It took a moment for everyone to stop trying to question each other over one another, but finally Mystia covered her ears and let out a gods-awful screech, forcing everyone else to shut up and giving Reimu an even bigger headache.
"Okay, okay, so… Hakurei and Kirisame can see youkai now…?" Mystia asked.
"I… apparently?" Marisa said. "Mokou, are you in on this too…?"
"Yes, thanks to this troublesome lizard," Reimu said, gesturing to Yukari.
"I've been able to see youkai longer than you two have been alive. I'm not one myself, though," Mokou said, back to frowning. "Also, I wouldn't call Yakumo a lizard. Even I wouldn't want to piss off a nine thousand year old dragon."
"I'm seventeen," Yukari said serenely. Nobody acknowledged this.
"So um… I don't know how to say this politely, but Mystia, what are you?" Marisa asked. She had managed to collect herself somewhat by this point, luckily.
"I'm a sparrow! A night sparrow, really. When I sing, it messes with people's heads," Mystia said, proudly fluffing her wings and ears up.
"…So you're a bird. Working at a yakitori stand," Reimu cut in.
"I- I have to make a living somehow, okay? And Miss Mokou has been very kind to me and would never use me as ingredients!" Mystia said, paling a bit. Her wings and ears both drooped.
"That's because youkai don't regenerate near as quickly as they used to," Mokou said, though her tone was purely teasing this time. Mystia huffed and deliberately stared away from Mokou.
The resulting awkward silence was broken by Reimu's stomach growling loudly.
"Ah, I guess you guys will want some lunch. You know what, you actually managed to amuse me. So it's on me," Mokou said. She elbowed Mystia, who jumped, fluttering her wings, then quickly passed out some yakitori to Marisa, Reimu, and Yukari.