Chapter 2: Concerto of the Vampiric Night
After having departed from her mother's temple, Kokoro took flight over the forests of Gensokyo towards the icy expanse of the famed Misty Lake. She looked past the sunset drenched fog towards the shadow of the mansion she was going to visit tonight, which looked more menacing than the young menreiki knew it to be from her perspective. It didn't take her long to cross over the Misty Lake, a place that held a crucial memory for her. Reminded of the time she ended her battle with Tenshi in this lake, Kokoro perked her head up a bit to look at the sky and think to herself "I wonder how you're doing…Tenshi."
It had been a little bit since Kokoro had last seen the mischievous little Celestial, but so long as Tenshi wasn't causing any trouble around Gensokyo Kokoro could be plenty patient when it came to seeing her again. After that brief thought Kokoro ended up close to the mansion, which was just as large and scarlet colored as one would normally expect. Kokoro did not focus directly on this fancy mansion, looking more towards the front gate near the edge of the forest, and the dutiful if not sometimes tired guard standing around nearby.
Descending from the sky, Kokoro landed in front of Hong Meiling, a girl with long scarlet hair who wears a green beret and dress representing traditional Chinese clothing along with some slightly roughed up white pants. As of now, Meiling leaned against the side of the gate with her arms folded and her eyes shut tight as she rests. Kokoro was used to this by now and knew how to respond to this behavior. Lifting a hand up, Kokoro summoned her fiery blue pike and stepped back, swinging it towards Meiling's head.
In a snap, Meiling woke up and raised her right arm to block the pike with a focused expression before she looked at Kokoro and said "You aren't going to catch me off-guard anytime soon, disciple Kokoro!" Meiling's grin was followed by Kokoro trying to go along with her over-the-top attitude and stating "Oh no! Once more I was unable to surprise you, master." Though there wasn't any emotion put into the words, the playful nature of the words was enough for Meiling to chuckle over it.
Kokoro then pulled back on the pike and spun it around once before dispelling it, with Meiling folding her arms and remarking "Heh, so it's that time of the day already?" After a couple blinks Meiling looks to the transitioning sky and then looked completely shocked before blurting out "I-It really is that time already?!" Meiling then starts grimacing a bit and looking nervously towards the entrance of the mansion before Kokoro said to her "Meiling, you really need to find some way to wake yourself up when you need to be somewhere…"
Meiling glanced back at Kokoro and said to her "I'd ask to borrow one of Sakuya's clocks, but I already know her response…" Meiling stands perfectly upright and with a finger raised beside her face she says in a forcibly prim and proper tone "Every clock of mine is perfectly clean and precious. To entrust one to you would be a risk I could not take as a proper maid." While Meiling was talking, she had no clue that Sakuya Izayoi, the chief maid of the mansion, had suddenly appeared beside her, as usual wearing her blue and white maid outfit and keeping her silver hair tied into a pair of braided ponytails.
"Is that so, Meiling?" Sakuya said without a hint of aggression in her voice, as words alone would be enough to shock Meiling out of her little display and make her heart skip a beat or two as she jolted her arms out beside her body and let out a gasp of surprise towards Sakuya. With a nervous chuckle, Meiling asked of Sakuya "I-I'm guessing you've been here the whole time?" Sakuya glanced at Meiling with so subtle a pierce that the gatekeeper almost didn't notice and said "Of course, but do not let me ruin your comedy routine, Meiling. If you wish to continue, you can still do so in my presence."
Sakuya began to walk towards Kokoro while Meiling just returned to her normal pose, smiling at Sakuya briefly before saying to her "You know I bet you were just checking to make sure I wasn't asleep." Sakuya replied with "But I already knew that. It's expected behavior by now, Meiling, but I figured I would leave it to the menreiki to wake you this time and merely waited to greet her." Despite the start of the conversation suggesting otherwise, Sakuya and Meiling spoke respectfully towards each other now and acted more as friends, something Kokoro liked to see.
Sakuya faced Kokoro a moment later and inquired with a respectful bow "Mistress Flandre is waiting for you at the foyer…I would advise waiting a couple minutes more for the sun to fully set, however." After receiving a nod from Kokoro, Sakuya turned around and slowly made her way back to the mansion, with Kokoro looking at her and thinking about their first encounter, where the maid almost had a knife to her throat. The first impression Kokoro had of her was certainly not a warm one, but over time Kokoro has come to see her as the dedicated and elegant maid most residents of the mansion know her to be.
"I…like Sakuya…" Kokoro whispered out with a little bit of embarrassed fondness in her voice as she curled some fingers between her chest and chin. Meiling looked at her and said with a smile "Yeah, Sakuya's not a bad person…So long as you aren't her enemy, anyways. Hehehe, just saying that reminds me of the time she was OUR enemy…" Kokoro let out an "Oh?" of intrigue, and Meiling responded to it by snapping her fingers and saying "I'll tell you the story another time, how's that sound disciple Kokoro?"
Kokoro once more played along with Meiling's title for her and with hands held together she said "I would love that, master." Meiling chuckled at that and then went back to leaning against the gate for a few minutes more until the sun fully set over the mountains. At that point, Meiling casually hit the gate with the back of her hand to open it up and said "Alright Kokoro, I'll catch up with you and Mistress Flandre in a moment."
Kokoro made her way down the path, going past the trimmed shrubbery in the garden before she arrives at the front door. A single knock is all it takes to get a response from Sakuya immediately, revealing that she hadn't left the foyer after greeting Kokoro. Sakuya opens the door all the way and Kokoro is allowed to walk in after a gesture out of her arm. Standing at the stairway close by was the person Kokoro came to visit, Flandre Scarlet, the little vampire with a blonde ponytail, scarlet dress, and odd wings composed of several different colored jewels on some bent up brown sticks.
Upon turning to face Kokoro, Flandre lights up with an innocent smile and says "Yay!" before leaping off the ground and fluttering her way over to Kokoro, stretching her arms out and tackling the menreiki so suddenly that it causes her to spin around a couple of times while Flandre wraps her arms around her chest. Once Flandre has grounded herself, Kokoro waits for her to let go before saying in a slightly roughed up tone "N-Nice to see you again, Flandre…" The vampire was almost a foot shorter than Kokoro herself, so the menreiki had to lower her head quite a bit to look her in the eyes.
Flandre's eyes, however, were closed at the moment as she gave Kokoro an honest smile and said "Fufufu…I'm so excited to go out tonight! Where are you taking me this time, huh? Huh?!" Flandre was filled with child-like wonder and excitement and kept making short hops off the ground while her tiny hands were tucked into the pockets of her dress. Kokoro could barely keep up with Flandre's excitement and thus said in a stutter "W-Well I first want to let Remilia know we're leaving…"
Flandre's excitement quickly stopped as he stood on the ground and said with a snide glance over her shoulder "Oh no that's fine, we don't have to do that, honest." Even the easily fooled Kokoro saw past that and quickly looked at Sakuya as he still stood at the door, asking her quickly "Remilia hasn't been told yet, has she?" Sakuya quickly replied "Not at all. She just left to grab something for Mistress Flandre…She said she'd return in a moment."
Flandre grumbled a little bit and then with her eyes halfway shut she glanced aside and mumbled "She's at it once again, that silly sister of mine…" But she quickly looked back at Kokoro before the menreiki could notice her expression, thinking that Kokoro wasn't aware of the tongue Flandre had towards her older sister. Kokoro blinked a couple times and then looked to the stairs as Remilia Scarlet suddenly ran by the top of them, grinding her feet against the carpet to tear it up before she leaps off and glides down to where Flandre and Kokoro are.
As usual, Remilia's hair was short and light-blue, and she wore her fancy pink dress and mob cap. Her wings were more like what a vampire's should be, wide and bat-like with a color as black as the pure night sky. After panting a little bit Remilia stands perfectly upright and looks at Flandre, holding up a small dark red open jacket by the collar and remarking with her face lit up in a grin "You almost forgot your jacket again, Flandre." Flandre forced a smile and said with subtle sarcasm "Oh yes sister, I am quite clumsy to have forgotten this. Thank you."
Flandre takes the jacket with a little hesitation and puts it on her body with her eyes closed the whole time, all the while Remilia looked at Kokoro and said with her fingertips pressed together in front of her chest "Fufufu…You're looking rather well tonight, Kokoro." Kokoro knew to meet the compliment with one of her own and said "As are you, Remilia." With a hand crossed before her chest. Remilia smirked with fangs visible and said "But of course. A vampire must always look their best…Both for their guests, and for those they intimidate in the night. I would hate to be rude."
Flandre just rolls her eyes a bit at that as she finishes putting her jacket on, folding her wings in to make sure they are comfortable. "Alright sis, we're going to be heading off now. No need to wait up for us…" Flandre tried to hurry things along while turning around, but Remilia laid her hands on her sister's shoulders and said while giving them a brief rub "Don't try and run off…Don't go sucking blood unless it's in self-defense…And make sure to listen to Meiling or Kokoro at all times. If you are forced to stay outside for the night, then at least make sure to clean your fangs, Flandre."
Kokoro watched Remilia's actions closely, and even now found it hard to connect the kindly older sister to the proud and powerful vampire feared by many. Such is the nature of the vampire Remilia Scarlet, Kokoro supposed in the end. After Remilia let go of Flandre, the little sister made a dry comment of "Of course mother, I shall take good care of myself." Remilia folded her arms together and said with a snide glare "Hmmm, I hope you won't use that tongue with Meiling."
Smiling over her shoulder with a hand close to her chin Flandre said "Oh no sister, I save this all for you when you get like this…Fufufu." Remilia's right eye twitched a bit but then she said kindly "Fine, I shall leave this matter be then. Enjoy yourself, Flandre." Remilia turned around and began to stroll up the stairs, where at the top Sakuya had already cleaned up the damage her mistress had caused earlier. Sakuya bowed towards Remilia and walked off to take care of other stuff.
Flandre looked at Kokoro and said "I may give Remilia a lot of grief, but she does make it a little too easy sometimes. But it's ok, we're both sisters, after all." Kokoro nods her head and says stoically "No one knows their sister more than you, Flandre." "Fufufu, indeed I do. Come on Kokoro, Meiling might have already dozed off by now, fufufu." Flandre takes Kokoro by the hand and the two walk out of the mansion, where the door shuts all on it's own.
Surprisingly, Meiling was perfectly awake at the gate waiting for the two to approach her. Once they passed the gate, Meiling shut and locked it tight out of properness' sake, since pretty much everyone in Gensokyo can just fly over it anyways. Flandre then looked into Kokoro's eyes with child-like interest and asked "So where are we going tonight?" Kokoro looked at Meiling and told her "I need you take us through the forest Meiling. There's an open area in the middle of it where I want to take Flandre."
"Alright, you'll have to let me know when we get there. The forest is preeeetty big." Meiling commented before taking the lead towards the forest in front of the mansion. Flandre and Kokoro stayed close behind as they moved on ahead, and for a while the two just casually talk to each other while making their way for the destination. Halfway there, the three hear a rustling coming from the bushes. Meiling cautiously raised her arms out to stop Flandre and Kokoro, and then watched as a vicious wolf leaped out of the bushes. It's mouth was drenched with blood and it's eyes were yellow and very feral, with very rugged fur and claws that could rip through trees.
"A lycanthrope Youkai, eh?" Meiling said with a feeling of anticipation welling up inside of her. She cracked her knuckles a little and said confidently to her two followers "I'll take care of this Youkai swiftly, don't worry about it!" Meiling then leaped high up and dropped her right leg down towards the rogue Youkai, smashing the ground as the beast leaps out of the way and growls before lunging at Meiling. Meiling thrusts herself forward and grabs the beast by it's gut with enough force to stun it before running forward to ram it through a tree.
As the tree falls down, Flandre looks at Kokoro and remarks nonchalantly "It's certainly exciting to run into a rabid Youkai in the middle of the night, isn't it?" Kokoro said while looking her way "I don't see them very often, even at night…At least Meiling is here to defeat it." As that was said, Meiling had just piledrove the Youkai into the ground, leaving a visible impact. "Fufufu…I've heard she's really good and strong. Sis wouldn't have picked her as a gatekeeper otherwise…"
Kokoro looked up for a moment as Meiling was currently rapid-firing punches into the Youkai's chest as it was suspended in mid-air, rainbow streaks filling the sky with every impact. Kokoro's eyes were filled with awe even if her expression didn't suggest it, and she said as Meiling threw one mighty kick to send the Youkai flying high into the sky "She's so cool…" Flandre chuckled immaturely and said in turn "Fufufu, someone's a fan, it seems."
Kokoro just looks at Flandre with a bit of embarrassment on her face and Flandre just chuckled a little more at that, followed by Meiling turning around and brushing her hands together before saying "Sorry about that distraction you two." With her arms folded behind her back Meiling stretches a little and then cracks a giddy smile, stating to her company "Alright, lets continue onward." Meiling turned around and cheerfully took the lead through the little bit of destruction her scuffle caused. By the time the three left the area, the Youkai she fought fell to the ground and was left unconscious.
Through the next few minutes of travel, Flandre and Kokoro continued to converse until eventually Kokoro saw a familiar rounded opening in the forest with odd colored grass, at which point she looked up at Meiling and commented "This is the destination." Meiling glanced back and said "Eh? You serious?" Kokoro nodded her head once and commented "You'll see in a few seconds, Meiling, Flandre."
Flandre perked her head up and said "I'm looking forward to it anyways!" in a very excited tone. Passing by a couple more trees, the three entered the circular area around the same time as two others. One was Kyouko, now dressed in a gothic outfit complete with sunglasses. The other was Mystia Lorelei, a night sparrow Youkai with feathery pink wings and ears along with short pink hair. Like Kyouko, Mystia also wore a gothic outfit with sunglasses on her face, and in her hands were a pair of guitars and a microphone. Surprised, Kyouko let out an echoing yelp that shocked Mystia and said after "K-Kokoro! I wasn't expecting you out here tonight!"
Kokoro raised a hand and waved out to Kyouko while letting out a blunt "Yo!" Kyouko then saw both Meiling and Flandre, both of whom kindly wave out as the yamabiko inquires "I recognize the girl with the Chinese getup…Who's the little girl?" Kokoro, not knowing the implication of what she was about to say, nonchalantly remarked "This is Remilia's little sister, Flandre." Immediately Mystia dropped what she was carrying and shared the absolute shock Kyouko had on her face, both of them twitching nervously.
"F-Flandre Scarlet? T-T-The terror of the Scarlet Devil Mansion…T-T-That Flandre?!" Mystia remarked with her teeth clattering in shock afterwards. It's not too surprising really…Flandre does not have the reputation of appearing around Gensokyo at all. The only details of her appearance are in a book created by the famed historical scribe, Hieda no Akyuu, and even then not very many people would be inclined to remember those details, especially not someone like Mystia who is terrible at reading.
As Flandre lets out a sigh in response, Kokoro steps forward and cautiously raised a hand to reassure the two "It's ok…Flandre isn't someone to fear. I just want her to hear one of your concerts. If something does go wrong…" Kokoro gestures over her right shoulder and says with some confidence "Meiling can keep things from getting out of hand. But that won't happen, I promise you."
After hearing the menreiki out, Kyouko looks at Flandre and the innocent if not fanged smile of her and with a look towards Mystia she said "I-I mean she doesn't look like she could cause us any trouble. She's just a little girl…" Mystia glanced at her friend in disbelief and whispered to her "She's still a vampire Kyouko, are you really going to overlook that? Last thing we need is for half our crowd to be drained of blood."
Kyouko perked her ears up and said with a confident smile "Awww come on Mystia, is Kokoro not trustworthy enough to keep a vampire in check? And I've seen that karate girl in action…She's pretty strong." Mystia, after seeing the perky face of her band partner, glanced over at Flandre one more time and said to her "Hey, this is your first time seeing one of these, isn't it?" "Fufufu, it's why Kokoro brought me here, after all." Flandre commented in a humored tone.
After a sigh, Mystia raised a hand to point at Flandre with one of her long fingernails and said in a firm and slightly flustered tone "Alright, but it's going to get pretty crazy. Try and keep your cool and we'll be good, alright?" Flandre nodded her head politely, which surprised Mystia considering the reputation she heard regarding the Scarlets. After composing herself and picking the tools back up, Mystia looked at Kyouko and bluntly inquired "Alright, lets get this prepared, we lost about a minute, Kyouko."
As the two got to work setting things up, Kokoro walked back to Flandre, who said in an appreciative tone "Thank you for standing up for me, Kokoro." Kokoro said while kindly rubbing the top of Flandre's head "Of course…I always stand up for my friends." After Kokoro turns around Meiling comments "Oh ok, I think I get it now…This is that punk rock Youkai duo known as Choujuu Gigaku. I heard about them in a couple of those newspapers the mansion gets from time to time."
Meiling raised an eyebrow and then said "But…Isn't that one of those Youkai that lives in that temple you hang around, Kokoro?" The memory in Meiling's mind regarding the yamabiko clicked fully when Kokoro said to her "Yes she is. She sweeps mommy's temple a lot…" "Oh! That echoing Youkai…A yamabiko I believe they are called? Huh, didn't think a Buddhist would want to be part of a band…Then again, I guess a Youkai being a Buddhist is odd enough as is." As Meiling wracks her mind with these ideas, Kokoro tries to resist telling her about Byakuren riding a motorcycle, as that would only confuse her further.
Time slowly passes as more Youkai begin to show up, filling the edge of the area so much that Kokoro has to hold Flandre's hand just to make sure she doesn't get swept up in the madness. Meiling stays close behind them both, and after everyone had gathered to create a ring of hundreds of Youkai of all kinds of species Mystia and Kyouko stood at the center of the area and prepared their microphones for the concert. The Youkai all cheered in unison save for our trio, who waited to see how the show would start.
There were a couple Youkai big enough to obscure Flandre's view, so after leaping up to try and get a view over them she instead decides to try something a little more clever. Once on the ground she gently nudges Kokoro's hand off of her and reaches for the back of her jacket with her fingernails, tearing a deep enough gash for her wings to come free. She then flutters herself up enough to be able to see Choujuu Gigaku properly right as they began to sing. Meiling and Kokoro notice Flandre's little trick, but instead of making a ruckus Kokoro goes along with the idea and floats up beside Flandre to hold her hand.
The music comes out loudly, with Kyouko and Mystia singing their newest song with so much energy that the music itself manifests as waves of wavy light that flows through all the Youkai in the area. A lot of the words in the lyrics made little sense together, but the way the music itself flowed was so perfectly conducted that no one in the area cared. Cheers filled the forest, echoing out in all directions thanks to Kyouko's powers. Any Youkai that hadn't yet gathered was lured over to listen, bringing with them even more cheers.
As more and more noise filled the forest, there admittedly became a concern on Kokoro's end of Flandre being too overwhelmed and opting to raise one of her hands and use her ability to destroy some of the people making the sound, but when the menreiki turned to face the vampire she surprisingly found her joining in the cries of her fellow night owls. In fact she was using her free hand to pump her fist into the air joyously, giggling every now and then between cheers. Kokoro cracked a tiny smile upon looking at Flandre's enjoyment, glad to see her experiencing something new with the utmost glee on her face.
Looking back, Kokoro saw that even Meiling was really into the music, snapping her fingers while spinning her cap above her head on one finger, letting out a roar that would put the cheers of all other Youkai to shame. Through the roars of the crowd, Kokoro exclaimed to Flandre "This is fun, isn't it?!" The stoic nature of Kokoro's voice made it hard for Flandre to hear her at first and she turned her head and let out a sharp "Eh?!" The bright grin on Flandre's face said enough though, and Kokoro exclaimed "Never mind!" and went back to focus on the concert.
The concert went on for thirty minutes before coming to an end, with Kyouko and Mystia thanking their audience for their time. The crowd of Youkais slowly departed from the area, leaving the trio alone with Choujuu Gigaku by the time they were gone. Eagerly, Flandre suddenly dashed over to the two and after hopping to grab their attention she said "That was so good! I want one of those…autagraffs?" It was a word Flandre had heard but never pronounced before, but Kyouko and Mystia both knew what it was she wanted to say and looked at each other, blinking in a surprised manner.
Stretching her mouth out a little, Kyouko inquired "M-Mystia…Have we ever done autographs before?" Mystia shook her head in response before stating "No one's ever asked…I-I don't have any one of those pens or whatever." Meiling walked up to the two and said politely "Don't fret about it, I got one on me." She reached into a pocket on the waist of her dress and pulled out a small pen, clicking on it to push the tip out before handing it over to Kyouko with a smile on her face.
The question of why or how Meiling got a pen would have to wait, as Kyouko was so absorbed in excitement over getting to sign her first autograph. She walked over to Flandre with her mouth salivating a little while Flandre raised the arm of her jacket up so Kyouko could sign it happily, putting a clean signature onto the sleeve. Since Mystia wasn't good at writing either, Kyouko signed for her. Afterwards, Flandre happily fluttered her wings and said "Thank you for letting me be here, Kyoukers!"
Kyouko hearing that nickname sent her tail wagging rapidly, and in a gleeful tone she had turned her opinions around on Flandre and said "You're so ADORABLE…! Give me a hug!" Kyouko tries to kneel down and embrace Flandre, but the vampire puts a little too much strength into the hug and accidentally hurts Kyouko. Kyouko lets out a couple yelps and then begs for her to let go. Flandre does so and Kyouko stands up while nervously remarking "I-I shouldn't have underestimated the strength of a vampire…"
After Kyouko rubs her back, she hands the pen back to Meiling, thanking her for the help before saying goodbye to the three, especially Kokoro. Her and Mystia then depart from the area, while Flandre sways back and forth while holding her arms behind her back, already humming the first tune Choujuu Gigaku sung. Flandre turned around and said to Kokoro "I'm going to be humming this all the way back home at this rate, fufufu…!" Kokoro replied "It's certainly an addictive melody, isn't it?"
Flandre playfully nodded her head with a fanged smile and a little "Kyu…!" came out of her mouth before Kokoro gave her a smile and said "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, Flandre. I'm sorry to say though that I haven't though of anywhere else to take you tonight…" "Fufufu…! That's alright, I'm fine with this for tonight!" Flandre said with glee.
Kokoro tilted her head and said "Oh…" with a bit of sadness and Flandre lifted a hand up to remark "I'll have fun with you again some other time though Kokoro! Remember? We're going to be having dinner tomorrow night at the mansion!" Kokoro perked up a bit and said "Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that…"
As Flandre passed by Kokoro she glanced up at her and said "Make sure to wear a nice dress if you have one, Kokoro!" Kokoro turned to follow Flandre as she went beside Meiling, commenting in turn "I will try and find one…Perhaps mommy would have one on hand…" "Well don't worry about it too much Kokoro. Patchy will be showing up in her pajamas as usual, so it's no big deal." Meiling said in a humored tone.
"I shall see you tomorrow then, both of you…" Kokoro commented with a hand against her chest and after a bow from the three they parted, with Meiling and Flandre walking back to the mansion through the forest while Kokoro flies out. Flying through the night sky, Kokoro was ready to sleep, for tomorrow she planned to make a visit to the Human Village in order to begin her quest to help those she had wronged before…
Next Time: Professor Kokoro?