This chapter is set towards the end of March 2018, which is also when I wrote it!
Almost the whole thing is a conversation between Reimu and Yukari. It got pretty in-depth at times there, but I mostly just hope I did justice to both of them and kept them mostly in character. They're pretty complex!
Overall, getting to write Reimu being thankful and wholesome towards her youkai friends was really nice, so I'm glad I did.
Thanks so much for reading! It'd mean a lot to me if you told me what you thought! I'm happy with any kind of positive or constructive feedback.
PS. If you enjoyed, please check out my main work, a Pokémon fic about Sabrina and Erika!
The months passed, and before Reimu knew it winter had come and gone. It wasn't an entirely stress-free winter - for the first time Hakurei Shrine had to directly compete with the rival Moriya Shrine for New Year shrine visits, due to a recently completed ropeway making travel up the mountain easier for humans.
That small bout of awkwardness between the shrines was still nothing compared to the incidents of the previous year though. In fact, by the time spring rolled around again the two shrines were cooperating on events again like usual.
"Man, even if the view from Moriya Shrine is amazing, nothing beats enjoying the cherry blossoms at Hakurei Shrine!" Marisa chirped energetically, enjoying the relaxing atmosphere that afternoon as she helped to prepare for hanami.
Reimu, Marisa, Kasen, Aunn and Sanae Kochiya, the somewhat short-sighted but earnest maiden of Moriya Shrine, had worked hard to prepare an extravagant food and drink set for the Hakurei Shrine cherry blossom viewing party.
Sanae pouted. "Hey! The springtime view from the mountaintop at Moriya Shrine is wonderful too! Buut it's true that I'd much rather have human visitors at my shrine than youkai anyway, so I don't mind.."
Reimu laughed awkwardly. By this point she had come to accept that most people who came to observe hanami at Hakurei Shrine were youkai, which unfortunately made most humans hesitant to visit at all during the event.
"Say, Reimu." Marisa decided to try changing the subject, as acquaintances and friends both youkai and human began to turn up to the shrine grounds and relax. "What's with that leftover bottle of the sake from winter? We've prepared more than enough strong drinks more suitable for cherry blossom viewing."
Reimu huffed a smile and breathed in the spring air. "I'd like to share some with Yukari. I thought she might appreciate it after her long sleep."
Kasen frowned. "What makes you think she'll come? Are you sure you even want to be alone with her like that?"
Reimu looked Kasen in the eyes sternly. "She'll come. Don't be such a mom, Kasen." she then gave the hermit a playful but confident smirk. "Besides, she wouldn't stand a chance against me if she picked a fight."
"That's.." Kasen stopped herself and sighed, putting her hands on her hips and smiling back. "Yeah, fair enough."
With the party now in full swing, the group begun to relax themselves as they scattered to drink and talk with everyone else.
Reimu hung back at the shrine building and took in the view; the familiar faces of friends and foes she had clashed with in danmaku battles over the years. The breathtaking ocean of bright pink as all the trees around the shrine blossomed for what seemed like miles.
Once a year, exhausting but nostalgic cherry blossom viewing parties like this gave her a sense of excitement and belonging that doused the boredom she felt while there were no incidents going on. Not least of all because a certain fascinating youkai was a regular guest.
She caught Yuyuko's eye, who was sat drinking with Youmu and Ran Yakumo in the courtyard. The pink-haired ghost winked at Reimu, who grinned back.
Ran being at the party already probably meant…
"Hey Yukari? You here?" Reimu called out lazily into the sky.
"Of course~." a familiar, disembodied voice teasingly echoed back. Reimu sighed at the youkai's invitation to hide-and-seek and peered around a little.
'Knowing Yukari…'
Reimu walked around to the side of the shrine building, which was out of the way enough for none of the other guests to be there. As Reimu had expected, Yukari was sat there alone, calmly enjoying the cherry blossoms from under her parasol. She wore a similar long-purple dress, but she had evidently put a little more care into her appearance today.
"The cherry blossoms are beautiful as always this year, hm?"
"Happy New Year." Reimu gave the disagreeable youkai a friendly grin and perched next to her.
"Mm? The New Year was almost three months ago now, Reimu." Yukari looked down on Reimu from behind her fan.
"That's true, but you always sleep through it so I wondered if you missed hearing the greeting sometimes." the shrine maiden continued to smile pleasantly. She held out the untouched bottle of warming sake from the winter season and gave it a gentle shake.
"Still sleepy, Yukari? You missed out on all the comforting winter drinking too."
Yukari looked at Reimu more directly now, a little surprised at first before huffing a gentle laugh. "My.. what manner of incident must I have slept through? You're being unusually friendly." she nodded at Reimu's gesture.
Reimu poured a couple of cups out for the two. "I just kinda regretted being so cold towards you when you said goodnight.. so I wanted to give you a warmer good morning."
"Oho!" a gleeful smile spread across the youkai's face. "I feel blessed that the Hakurei shrine maiden has deigned me worthy of such considerate behaviour!" she gratefully took a cup from Reimu.
Reimu tilted her head and grimaced at the youkai's attitude, wondering if it was really a good idea to try to get closer to a woman who seemingly did her best to be unpleasant to as many people as possible.
But whenever she remembered the image of Yukari's lonely silhouette viewing the cherry blossoms by herself, and how she felt every time Yukari left for months or years at a time, the shrine maiden was confident that the fondness she had developed for the incorrigible youkai was genuine.
She relaxed her shoulders and nodded. "Yeah, I'm sorry for how I've been to you over the years. Enjoy my earnest apology while it lasts, okay? Cheers!" she grinned sheepishly and raised her cup to Yukari's.
The youkai briefly raised an eyebrow but gave in. She bumped her cup to Reimu's and giggled, beginning to drink.
Not a moment later her posture visibly relaxed and she commented on its quality "Ooh.. what a wonderful warmth!" she held her gloved hand to her cheek as she appreciated the flavour. "It's been a long time since someone offered me something like this.. It truly is generous of you to cater to sleepy old me, I think I might cry happy tears!"
"You're not allowed to cry until you're actually drunk, no crocodile tears." the shrine maiden smirked.
Yukari grinned back and giggled a little "What will I do with you.. are you sure nothing strange happened to my favourite little shrine maiden while I was sleeping? You're being peculiarly forthright.. without a shred of the usual embarrassment you display when you feel in the wrong about something."
Reimu briefly grimaced but tried to hide her irritation. She wouldn't let Yukari get to her before she had gotten to Yukari. Not this time.
"Fortunately for both of us you missed it, I had plenty of time to get over that while you were sleeping. Maybe when you get a little more drunk, I'll tell you all about it!"
The youkai stared Reimu in the eyes for a few moments with her own, endless and lonely golden eyes. She pouted, her smile becoming a frown as she turned back towards the cherry blossoms.
"You're not drunk yet, Reimu."
"Neither are you, but we will be soon!" the shrine maiden chimed festively and patted Yukari on the back familiarly.
"Ha ha." Yukari fake-laughed and raised an eyebrow at the young miko, smiling sheepishly. "Forgive me, I'm not used to you being so candid and kind to me whilst sober. Is there some kind of pretence to this? Do you want something from me perhaps?"
Reimu blinked and stared at Yukari, realising just how twisted their relationship must be for her to react like that, how Yukari's view of most people must be. "Is there something wrong with simply wanting to be kinder to you? We're friends, aren't we Yukari?"
The ancient youkai averted her eyes again and returned her attention to the cherry blossoms, taking another sip of sake. "That line is familiar.. You know I don't take kindly to being made fun of."
"You know what? Me neither." Reimu smirked and continued to drink calmly. "Perhaps neither of us would have to put up with it if we were both more honest to each other, hm?"
Yukari scoffed and laughed, indulging in another cup of sake. "You're so full of spice this spring, Reimu! Unfortunately I'm certain you know by now that I'm simply not the most straightforward person."
"I've noticed." Reimu frowned. "In fact, I wonder if you mean it when you call yourself my friend? Have you ever meant it?"
"I wonder." Yukari sighed and smiled gently at Reimu. That same, familiarly empty smile that made finding an emotional attachment to her seem like some impossible feat, even to the shrine maiden who could fight against gods. "What do you think, Reimu?"
"I'd like to think you mean it, but I honestly don't know." the shrine maiden responded bluntly. "That's why I'm asking."
"You already know there are certain important people I cannot afford to get too close to."
"So you say, but you're not doing a wonderful job of following that self-imposed mantra." Reimu leaned back on her hand and turned her head playfully towards the youkai. "The human you're always so fascinated in has become fascinated in you in return, and it's all your fault."
Yukari's eye twitched.
She didn't say anything but continued to smile normally. Was this a sign that Reimu was getting through? She had defeated Yukari in danmaku battles many times, but she felt truly powerful and accomplished leaving the experienced youkai speechless like this.
It was clear that Yukari's overwhelming and unlikable personality, as well as her extraordinary power, made people understandably not want to seek out contact with her. Reimu was a peculiar individual though, especially when she wanted to be. This was a kind of role reversal the youkai was not used to. The shrine maiden noticed her advantage and kept up the attack.
"Come on, drink up! We may as well be friends at this point you know? And a party is always a great excuse to forge friendships!"
"You truly are a strange girl, Reimu.. but you're much too naive." Yukari giggled and finished her drink, before suddenly sinking away into a gap in the ground.
'So you feel like playing, hm?' Reimu thought as she sensed the youkai becoming restless.
Reimu continued to peacefully sip at her sake as Yukari emerged from a gap right in front of her face. The youkai drifted towards Reimu wearing a menacing grin, and glided a gloved hand to gently cup the shrine maiden's jaw. Her golden eyes pierced Reimu's, unblinking, their faces now barely inches apart.
"It appears to me, my dear miko, that you're wasting your time again as you so clearly love to do. Here you are throwing away your shrine's funds on expensive sake.. and expending it with an unsavoury and dangerous great youkai like myself nonetheless. Whatever would your patrons think, to see you become such a youkai shrine maiden?"
The sake in Reimu's cup was as still as her own eyes, which stared back into Yukari's deep intimidating glare effortlessly and nonchalantly. She brought her own free hand to cup Yukari's own cheek and jaw, reaching to hug the youkai's neck slightly. Reimu sighed deeply and calmly smiled.
"It's hard to take you seriously when your breath stinks of booze."
Yukari couldn't help but snort a laugh. She ruffled Reimu's hair. "All right, I'll give you that one."
"Stop being a drama queen and sit down with me, Yukari." Reimu continued to calmly sip at her sake. "I had a poverty god hanging out at my shrine last year remember? If I can survive that, indulging on a little quality alcohol to make the winter more bearable and the company more enriching is nothing."
Yukari giggled then laughed a little more loudly, before retreating into her gap and reappearing behind Reimu with a hand on her shoulder. "You're no fun when you're so guarded Reimu.."
"Guarded?" Reimu raised an eyebrow. "You're wrong. Guarded and defensive is how I normally am around you, this is me relaxing around you. But look at you all restless! So rude, when all I wish to do is enjoy a drink with you."
Anticipating something, Reimu subconsciously held out her arm.
Yukari shrugged dramatically. "Alas! Correct as you are, I am an extremely busy youkai and unfortunately have places I must be and people I must see, with little time to drink and get closer to humans. But I do thank you genuinely for the warm gesture and the anomalous banter."
Reimu rolled her eyes.
The youkai stood up and opened up her fan "Take care, Reimu." then stepped backwards and began to sink away into a gap.
Reimu's readied arm jolted into the gap and grabbed Yukari tightly by the wrist, guided by nothing but Reimu's intuition. "Is this Yukari Yakumo's fight or flight response, I wonder?" she effortlessly pulled the ancient youkai back out of the gap. "Don't lie to me. Sit."
"Lie? Reimu sweetie, you're killing me here." Yukari giggled, appearing visibly frustrated and glaring at the back of Reimu's head with her glowing yellow eyes. "Could it be.. you actually are trying to kill me?"
Reimu finally turned her head to look her in the eyes, astonished. Did Yukari truly trust Reimu so little after all this time, or was this just more fakery? Just why was trust such a difficult subject here? Reimu scowled at the youkai for being so difficult, but the shrine maiden's face was a little red from tipsiness so she looked both intimidating and hard to take seriously.
"Why the hell would I, protector of Gensokyo, want to kill you? I'm trying to be your friend. I'm trying to be honest about it. I'm trying to actually, genuinely be your friend you obstinate old fool. Sit. Down!"
She tugged Yukari's arm next to her and let go, assertively patting the boarding next to her and gesturing for the older woman to perch her posterior down again. She grinned. "Drink with the Hakurei Shrine Maiden! Let's chat about some real shit! Come on!"
Yukari eyed Reimu out the corner of her eyes and sighed deeply. Her mouth twitched into a weak smile. Seemingly admitting defeat for now, she poured out another cup of sake and sat down, this time closer to Reimu than she had been before.
"You've.. grown up so quickly, Reimu." she peered at the cherry blossoms with a melancholy expression. "I blinked for a minute and you became an adult."
Reimu breathed the air in deeply and relaxed again, giving Yukari a gentle pat on the back and taking another indulgent swig of sake. Was that a hint of sincerity?
A silent few minutes passed, before Reimu spoke again.
"Are you scared of me, Yukari?"
"Should I be?" the youkai grinned behind her fan and stared down at Reimu out the corner of her eye.
"No, you moron." Reimu shot Yukari a shocked look briefly, then sighed. "I want you to trust me and I want to trust you. It's really not as deep as all you strange ancient youkai like to make it."
Yukari's eyes lidded. Her posture relaxed, and she leaned into Reimu's body warmth slightly as she continued to drink. "All right. I'll entertain you. So why all this now, why not years ago?"
Reimu had never seen Yukari appear this vulnerable before. Even if it was just an act, Reimu was fascinated. Yukari had always been fascinating, but this was only validating Reimu's latest project.
She watched the youkai's lonely golden eyes as she took a deep breath, responding with sincerity.
"So.. a lot happened last year right? But there were a few things in particular, the things involving you, that gave me such a dull and unpleasant sense of deja vu. I felt like something between us needed to change."
Yukari downed another cup of sake as if she seriously needed it. Her face had reddened slightly as she embraced the encroaching drunkenness. "I see.. so you've finally taken on board what I've said about your training and your responsibility to keep Gensokyo in balance, is that what you're saying?" she nodded to herself proudly.
"That's part of it!" the shrine maiden laughed, grinning at Yukari. "But more than that, way more than that, it's because you've been really pissing me off. For a really, really long time now."
The youkai stifled a laugh "snrk" and wiped a tear from her eye. "Yes, well.. have I really been doing that?" she continued to giggle a little more loudly "Oh my, I simply had no idea!" Seeing Reimu's emotional, frustrated grin though she couldn't help but smile, and was clearly intrigued.
"Don't you know what I'm talking about? This whole isolated, holier than thou, friendless shtick. Your whole off-putting villain routine. You know exactly what I mean."
Yukari did nothing but smile gently and continue to giggle. Reimu scowled, her own face reddening.
"It's been bothering me so much since the start of last year! Since before the Seasons incident, before the Perfect Possession incident. It finally clicked that every time I build you up as the bad guy in my head, you always say or do something that makes me feel like a fool. Like my anger was misplaced.
And I think the reason I realised this was because last time you did that I wasn't surprised. I wasn't even a tiny bit surprised. I was honestly just really annoyed and frustrated that I had gotten wrapped up in your taunts once again, that I'd totally fallen for your misdirection and your pretend villain act."
As Yukari listened, her drunken giggling calmed, but she teasingly leaned her chin in her hands and grinned at the shrine maiden. Without realising it, a few tears had gathered in the corners of Reimu's eyes.
"How many times now have you willingly had me or anyone else get angry at you? Made me see you as the villain? Do you know how annoying it is for a proud and honest person like me to constantly build up my anger towards you only for that anger to be completely misplaced!?
And it just keeps happening! You keep doing it on purpose even when all the evidence tells me there's actually no one in Gensokyo who's safer to trust than you are.."
Reimu's mouth hung agape for a few moments after she ran out of things to say. She realised she had been crying a little and silently turned back towards the cherry blossoms, hungrily downing her sake. Yukari snapped her fan closed and pointed it teasingly at Reimu.
"So, Reimu.. why do you think I treat people in that way? Surely you must already have some idea." she responded calmly with an almost emotionless intonation, despite clearly becoming increasingly drunk.
"You're a pretentious kook who facetiously calls me your friend without letting me or anyone else get close to you." Reimu grumbled, before her expression quickly softened and she smiled again.
"But guess what? I'm sick of you trying so hard to make yourself look untrustworthy and giving me such a headache about how I'm supposed to feel about you. Especially when you sounded so lonely before you went to sleep last year. Do you finally get what I'm trying to say yet?"
Yukari took a sip from her cup and stared at Reimu with a warm, enamoured expression. "Tell me."
The shrine maiden sighed "I decided after you went to sleep that I had to figure out my fascination in you, and put my bothersome indecisiveness towards you to rest once and for all." Reimu gestured her cup towards Yukari, beaming at her.
"I decided that the friendship of Yukari Yakumo was my latest incident, and when I set my heart on resolving an incident there is literally nothing that can stop me."
Yukari's eyes flickered with awe for a fraction of a moment. She averted eye contact with Reimu, appearing lost in thought.
Another few long minutes passed with the two drinking in silence, enjoying each others' warmth and cheery sound of chatter drifting over from the shrine courtyard. Eventually the youkai sighed and spoke up again.
"If you try to get close to me Reimu, I might end up having to scare you away. One day I may do something you truly dislike or find unforgivable."
Reimu scoffed, giggling before laughing. "I'd like to see you try! I really would! But whatever you do would be for the greater good of Gensokyo anyway, wouldn't it? Even though I'm just a young adult human and you're a centuries-old youkai I know exactly what you're doing now and you don't scare me any more. Instead, I pity you."
Yukari scowled, her malevolent gaze piercing Reimu's skull, but Reimu simply looked back at Yukari with a fond smile.
"You know your role is to keep the balance between human and youkai, do you not? You know what happens to youkai like myself if humans cease to be afraid of us?"
"So you keep telling me, Yukari. I assure you I'd have no issue manufacturing fear of youkai in humans if it meant keeping my precious friends from going extinct. But you, hypocrite, you've had a fascination with me ever since we met. If that's against your rules then you've already made your bed."
*hic*
There was a long pause. Reimu stared at Yukari as the youkai's face relaxed into a gleeful smile - and she burst out laughing. "Ahahahahaha! *hic* Right! Right you are, Reimu, you caught me red-handed." She waved a hand in front of her face in a surrendering motion and hiccuped again "If you'll allow me to compliment you, you truly are a fascinating human. I've never been more convinced of that than I am right now."
Reimu beamed at Yukari pridefully and happily took another swig of sake. Her face was the reddest it had been all afternoon. "Are you being honest?" she rubbed the back of her head, feeling the flattery rush to her face.
"Maybe I'll tell you if you tell me why being honest is so important to you all of a sudden." she ruffled Reimu's hair affectionately. Her mood appeared to have done a total 180 within seconds.
"Uggh" Reimu pouted, still red in the face. "It's not that complicated.. I'm just a naturally honest person. Our insincere banter makes me anxious, when I'd much rather say things like, 'have a good sleep, Yukari' and y'know.. actually mean it." she smiled weakly up at the youkai.
Yukari smiled gently back. She wiped a few loose tears from Reimu's eyes with her delicate, gloved hand. "You've grown and become so observant.. but you're still such a silly girl, Reimu."
"Whatever! I want to know if you're being honest. Spill it."
"You know.." the youkai snapped her fan shut and placed it on the ground next to her. "We have a lot in common. You know that already, I'm sure."
Reimu nodded with a slightly irritated expression, as if she was hesitant to admit it. Yukari continued.
"I truly dislike lying, too. Despite my intonation, my teasing, my misdirection, I almost always mean what I say."
"..Are you serious."
"So I mean it when I call you my friend, Reimu." Yukari tilted her head, beaming. "I mean it when I say I missed you, or when I say I wanted to see you."
Reimu stared at the youkai with a suspicious frustration. "Then what was all that? The intimidation tactics, you having to scare me off?" she asked, though she was pretty sure she had already figured it out by now.
"That was me simply reminding you that your dear friend, Yukari Yakumo, is a wholly unpleasant and difficult individual." she held her hand to her gleefully smiling mouth and giggled mischievously, with a few drunken hiccups in between.
A few moments of staring at disbelief in the youkai passed, and Reimu's lips curled into a smile. Before she knew it, she was clutching her gut in drunken giggling and was unable to stop herself.
The two laughed together for a good few minutes, and eventually Reimu forgot what they were even laughing about. Yukari poured out another two cups for them. The large bottle was almost empty at this point.
"So Reimu, Does this make you feel like you wasted all your energy on me?"
The shrine maiden shook her head, wiping laughter tears from her eyes again. "No.. no not at all actually. I got to spill everything about my frustrated, bottled up feelings in a drunken stupor. This proves that we really are friends." she grinned and bumped her cup to Yukari's again.
…
"Yukari. Were you also telling the truth when you said you had things to do and people to see? I uh.. Sorry if I've kept you." Reimu sheepishly rubbed the back of her head as the mood calmed. The two had now spent hours together and the cool evening breeze was rolling in, carrying glittering cherry blossoms through the courtyard.
"I was not lying. I am a very busy youkai.. when I'm not sleeping." Yukari huffed a smile at Reimu's apologetic expression. "One of the people I had to see was you, though." she giggled. "I didn't ever plan on actually leaving.. I just wanted to see what you would do!"
"You're absurd." the shrine maiden cackled.
"Why do you think I always spend so much time with you during hanami?" Yukari sighed, seeming almost a little embarrassed herself.
"So all that anger you showed, those 'vulnerable' moments. Was that all just an act too?" Reimu squinted irritably at her.
"Hmm.." Yukari raised a hand to delicately tidy up Reimu's ribbon. "You know that I never like to let others one-up me.. but no, it was not all an act." she rested her hands on her knees and looked Reimu in the eyes sincerely.
"I truly do have mixed feelings about getting close to you, as a guardian of Gensokyo I must be objective after all.. but what can I say? You're special. You're irresistible, Reimu. At first I was merely fascinated about you as a particularly powerful Hakurei Shrine Maiden, but my fascination has since extended to you as a person.
At this point, I'm too far gone caring about you that it feels worth it right now. I don't currently care that I may regret it later. I'll deal with that someday. And today I decided you have become mature enough to know how I feel without being irresponsible or a threat to Gensokyo's balance about it."
She beamed at Reimu and briefly, gently, gave the miko's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. Reimu stared in disbelief for a short while and beamed back. She seemed really, really proud of herself, and a little lost for words.
"Plus! I seriously didn't want to admit it, but you can actually be pretty genuinely scary. That intuition of yours is formidable. Not bad for a mostly-human shrine maiden! Perhaps you could even teach me a thing or two about intimidation tactics, hm?
Reimu snorted and covered her mouth with her hand as she stifled her laughter. "Naw, naw, I think you're plenty scary enough for now."
Yukari laughed with her for a few moments, then briefly gazed into the shrine maiden's eyes before finally returning her attention again to the cherry blossoms. She gestured towards them and the shrine grounds with her fan.
"Hey.. Reimu. How do you feel about Gensokyo?"
"I thought you'd never ask." Reimu's eyes lit up eagerly. Yukari smirked.
"I love Gensokyo.
I love the shrine, the mountain, the netherworld. I love the temples, even my rivals and their religions. I love humans, I love gods, and I love youkai.
I won't let anyone hurt you. I won't let anyone hurt Gensokyo. Not just because it's my duty like it perhaps was at first.. for both of us.
But because I genuinely care.
I will probably die protecting Gensokyo, and that's the only way I'd have it."
Yukari laid back, resting on her hand. She sighed deeply and held her sake cup up towards Reimu with her other hand. "Finally.. that's an answer I think we can be truly satisfied with. I knew I was right to love you, Reimu Hakurei. Of course, I'm always right.. but it's nice to be vindicated~." she chimed teasingly, her powerful gaze relaxing and glowing with pride.
Reimu blushed "You're saying you're satisfied if I die protecting Gensokyo?" she scoffed, holding up her empty sake cup to Yukari in toast. "Won't you come save me if that happens?"
The youkai grinned mischievously but fondly back at the young human. "Hmm~." she giggled "If you're not careful, I may grow so attached to you that you lose your own humanity. I know a thing or two about extending lifespans, after all."
Reimu sighed and rubbed the side of her head, finally feeling a little fatigued from the drinking. "So uh.. Yukari.. it might be nice for me if you could try sounding more honest, and let me trust you more from now on?"
"Hmm.. No promises." Yukari fanned herself mischievously. "But you do know my personality quite well now.. so I'm sure you can figure it out.
As for right now, do you want a hug? I can do that."
"Now that you ask you've made it awkward, so no."
"Another time then, apologies." Yukari bowed her head playfully. "It's been a long, long time since I shared any kind of intimate moment with another."
"Perhaps.." Reimu huffed an awkward smile and scratched her face. "When you come to say goodnight next autumn, a hug would be nice."
The youkai smiled warmly. "All right. I think I can do that for you."
—
To the rest of the party, Reimu and Yukari seemed to disappear and enter their own little private cherry blossom viewing. Maybe it was a trick of borders and gaps played by the tricky gap youkai, or maybe it was simply Marisa being a good friend and making certain Reimu had the privacy she wanted.
"Seriously Marisa, where did Reimu get to? I really just wanted to talk with her some more today!" Sanae pouted with her arms crossed.
Marisa waved her hands in front of herself defensively. "Now, now.. I'll make you a deal. If you want to pressure me into letting you see our busy mutual friend, you're gonna have to let me pressure you into drinking first!"
Sanae's eyes widened and she grimaced. She really didn't like alcohol very much which often made her feel out of place in Gensokyo. "Ah.." she sighed, admitting defeat. "F-fair enough.." Marisa gave her a friendly, apologetic pat on the back.
"In that case.." Sanae turned towards Kanako Yasaka, the Wind God of Moriya Shrine. "Mom, can you pass me the tea?"
"…Mom?" Marisa covered her mouth, stifling a laugh. "Snrk…!"
Kanako, who was already plenty drunk, bellowed with laughter as poor Sanae turned bright red. "Yes, of course dear!"