Quick note: the cut early on was intentional as a way to represent Keine's power.

The village was getting ready for the day. As the sun started its rise across the sky, stores opened or were in the process of opening, and the streets were starting to fill with people doing there morning routines. And among the quiet noise of the morning, a well-respected member of the village hurried to the main gate.

The woman, who despite being in her 60's, looked in her 30's. She was a relatively tall woman, about as tall as most of the men. She had silver bluish hair and brown eyes. She wore what only could be describe as a building like hat on her head, and also wore a dark blue dress with a white under dress with short sleeves.

As she approached the main gate a voice called out for her. "So you did come quickly, Keine." The person talking was a woman that was actually in her 30's, at least as far as Keine knew, and was nearly as tall as her. She had brown hair and hazel eyes. She was wearing a lone green skirt with black stockings. In her hand was a wand with a star at the tip.

"Of course I did and? What do you want to talk about Koro?"

Koro gave a short laugh "you catch on quickly. I need to talk to you in private."

Keine was flabbergasted "then why did you call me all the way out here?"

Koro walked over and past Keine, before looking behind her. "Because I fear I would be followed and I need your power to keep that from happening."

"Fine then." A slightly livid Keine charged her power and…

… "There that should do it" As the two sat down at the kotatsu as the power faded form the room.

"Now that were at your house and you have stopped your power, I can tell you the news."

"What is so important that you kept hinting at while walking her?" Keine was prepared for any troubling news, form the destruction of the outside world to Koro retiring form being the protectorate of the village.

Coldly and bluntly, Koro only said "Mima's back."

Keine was not prepared for this. She stood up, her eyes full of fear, her mind desperately trying to process it. "Mima! Im-impossible. How-how can she be alive."

"I know it seems impossible, but I saw Mima. She was killing youkia with her shadow clone and stardust reverie."

"Mima don't kill normally so…"

"Mima was more angry than joyful at them, plus this." Koro pulled out a broken crescent moon spear and handed it to Keine. Keine looked up in shock. "Do not psych yourself out with thinking that Mima is still in Makai."

"Wait, Makai? Why do you think Mima was in Makai instead of dead?"

"Because… I can't remember the reason I originally thought that but as far as I know, Mima is friends with the goddess of Makai. Why would she not hide in Makai instead of dying?"

"It's not that simple but fine." Keine sat back down, putting away the broken spear, her mind finishing processing what Mima's return means.

"That's not all, she also now has a ghost tail."

Keine put her hands on her face, more in a fit of annoyance that a fit of fear. "Great, Mima is now a youkia."

"That's not the worst of it. I have two more things I need to tell you. First is that Mima is regaining connections to those three."

"Expected, and not as bad as Mima becoming a Youkia."

Koro, who up tell this point had been emotionless in her delivery of the news, suddenly became very pissed off. "She has a new apprentice, a young girl from the village. I have no idea why she is going against the village, but she is!"

Keine slammed her hands onto the table, speaking sharply and rapidly "Can you describe the person? If we knew who it was we can figure out why she did it!"

Before Koro could even open her mouth, the door to the outside slid open, and from it came Rinnosuke, exhausted. "Ghuah, ha, Ghuah, ha. Mima's, Ghuahh, back, ha."

"I have already told Keine about that."

"Ghuahhh, haaa." His breathing steadied as he sat down with the other two, but still anxious over the news. "That's not all, Marisa is now Mima's apprentice."

Keine realized who that was. "You mean that nine year old Kirisame girl that ran away from home? I struggle to think of the terrible things Mima is doing to her."

Rinnosuke crossed his arms and leaned back. "As much as I hate to say this, Mima is kind and protective towards Marisa. At least, that's how I interpret her running out of my shop in the middle of threating me when she learned that Marisa is in danger."

Koro, who had been thinking this entire time, spoke up with a surprising statement. "You know, this situation might not be so bad."

"Hu?" both said in union.

"I mean that if Mima is busy training someone, then she won't cause them to be in harm's way by attacking the shrine for at least a couple of years."

"Then what should we do about Mima and Marisa then?"

Koro got up "we have to go speak with Marisa's father."

Keine blurted out "I thought you did not want to tell the villagers to stop mass panic."

"True, but I also believe that Marias father has a right to know what happened to his daughter, unless you have an objection." There was no rebuttal as the other two got up.

Marisa's father was in his house, praying for his daughter safe return at a small shrine in his house when a young woman came in along with both Rinnosuke and Keine and gave the bad news "How, why is my angle serving this demon?"

"That's actually what I wanted to ask you about. Why did Marisa run away from you, Mr. Kirisame?"

"Fine then Miss…"

"Futago, Miss Futago please."

Mr. Kirisame put his hands just under his mouth. "It began a year ago. I, my beautiful wife, and my daughter were living peacefully in another part of the village. One night a youkia of darkness put our house on fire. While we were trying to escape, this youkia killed my wife and would have done the same to us had not both Keine and Mokou came in the nick of time. However from that event Marisa went into a state of depression. She eventually thought I found her worthless, and ran away as a result." The Grimness of the story hanged in the air.

"So the reason she had ran away was not because you refuge to let her learn magic?"

"That's wat she tells herself, but I never kept her from learning magic. I just wanted her to wait in tell she was older."

Koro then asked another strange question "can you describe the youkia of darkness?"

Mr. Kirisame was taken aback by this "well she…" he closed his eyes "had blond hair, red eyes, and black cloths."

Despite the atmosphere, Koro began to giggle. "He, hehe, hehehe."

"What's so funny?"

"How strange fate is. In an ironic twist of fate, from my understanding, that same youkia tried to eat Marisa, and as a result got killed by m… Mima."

"Wait, what? Why would Mima-"

Koro interrupted him "remember Mima is human. Or was, I can't tell.

Mr. Kirisame was actively confused about what he had just heard. "What should we do?"

"As strange and out there as this suggestion seems, I think we should leave them be."

"What?" said in unison by both Keine and Rinnosuke, who were both still there, but had remained quiet.

"Why would we leave be a maniac?" questioned Mr. Kirisame.

"I know it sounds like madness, so allow me to explain my reasoning. Aham. The people in this group, as well as Mima and Marisa, are the only ones who know that Mima is alive. I think that she does not want to let that fact be known, so she won't attack the village so long as we pretend to not know she is alive."

Keine crossed her arms. "We still need to tell the shrine that there mortal enemy is still alive."

"That leads me to my next point. If we tell the shrine about this, then eventually Yukari will know, and she will reasonably attack Mima. While she could finish off Mima right then and there, Mima is a tricky one, so she could easily escape, and imminently attack the shrine, which is bad for the young shrine maiden living there."

"What about Marisa?" Rinnosuke responded.

"Well, I believe that the reason she will only counter attack is not because people now know that she is alive, though that is part of it, but rather the fact that Marisa is not safe either way. And if Marisa is not safe either way, why would she not attack the village or the shrine. If Marisa is only in danger once Mima attacks, then that stops Mima from attacking for at least a couple of years."

Keine exhaled in defeat. "I guess that makes sense in a weird sort of way, but not telling anyone…"

"You can probably tell Mokou, so long as she keeps the secret." Koro added.

Mr. Kirisame looked up in both disbelief and in anger. "You can't be serious. We can't leave Marisa with that Madwoman!"

"Mr. Kirisame, I know it's your responsibility as a parent to protect your child, but please calm down. This is for both the wellbeing of the shrine and the village."

"I refuse to believe that leaving Marisa is the correct choice."

"Haa, you guys deal with him, I have somewhere else to be." Before anyone could say anything, Koro left the room."

Far outside the village, in the forest of magic, Koro stopped in her tracks and looked around. When knew that she was alone, she let out a large mad laugh. "Mhahahahah. Those fools did not even know that I was playing them like a fiddle." Koro removed her wand and spawned a crescent moon spear.

Light began to emit for Koro. In a blinding flash, the disguised was removed. As the light faded, a silhouette of a woman with a ghost tail, a pointed hat, and a large grin. Mima. "Glad I could use that old focuser one last time. Now I won't have to worry about attacks from the village, with the exception of Mr. Kirisame. Hehe. Now to get back home and teach Marisa some runes." With that, Mima flew home, laughing all the way.