Chapter 2: Did I Really Feel That? Do I Still?
"You've fallen into my trap!" Several bullets of Danmaku surrounded Alice, creating a maze that blurred and reshaped, making it impossible to escape. Reisen floated off to the side, an insane smile shining on her face. It appeared to be curtains for her.
Or not. "Magicanon: Final Spark!" A beam of energy, pure white in color, blasted past Alice. It ate everything in its path, slamming into the lunatic Rabbit and sending her careening into a crash land.
"Thanks." Marisa floated into view, before taking off down the hall. "Come on, daze!"
The doctor stood before them, only to be batted aside by their powers. They came up against the final enemy, Houraisen Kaguya, who claimed to be immortal.
"Last Word: Blazing Star!"
"Last Word: The Phantom of the Grand Guignol!"
…
Hourai puttered along, cleaning. She didn't mind cleaning, when Alice wanted her to do it, she would, but she was a little down today. It was because Alice was. The doll maker had been sulking for the past week or so, which caused the normal cheery dolls to sulk as well.
Hourai moved to the desk. The bag of pills that Doctor Yagokoro had prescribed for her master was there. Apparently she had a deficiency of a certain vitamin or mineral or something. And something else…
A doll of Marisa. Hourai stared at it. She hadn't been with Alice when the two friends had parted ways, been Shanghai had, and the details left something nagging on Hourai's mind. From the way Alice was acting, it didn't really seem that she hated Ms. Kirisame, yet she said she did. Grabbing some puppeteer equipment, Hourai began to work.
…
Alice woke up to Hourai's voice. She had been dreaming of the Imperishable Night incident, when Marisa, Reimu, Yukari, Youmu, and some others fixed a problem regarding the Harvest Moon.
"Every day, I'm walking on air, float float! I've found something to look forward to, anticipation!"
"What is that little-" Alice entered the study, to see Hourai playing with puppets. Two specific puppets, in fact.
"Why, hello there Ms. Kirisame! Hi there Ms. Margatroid! How are you toda-ERK!" Hourai noticed her master standing in the doorway, a not amused expression on her face. "Hourai."
"H-hi…" Alice walked over and took away (snatched) the puppeteer handles away. "And what, pray tell, do you think you were doing?"
"Acting out what you should do next…"
"Oh?" Alice knew that Hourai was younger, though more powerful, than her sister, and thus more naïve. "I think that's not what I'll do next. I'm off to the Mansion. You're welcome to come along, I'm taking your bigger sister, so it's only fair."
As Alice left, Hourai felt a little annoyance. 'Just do the simple thing and talk to her!'
…
"MARISA!" Shameimaru Aya burst into the cluttered home, waving a video camera (a gift from Nitori) around in the air. "I HAVE SOME NEWS!"
"What?" The tone wasn't supposed to be venomous, but since the normally energetic Magician was depressed-ish, it was understandable. "Here, watch this. I was at you-know-who's house, and by looking at the non-verbals, you can tell she totally wants you!"
"Oh really?"
"YEAH! And, there's this great place where, with some tweaking here and tweaking there, you can totally get at least a 'Here-me-out-please' talk!"
A fire lit in Marisa, as the Tengu's crazy-stupid plan seemed like one to go along with. "Fine, okay. Just, don't screw anything up, please!"
"Can do! Wolfy can do the job, and you and your wifu will be together faster than, well, me!"
Marisa groaned. She didn't have high hopes for this plan suddenly.
…
Alice walked into the Mansion's gardens. Patchouli had wanted to talk to her, but according to China, that person had now become Sakuya. She entered the foyer, to see the head maid along with Inubashiri Momiji.
"Alice!" Sakuya gestured to her, and she came closer. "Mmmm? Yes?"
"We have a surprise for you!" This came from Momiji, who held a piece of paper, advertising the 'Beautiful Salt Bluffs'! "We heard how sad you had been, so we decided to give you this flyer! I suggest going there at sunset, a perfectly cheery sight!"
"Uhhh… Okay?" Alice took the flyer, looking at the picture. It did look pretty. "Thanks I guess. Sakuya, what was it that you and Patchouli wanted?"
"I just wanted to show you this. Lady Knowledge is in the Library garden."
Alice proceeded to walk into the gardens, head a little mucked. The sight of a short ,pale Youkai with three eyes sitting next to the Magician who wanted to talk to her surprised her.
"Hello Alice."
~Melodramatic. Meh. Still, how am I doing? I have two, maybe three more chapters planned before the reconciliation, and the fluff galore! This is literally following the scenes from the song's video, with a few (a lot) deviations.
And so we go!