"Kasen?" Rumia asked. "Well, I'm Rumi..."
"I already know who you are. You are getting rather famous of late with your deeds." Kasen said. "I was wondering when I would meet you in person, you seem a better person than some of the company you keep would suggest."
"Huh?" Rumia said, suddenly off-guard. "You mean Seiga? I don't really speak with her that much unless I need to."
"Seiga. Daemons such as Shinki. The vampires. Monsters like the Deva." Kasen said. "They are not the type of people you expect a virtuous being to be with."
"You really must be new to Gensokyo if you think that." Rumia said. "I mean, Reimu's the same, and she's not a youkai like me."
"I berate Reimu for it as well..." Kasen said, sighing.
"Huh? So you're not new to Gensokyo?"
"I've been here since long before the Great Hakurei Barrier was even formed." Kasen said. "Now then, I have matters I need to attend to. It was nice to meet you, shadow youkai."
With that, Kasen vanished.
"She never hangs around here long. She and Seiga do not get along, so she rarely comes here." Futo said, as Seiga appeared in Senkai, holding a book.
"Thank goodness she's gone." Seiga muttered, before she noticed Rumia. "Hello, what brings you here?"
Rumia looked shocked.
"What is that book Seiga?" Ruima asked. "Why are you reading something written in the language of Makai? I wasn't aware anyone in Gensokyo barring myself, Kotesu, Alice, Byakuren and Koakuma could read it."
Seiga closed the book and smirked.
"Am I not allowed to learn a new language in my goals? This is a tomb that Byakuren wrote while she was in Makai. I took the chance to... borrow it while Ibaraki was here."
"And by 'borrow' you mean take a page out of Marisa's book with less explosions and more passing through walls." Rumia said in a disapproving tone.
Seiga just smiled slyly. "Yes. I wish to study more about the Dark energies of Makai. Byakuren was weak before she was sealed in Makai, according to the stories. She was nothing compared to what she is now. That power intrigues me."
"Anyway, that's not what I came here to ask Seiga." Rumia said, causing the hermit to look at her puzzled.
"What did you want to ask then?"
"Komachi mentioned you've beaten every Shinigami sent after you. You beat Komachi before my eyes. So why is it that you are not a Celestial? Why have you not gone to Bhava-Agra?"
Seiga laughed. The irritating laugh of a noble woman looking down upon someone else
"I simply do not wish to go! I would get bored up there within days. Besides that point, I am not a 'normal' hermit. I am a 'wicked' hermit. And those who are 'wicked' cannot ascend to Heaven. That is a basic rule."
"Fine then. Have you ever faced a Shinigami in red called Elly?"
"Not that I recall. All the Shinigami I have faced wore blue. Maybe she hails from the Western World?" Seiga responded. "And if this 'Elly' did not operate in Gensokyo, she would have answered to a different Yama than the Yamaxandu."
Rumia nodded.
"Well, thanks for your time Seiga."
She opened a portal out of Senkai, back to where she came from, so she would not have to bother waiting around lest the pocket dimension be haughty about being used as a means of transport. From there, Rumia flew towards Eientei.
"Hello Rumia." Kaguya said, who was sitting in front of the palace on a chair, holding Kogasa as if she was a parasol and looking particularly happy. She had burn marks on her and her clothes, indicating in combination with her happiness that she had won her latest fight with Mokou.
Rumia floated into the palace, and went to Eirin's lab, but she was not there. So, the darkness youkai floated to the patient's room instead, wondering if Eirin was tending to Yumemi.
"This can't be..." Eirin's voice said. "It's only been about a week..."
"That's too long." Yumemi's voice said. "Too much wasted time..."
"You shouldn't get up!" Reisen said, at this point, Rumia getting around the door to see.
Sure enough, Yumemi was awake, despite Eirin saying it would take her a month at least, dependent on her willpower. But if Rumia knew anything about the redhead, it was that she was one determined woman.
She pushed Reisen and Eirin aside, and struggled to her feet, staggering a couple of times, and breathing heavily.
"I need to find a way... back..." she said. "If I remain in this world too long I may absorb latent magical energy myself, and if that happens I will be unable to survive in my world."
"Isn't that like what they say about the outside world? Those with strong magic power cannot survive there." Rumias said, causing Eirin and Reisen to turn around, and Yumemi to look a little annoyed.
"Not the third person I wanted to see when I woke up."she said. "Perhaps something in the teens. That said, these two strangers are not the first either."
"Yumemi, ever since you took some of Flandre's destructive energy into your own body, your body has been charged with magic. It doesn't matter how long you are here, it's already too late. To survive that energy, your non-magical cells had to adapt and take on the magic themselves."
Yumemi looked at her hand. A few sparks came from her fingertips.
"Well then, I shall have to find a way to contact Chiyuri and guide her to complete our mission! If magic is returned to our world, I can return!"
"You really don't give up, do you Yumemi?" Rumia asked.
"The stakes are too high for me to quit." the scientist said, sitting back down on the bed. Her breath was ragged, it was clear she was forceing herself to her limits.
Rumia floated over to Eirin and whispered.
"You're not saying she absorbed Flandre's Destructive power and made it her own are you?"
"I fear she has, although on a much smaller scale. It is the only explanation why the energy did not destroy her completely, her body did what it had to do to survive. A feat like that is not something someone with magic could do... or someone born without magic normally. Since Yumemi comes from a world where magic vanished, she has an... 'empty space' in her body's makeup, where there used to be magic. To survive... her body adopted Flandre's energy as it's own to fill the gap. That would also explain what Yumemi claimed just now, that if she stayed in Gensokyo too long her body would take on the magic."
Eirin paused.
"Of course, this is just a theory. I could be completely incorrect."
"Well... it's good to see you getting better Yumemi, but don't rush things. You're no good to your world dead from pushing yourself too hard." Rumia said.
"I'm not going to rest... I'm just going to lie down and think of how I can contact Chiyuri..." Yumemi said, sounding sleepy.
Yumemi closed her eyes, and Rumia explained to Eirin why she came, before the Lunarian gave Reisen leave to go to the Scarlet Mansion.
'I never realized just how driven Yumemi is. She's pretty amazing really.' Rumia thought as she left Eientei after a quick discussion with Eirin about how Yumemi was doing health-wise, after Reisen left.
Rumia floated past Kaguya, who told her that Kogasa was waiting for her outside, since she wanted to come back inside. Rumia nodded, and flew outside at a rapid speed to chat with her friend.
As she exited Eientei, however, she crashed into someone, knocking them both over.
"Hi Rumia!" Kogasa shouted from the left. Which meant that whoever Rumia crashed into was not Kogasa.
Rumia picked herself up, and backed up as soon as she saw who she knocked over.
Watatsuki no Yorihime picked herself off of the floor, apparently not knocked down fully, just onto one knee, stopping herself falling fully like Rumia was.
"Well. I did not expect to run into you." Yorihime said, her voice sounding annoyed.
Author Notes: Small chapter with some development. Arc 6 is almost over at this point.
What I'll probobly do after the end of Arc 6 is do the Eiki/Rika thing. There is a time gap of about 2 years between 6 and the original 7 [Mostly for the purposes of Maribel and Renko, and to see Gensokyo without Yukari for 2 years], so I'll put the 'Was a part of 7 but will move to be it's own arc' part BEFORE the timeskip, since Maribel and Renko were not in that part anyway [They showed up in the 2nd half of 7, the new 8]